NO LONGER A MATTER OF CONCERN Karen Bethann Farrington AKA Kasmira Ann McCann

[emj023]

Once again, someone claims shamanic (noaidi) knowledge of the Sámi in North America. This time, it is a woman who has been called out in the past. Her behavior is cult-like. Here is her FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/kasmiramccann?fref=ts

She has also started a "secret group" which she moderates and spreads disgusting lies and fantasy about the real, living, Sámi culture. Anyone who questions her is kicked out of the group and blocked.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/246499519108267/

Another concerned Sámi American found this on some New Age page:

 "Dr. Kasmira McCann is a Descendant of both Slav & Saami Indigenous Lineage. Her lineage is one of Healers, Mystics, Herbalists, and Teachers of the Ancient Oral Teachings from a Slavic & Saami Lineage that dates back more than 70,000 years. Her form of teaching brings together Oral knowledge past down through the centuries through Storytelling with the hidden meaning within the The White Lotus Mandala TM / Medicine Wheel."

The last time I reported someone on this forum, they tried to destroy my career by writing a letter full of lies to my employer. Their followers and supporters spread vitriol and wrote to my publisher, to no avail. These people are dangerous. They dishonor the REAL Sámi and REAL Sámi descendants of Sámi immigrants in North America. I know that by calling people out, I gain frenemies. I don't care. The culture of my ancestors, the culture I live daily, and the real Sámi people and our collective history and future mean more to me than FB contacts.

People really just need to be with okay with their own heritage.

Thank you to this forum! Ollu giitu!

[Just retitled thread.]

[Piff]

https://www.thewhitelotusseed.com/page5.html

She says she is a "shamaness" with this training:

3-Year Advanced Shamanism - Foundation for Shamanic Studies.
2-Year Celtic Shamanism - Tom Cowan
Intensive Shamanism - Foundation for Shamanic Studies
Shamanism & Cancer - Myran Eshowsky
Soul Retrieval - Sandra Ingerman
Weather Shamanism - Nan Moss & David Corbin
Urban Peacemaking Shamanism - Myran Eshowsky
Spirits of Earth Shamanism - Nan Moss & David Corbin
Shamanism Healing - Elaine Egidio
Native American: Spirit Mother Shamanism - Carol Proudfoot-Edgar
Egyptian Shamanism - Adam Kane
Shamanic Drumming Reiki - Michael Baird
Japanese Shamanism / White Light Reiki Levels I, II, Advanced, Masters
Karuna Reiki Levels I, II, Masters I & Masters II - Laurelle Shanti Gaia
Angelic Lightworkers Reiki - Walter Lubeck
Teaching Reiki to Children - Barbara McKell
Ancient Tibetan Buddhist Thangka - Carmen Mensink
And continues her studies at the KTC Buddhist Monastery

   

She is licensed in New Jersey:

Name: KASMIRA ANN MCCANN
Address: Manchester,NJ
Profession/License Type: Nursing,Advanced Practice Nurse
License No: 26NN09798500
License Status: Active
Issue Date: 11/13/2000
Expiration Date: 5/31/2018 

Name: KASMIRA ANN MCCANN
Address: MANCHESTER,NJ
Profession/License Type: Nursing,Registered Prof. Nurse
License No: 26NO09798500
License Status: Active
Issue Date: 9/18/1990
Expiration Date: 5/31/2018

(license check https://newjersey.mylicense.com/verification_4_6/Search.aspx )

[emj023]

See, now that is just scary too. One would think that nurses would have a handle on reality....

I wish there was a way to get the page taken down from FB. But I guess if hate pages are allowed to remain because of free speech, then there is likely no way FB will remove it.

[educatedindian]

Her LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasmira-ann-mccann-35967921/

About half her teachers are listed as frauds, Cowan, Ingerman, "Proudfoot" and that notorious foundation.

Her site peddles a lot of ceremony selling and mangled mix of Nuage ideas.

