Author Topic: Robin Powell AKA Robin Youngblood  (Read 37562 times)

Offline debbieredbear

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Robin Powell AKA Robin Youngblood
« on: September 17, 2006, 12:29:04 am »
« Last Edit: October 11, 2015, 01:09:54 pm by educatedindian »

Offline educatedindian

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2006, 02:28:52 pm »
Some followers of hers spammed one of the yahoo groups. Not too hard a call on this one, an alleged Okanagan teaching Lakota ways and now a mishmash of just about everything, for the big bucks, for white tourists in Hawaii.

http://dreamingshaman.com/maui_personal_retreats.htm
"Do you need space? Time away from the hustle and bustle of the workaday world?
A Journey and a Quest to sort through the challenges and opportunities in your life?
Rest, relax, rejuvenate. In consultation with Rev. Youngblood, you will design a program to fit your needs. Visit pristine jungle waterfalls; frolic on the beach; purify in the Sweat Lodge and send your prayer to the Universe; eat well; sleep well; walk, run, dance and sing. Let Rev. Youngblood and her healing team assist you with massage, reiki, dance, chant, yoga, and ancient rituals and ceremonies"

Put down your coffee before you click this link. This photo says it all.
http://dreamingshaman.com/maui_wedding_ceremonies.htm

http://dreamingshaman.com/About_Dreaming_Shaman_Robin_Youngblood.htm
"As an Okanagon/Tsalagi, I have been a student of my heritage for many years. I have studied with indigenous elders of my own tribes, along with Siberian and Aboriginal shamen....I am a bridge between ancient Native American traditions and European cultures. I'm my own "Five Civilized Tribes" - Okanagon, San Poil, Nez Perce on one side and Cherokee and Iroquois on the other."

Interesting, she previously claimed to only be Okanagan and Cherokee, taught only by Lakota. And she's so ignorant she thinks the Iroquois are a tribe.

"My Okanagon ancestors roamed the Okanagon valley from Kamloops, in what is now British Columbia, to the Columbia River in northern Washington. My family's Cherokee forebears walked the Trail of Tears from North Carolina to Oklahoma during the 1800's. I've also researched my French Canadian, Irish and Welsh ancestry....When I first went home to the reservation, I was in my twenties. The elders looked at me with suspicion at first - I looked like a dark little white girl raised in a Catholic school - and in many ways I was!"

No mention of which rez. And she's not "dark", she's so fair skinned she's almost albino.

"For many years I followed the Sun Dance way with teachers such as Martin High Bear, and participated in my own people's Winter Dances led by Julian Pinkam. I have had the privilege of being taught by, and have shared ceremony with NW Coastal teacher/healer Beaver Chief and Hopi messenger Thomas Banyacya; learned from Siberian Shaman Misha and his niece, Natyashta Duvan; Hawaiian L'au Lapa'au and Kahuna, Henry Awae, and Aboriginal elder Gagadju. Among the wonderful women teachers I have had are my own grandmother, Lucille Raymond, Okanagon; my great-grandmother, Salmiac, Okanagon, who transmits from the Other Side Camp; Karen Timentwa, and her grandmother, Mrs. Lum (although neither would call themselves 'teacher'), Okanagon/Sioux; Sahn Ashinna, Navajo/Blackfoot; Pua, Aunties Miele, Nahi Gutzman (with whom I sometimes co-teach) and Auntie Helen, of the Hawaiian nations. (Auntie Helen, who is in her eighties, recently found out that she is half Hopi.) I have learned so much from these honored elders."

High Bear has had many exploiters falsely claiming he taught them. So has Banyaca. What each usually did was simply talk about prophecies to outsiders. Neither said "I authorize you to go out and sell ceremonies."

"Out of respect for our tribal ways, what I now teach is a synthesis of ancient knowledge with contemporary practices. For instance, I cannot teach the Sun Dance ceremony, because only a Medicine Man trained in that tradition has the authority to impart that knowledge. However, I can share with you the principles and truths of the Sun Dance way, and give you new ceremonies that are derived from the understandings I have gained by following these traditions."

Yep, mix and match, make up your own.

"My shields have hung in many galleries throughout the U.S."

But none named.

