NAFPS Forum

https://www.hcn.org/articles/protect-sandia-mountain-our-church/

QuoteProtect Sandia Mountain, our church
The Pueblo of Sandia urges lawmakers to transfer lands within the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Area.
Stuart Paisano and Donald Avila — August 21, 2026

FOR CENTURIES UPON CENTURIES, the people of the Pueblo of Sandia have lived in relationship with Sandia Mountain and the Rio Grande in what is now known as New Mexico. Even when our lives were at risk during incursions by Spanish, Mexican, and American governments, we cared for the lands and the waters. And we prayed for the health of our communities and the world around us all.

Sacred to our community since time immemorial, Sandia Mountain is our church, our protector and our source of well-being. It is also home to wildlife and important ecosystems, and a source of beauty and recreation for hundreds of thousands of people who live in and visit the Middle Rio Grande Valley.

Today, we ask lawmakers and members of the public to respect our culture, traditional knowledge and sovereignty — and to support our efforts to further protect Sandia Mountain, especially in today's rapidly changing and unpredictable world.

"We ask lawmakers and members of the public to respect our culture, traditional knowledge and sovereignty."

Congress should transfer land within the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Area from the U.S. Forest Service, within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, within the Department of the Interior.

We appreciate the work of local Forest Service employees who have done their best to protect this special area through changing political administrations. Yet we have all seen the litter and graffiti, deferred maintenance, broken fence lines, illegal trails, violations of occupancy rules and degradation by disrespectful people who care neither for the sacredness nor beauty of Sandia Mountain.

We have also witnessed the destruction of cultural sites and encroachment into sensitive areas. These are places the federal government agreed to protect when Congress passed the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust Area Act in 2022.

That law was the result of decades of court cases and agreements based around attempts by the Pueblo to regain access to lands originally granted to the Pueblo by the King of Spain in 1748. It was later confirmed by the U.S. Congress in 1858 under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo when the Spanish grant, as confirmed by Congress, called for the eastern boundary of the Pueblo's land to be set at the "main ridge" of the mountain. The 1859 survey – performed in only four days – arbitrarily meandered the foothills near the Pueblo rather than the main ridge of the Sandia Mountain area, a loss of approximately 10,000 acres from the Pueblo's land grant.

The T'uf Shur Bien Act was an attempt to rectify the loss of about 10,000 acres from the Pueblo of Sandia's original land grant which had extended to the ridgeline of Sandia Mountain. It allows tribal members "free and unrestricted access to the Area for traditional and cultural uses," protects private landowners living within the claim area, defends in perpetuity the wilderness character of the area, and prevents logging, mining, and other development.

In requesting the transfer of lands from the USDA to the Interior Department, the Pueblo of Sandia held more than 75 meetings with lawmakers, neighbors, businesses, community members and others to explain why this move is important to the Pueblo.

As a sovereign nation, we have broken neither promises nor agreements. Yet, disinformation persists in the media and within some communities.

The Pueblo of Sandia is not denying access to landowners or responsible, respectful recreational users. When the land is transferred, all authorized existing uses or activities and existing public rights of way for roads and utility corridors will remain. Visitors can still enjoy the area. And the lands, waters and wildlife of Sandia Mountain will still be protected — today and for future generations.

By managing the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Area, the Pueblo will be able to better protect its culture, traditions and way of life. 

The Pueblo will also be able to better protect the mountain from future development, further degradation and even catastrophic wildfire. By offering local solutions, resources and strategies tailored to the unique cultural and physical landscape of this area, the Pueblo of Sandia can facilitate intergovernmental coordination efforts for emergency responses, public safety and law enforcement.

To retain its religious and traditional meaning to the Pueblo, Sandia Mountain must be preserved. Sandia Mountain must also be conserved and protected for the health of the Middle Rio Grande Valley and future generations. here is no one with a longer record of love and care for the mountain than those of us who have been here longest.

More information about The Pueblo of Sandia:

https://www.sandiapueblo.nsn.us/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandia_Pueblo

He attended an Indigenous Peoples' Day event in Detroit, Michigan.

Uploaded here is photo of him at the event, with his staff.

In response to this post and photo (which included photo of the older woman with him) he wrote "what a beautiful day spending time with great aunties".

