General > Frauds
Bufo Deaths & Fraud Involving Toad “Shamans” Octavio Rettig & Gerry Sandoval
Stu:
Hi guys. After coming across this, & having met, engaged with & been guided through 5meO experiences by Dr. Octavio Rettig numerous times (Ireland); I felt to add my two cents worth..
While I can only speak my own truth from my own experiences, I must say that Rettig has always struck me as being a man who is walking his path in integrity. While, I am no expert on anything related to Sonora, I do know that Rettig has official papers from the Council of Elders,Seri Nation as well as UN documentation which is acknowledged & recognised when he travels. The online open statement declaring that Rettig is NOT endorsed by the Seri people really does sound pretty sketchy to me. Why would the Seri president/king invite Rettig to attend the New Years celebration in Sonora last year, as stated, if they had a problem with him? I understand that film footage was taken at this time for the docu, & that he was clearly very much in attendance.
I'm slightly confused Indenborg, -are you saying that you know that King/President is not the accurate term in this case, or that you are speculating, but don't really know? Also, i'm sorry but I firmly disbelieve claim that he's been actively selling his stuff in Cali, or anywhere. source for this?
Nor do I believe that he is in it for the purpose of making personal financial gains. The man strikes me as a genuine, transparent & humble guy with extensive training, driven by a sincere intent to bring healing to the people.
I have come up against many non-indigenous shamans & medicine facilitators whose practise reeks of shameless cultural misappropriation but for me Octavio Rettig is the real McCoy! I also know scores of people who have had sessions with him, yet I know no one who has less than great things to say about his energy, open heartedness, professionalism & character.
This is an important site & we need to be vigilant & help spread the word on charlatans & plastic shamans but i'm sure this guy's legit!
PS Praxis - I understand your concerns regarding misrepresenting data & the claim that bufotenin, when exposed to heat (eg when you smoke it), converts to 5meoDMT; I get that this contradicts all information you're likely to find, however we are talking about a compound which has had so little documented research & it seems to me that much info is merely blindly repeated. It is my understanding that Rettig has apparently had analytical lab tests carried out which support his claim.
Peace
Autumn:
Stu, you sound like an advertisement for Rettig. Are you Rettig? I am just a little suspicious after having been on this site for several years and seeing this play out over and over.
Oh, by the way, it is Ingeborg, not Indenborg. She doesn't like it when you get her name wrong.
Peace be upon you also. :) :)
educatedindian:
Stu, thanks for adding what you know. I'd like to ask you some more things about your experience.
You say you were "guided through smeo experiences" by Rettig. What exactly does that mean? Were you treated for addiction to methamphetamines? Because that's what both Rettig and Seri elders claim their traditional medicine can do.
I have no problem believing such traditions can cure meth addiction. It's a drug that's ravaged Native people in the US, Latin America, and non-Natives, mostly poor rural whites in the US. Peyote ceremonies have cured or help cure other addictions, as have sweatlodges.
But if you took the traditional medicines with Rettig as some kind of personal search, or worse, idle curiosity, that's deeply disturbing and an abuse and misuse of the medicine. Native ceremonies get badly abused when taken out of their context. It's spiritual tourism and dilettantism of the worst kind. It's equivalent to going through Catholic or Jewish or any other spiritual tradition just because you think "it'd be cool." A Native spiritual experience is not to be sought after like a ski trip to Aspen.
The endorsement of Rettig rings phony in so many ways. An entire people don't give an endorsement. There's no names on the doc, no council or tribal gov't. It's like all the white fantasies of being adopted by a tribe.
Rettig not knowing what Seri leaders are called is telling. Elsewhere he also lumps them in together with Yaqui, an unrelated people culturally. I haven't been able to find any online references to a "Seri king" except in the very first Spanish contact, and in docs on an unrelated Seri people in Asia.
He seems less than serious because of his associations. If he were truly seeking to integrate Seri medicine into the treatment of drug addictions, he'd be at academic and medical conferences. Instead he runs off to speak to the flakes at Burning Man. He runs around Europe talking to groups of people who think enlightenment can come from a chemical quick fix.
He also presents himself as a healer, the toad prophet. And performs ceremonies like this.
http://physicswikis.com/meth_molecule/Dr__Octavio_Rettig_on_Salt_Spring_Island/27098/
And apparently people go to him just to get high, as this guy described, who later added valium to the experience.
https://www.dmt-nexus.me/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=64587
This reporter also got high with him, just for the experience.
http://www.disclose.tv/forum/the-toad-prophet-t104773.html
A number of things are obvious from that video. Rettig is actually endorsed by one elder, Don Pancho. And the elder and other Seris seems unaware of how Rettig is marketing himself and the medicine and ceremonies. The Seris are extremely isolated, and don't know Rettig's mostly talking to recreational drug users rather than medical professionals.
Another non-Native doctor, a gynecologist Gerardo Sandoval Isaacs, claims to be Rettig's true mentor and himself a ceremony performer.
http://www.lorenzohagerty.com/blog/september-21-2014-peoples-climate-march-nyc/
It's also worth noting that Rettig elsewhere is listed as a surgeon, not a pharmacologist or any other specialist in medicinal research.
Stu:
--- Quote from: Autumn on July 02, 2015, 01:44:51 pm ---Stu, you sound like an advertisement for Rettig. Are you Rettig? I am just a little suspicious after having been on this site for several years and seeing this play out over and over.
Oh, by the way, it is Ingeborg, not Indenborg. She doesn't like it when you get her name wrong.
Peace be upon you also. :) :)
--- End quote ---
I can assure you on my honour, I am not Rettig! I am usually quite a silent presence online, I simply wanted to share my gut feelings on this matter, from my experiences & those of others I know.
Ooops, soz Ingeborg!! ;)
Educatedindian - I have a history of substance dependency and much of the focus of his work in Ireland has focused primarily on addiction, largely opiate/opioid addiction.
I understand he is currently seeking to establish an official research institute, involving academics, therapists, social&medical care specialists, etc ...
Ingeborg:
--- Quote from: Stu on July 02, 2015, 03:11:31 pm ---... I simply wanted to share my gut feelings on this matter, from my experiences & those of others I know.
--- End quote ---
Well, 'gut feeling' may be an inappropriate advisor, because the gut tends to be full of it....
--- Quote ---I have a history of substance dependency and much of the focus of his work in Ireland has focused primarily on addiction, largely opiate/opioid addiction.
--- End quote ---
Ever thought of you might be swapping one high for another? And one with less - errr: distributors on the market, so prices will be conveniently high exactly for whom?
--- Quote ---I understand he is currently seeking to establish an official research institute, involving academics, therapists, social&medical care specialists, etc ...
--- End quote ---
A claim like this proves nothing at all. There's billions of quack methods out there and many quacks and charlatans boast their own 'research institutes', even involving academics etc. If this happens to establish anything, it's rather that persons quite willing to be corrupted come in all shades, with a multitude of educational backgrounds, and with a very generous helping of unethical behaviour.
Your reply to educatedindian is rather disappointing, though, because you didn't address most of his questions.
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