"You can read more of my writing in Women In Wilderness, published by Harcourt Brace, and in two forth-coming books, Dreams From The Darkest Dawn and River Spirit....
Ho! Mitakeuyasen"

Associates with a whos's who of core shamanism exploiters.
http://www.shamansociety.org/counseling/hawaii.html
http://www.shamansociety.org/directors.html

http://www.members.aol.com/mauivision/events
"SHAMANIC SPIRIT JOURNEYS to create your own healing and wisdom. Native American teachings and instruction in expanding your awareness. First Tuesday in Kihei, 3rd Tuesday in Haiku. 6:30-8:30 pm. Facilitated by Robin Youngblood and Maribeth Theisen (Cherokee). 573-2784 or 269-2923."

http://www.haleakalatimes.com/calendar8%2F11%2F2006.aspx
"Awakening The Goddess Within! Auntie Raina Maori and Robin Youngblood, Cherokee/Okanagan. Enliven the characteristics of the ancient goddesses within your soul through the teachings of the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa and Turtle Island. Stories of the goddesses, chant, dance and honoring ceremony. $100, 7am-5pm, BYOL. Call soon - this one is filling up fast: Haiku 573-2784."

And she franchises out more frauds. You can even do it mostly by email!
http://dreamingshaman.com/Initiations.htm
"Path of the White Wolf - A Year-long Apprenticeship Program
Students receive our book, The Path of the White Wolf and its accompanying Shamanic Journey CD, plus personal instruction with Rev. Robin Tekwelus Youngblood. This is a year-long study course around the Medicine Wheel.
Some students choose to live in Maui, Hawaii while they complete the apprenticeship program. Some choose to visit several times during the year and do the rest of their 'home' work via email and telephone.
Robin will share the teachings of her Indigenous Elders from around the world. She will teach you how to use the Medicine Wheel as a foundational tool for exploring yourself and your life; for healing self and relationships; for activating DNA wisdom and healing your ancestral lineage. You will make a drum, learn to dance and chant the ancient songs/dances; use certain herbs for cleansing and purification; learn to use sacred tools to cut cords, cleanse auric fields, disperse negative energies, heal psychic wounds. You will participate in sacred ceremonies such as Sweat Lodge; re-birth yourself through a Healing Quest; receive full Initiation into the Lodge of the White Wolf.
Please call 1-866-260-2716 or email belovedowl@yahoo.com for application and fees.
Are YOU a WorldWeaver, an Illuminator with a gift to give the World in this time?
Path of the White Wolf is a nine-moon initiation program designed to assist students to become World Weavers, Illuminators & Guides. Rev. Robin Tekwelus Youngblood personally mentors each student via email, telephone and in-person sessions throughout the nine-month cycle. Do you have dreams that you haven’t been able to fulfill? Blockages to your creative potential? Old wounds that you haven’t been able to release?
Each student accepted into this intensive initiation program will be required to Identify his or her Life Purpose. Through individual sessions designed with each participant’s goals in mind, Rev. Youngblood will assign exercises in Meditation, Sound, Dance, Ritual and Ceremony integrated with the ancient teachings of her Indigenous Medicine People. Each assignment is created to assist the student to Move Beyond the Limitations of Self and the hindrances of modern cultural beliefs.
Course materials include the book “Path of the White Wolf??? (co-authored by Robin Tekwelus Youngblood and Sandra D’Entremont) and its accompanying Shamanic Journey CD. Rev...If this course is calling you, YOU are the One!!"

Offline educatedindian

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2006, 07:10:47 pm »
About these alleged teachers of hers. Her claimed family members are mostly from Colville rez. I went to school with a Colville woman. She tells me there's a Catholic mission on the rez, but otherwise not much spiritual activity she recalls.
Other people she claims, like Banyaca, Highbear, and Henry Awae, are likely people she spoke to once or a few times and then is greatly exagerating about being "taught" by. Note that she never made such claims years ago, when her followers first spammed NAFPS, and that Highbear and Banyaca passed on long ago.
Some of the names she tosses around she's likely gotten wrong, if she ever met them at all.
"Siberian Shaman Misha and his niece, Natyashta Duvan" seem to have come to the US a grand total of once, sponsored by the core shamanism types.
Karen Timentwa only shows up in searches as someone who sponsored Looking Horse's trip to Washington State. I doubt she'd approve of ceremony selling and mix and match.
"Aboriginal elder Gagadju" I couldn't find. Gagadju is both a language and a tribe in Australia.
"Sahn Ashinna"?  Nothing. I did find a Sahn-Diane Ashena selling shamanism healing cassettes.

