every (supposedly)native person i've done (pretend)ceremony with is on your lists here i believe.
i stopped about 7 yrs ago. i got tired of the bs family 'politics'. and the behavior of the people from the top down that i had interaction with left a lot to be desired in my personal opinion. i knew the person responsible for our area wasn't native, but i assumed his (adopted) father was. seems there is a lot of mystery around that after my reading here. been to pretend sweats, luampi (sp), yuipi,
sundance, canunpa.... i have a pretend canunpa, made w/ real pipestone that i wonder what to do with. it has personal meaning because a friend made it, and when he got burned by a member of the family(another adopted son) he gave it to me. he knew i was smart and i really think he knew that i was gonna be the next to figure it out. he had seen me stand up for myself and our group all the way against the top man out west. when i got that (fake) canunpa and prayed it really was the beginning i think of me realizing i didn't need all the crud that went with trying to live good w/ that family. still, i'm white and i drink some beer, and i cuss, and i don't think i walk truly enough to have something like this from someone on heres (or multiple peoples) sacred land - even if it is fake. it is red pipestone, and if i should send it to someone, or drive it to them from here in western nc, i will do that.
i went in with good intentions, although after reading a whole lot here i am positive that i had a good bit of the white savior thing going even if i kept it secret, and a lot of entitlement issues. a lot of responses i read here in the really long threads, i see a lot of things i used to would have said.
i really appreciate y'all being here and doing what you do.
