Author Topic: "Bearheart" & the Bear Tribe  (Read 27665 times)

Offline educatedindian

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"Bearheart" & the Bear Tribe
« on: January 29, 2005, 12:03:44 am »
Broken into several posts:

Michael Two Horses" <twohorse@u.arizona.edu>  Add to Address Book
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2003 23:11:58 -0000
Subject: [nafps_again] Re: Bear Heart, the "Bear Tribe", Gerry Bostock (SG)

"Rainbow Eagle"?  Pardonnez moi mon Francais, but you've got to be fucking kidding me...

mth

--- In nafps_again@yahoogroups.com, "Annika" <banfield@a...> wrote:
>
> WOW....I was kind of suspicious but I didn´t think it was THIS > bad....and he is even affiliated with Rainbow Eagle who seems to be > living in Sweden half of the time....!!
>
> May I quote you and / or copy your information and hand out?? That > would be so useful.
>
> We´re so far away from everything here in Sweden. Most of the natives > we ever meet are 90% frauds making up stories like in this book.
And > since most people know almost NOTHING about NA culture here, there is > no way we could tell truth from lies. Most people, even the nuagers,
> don´t know what a Sundance is, or a sweat or a vision quest. So the > frauds have a paradise here....they can tell us ANYTHING....
>
> I will certainly carry on trying to get Natives over here to talk > about the TRUTH and about the violation.....Trisha was the first one > in a long row, I hope.....and she did a great job!
>
> So please charter a plane and come over here you guys....!!  :)))) > I´ll treat you to some Swedish meatballs....LOL
> > (Wish it could be done...:((( )
>
> Thanks again for the information !
>
> --- In nafps_again@yahoogroups.com, educatedindian <no_reply@y...>
> wrote:> > (SG, I thought you might be interested because further down on the > > crystalwings.com website there's a man claiming to be Austr
> > Aboriginal who sells ceremonies. Maybe we could put out some kind > of > > a statement to the local papers in California where this guy
does > > workshops.)
> >
> > First of all, the Muscogee don't call their medicine > > people "shamans". And medicine wheels are much more among the > Plains
> > tribes, not those in the Southeast US like the Muscogee.
> >
> > He may or may not be Muscogee or NDN. But he is *not* one of their > > medicine people. He's one of the leaders of the so called "Bear
> > Tribe" people.
> > http://www.ewebtribe.com/BearTribe/
> >
> > The Bear Tribe is not a tribe at all but a cult made up almost > > entirely of whites. The BT was founded by a former cowboy actor > named
> > Vincent Laduke AKA "Sun Bear", an Ojibwe who sold a knockoff of > > Lakota ways to white hippies in the 1960s and 70s,

Offline educatedindian

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Re: "Bearheart" & the Bear Tribe
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2005, 12:20:41 am »
"Bear Heart" used to claim to be Navajo, not Muscogee.
> > http://www.crystalwings.com/Gerry.html
"I went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and began healing sessions  almost  immediately. In the next few weeks I was to meet some amazing
> people.  One such being was Grandfather Bear Heart, a shaman of the Navajo  Nation. I was taken to meet this wonderful old man at a
restaurant  in  Old Albuquerque, just outside an old Indian Reservation. After we  talked for a while and then asked me to do a healing on him. He
> said  his legs and his back had given him a great deal of discomfort.
I thought he was just trying to check me out. We decided that the car  park outside the restaurant would be an ideal place to do it so we went and did it there.
I had been in Albuquerque for about a week when Grandfather Bear  Heart invited me to go with him to Gallup, New Mexico. Gallup was a  small town about 5 hours drive from Albuquerque. I was to go and assist the old man with the healing of a boy with brain damage.
> There was to be a traditional peyote healing ceremony on a Navajo Reservation on the outskirts of Gallup. The ceremony was held in a Hogan, a six-sided building was healing ceremonies and prayer meetings were held. We entered the Hogan
just after sundown and left just after sunrise. 15 to 20 Navajos sat in  a  circle saying prayers of the boy or would send prayers to others
in  need. Grandfather Bear Heart then did a traditional blessing on the boy, who was also his nephew. After healing the boy he did healings
> > and blessings on each person in the Hogan. After the blessing everyone began praying or giving blessings or singing a song of lament or singing a traditional dirge. Before giving their
> blessings, prayers or songs each person would take a pinch of grounded peyote  on  their tongue and sip some tea, which was also made from peyote.
I  was  then invited to do a healing on the boy.
Before leaving the Hogan in the morning, Ruby, Grandfather Bear  Heart's sister, gave a very emotional speech. She thanked me for
> the  healing I did on her son and said that the healing had made us  brothers. In front of all those gathered she declared me her adopted  son. Grandfather then presented me with a Navajo healing blanket  and  an eagle feather.

----
"Bear Heart" also sells vision quests for $600 each.
http://www.ewebtribe.com/BearTribe/news-events/visionquest9-00.html
> > The cult is based in Alabama.
> > Grandfather Bear Heart. Also, with Wind Daughter,  Page Bryant, Carla Hermann, and Chris Deerheart.  Contact: caseyscreations@h... Tel: 334-665-0499, 716-657-6881.
> > The Bear Tribe, 3750-A Airport Blvd., Mobile, AL 36608, USA.

