NAFPS Forum

One of our donors, (NANAI - Netherlands Association for North American Indians - see intro) visited a lecture of the so called medicine man Stephen McCullough. I asked him to do so and try to get some information about his doings. He (Roel) told me on the phone that McCullough was not a really gifted speaker, difficult to understand. In his audiance were mainly young newage women in hippi 1960 dresses and listening to him like he was a holy man.
Here is Roel's story:

"This evening (April 25th) at 7.00 pm I witnessed a lecture by Steve McCullough in the University Students' Church in my hometown Nijmegen, Netherlands. McCullough is being coached here by a group living close to Nijmegen, having the website www.canku-luta.net. They managed to get the (unsuspecting) association of anthropology students ("Quetzalcoatl") to organize the audience and activities.
He will be in this country for a few days, and then continue his European Spring Tour  mainly in Belgium.
He will do at least one sweat lodge ceremony in Belgium.
This coming autumn, he will do a new tour of Europe.
In the longer run, his ambition is to bring the Sun Dance over to Europe.
He and his supporters wil try to achieve this goal not in Western Europe, but in Middle Europe, in former communist countries.
I did not talk to him in person, but got this information from one of his supporters of this Canku Luta  group. That man also told me they chose to hold sun Dances that far east because of less severe regulations, less government red tape, and lower prices for renting camp grounds etc.
I suspect another motivation as well:
the anti-New Age movement and awareness overthere is much weaker or non-existent. There are no people like you two (Trisha and Leo) to stop them..."
 
Roel van Eijsden

(I will keep you updated on any information, from Roel or others, about McCullough and de groups in the South of Netherlands and Belgium who are involved).

Stephen will be doing sweats in Belgium again at the end of the month through Canku luta. If there are any Lakota people close by (UK etc) who would like to see what this guy's up to, I can offer a place to stay.

Meanwhile, here's his opinion on the protection of ceremonies statement from Arvol Looking Horse:
 
 >
 >May 30, 2003
 >
 >Hello friends,
 >
 >My name is Stephen McCullough.
 >
 >When I lived in White River, South Dakota I was
 involved in the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee. I
 have fought for Indian rights and issues ever since,
 including the protection of Native American burial
 grounds, performing reburial ceremonies and getting
 laws passed to protect the graves of our ancestors.
 For the past 12 years I have been the leader of the
 first Sundance east of the Mississippi River. The Salt
 Creek Sundance was begun to honor the spirits of our
 ancestors and to protect their burial grounds from
 looters.
 >
 >I want to begin by sharing some experiences I've had
 over the years listening to my elders and learning
 from them.
 >
 >We all have seen that thousands of non-Indian people
 and Indians from other tribes have been asked to put
 their pipes away and not go on their Vision Quest, or
 pour water in the sweatlodge ceremony, or sundance.
 >
 >So my question is, could the more than three hundred
 tornadoes that recently occurred across America with
 all the ensuing casualties be a sign as to what can
 happen when pipe people stop praying and are asked to
 stop their Sundancing commitments?
 >
 >I say these things to explain that many elders say
 that when a pipekeeper puts their pipe away, or
 doesn't keep up their commitments, then that person
 may have a tragedy in their family or community.
 >
 >I want people to understand what can happen when they
 turn away from the commitments they have made to the
 Creator, even if asked to do so by the very leaders
 who introduced them to the ways of the pipe. All those
 who have stopped their commitment to Sundance or have
 not fulfilled other obligations they have made with
 the pipe, should consider why they chose to pick up
 the pipe in the first place.
 >
 >As a Sundance leader, I had a vision many years ago
 to not only honor the spirits of the ancestors of this
 area, but to host a ceremony that would bring all
 nations together, both Indian and non-Indian.
 >
 >Back in the 80's a Lakota medicine man put me on the
 hill at Wounded Knee, S.D. The second day it was so
 hot. I remember I had to lie down and I laid my pipe
 on the altar while I lay on the ground. A spirit came
 and took me so far in the heavens that when I looked
 down on the earth, I was so far up it looked as small
 as a golf ball. I saw a lot of havoc and destruction
 taking place on the earth and it looked like the earth
 was coming to an end. An eagle brought me back into
 the center, back to the earth, and later it was
 explained to me what I saw.
 >
 >He said, "Never lay your pipe down. If you ever lay
 it down again this is what will happen to this world."
 