http://photosynthesis.com/Shamanism.html
SAHN-DIANE ASHENA:
The Use of the Human Voice for Healing
(ICSS-89) Tape 8: Beyond Music: The Application by Bruno Deschenes, The Use of the Human Voice for Healing by Sahn-Diane Ashena, and The Gaia Matrix by Rowena Pattee Kryder, Tape 9: Pattee Kryder ctd. 1 Audio Cassette.    #A670S-89.    $9.99

No mention anywhere of her being Dineh or Blackfoot. She did attend a Scholars of Asia conference.
http://www.hypersphere.com/isa/publications.html

The others I can't find outside of Youngblood's pay to pray workshops. Here's one of the franchisees.
http://www.medicineatyourfeet.com/teachers.html

redday

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2011, 01:25:40 am »
I ran across the "print" page on the internet re: dreamingshaman - Robin Youngblood. http://www.dreamingshaman.com
Here are some additional web addresses for your research:

If you look on the dreamingshaman site address you will see that a man named Beaver Chief has validated the work of Robin Youngblood. He is from the Lumni nation. I'm not sure that is a recognized tribe.

http://www.mauinews.com

http://mauigrandmothers.org
It seems Robin Youngblood was "chosen" ( this is in her own words) to be one of the Pacific Indigeneous Grandmothers.
http://tsonkwondiyon.rat.jogsy.com

It seems that the Maui grandmother's council is affliated with the World Council of Elders. Did not find any names of elders on this site.

The grandmother's council also has as its members women from different nations in Canada, also from the Iroquios Confederacy, and the Mohawk. Others are either Hawaiian, Samoan, and other South Pacific peoples and some who just discovered they had Native heritage.

To look further search for Pacifica Indigeneous Grandmothers Council.

Gossip has it that Youngblood was shut down - also that her elder told her twice to not run sweatlodges because she did not know the songs or the language. Last report she is still running lodges.

There was also a sundance on the Big Island , I think it was 2008 which was an offshoot from the international sundance done in Wyoming. There was  also a second sundance held in New Zealand 2010 of which Arvol Looking  Horse had sent a message saying it was not allowed.

Believe the third annual international sundance is summer 2011 either in Montana or Wyoming.
Make sure you read Robin's blogs on these sites. It will tell you a lot. One thing for sure she is very much against the Lakota. Youngblood has attended all of these.

Her thing is building sustainability but if you read the blogs you will see she asks for money and donations to build a spiritual center retreat which she tried to do in Arkansas but for some reason didn 't work out so she is trying to build this community on the Big Island. She even states she wants to leave the corporate world and do what she really enjoys.

The grandmother's council on Maui says it is organized to do things which Maui needs. The proposed acitvities include working with the youth, healing, medicine wheel teachings, etc. she has written a grant to cover these things.

However a full blood Native woman who lives on Maui was not told of the grandmother council or invited to be a grandmother or told about the events held on the Big Island in 2008,,,,though this new age group knows her.She is a 25 year sun dancer and has never poured water due to possible reprisal from the Lakota who would go against her  (she was a foster child due to her mother's alcoholism,her mother abandoned her) but does have connections,knows her family and is enrolled with her band.   She is highly educated with a master's degree and doing a PHD but a very quiet and humble person. She is in her mid 60s. She accepts with graciouseness that her tribe does not want her due to her marrying a Hawaiian and that the Lakota do not accept her as family. This has nothing to do with any serious infractions or immorality on her part..she says she is just following the rules and does not like confrontation.She is ignored and abused by her family, her band and the new age groups.

There was a report that Youngblood put some women up on the hill. Meanwhile she left to "do" some weddings which she is paid for. The fire was at her house and not at the vision quest site. This was when she got shut down and the fire had to be put out. The firekeeper went to some one else on the island and had the women go through that lodge to be wiped down. Rumors has it that this was not the first time she and the fire was shut down.

So women were on the hill, no fire there, no encampment with kitchen and family and friend supporters and she herself was not there to take care of the women.

