Author Topic: Hey Al! Check this one out!  (Read 6516 times)

Offline debbieredbear

  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 1458
  • I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
Hey Al! Check this one out!
« on: October 23, 2005, 04:00:42 am »
Spirit of the apache conquers the West
By GILL VOWLES
23oct05

http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17002472%255E3462,00.html
STANDING Bear's proudest moment was causing a riot at a Christian private school.

The Blue Mountains-based tribal healer was meant to be doing a native dancing workshop with 80 children at the local school, but when the other students saw him walking around in full American Indian regalia they walked out of their classrooms and joined the session.

"Instead of spending a couple of hours with 80 kids, I ended up spending the whole day with 380 kids -- the school's entire population," Standing Bear said.

"The principal realised the kids weren't going to concentrate on anything else while I was there so he just let them go."

On another school visit, this time on the New South Wales' central coast, Standing Bear ended up in the playground surrounded by 150 students doing war dances.

"In the middle of it all I could hear the teacher on playground duty calling for back-up on her walkie talkie."

This week Standing Bear was stopping traffic and turning heads in Burnie where he was conducting private consultations and drumming workshops.

"I visit Tasmania at least twice a year to work with individuals and groups at their request," he said.

"On each visit I probably have contact with about 80 people."

The full-time healer says he specialises in helping people to find themselves.

"Generally the people who come to me are looking for direction and I help them to remember what their dream is and to stop sabotaging themselves from achieving it.

"Everything we need to know is inside already, I just help people to get in touch with that."

Standing Bear admits his role is akin to that of a counsellor, but instead of getting his clients to lie on a couch he uses eagle-feather prayer fans, dead wolf feet and a horse tail to get his clients to open up.

"I'm not a big fan of traditional psychology," he says.

"I think psychology is an excellent tool for diagnosis but is useless for healing because all it does is focus on the symptoms."

In addition to his one-on-one consultations Standing Bear also works with groups to develop a spirit of community.

"On a previous trip to Tasmania I held a workshop at Huonville where I had loggers on one side of the room and anti-logging protesters on the other, but I got them communicating with each other."

Standing Bear was drawn to healing in 1999 after returning to his American birthplace.

The son of a Scottish mother and an Apache father, Standing Bear was taken from his mother at birth and sent to Australia where he was adopted by a Blue Mountains couple.

"I always felt different and during my teens I rebelled badly and become involved in drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence.

"I knew I was going to end up dead or in jail for the rest of my life if things didn't change."

After his third serious motorcycle accident Standing Bear went back to America for six months and discovered his tribal roots.

He also discovered a gift for helping people to heal themselves.

Back in Australia he gave up his Western name, Eric Spiney, and adopted part of his tribal name, Bear Who Stands With Thunder.

He now spends his life healing and conducting workshops around Australia.

Standing Bear leaves Tasmania this week, but is returning next month to work in East Coast schools and in February next year to participate in an Honouring the Elders gathering on Bruny Island.


NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Offline educatedindian

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 4740
Re: Hey Al! Check this one out!
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2005, 07:37:26 pm »
Spiney certainly managed to conquer their common sense.
There's a place to submit comments, but the damned thing keeps refreshing every two minutes. So if you send a complaint write it out in word first then cut and paste. Here's what I wrote to them:

I apologize for this third message. Your site keeps hitting "submit" after a certain time limit. Please either use this last message (excluding these first three sentences) or any combination of the three which avoids repetition should you choose to print this.
Dear Mr. Vowles,
I truly wish you had done the most basic research rather than this fluff piece promoting a dubious character falsely claiming to be an Apache counselor. While I realize most Australians do not know much about American Indians, surely as a  journalist you should have tried to understand your topic? As a Native historian who happens to be Mescalero Apache, I assure you Mr. Spiney is NOT, I repeat NOT recognized or trained as a medicine man, healer, or counselor according to Apache traditions. Apaches would not send someone out to heal after only a six month visit. True Apache healers train for a decade or more, as much as any licensed MD. We also don’t use horsetails for anything but swatting flies. Also, true Apache names are not pretentious New Age-sounding names like “Bear Who Stands With Thunder???. Traditional Apache names are not meant to be put on display impress gullible whites. In everyday speech we have names like David, Frank, and Al. Finally, true Apache healers stay within Apache communities where they are needed. They don’t go to Australia to take money from gullible whites.
I strongly urge you and your paper to do a follow up article, an expose on charlatans like Mr. Spiney and “William Two Feathers???, another imposter who has graced your shores recently and made off with the money of many people who did not know any better. And please, this time try talking to actual Native people before looking foolish. At the very least, why didn’t you speak with your own local anthropologists?
Dr. Al Carroll
Social & Behavioral Sciences Dept.
St. Phillip’s College
San Antonio, TX

