NAFPS Forum

The list of sites that used us as a resource vs exploiter James Arthur Ray keeps growing. So far:

NY Times (freelancer John Dougherty)

Chicago Tribune (reporter Daniel Simmons)

CBS News- Early Show (reporter Elizabeth Bacelar)

WNYC Radio- The Takeaway (producer David Fazekas) request for interview, unfortunately I was busy teaching at the time.

Anderson Cooper 360 of CNN (producer Ismael Estrada) same as above

People magazine (reporter Howard Breur)

Arizona Daily Star http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/blogs/senorreporter

NY Travel Writers Assn http://nytwa.info/edwetschler

Rodale magazine http://www.rodale.com/deaths-sweat-lodges?page=0%2C1

Body + Soul magazine http://www.wholeliving.com/

We've gotten a couple of nice compliments in the mail and another magazine is using us as a resource, Dreamcatcher magazine online which is Native owned and run with a Hopi publisher.

Also one Native Hawaiian group and a Jewish man.

---------------------------

Thank you for your work! We are fighting the same fight with Huna books and people who say they are teaching Native Hawaiian traditions. I found you through an article in the New York Times. Blessings to you.

Makana

Makana Risser Chai

author of "Hawaiian Massage Lomilomi: Sacred Touch of Aloha"
recipient of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority "Keep It Hawai'i" 2008 Award
for authentic portrayal of Hawaiian cultural traditions
www.LomilomiBook.com

editor of "Na Mo'olelo Lomilomi: Traditions of Hawaiian Massage and Healing"
from the Bishop Museum
http://www.lomilomibook.com/namoolelobook.php


---------------------

Shalom friend,

I love your site!  As one who has been very interested in Native American culture I am glad your site exists!  I feel for you, just like our Torah has been bastardized by Christians and has led to the death of millions of Jews and Native Americans, I try my best to correct the ignorance people have of Native Americans.  Both of our religions were nearly wiped out repeatedly in the past, and now crooks are trying to do it from within to both of us (see Messianic Jews for example).

Jews and Native Americans share all to much in common and I stand by you brothers and sisters!  Shalom and may your site bring light to others who are trying to destroy that which you hold dear.   For a Jew, a spiritual holocaust is worse than a physical one, for we rather give up our life than give up our sacred beliefs and traditions.

-Vladoianu

i want to personally thank you for your input on the az sweatlodge deaths under national, at indian country today. reading the comments there i found this site.  I have a AIM question but don't want it public. how can i ask you without putting it on the board?

You can PM Al, Educated Indian by going to his profile.

Got this nice message.

---------------

Your site inspired me to write an article; enjoy!

"The Fine Line: Between Partnerships and Plunder"

- Robert Animikii Horton, Anishinaabe, Rainy River First Nations


Many of our generation, partnerships built and cultivated and maintained across once great ethnic and cultural divides and boundaries, speak and aspire to ideals; the ideals of circumstance, progress, and improvement in days ahead where the fires of justice extinguish the dark dusk of inequity. However, those placing value and promise on the benefits of future partnerships and collaborations across the cultural and racial rifts to create and shape a world that yields most painfully to change may continue to find, upon these lands and abroad, both the intentional (and unintentional) sabotage of the wondrous mechanisms found in shared aspiration; in which this sabotage is Theft.



Let us reflect and apply the legacy of memory; the multigenerational bandit mask (not of heritage but of conduct of character) has been passed to a successor numerous times; Indian Agents wore the cloak of thievery towards our traditional means to govern, the Churches and Residential Schools stole our children and family legacies, the Federal and Provincial powers continue to seek to plunder our traditional territories, and modern times reveal a pilferer functioning in the same light as the suit and the black robe; appropriating the most sacred of what we have left and what each past malefactor sought to take; culture.



Today's thieves, whether they realize or not, have assumed duty to finish what those that came before started; to appropriate, to exploit, to steal, to acquire, to minimize, and capture a sacred culture; for personal, obsessive, or profiteer reasons.



The issue of "culture-vulturing" and cultural appropriation remains a strong issue of ethics, decency, and injustice; likewise a matter where such exploitation continues fanning the flames of mistrust within a great number of our People across the ethnic line; stifling progressive partnerships of many due to the unsavoury greed of a few; both greed of capital in exchange for "plastic shaman" services and personal opportunism and ego due to inadequacy, lack of moral compass, or the vain wish to be reborn within an objectifying obsession and fascination.



The same suits and black robes of yesterday are those that adorn bandit masks in the eyes of many today; the self-absorbed tie-dyed hipster invading ceremony, the New Age appropriating "Shamanic Healer", the swank "visionary" self-promoting himself as an elder and a majestic, the fraud without roots but claiming self-styled wings as he who is called "Dreams of Eagles", the profiteering non-indigenous self-nominated "vision quest guide", and those that live out their romanticized fantasies by minimizing a People and a culture down to the jewellery one makes and sells, the "Indian at heart" they claim as a "should have been", or the sports team logo upon one's chest. It is not limited to these examples, but facts are facts;



Thievery is thievery.