 >
 >In that way he explained to me the seriousness of
 putting your pipe down.
 >
 >Stanley Looking Horse talked with me personally about
 how to run our Sundance and the things he would like
 to see done at our Sundance. We agreed and he gave his
 blessing.
 >
 >Every year we've taken tobacco offerings to Green
 Grass, S.D., asking for blessings from the White
 Buffalo Calf Pipe for a good, strong Sundance.
 >
 >Now his son, at the urging of others, is asking
 Sundance leaders like myself to dishonor his father's
 teachings by excluding non-Indian people who have been
 welcomed many places in the past.
 >
 >Many have shared our ways with non-Indians through
 the years for many reasons. But I can only speak for
 myself that I shared it with non-Indians because there
 are many non-Indian people who have good hearts and
 want to know the right way. I've met people who had
 dreams or visions of the pipe way, and they had no
 idea what it meant. They didn't even know American
 Indians were still living. When I saw those things I
 knew those spirits had already called them so how
 could I refuse them?
 >
 >It was non-Indian people who fought for us in the
 court system so we could have our freedom of religion.
 We should give credit where it is due. We should offer
 them respect. The same respect we want for ourselves
 and our traditions.
 >
 >

One of our elders once said that the day would come
 when every nation on the earth will come to the sacred
 Tree of Life in order to preserve the earth itself.
 >
 >So please, my friends, keep the Sundances going.
 >
 >Keep your commitments where you are accepted and you
 are treated with dignity and respect as a human being,
 
 >
 >Recent events came so close to not allowing
 non-Indians to dance because of the exploitation of
 our ways for money, fame, or for power. When you
 re-enter the circle follow it in the traditional
 manner of our Lakota people, not putting your own ways
 into it.
 >
 > This is a second chance so please be careful with
 what we have shared with you. The Rosebud Sioux nation
 and many other tribes ruled against the proclamation
 from Arvol Looking Horse, who tried to deny
 non-Indians and others who aren't recognized a place
 and a way to pray. Now some of those who don't want
 non-Indians to be at ceremonies want to bring the
 government in to enforce the "rules."
 >
 >But remember, my friends, in the old days the
 government and others would go after one tribe at a
 time, and as long as it didn't affect our tribe we
 weren't too concerned about it. Now we see the same
 thing happening to our Sundance grounds, as they are
 being targeted one at a time.
 >
 >Can't we do this without the government? When we look
 at history the United States government broke nearly
 every treaty they made with us, and now some are
 asking them to regulate who can and can't dance. Isn't
 that what we were fighting in the 60s and early 70s
 when we weren't allowed to practice our traditions?
 Before winning our freedom of religion it was the
 government that told us what we could and couldn't do
 on our own lands with our own beliefs. Are we becoming
 hypocrites?
 >
 >I have been helping at Sundances on Pine Ridge when
 people would come out to cause trouble and try to shut
 them down, making it hard on the dancers and on their
 families.
 >
 >Like Tecumseh and his vision of uniting all the
 nations in a confederacy to make a stand, we can join
 together to protect the sacredness of our traditions
 by supporting and helping each other against those who
 would like to cause chaos between us and shut us down.
 We can also work together to protect the sacredness of
 our traditional ways, without the government.
 >
 >And as long as the people conducting the ceremonies
 are doing it in the right and traditional ways of our
 people we should help them, not try to stop them.
 >
 >With so much tragedy in the world, with our families
 and with our people, we all need a place to pray. We
 need a place to pray together, with one heart and one
 mind.
 >
 >We need to pray as we have never prayed before as a
 nation because the pipe doesn't force anybody out.
 >
 >I felt there was much that needed to be said and
 nobody is doing it. This is not a time to slander or
 condemn anyone just because we disagree on this one
 issue. Arvol Looking Horse has done so much good
 throughout the world and I encourage all pipe carriers
 to continue praying for him and his family. He is a
 man of great honor and I respect him. But taking away
 a person's way of following the Creator is not
 something I can support.
 >
 >Let's dance.
 >
 >Mitakuye Oyasin
 >
 >Steve McCullough
 >
 >
 >
 >You can contact Steve McCullough at
 >
 >PO Box 141, Edwardsport, IN. 47528