-------
Ancient Shamanic Energy Healings            Slav Divination from the Spiritual Elders
Peacekeeper, Dream-weaving                    Ancient Tibetan Meditation
Earth Medicine          White Lotus Hot Basalt Rock therapy        Usui White Light Reiki [Reiki Master]
Karuna Reiki®    Angelic White Light Reiki     Drumming Reiki
Certified IGM® Acupressurist       Soul Retrievals    Shamanic Extraction healing
Past Life Remembrance     Shamanic Mediumship
Power Animal Retrieval as well as Compassionate Spirit Guide Retrieval
Limpia Cleansing          DNA Releasing

------
So that's ripping off or Nuage distortions of Natives, Latinos, Tibetans, Slavs, Sami, and Christian ideas about angels, etc. And I really love the spirchul touch of copyrighting left and right.

Also selling knockoffs of Euro pagan drumming.

-----
2017 DRUMMING CIRCLES [SPIRITUAL EXCHANGE $15]:
February 3rd – Imbolc “Preparing for Spring”  6:45 -9 pm
March  24th - Spring Equinox   6:45 -9 pm
April 28th – Beltane “Celebrating Faerie Folk”  6:45 -9 pm
June 23rd  – Summer Solstice on the Beach at Island Beach State Park   6:45 -9 pm
August 4th – Lughnasadh  1st harvest  6:45 -9 pm
September 22rd – Autumnal Equinox/ Mabon 2nd harvest   6:45 -9 pm
October  27th – Samhain/Halloween  from 6:45 pm – 10 pm  [prepaid Spiritual exchange $55 with registration]
December 22th – Yule/Winter Solstice  6:45 - 9 pm

-------
It's hard to find what spirchul claims they DON'T sell.

*** Reiki I & III Levels are the foundation requirement for attending Angelic Lightworkers Reiki,   Drumming Reiki,  Reiki III,  and Reiki Masters.
McCann teaches from these Ancient Teachings as an Attunement Master within this Lineage.

2-YEAR PROGRAM ART OF SHAMANISM: "A PERSONAL JOURNEY"
PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!                                         
....4-hours once-a-month for the next two years.  Tuition:  $100/month....

SPRITES OUR WATER GODDESSS 1 Year Class
This Workshop will give you the Ancient Tools to become the Great Water Goddesses.
Tuition: $55/month

1 - Year Class: Introduction to Herbology Certification Program
Classes will be held on the first Mondays of the Month...$1332

  Reiki I - $200        Reiki II -  $235         Reiki III-  $250
?
Master Reiki - This is a most Sacred class... Reiki Master's Symbol, Attunement, Certification.  Each student receives a Master's Sacred Reiki Book and CD. 
Date: TBA  8:30 - 6pm  : $600   
Angelic Lightworkers Reiki  - A specialized Reiki that calls in the Divine Healing Power of the Archangels within the Reiki Healings.   Students will receive an Angelic Attunement, sacred symbols, taught to create a Angelic Altar. $235

Reiki Drumming - This is a two-day course... 9-4pm $300 

------
Moved to Frauds.

[Defend the Sacred]

Yes, this fake Sámi newager has been causing a lot of harm on social media. She managed to join some of the looser Sámi groups on Facebook, and immediately tried to find recruits. She was spotted for the fraud she is, but she had quickly started using what few contacts she made with ignorant and vulnerable seekers to start messaging them to try to gain followers. She promptly blocked all the actual Indigenous people and focused on the confused noobs and newagers. I don't doubt she is right now pressuring them for financial and emotional commitments.

[Piff]

I encourage everyone to keep copies of any online contact with her, and notes on any problematic offline contact.

If appropriate, complaints could be made about her to the New Jersey Board of Nursing. Their complaint form lists admin/recordkeeping, fraud, professional/occupational misconduct, unlicensed practice, advertising, incompetence, sexual misconduct, fees/billing practices, insurance fraud, substance abuse/impairment, and other as possible categories for complaints.

http://www.nj.gov/health/healthcarequality/patients-families/file-complaint-how-to/

[Piff]

Her prior name is Karen B McCann. http://ulc.net/index.php?page=minister_data&id=8644

She used "Rev. Karen B McCann". Her business at that time was Serenity House LLC, in Manchester, NJ. The old url now refers to her White Lotus one, unfortunately it doesn't look like her old site was archived.

[Piff]

She says she is a "Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor " on her FB page

In the New Jersey Professional Statutes http://www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/Statutes/professionalconselorexaminerscommitteelaw.pdf  there is no mention of this precise term. There is "Licensed professional counselor". No one is supposed to hold themselves out as this unless they are actually licensed.