And the "Bear Tribe" seems to be struggling, or at least they claim to be. Notice also there seems to be some lying about his real age.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/juliabutterflynet/message/727
"Grandfather Bear Heart is 83 years old, in declining health.  Grandfather's heart is huge -- far larger than that of a bear, in  fact -- and because of that, he is struggling financially,  especially
> > this holiday season. Regina WaterSpirit is Grandfather's medicine helper and she is often the only bread-winner for this sizeable  group of people.  When there are not enough requests for Grandfather to  come teach workshops, and not enough people make donations to help  him help others, all the responsibility for their welfare falls
on WaterSpirit.  
Right now WaterSpirit has no job, no income, and she and  Grandfather  are in danger of having their phones shut off and of not being able to pay their rents.   So, in this season of giving and of giving thanks, I am personally  asking those of you who value the wisdom and healing that people like  Grandfather Bear Heart and his assistant WaterSpirit so generously  share with people all over the world to consider making a personal
donation.  Your donation -- no matter how large or small -- will be immensely appreciated and put to good use helping people in dire  need.
> > If you can find it in both your heart and budget, please send a  check
> > care of the following:
> > Regina WaterSpirit
> > P.O. Box 15281
> > Rio Rancho, NM 87174 USA

------
And they also associate with a number of other notorious frauds,  Brandt Secunda, a white man from New York who pretends to be a  Huichol elder from Mexico, and Rolland Williston AKA "Rainbow  Eagle".

http://members.aol.com/ProgBT/pro.html


Offline educatedindian

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Re: "Bearheart" & the Bear Tribe
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2005, 12:23:10 am »
As for the book itself, I found a review that leaves me wondering  how  you or anyone else could have found this book credible. My comments  have >>>.
http://hallamericanhistory.com/americas/1448.shtml
From Kirkus Reviews , January 15, 1996
The life and healing practices of a Muskogee Creek medicine man who  seems never to have met a disease he couldn't cure. A general  reader  must suspend disbelief and patiently endure grandfatherly lectures throughout this book, coauthored by Larkin, a white woman who  experienced a spiritual rebirth under Bear Heart's tutelage. As a young disciple, Bear Heart underwent training rituals that included
trooping through a nest of rattlesnakes and lying on an anthill.

>>>This is straight out of Hollywood nonsense, Indian mystical primitive warrior stereotypes.

 He also became adept in using traditional healing tools, including  a  wide repertoire of chants, an eagle feather upon which he blows  when  ministering to sick patients, the Sacred Pipe, and peyote, which  only  recently was legally permitted for use by practitioners of the  Native  American Church. In his long tenure as medicine man, Bear Heart claims to have cured earaches, tubercular-like illnesses,  poisonings,  and paralysis, often after Western medicine had failed. In  addition,  he was able to produce snow for a Colorado ski resort and cause choking fits from a distance in those with evil intentions.

>>>Controlling the weather? This is straight out of some dubious writings on "Rolling Thunder" a white man who passed as Cherokee and, much like the Bear Tribe, misled a lot of white hippies.

>>>And I'm not sure about the Muscogee in particular, but among a  lot  of Native tribes, doing things like causing choking fits would get  someone condemned as a witch and shunned out of the tribe. (In the old days, they could even be killed.) And this is true of the Navajo, which Bear heart sometimes claimed to be. Mighty strange for
someone who also claimed to be Christian minister.

In the main, however, one can read this as a homily-filled  discourse on leading a healthy and happy existence. Among his admonitions
are to remain humble, have respect for elders, laugh frequently, be  respectful of the natural environment, avoid blaming others for one's
situation, and other tried-and-true strategies. The book is forever  in danger of meandering into areas best left untouched, such as bear psychology (``Mostly they use telepathy to communicate'')

>>>This is pure nonsense. I've never heard of any Native peoples whose elders believed in telepathy for animals.

and anthropology (``It's possible that the Hebrews were here in North America first and then traveled to Israel''),

>>>Most Natives would find this pretty offensive and complete nonsense. We're not Israelites and Israelites were not like us. That's straight out of the old racist theories that claimed Indians were so primitive they could never have built pyramids in
Mexico. I wonder why this racism didn't set off alarm bells for the book's readers?

but the writers maintain such a consistently sincere tone that the uncritical reader readily forgives Bear Heart's leaps into the unknown. In sum, one can read this in lieu of spending an evening with a well-meaning but long-winded relative or use it,
sparingly, as a resource for insight into traditional Native American practices. --
Copyright &copy;1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

---
Let me add one final important note: if anyone over there should  come into contact with the Bear Tribe, *women especially* should exercise caution.
I don't know of any accounts that have people in the Bear Tribe  raping women or sexually exploiting their followers, outside of Laduke ("Sun Bear") himself. But since they worshipped him, some
might share his attitudes and it's best to be cautious.

--- In nafps_again@yahoogroups.com, "vikinglady03"
<banfield@a...>  wrote: Hi..now when I&#30939;e found this great source of information, there is yet another man I&#30926; curious about.
There is a book that has become tremendously popular here in Scandinavia and seems to be "The Bible" for any indian interested  person. It is called "The Wind is My Mother - the life of an Indian  schaman" (!!)  It is written by Molly Larkin on behalf of a guy called Bear Heart. He is said to be Muskogee Creek indian and a medicine man. He grew up some miles west of Okemah, Oklahoma and is about 75 years old.
I&#30939;e read the book - with the very litte I know about  different  Native cultures, I didn&#30936; find anything "wrong". Apart from  two  things: him being Christian and telling the readers to go to  church and pray to God. Seemed a bit odd to me since the book is all about traditional native culture. Also, he seems to be telling  EVERYTHING about the practices of medicine men - rites, ceremonies, traditions.
I thought the communities kept most of that to themselves...?
Oh well...everyone here knows of this book - nuager or not - so it would be interesting to find out about this guy Bear Heart.
Annika