Appropriation is appropriation.

Exploitation is exploitation.

Minimization is minimization.

Objectification is objectification.

Frauds are frauds and facts are facts.



Meaningful partnerships are based in respect, integrity, ethics, and trust.



We all deserve such and a future based upon such ideals. If we truly collectively wish to close the divides born of rooted mistrust, efforts must be undertaken and responsibility assumed to uproot the continued mistrust by separating the past victimization and thievery from the present and a future of more of the same. The grave-robbers of yesterday are those that pilfer the mounds of memory today for personal gain. If memory and continuity of culture equates survival; than the clumsy digging of open-pit mines into the sacred by the selfish is a significant disrespect to the very survival some wish to unjustly cling to and drain from.



Such flagrant opportunism minimizes another People and culture; minimizing much from the respective levels of sacred cultural autonomy of protected foundations for our future generations of our People; down to the parallel of mere Halloween costumes which sacred ceremonies, teachings, and cultural affinity can simply be worn by the self-justified, the ignorant, the most well-intentioned, or those that claim they do not know any better.



It is my contention that it is not only a slight against our ancestors, against our true spiritual leaders, and against the cultures that are pilfered by such characters; but against our Nations, as well; as the very foundations of our Nations, our culture and spirituality, are undermined and trivialized by such.



And again, mistrust caused by few eviscerates much promise of personal and collective investments towards many seeking effective partnerships and valuable progressive relationships; potential is lost.



So exploiters, exploiting due to personal obsession or profit; If you truly value progressive partnerships and work towards a more just society for all, built of integrity and respect for many rather than the betterment of few; then hang up the delusion, the illusion, and the thievery, Plastic Shamans. Plunder Divides Partnerships. Culture vultures, stop picking the bones of ancestors clean, because one who appropriates for the reason that they "love the culture and respect the Native"; neither loves or respects the exploited any more than the pornographer loves and respects the actress.



No matter how one justifies or pacifies;



Exploitation is exploitation.



Facts are facts.

Bit of an update, new sites that now use us as resource in addition to those listed above. It's an incomplete update. I only used those who came up in the first ten pages of a couple searches, but that still numbers 76 new sites. Some of the foreign language sites I couldn't tell what they said, either positive or negative, so I didn't include them. But we show up in sites in German, Swedish (?, not sure), Thai, and some kind of Slavic language with Cyrillic lettering.

Really good to see us used on the official Cherokee Nation website and in university sites including a professor's religion course.

http://www.abc-directory.com/site/2639304
We're listed in it as a resource for surviving cults.

http://archaeologica.boardbot.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2121&start=15
Archaeologica

http://www.answers.com/topic/medicine-man
Answers.com

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2314817/the_shamans_of_sedona.html?cat=68
Associated Content

http://www.pusinsuyu.com/voixautochtones/html/ressources.html
Autonomous Voices, seems to be a Native issues support site in French

http://jonn.co.uk/garymannion/modules/news/article.php?storyid=51
Bad Psychics

http://barrysblog.freedomblogging.com/2007/12/05/weekend-warriors-trivializing-native-american-traditions/
Barry's Blog

http://www.bandia.net/caorann/
CAORANN, antiracist Pagan site

http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=4652&pst=99803
Care 2 Groups

http://centralflorida.cherokee.org/Links/tabid/1655/Default.aspx
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma official website

http://thecirclenews.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=206&Itemid=39
The Circle, one of the oldest Native newspapers

http://www.citizendia.org/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States
Citizendia

http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2009/05/11/a-sad-curious-tale-of-rampant-duplicity-and-stupidity/
Computer Newbie. Then James Mooney comes on to defend himself, and gets taken down by a couple members.

http://chrysalis1witchesjourney.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/rambles-about-cultural-missapropriation-and-community-involvement/
Chrysalis Witch, arguing against cultural appropriation

http://en.cyclopio.com/Plastic%20shaman
Cyclopio

http://sites.google.com/site/dehaluyi/americanindianfactsforeuropeans
Dehaluyi

http://www.druidry.org/board/dhp/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=15953&p=181711
Druid Grove

http://blogs.myspace.com/emer_wolfrider
Emer Wolfrider

http://plantspedia.org/info/NAFPS
Ency of Plants

http://www.enotes.com/topic/Cultural_appropriation?print=1
ENotes

http://www.evocationmagic.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2652&p=26171
Evocation Magic, Pagan Site

http://files.meetup.com/166515/Shamanism.doc
Files Meetup

http://www.freebase.com/view/en/nafps
Free Base

http://gnuuu.blogspot.com/2007/12/i-found-interesting-website-today-nafps.html
Musings from Xavier Ashe, a post-catholic shamanic humanist existentialist pantheist that recently became a Lay Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta.