She doesn't seem to be licensed for this. https://newjersey.mylicense.com/verification_4_6/Search.aspx

Anyone in touch with her,  please ask what her New Jersey Professional Counselor license number is.

[Piff]

Uploaded here is the complaint form for reporting counselors in New Jersey, including those who claim they are licensed but are not.

[Piff]

Her "Doctorate of Divinity" from  Universal Life Church Seminary costs $29.95 http://store.ulc.net/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=dr%2Ddivinity She says she also has a "Doctorate in Spiritual Development " - that is $69.95 http://store.ulc.net/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=s%2Ddr%2Dspiritual%2Ddevelopment

The "Master Herbalist & Doctorates in Ayurvedic Medicine at Natural Healing College" = http://www.naturalhealingcollege.com/  Unfortunately their lessons include cancer quackery.

One of her past business endeavors include Namaste Acupressure LLC https://web.archive.org/web/20041011103521/http://www.relaxwithanap.com:80/holistichealth.shtml

[Piff]

Kasmira Ann McCann
September 13 at 9:33am ·

Dear Family & Friends...

I am coming out of the Lavvu Closet...

Yes, I drum. Yes, I Yoik. Yes, I practice Earth Medicine. It is in my Blood.

All these decades I have been called weird...crazy..so on. I know you don't know this, but I heard you. My Heart heard you.

So here it is.... It is in my Saami Blood to be who I am. No, you didn't know. I was told to keep it a secret by my Grandfather. No more. You judged me by your own standards. And look at the world now.

"Indigenous People are Awakening... Our Mother Earth is awakening all Indigenous People all over the Globe.... Much damage has been done.... Much is now needed to heal"

~ Kasmira

This bit concerns me. Is she saying decades of her bad behavior must be excused now that she's discovered her supposed heritage? Doesn't she sound sorta paranoid with the claims that we all have been talking trash about her for decades?

What's with  "I was told to keep it a secret by my Grandfather."?

And what the heck?: "You judged me by your own standards. And look at the world now."

Her birth name is Karen Bethann Farrington. Since she identifies publicly as "Kasmira [Saami Lineage]" - we get to fact check. I figured out her birth name through scattered hints on Facebook , googling, and newspaper research. Found her newspaper engagement notice.

Her married name Karen B McCann can be found in corporation documents, also "Kasmira Ann McCann" on etsy.com is https://www.etsy.com/people/mccannkb

[Defend the Sacred]

Is she saying decades of her bad behavior must be excused now that she's discovered her supposed heritage?

I'm not buying it. I think she's copying the stories she's heard from Saami people.

She tried joining Saami groups online. She was spotted as a fraud and kicked out. That's why Saami people have come here to warn about her. Even the descendants groups, the ones that welcome people with only distant heritage, considered her offensive and invasive and wanted nothing to do with her. So she started her own, pay to pray group.

I think some pretendian newagers are now trying to claim Saami because they see photos of "white-looking" Saami and mistakenly think that will be easier to fake than Indigenous heritage that is associated with higher melanin levels. But those frauds, and those who patronize them, don't usually know it works the same way as it does on Turtle Island - the person needs to be from their community, know their language, have Elders and relatives, etc. Not just be some American newager banging a drum they bought on eBay, wearing a costume they concocted from some photos on pinterest, selling the usual newage bafflegab just in newer, more unusual drag.

[emj023]

Thank you so much for all the diligent work on exposing this fraud!

I love the expression, "pay to pray!" I also truly hope that Sami Americans will pursue these leads!

But I would like to say a few words about Sami identity to people paying attention to this thread. Sami political rights, that is, the right to vote in the Sami parliaments of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, is primarily tied to the historical or current use of one of the Sami languages. In America, we often hear references to our pigmentation (or lack thereof) by well-meaning Indigenous people and their allies. I hesitate at times to fall back on our shared experiences of racialized oppression, but here goes. Despite that some of our people are fair-skinned, we have been historically raced and racially categorized going way back in history. The experiences of racialization of the Sami in Europe is similar to the Jewish experience. In America, with race codified by color, most Jews and most Sami Americans are recognized as white and with all the privileges that are entailed in a white supremacist racial hierarchy. However, we need not look back very far in history to see the murderous consequences of racialization of difference in Europe. I note, that the Sami were on the list of "inferior races" the Nazi regime devised. As a descendant of people with direct ties to the Nazi occupation, I shutter to think of what could have come of us had the allies not won the war...but I digress.