Another woman posted on Facebook:

QuoteVekesohvoKomaestse Thomas Whitefeather
Special Thanks from Delta Team Red Tiger Assam
For Turtle Island SEAL seer and Native Turtle Island spiritual support and natural and Skies and
Honors

She now tags him in frequently to praise and thank him. I did not include all the emojis she used. Thomas and followers use emojis heavily.

From what I can see on Facebook, he goes after older women. Heads up, Detroit.

Quote from: tecpaocelotl on March 08, 2011, 01:25:54 AMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2olg_Zk2V8
Anyone know anything on this? It's a recent video from National Geographic.

Pretty will explained on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras_Indians

A question, several photos and many replies here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/157030671571580/permalink/845384016069572

There is another, more informative topic here, with the same name:

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4237.0 [Mardi Gras Indians?]

The book is mentioned here, together with seven other related books:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/best-books-about-cults_l_65e697d3e4b0d2a2475a7efb

Related articles at the same source:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cult-leaders-personality-traits-common_l_65c17191e4b0dbc806adcdba

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bad-relationship-can-be-like-being-in-a-cult_l_6ab413f7e4b0dab46c25bda6

Quote from: debbieredbear on July 19, 2023, 10:05:07 PMMight be worth a read to some to learn about how cults use language.  The book is Cultish by Amanda Montell.

Interesting U.S. book. It has it's own Wikipedia article, as has the author, too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Montell

I don't really know what these sites are, (pirate copies? Please beware!), but the whole book can be read or downloaded here:

https://files.addictbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Cultish-The-Language-of-Fanaticism.pdf
https://dn760102.eu.archive.org/0/items/cultish-the-language-of-fanaticism-epub/Cultish_the_Language_of_Fanaticism_EPUB.pdf

The book at Publishing Houses:
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/cultish-amanda-montell
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/amanda-montell-interview-on-cultish/ [Interview with the author.]

About the book here: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55338982-cultish

And of course at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cultish-Language-Fanaticism-Amanda-Montell/dp/0062993151

And at the author's own website: https://amandamontell.com/cultish/

https://shamaniceducation.org/our-board/

I will single out board members who claim shamanic background. Quite a few, but not all:

QuoteMary Olivar
... Mary also volunteers as a leader for Shamanism without Borders, the global response network of shamanic practitioners who tend to traumatic events. ...

Steve Vierra – Treasurer
... Stephen is a shamanic practitioner, musician and song writer and has been studying the traditions of shamanism here in the U.S., Mexico, and Peru for many years.

Gabe Nosseir – Vice President
... As a Shamanic Practitioner with a Master's Degree in Mental Health Counseling, and a former soccer coach and player, he has an affinity to apply Shamanic wisdom with the athletes and leaders he works with. ...

Mikel Bruce
... Mikel also has substantial experience with shamanism and has made multiple trips to South America. ...

Madeline Gelmetti
... She has practiced energy-work for fifteen years and is passionate about studying shamanism and shamanic practices ...

Stephen Meyer
... He is a long time student of shamanic practices and looks to bring what he's learned to the leaders he works with. ... 

I think it is legititmate to study, but practice? To rephrase slightly a famous WW II quote (Field Marshal Montgomery, 1945):

Who are these people? What do they really want?

You're welcome!

Kaia Ra has written further on turning in her "64-page written testimony to the United States Attorney's Office in downtown Phoenix".

She continues to perform as a Joan of Arc divine hero martyr figure. Her drive to the office was dramatic: "unseen legion of angelic guardians and ancestral souls escorted us through heavy traffic".

She continues to claim that she suffers greatly and withstands immense persecution.

She continues to gather followers, convince them that they too are suffering ritual satanic persecution, and that she has all the answers to their suffering.

She uses pseudo-legal language and claims that she knows special legal loopholes.

"My witness statement is now a federally registered report." This sounds fancy and special but it isn't. All she has done is written up her claims, apparently with the attention of an unnamed attorney, and handed it in. Her papers are not in a special approved category. She has not given the public access to those 64 pages.

Kaia Ra is running an ongoing, potentially dangerous, personality cult. She's been active on this level for at least 10 years.

https://kaiaraofficial.substack.com/p/let-the-cost-be-known-essay-no-001

Quote from: Sparks on October 10, 2026, 04:00:52 PMThe whole topic is misplaced. The correct board will be "Research Needed".
I hope an administrator or moderator can move it.

Thanks!