http://halrager.org/WordPress/2009/10/
Hal Rager

http://www.hanksville.org/sand/intellect/newage.html
Hanksville is one of the oldest resources for information on Natives.

http://www.homecircle.info/LinksNA.html
Home Circle

http://www.examiner.com/x-21776-SF-Longevity-Examiner~y2009m11d2-Be-your-own-best-guru-for-healthy-longevity?cid=exrss-SF-Longevity-Examiner
Houston Examiner

http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2004/01/i_am_working_on.html
I Speak of Dreams, teaching site

http://www.jackmtn.com/simplog/?p=133
Jack Mountain, Survival Training Instructor with zero tolerance for Nuage nonsense.

http://www.uga.edu/religion/syl/2004rk.pdf
Professor Russell Kirkland, Univ of Georgia instructor in Religion, uses us as a resource in his course Introduction to Religion in Native American Cultures.

http://users.skynet.be/kola/ipfagenda.html
Kola, European support for Peltier

http://culture.kosmix.com/topic/Inipi
Kosmix

http://www.leaftine.com/docs/leaf_thesis.pdf
Leaftine, a performance artist, referencing us in his master's thesis.

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011748.html
Making Light

http://www.freewebs.com/manyrivers/page3.html
Many Rivers

http://www.maoliworld.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2011971:BlogPost:196711
Maoli World, Native Hawaiian Blog

http://www.startribune.com/local/44755337.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1PciUoaEYY_4PcUU
Minneapolis Tribune

http://elizabethtool.com/page/96/?archives-list&archives-type=months
Once Upon a Time in the West, nice comments on us.

http://natube.magnify.net/messages/view/FRNSBMJY7K8V9BMG
Native American Tube

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/indians_rage_over_mtv_show_JZzh5RqoeNTkmPEHxCIJWK
New York Post. Calvin Tatsey is complaining about us in the comments section, and ironically others are defending us and mocking him.

He's also accidentally "helping out" AIM that way, and making himself look bad.

http://www.myspace.com/ndnspiritualthiefs
NDN Spiritual Thiefs

http://www.nonfluffy.com/archives/2007_12.html
Nonfluffy Wicca

http://forums.plentyoffish.com/5043566datingPostpage2.aspx
Plenty of Fish Forum. Dating site that uses us as a resource in their Religion section.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=RationalWiki:Websites&redirect=no
Rational Wiki

http://www.realitysandwich.com/shamans_and_charlatans_assessing_castanedas_legacy
Reality Sandwich

http://www.republicoflakotah.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=479
Russell Means's bunch.

http://www.religionexplorer.com/top/Opposing_Views/New_Age/Chats_and_Forums
Religion Explorer

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/native-american-dir/93403-lakota-spirituality-exploitation-issue.html
Religious Forums

http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,77450,81497
Rick Ross, one of the leading cultwatch sites. Nice compliments about our work against James Ray.

http://righthealth.com/topic/Inipi
Right Health

http://rigorousintuition.ca/board/viewtopic.php?t=23259&start=0
Rigorous Intuition

http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/business/2010/02/09/safeguarding-against-new-age-fraud/
Rochester Democrat, local newspaper

http://www.powwows.com/gathering/native-issues/30327-exposing-fake-medicine-men-women-5.html
If you don't know the site, where have you been?

http://newagefraud.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/shaman-links/
Shaman Links

http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/harm15.html
Skeptic's Dictionary

http://www.spiritandsky.com/skeptics/new-age/chats-and-forums/
Spirit and Sky

http://stereotype.drumhop.com/
Stereotype Drumhop antiracist page

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/09/23/africa-stupidity
The Stranger, Seattle newspaper

Organization in Eskasoni, TREATY BENEFICIARIES ASSOCIATION; to find one can search the Nova Scotia database: https://rjsc.gov.ns.ca/rjsc/acceptTerms.do?lang=en

http://tribes.tribe.net/3olivedirtymartini/thread/b070d4a6-5093-40a8-9138-b6387758ea65
Tribe.Net

http://www.tripatlas.com/NAFPS
Trip Atlas

http://www.2012hoax.org/forum/t-185278/hopi
2012 Hoax

http://www.ulctribal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8381
ULC Intertribal