Our people were habitually targeted by eugenicists and other powerful outsiders who sought to register our racial inferiority through color but other "differences." Take for example this photograph by Bonaparte and his companions. The photograph is titled "Measuring Lapps" and most people would agree that the Sami woman who is being forced to endure this humiliation, would "look white" in America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Bonaparte#/media/File:Bonaparte-groupshot.jpg

Some Sami are more "brown" than others. But that is never a determining factor of Sami belonging in Sápmi. It has, however, been a factor in determining identity by colonial regimes. Our differences are marked by our connections to areas where Sami people live, for example, from the north. Our dialects set us apart, and other features that internally are considered prized and beautiful, like high cheekbones, turned up noses, and short stature, have been disparaged by racial discourses of Scandinavian "whiteness."

Here is another article, you can glean a lot of what it ways using google translate, The title is "Beautiful--that they are not" (in other words, they said the Sami were ugly): https://www.nrk.no/sapmi/xl/_vakre-er-de-ikke_-1.13560415

Sadly, many Sami American descendants who are seeking something meaningful in their lives glom onto gurus. Some gurus have followers of other fake Sami Americans. They are caught in narratives of victimization and they seek a saviour. There are also descendants who have done the work, that is, they have learned the history, done their family genealogy, connected with relatives, and sought to understand Sami history and contemporary Sami culture, which is a living culture, not a relic of the past with drumming ancient ones on the tundra. One of the reasons I take this so seriously is because the fake gurus who use highly fictionalized renditions of Sami culture for personal gain, and their unsuspecting followers, cast a negative light on the Sami American descendants who have done the work or are transparent and well-meaning.

So, as one of the moderators pointed out, the Sami descendant communities in North America are easy targets for fraud. Many of these fakes have already made the rounds in Native communities, and when they are detected, they move on into Sami American networks because nobody is going to point out if a person is "too white" to be a descendant of Sami immigrants.

One more thing about Sami American communities. There are always people in these groups who make dubious claims to identity. It is an extremely challenging issue to address, namely, because colonialism had an enduring impact on records themselves. Nobody wants to go around pointing fingers all the time when it is not always easy to find Sami ancestry in records. People who have been told they have Sami heritage are welcomed, even without genealogical records. People who suspect Sami heritage are welcomed. But importantly, there are no particular benefits to being a Sami American descendant and being in a local group is really about a common interest in building community, supporting Native rights, and understanding history. The problem is when people are not transparent, and they try to make money fraudulently, or go around acting like dispensaries of a highly romanticized version of Sami culture when they have dubious are totally fabricated ties to Sami communities in Samiland. There are no membership groups with actual rolls in North America, these are more informal communities. Two groups have actual by-laws and voting which takes place at their annual or biannual meetings, thereby there are some checks and balances. They also regularly consult with culture-bearers in Samiland. Facebook groups are quite open which makes them easy targets.

Ok, so much for this long thread. Again, thank you to this group. It is a relief to know that there is diligence!

[Defend the Sacred]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this!

[educatedindian]

I also really like your post. I think we should make a copy of it and pin it somewhere as a ready reference.

I'd like to add what I recall from my brief time in Sweden and meeting several Sami there. (I've usually seen this spelling. Is Mcann's just another Nuage attempt to seem more authentic?) I remember them telling me that while some may look white to Americans, they are still seen as different enough esp around the eyes and cheekbones that bigots in Scandinavia will target them on sight, including with violence. People also get targeted for traditional dress.

Even within Scandinavia, there's enough problems with forced assimilation that one Sami told me a story of another who'd been drawn into a Deer Tribe meeting with a fake sweat lodge. Luckily there was a power outage so the sweat ended with everyone just getting the chills.

My understanding is that one is defined as Sami legally if at least one grandparent spoke the language. Who the community regards as can obviously be different. But McCann isn't by any definition except her own.