To the grandmother who lives on Maui it was voiced by Youngblood that the Lakota do not have the right to tell others who can run ceremonies, sundance etc.Youngblood has said no one owns creator or spirit.  When the grandmother was at the sweat(one and only) she was told the lodge was about where they were headed. Her voice has been continually silenced about matters pertaining to tradition and particularly the Lakota way. However the second woman who runs sweats and helped Youngblood out when her fire was shut down says she is supported by Charlotte Black Elk who visited Maui and stayed at this woman's house and then had her daughter live with this woman. It was rummored that Black Elk sold some her father's things to this woman but the real issue was that Black Elk wanted to buy into the property this woman has. This woman on Maui   is claiming lineage to the Black Elk family through her husband.The meeting of this woman and Black Elk happened at the Maui powow in the late 90s.
 
It appears Youngblood is against culture and tradition as we all move into enlightened beings and transformation. It seems to be her viewpoint that Indian cultures create separation....her viewpoint being that we are all ONE.....lol......

The grandmother I spoke to on Maui has been disrespected. She is woman who married someone from Hawaii, has Hawaiian children and is ignored by her band because of it. children cannot be enrolled due to the fact the father is hawiian. Her children are alcoholic and completely disrespect their mother and ignore her. For Youngblood who preaches unity and oneness and knows this grandmother, this grandmother is not visited, food taken to her on Mother's Day or holidays when she is left alone. The family problems in this family have been seen as karma, loss of soul ( needing Youngblood's soul retrieval ceremony), new age philosophy used to explain the loss and the grieving this grandmother is going through.

Epiphany

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2011, 07:35:21 pm »
Quote
He is from the Lumni nation. I'm not sure that is a recognized tribe.

If you mean the Lummi nation:

Quote
We are a Self-Governing Nation within the United States, the third largest tribe in Washington State, serving over 5,000 members. We manage nearly 13,000 acres of tidelands on the Lummi Reservation.

http://www.lummi-nsn.org/website/index2.html



Epiphany

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2011, 07:44:33 pm »
Quick note on Beaver Chief:

Quote
Beaver Chief was a unique, multifaceted, uninhibited Northwest Coast Native American who came from a long line of Shamans and Chiefs who have passed the accumulated wisdom (known as the Traditional Teachings) from generation to generation for many thousands of years. He passed away on June 8, 2001 and we will miss him dearly.
http://www.globalvoicesradio.org/about.html

Quote
Rev. Fred Beaver Chief Jameson, 46, was a member of the Lummi Nation, a spiritual leader, musician, and social activist, who worked among Seattle’s Native American community and also in the local art and music scenes.

He lectured across North America and Europe; he’d married a Swiss woman and was planning to move to Zurich. He was the Seattle School District’s Native American liaison in the ’70s. He led drum circles and made recordings of Northwest Coast Salish music, including the 1999 CD Red Cedar Medicine Circle Songs.

http://www.miscmedia.netarcadia.com/2001/06/18/74/

Offline educatedindian

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2011, 11:27:37 pm »
Merged with older thread. Note that there's long been lots of contradictory claims by Youngblood of who her people are. But Lakota aren't one of the people she claims, and she sells pseudo Lakota ceremony to Nuagers far away from protests, way in Hawaii. Her credibility has always been zero.

Epiphany

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2011, 04:21:27 pm »
Anyone know her birth name? I'm curious if she is indeed related to the Raymond family of Colville as she claims.

I understand that even if she is there are still major problems with her actions. If she is not and is falsely claiming this heritage - that would be good to know too.

Genealogy can sometimes be pieced together through online resources, her birth name would help.

