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Is now being referred to as "Reverend Mother Mary Elizabeth Thunder of the Blue Star Church". I think I'll go gag now...

>hurl<    
new franchisee opportunities?
http://www.marythunder.com/BlueStarChurch/ministers.htm

See remarks:

http://www.biochem.uthscsa.edu/pipermail/nn-dialogue/2002-April/000880.html

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Jonathan B. Hook, Ph.D. jonhook at wt.net
Mon Apr 22 16:39:06 CDT 2002

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Friends-

Beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, San Antonio College will be holding a
conference on multiculturalism and slapping the Indian community in the
face. (http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/portales/conf.htm)

The keynote speaker for the conference is "Chief" Michael Hull.  Mr.
Hull is a non-Indian Austin attorney and author of Sun Dancing: A
Spiritual Journey on the Red Road
(http://www.parkstpress.com/titles/sundan.htm#Author) He will be
speaking on Indian spirituality.  Mr. Hull is closely associated with
Thunderhorse Ranch, a New Age center in south Texas run by Mary
Thunder.  In her excellent American Indian Quarterly article titled
"Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of
Native American Spirituality"
(http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/aiq/24.3aldred.html), Lisa Aldred says this
about Mary Thunder:  "Not all those designated as "plastic" by Native
American activists publish books. There are quite a number who run
workshops, seminars, or centers claiming to teach Native American
spiritual practice. For example, one non-Native American woman who calls
herself Mary Thunder runs a New Age center in Texas where she conducts
sweats, pipe ceremonies, and talks with space aliens through Max, the
crystal skull."  On Mary Thunder's web site Mr. Hull is listed as one of
her "ministers of the Blue Star Church."
(http://www.marythunder.com/BlueStarChurch/minister.htm)   His book also
includes a foreword by Mary Thunder, and the majority of reviews are by
New Age authors.

I will not presume to judge Mr. Hull's spiritual authenticity.  I do
find it outrageous that San Antonio College chooses a non-Indian for its
keynote speaker on Indian spirituality, and one so openly tied to an
individual regarded in the Indian community as an exploiter of Native
spirituality.

Please let me know your thoughts on this, and contact Dr. Robert W.
Ramsay, Chancellor, Alamo Community College District (210-208-8000) at
rramsay at accd.edu who will also be speaking at the opening ceremonies.
Please convey the inappropriateness of not including speakers from the
American Indian community on the topic of Indian spirituality.

wa-dv

Jonathan Hook
American Indian Resource Center
San Antonio, Texas
210-655-1300
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Drum Making at Thunder Ranch
Exciting News from Thunder Ranch for Fall 2004!
      Recently we received our first grant ever from the Dreyfus Health Foundation through their &#147;Problem Solving for Better Health Workshop.&#148; Home based in New York City, The Dreyfus Foundation hosts workshops like these all over the world to help individuals develop their ideas for improving their communities, and put them into action. The grant is to hold a series of drumming classes for a group of boys from Woodside Trails Therapeutic Camp in nearby Smithville, TX.

      Our ideas and ways of helping people through the teachings of Thunder and her Elders have always involved hard work, ceremony, and prayer. Since 1996, Mary Thunder and all of those at Thunder Ranch have had a wonderful relationship with Executive Director Bebe Gaines and Woodside Trails. The kids & counselors alike, who have come here to work, play & pray, have become a part of the Blue Star community. Vision Quest, Sweat Lodge, Sundance, and Pipe Ceremonies are among the ceremonies that have brought these boys to Thunder Ranch over the years. Through these ceremonies they have heard the drum played and the songs sung. Many of the boys have expressed a great interest in learning to sing these songs and to play and keep their own drum. By means of the grant from the Dreyfus Health Foundation we will be able to host a series of drum & song classes and ultimately provide these boys with the opportunity to make and connect with their own drum in Suzanne Day&#146;s Drum Making Workshop.

      Why would such a project be funded by a health foundation? Recent studies and developments in brain research and music therapy have produced strong evidence that &#147;drumming changes brain wave activity, inducing a state of calm and focused awareness&#148; (Ben Schwartz, MA, MFT). Drumming Therapy is being used all over the country to help kids build self-awareness, self-esteem, listening skills, cooperation & patience among other valuable coping skills such as frustration tolerance and ability to stay &#147;on task.&#148; For centuries Indigenous cultures around the world have &#147;used the drum to bring balance and rejuvenation to a person through their participation in dancing, singing, or listening to the heartbeat&#148; (Wacipi Pow Wow, Twin Cities Public Television). Science is finally catching up with the ancient knowledge of the Spirit.


We Invite You to Join us at Thunder Ranch for a

Drum Making Workshop with Suzanne Day


Date: Saturday~ October 2nd, 2004                    Time: 10am-4pm

           Sunday~   October 3rd, 2004                     Drum Celebration

&#147;Come have fun as we custom design our own drums. The drum is the heartbeat of the Mother Earth and opens windows of opportunity for transformation and healing. This is a unique opportunity to birth your own sacred ceremonial instrument. Suzanne will provide all the materials to make a standard 15&#148; single sided hoop drum and beater. Guidance will also be given for the care-taking of this sacred item&#148;  


Suzanne Day is a Sundancer and Minister of the Blue Star Church. She has had a Shamanic Healing practice and has taught Shamanism for the past 16 years. Suzanne is a woman of great insight and integrity who focuses on fun!


Pre-registration is requested by September 19, to allow time to order materials.

Workshop Cost: $140

The grant we received will greatly help us pay for the drum making materials for the boys of WTTC. However, it does not cover everything. We wanted to make this opportunity available to all but in order to do so, we need to ask that each pay the workshop cost for the materials to make your drum.


Stay for the Saturday Night Sweat Lodge and Pray with your New Drum!

There will be a Healing Drum Ceremony on Sunday to Dance & Celebrate Life  

Here is their site
http://www.dhfglobal.org/

The above is a "division of The Rogosin Institute"
http://www.rogosin.org/

and they are affiliated with:
 New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Weill Medical College of Cornell University