Offline educatedindian

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 4740
Re: Hey Al! Check this one out!
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2005, 07:59:24 pm »
Also found this one while looking for info on Spiney, the Four Winds Apache Band, not too far from me but the first I've ever heard of them.
----
www.cameronherald.com/ articles/2005/02/17/news/news01.txt
Indian chief blesses Apache Pass
Mescalero Apache Chief Joseph "Standing Bear" Morales, who heads the Four Winds Apache Band of Texas, stands in front of Apache Pass, a centuries old river crossing on the San Gabriel River. Morales visited the site last week to offer a blessing on the area from the Great Spirit. The occasion was the unveiling of Apache Pass entertainment complex under development by San Gabriel Rancher and property owner Kit Worley and Riverside Productions L. P. The lush San Gabriel river bottom area is being developed into a multi-purpose entertainment and camping complex while preserving the rich history of the area.
by MIKE PECK
Managing Editor
In an area of Milam County where Lipan Apaches once terrorized early settlers, the past has come face-to-face with the future.
Under gray skies and intermittent rain, Apache Chief Joseph "Standing Bear" Morales on Friday asked the Great Spirit to bless the lush riverside acreage off FM 908 near San Gabriel where Indians once roamed - and new visitors may one day soon set up camp.
That's what San Gabriel rancher and businessman Kit Worley and Riverside Productions L.P. are banking on with development of the Apache Pass - an Indian-themed entertainment complex that is being built on San Gabriel area property that has been owned by the Worley family since the late 1800s.
Once completed, the expansive complex will include an amphitheater, complete with a multi-level stage that will cantilever out over the San Gabriel river, a 3,500 foot-long landing strip for small aircraft, an Indian-themed restaurant, separate camp sites for motor home and tent camping, a helipad, a large pavilion with a separate chapel, river swimming, and a river trail system where patrons and visitors can enjoy leisurely walks or drives in golf carts.
"We've looked around and counties all around us have events that draw huge crowds," Worley said. "Take Burleson County for example, they have three major events every year that bring in 30,000 to 40,000 visitors and I think Milam County is just missing out on a lot of revenue that we could keep at home."
"We're hoping that when this facility is completed we can host concerts, rallies, reunions, weddings, revivals, birthday retreats, cook-offs and a variety of other events that will bring visitors into our county," Worley added.

Offline educatedindian

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 4740
Re: Hey Al! Check this one out!
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2005, 08:02:17 pm »
Pt 2
Along with the modern amenities planned for the site, the area also holds historical significance in that old Spanish mission sites are scattered along the San Gabriel river. Roman Catholic missions that once stood in the area are acknowledged with granite markers erected by the state in 1936.
Missionaries came to the area from Mexico in the mid-1700s to Christianize the Indians.
The planned entertainment complex takes its name, Apache Pass, from a centuries old river crossing.
Worley said the upper El Camino Real De Los Tejas has been identified in the area. It starts in Mexico and runs through Apache pass, by three missions located in the area and then on to Louisiana.
Parts of Apache Pass are just north of the planned camp grounds and the centuries-old trail can still be seen.
Indian camps are also numerous in the area and artifacts have been found for generations near the pass.
On Friday, the beautiful property off FM 908 seven miles northwest of Rockdale, was officially unveiled to a group of about 30 area citizens and media representatives.
The unveiling included the blessing by Morales, 57, a Mescalero Apache Chief who heads the Four Winds Apache Band of Texas, based in Bandera.
Morales was accompanied on his visit by his sister-in-law, Kay "Cross Arrows" Morales, Sandra "Two Moons" Jowers and her grandson, Christopher "Soaring Eagle" Ervin. Each was dressed in authentic Indian regalia.
During the blessing ceremony, Morales blessed the site and offered a ceremonial cleansing of illness and negative spirits from many of the individuals attending the function.
The group gathered in a sacred circle of stones and before a small ceremonial fire for the blessing and cleansing.
"When I first walked in here, I heard the spirits of my people loud and clear," Morales told the group. "It was like something pulling or tugging at me - it was very powerful."
Morales said he thanked God for the opportunity to be present at the ceremony and said he wanted to "embrace all cultures and all people to bring them together in peace."
During the cleansing of individuals, Morales held a smoldering smudge stick in one hand and he brushed around each of the voluntary participants with an eagle feather. His words were hushed as he repeated the cleansing one after the other and another individual stepped forward.
One-by-one the participants were cleansed and them made their way out of the sacred circle until Morales stood there alone. Upon his exit from the circle, the ceremony came to a close.
Following the ceremony, organizers of the event provided lunch under a tent located just a stone's throw from the San Gabriel river.
Worley said Morales and the Four Winds Apache Band of Texas are expected to return in late April for the El Camino Real de los Tejas symposium speakers reception. That visit is expected to include performances of native dances and music.
"We are working hard to develop this into the location for major events in Milam County," Worley said. "I just think we're missing out in Milam County and we don't have to."
Worley said he's hopeful that Apache Pass' proximity to Austin will attract a variety of musical acts and other activities at the location.
"We have a lot done and a lot to do," Worley said. "We are very exited about the project and have high hopes that this can become a major attraction for our county."

Offline chiefytiger

  • Posts: 74
Re: Hey Al! Check this one out!
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2008, 01:18:35 pm »
Damn where in the hell do they come from, Some ppls kids .... or should I say wannabe's