McCullough's also been falsely claiming he was designated a successor to an actual Lakota medicine man, Vernal Cross. AIM Indiana also has been trying to stop him for years.

http://www.nanews.org/archive/1997/nanews05.039
"RE: Vernal Cross Claims Denied" ---------
 Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 23:11:11 -0500
 From: tusweca <tusweca@TWLakes.Net>
 Subj: Vernal Cross
   UUCP email
 Vernal Cross, Oglala Sioux Medicine Man
   On September 4th, 1997 Vernal Cross, Oglala Sioux medicine man passed away after suffering a massive heart attack at his home in South Dakota.   Since that time his widow and children have learned that a number of people have come forth claiming to have inherited some part of his hochoka, or spiritual way.  His widow, Darlene Cross, has asked me to post the following information.  "No part of  Vernal's hochoka was
 passed on.  All of his hochoka remains with the family and when he passed away he took his power with him.  Anyone who claims otherwise is
 subject to arrest and imprisonment under federal law".  The following people have made claims of spiritual gifts and/or authority from Vernal
 which Darlene states are false.
 - Steve McCullough: Bicknell Indiana"

Thanks so much for that Al. I'll add it to his page.

Trisha

Wish I had a nickle for every person, Indian or white, who claimed to have been at Wounded Knee. I have known several people who really WERE there, as about 1/4 of the participants were from this area.  MOst told me that with the exception of the Vietnam Vets who were the medics, few whites were there.

I know who this Steve McCullough is. He has been running a sun dance in southern ILL under the name All My Relations Sun Dance, he has a large following in the Peoria ILL. region. Many of them are from the Native American Fellowship in Edwards ILL. This sun dance advertises their dance on tee shirts. Which I have seen on many people here in ILL.This sun dance is very similiar to the one in Nashville, Ind. And many are followers of both groups. I know that there has been things that have gone on at these so called sun dances that are not  Native nor Native tradition.

Note: I have the proclamation in front of me. The reason behind it, is because of what many non native people are doing out there, watering down the traditions to fit their needs. So are your rates the same as Two Hawks, Steve to carry a hawk feather? Last I heard it was 50.00 and you were given a geniune hawk feather card to carry in your wallet. And do you use the same medicine in the water in the Inipis likeTwo Hawks ? Just wondering.

More extensive and recent thread on McCullough is here: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1245.0

Quote from: raven on October 17, 2005, 01:25:44 AM
I know who this Steve McCullough is. He has been running a sun dance in southern ILL under the name All My Relations Sun Dance, he has a large following in the Peoria ILL. region. Many of them are from the Native American Fellowship in Edwards ILL. This sun dance advertises their dance on tee shirts. Which I have seen on many people here in ILL.This sun dance is very similiar to the one in Nashville, Ind. And many are followers of both groups. I know that there has been things that have gone on at these so called sun dances that are not  Native nor Native tradition.

Hate to disagree but  Steve does NOT run the sundance in Illinois and the people there would be very upset for you saying that. Last I knew it was native run by Leonard Crow Dog's sun.

who is leonard's sun???
It is the same sun we see in the sky???


There should not be a sun dnace in Illnios
there should not be sun dance
where white people dance.
This new age thing is just plain wrong.

Oh excuse me.... sOn.  ::) 

And by the way... that's ...... Leonard's (with a capital L)  :P


I think there could be a native dance anywhere need be. My point is it has to be NATIVE dance.  ;)

It depend on how you see the person
leonard is just leonard to me

Quote from: Walks Proud on January 15, 2009, 04:17:35 AM
Oh excuse me.... sOn.  ::) 

And by the way... that's ...... Leonard's (with a capital L)  :P


I think there could be a native dance anywhere need be. My point is it has to be NATIVE dance.  ;)

tell me what give you the right to decide about my people ceremonies??
Are you Lakota???

Actually the person who made the statement of this being in Ill, made a mistake and they are no longer here to correct it even if they wanted to.  There are multilple threads on Steve McCullough here.  His running for profit Sun Dances in Indiana and elsewhere against the wishes of the Lakota.   It's their right to protect what is theirs.