redday

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2011, 05:38:15 pm »
I don't understand if she is indeed part Indian why she has to have a story. There are so many Indian people who live in urban areas and other places - in fact over 50% of Indian peole live in urban areas. It would seem to be easier to just tell the truth.
I believe the 'story" comes in part to cover her behind...as she does know that Arvol Looking Horse and other Lakota make public statements about such events..............I thought it interesting that she brought Canadian Indian women into the grandmother council organization...I think aproppriation is not such an issue there in Canada  but is in the states.....
For example for me: I am enrolled, full blood, was enrolled at birth but went through a series of foster homes. Truth is when you live away from home you often are not welcomed back or it takes time to integrate back in. If you have children it can be even more difficult. Although this does not stop one from visiting.
I don't do things such as teaching - and if I do share info it is actual history(I have a degree in American Indian Studies) for the historical content and contemporary issues I'm interested in, not because I don't know who I am. Most of you probably know many,many people especially Americans do not know this history.
 but whenever I have I always tell the truth about my background. I am enrolled but I make sure I let people know why I do not live at home. It isn't that I can't but is it worth all the pain, especially for my children and grandchildren.
So it would be better for her to simply say who she is and why and why her life is as it is - she is not the first person to have to live apart.....but I notice those who seem to make a big deal out of being native are usually people like that. Something to prove - I personally don't have to prove anything when I know who I am and where I'm from....as far as choice where to live - that is my choice- and the reasons are valid...
simply said and easy to do......IN that choice neither Indian people or white people are comfortable with the truth...but it is what it is- I am a product of history - I didn't make history......
I do know of one Raymond family member who was in Hawaii at one time but....very negative exerpience - of having me do all the work on our annual pow wow ( have had pow wows here for over 40 years at the same location on Oahu) and then did not file papers, sabotaged efforts  and took all the credit.............

Don't persoanlly have a problem with her doing her shaman thing i.e. as in Micahel harner -----but trying to suggest it is native american is troubling - and then to charge money for it is even worse.
One woman I know says she went to one of her sweats but was very uncomfortable. Youngblood had the women moaning, screaming, crying, carrying on in about the second or third round.....seems it was part of the soul retrieval process..... and this woman I know said she also got very sick after the sweat....
I told her  anytime you feel uncomfortable t hen leave or don't go in the first place.......

Offline wolfhawaii

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #9 on: May 12, 2011, 02:13:28 am »
Thanks for your post, Redday; can you please post something on the Intro thread? Aloha....

Offline debbieredbear

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #10 on: May 12, 2011, 08:17:21 pm »
I have a fiend that has been to sundances in the dakotas, and also has met many spiritual people. She was told by 2 well meaning white women that she needed to listen to youngblood's tapes so she could "further her spiritual education".  ??? That just was kinda strange and sad because they are the kind who will give $$ to this "shaman."

redday

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #11 on: May 16, 2011, 06:18:03 am »
I have a fiend that has been to sundances in the dakotas, and also has met many spiritual people. She was told by 2 well meaning white women that she needed to listen to youngblood's tapes so she could "further her spiritual education".  ??? That just was kinda strange and sad because they are the kind who will give $$ to this "shaman."
that is iteresting....people simply don't get it. they don't get the seriouseness of being qualified to run ceremony . I run into it all the time and its like they don't have common sense. I use all kinds of examples to help them get it but its like talking to a brick wall literally very frustrating. I don't know if its a lack of education about what Native spirituality is....or what. It doesn' seem always that they don't care, its like everything else with them....its like "no comprhension" like it just doesn't sink in.....

Offline debbieredbear

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #12 on: May 16, 2011, 08:36:30 pm »
No, it doesn't sink in. And they like the "showboaters" the ones who self promote. They don't undestand that the people with REAL power, don't brag on it.

redday

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #13 on: May 17, 2011, 12:07:24 am »
I will post a link to a video on You tube where Youngblood was interviewed about the Pacifica Indigeneous grandmothers on Maui. And will post in reply to some one's elses post about the 13 Indigeneous Grandmothers, particulalry Agnes Pilgrim. She has done a lot of good work and is an important elder in her tribe so that might be helpful regarding them....and clear up some misconceptions about that group.....
Far as I know the Pacifica group is not attached to the original group. But what was said by Youngblood was that the original group had said to start your own group. Perhaps she tried to get into that group..I don't know. I also came across an interview that was done with Agnes and I will post that also. I personally do not have anything against  that group. I have a friend that lives there and knows this grandma and she is real.......

redday

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Re: "Dreaming Shaman--Robin Youngblood
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2011, 12:54:52 am »
Here are the links I spoke about in the last post:

http://www.youtube.com
Search for: Maui Well Being part 3 interview with Youngblood
Part 1 and 2 might be interesting for information about the mind set of Maui....this is a different kind of place

http://intercontinentalcry.org  Interview Agnes Pilgrim
(hope this works)

On you tube there are various interviews with Agnes Pilgrim Just put it in search...I don't consider her a plastic shaman  but...others may......