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=176353&st=15
Unexplained Mysteries

http://uscmediareligion.org/?theScoop
Univ of Southern California

http://wicca.timerift.net/links.shtml
Wicca for the Rest of Us

http://www.vtap.com/wikitap/detail/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States/WIKI21217
Wikitap

http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/12/danger-of-wannabes.html
Wild Hunt

http://www.wildspeak.com/links.html
Wild Speak

http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/_jthy/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=972
Wildwood Survival

http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Plastic_shaman
World Lingo

http://zhahara.livejournal.com/40222.html
Zhahara

And this one is a semi endorsement. Apparently one of them came here and left with their feeling hurt. ::) But then he goes onto say he respects that we've exposed many harmful exploiters.
http://www.shamanportal.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=183&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=6fcf64f6fdec71224fea858d47682f4d

Same with this also. Some members of them don't care for us, but some do. And that's pretty amazing when one of them claims (s)he was banned five times in here. Doubtful claim, since they name someone as a mod I've never even heard of.
http://www.artforthemasses.us/castacon/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2267

the "artforthemasses" site is run by someone who was a long time member of the old nagual.net site, where i posted about castaneda being a fraud, that he made it up, and took bunches from Dzogchen traditions.  i'm a little surprised to see the site listed here in support of Nafps. 

please include our organization here in Eskasoni, TREATY BENEFICERIES ASSOCIATION; to find us one can search the Nova Scotia database: https://rjsc.gov.ns.ca/rjsc/acceptTerms.do?lang=en
we are thankful for your help in exposing the fraud known as grandmother selina

Quote from: critter on July 23, 2010, 04:34:00 PM
the "artforthemasses" site is run by someone who was a long time member of the old nagual.net site, where i posted about castaneda being a fraud, that he made it up, and took bunches from Dzogchen traditions.  i'm a little surprised to see the site listed here in support of Nafps. 

I read the thread quoted above from that site. I know nothing about Chinese Shamanism, but I do know the bit about the supposed Khazaric ancestry of present day Jews is completely bogus, and basing it on the looks of the mother and son from the anecdote the writer says is nonsensical and racist in the jewish context.

We received an email of support for NAFPS from James Swan of United Urban Warrior Society in Rapid City.

i point james in your direction very frequently.....you are usually the first place someone looks to when a fake rears its ugly head

APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) Investigates used NAFPS for their episode on Plastic Shamans, specifically on frauds Chuck Spezzano and Erick Gonzalez targeting First Nations people on Haida Gwaii. The episode included information from and visuals of the NAFPS web forum.

Long overdue, an update on people who support us, work with us, use us as a resource, and are helped by us.

------------

FB Group https://www.facebook.com/StopMisuseofCeremonies and https://forgetwinnetou.com/
Winnetou the original Nuage Pretend nonsense written by Karl May, still popular in Europe esp Germany.

https://medium.com/@trellian.black/new-age-frauds-plastic-shamans-4bf9d8c340c2

https://pretendians.com/ A few are members here. Some of their targets or methods I don't agree with.

European academic Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review
Volume 4, Issue 2, 2013 Legitimization Strategies within the Cultic Milieu
Anne Kalvig Pages 228-244 https://doi.org/10.5840/asrr2013424
"Shamans in High Heels"
https://www.pdcnet.org/asrr/content/asrr_2013_0004_0002_0228_0244?file_type=pdf

Chi-Nations Youth Council (CNYC) youth and adults with a mission to create a supportive, open environment for Native Youth
https://chinations.org/statement-liam-opliam-mcdonald-monetizing-off-fraudulent-native-identity-and-co-opting-of-indigenous-peoples-day/

Quoted on Reddit threads
https://www.reddit.com/user/NAFPS/comments/
https://www.reddit.com/r/linguistics/comments/3l0ft3/does_the_native_american_word_aho_often_used_in/

Daily Good
https://www.dailygood.org/story/2001/the-sunray-peace-village-elissa-melaragno/?t=showComment&cid=7561

U of CA in an article on Joan Scheer AKA Oh Shinnah Fastwolf
https://ucanr.edu/sites/default/files/2013-04/165727.pdf

FB group https://www.facebook.com/people/Native-Charlatans-Wabos-and-other-Fakers/100095535695511/

Wisconsin LGBTQ paper
https://ourliveswisconsin.com/article/center-the-movement-not-you/

Latino pride page, half a dozen articles referencing us to warn others.
https://mexika.org/category/new-age-fraud-conspiracy-nonsense/

Interfaith site
https://stateofformation.org/2015/09/making-the-unconscious-conscious-why-interfaith-communities-struggle-with-racial-diversity/

Academic article
Indigenous North American Sundance Rites
March 2025 DOI:10.1007/978-3-031-38971-9_1683-1
In book: Encyclopedia of Religious Psychology and Behavior (pp.1-7)
Authors: E.C. Coombs    University of Alberta
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389911711_Indigenous_North_American_Sundance_Rites

Nature lovers site
https://thewanderers.guide/blogs/news/a-beginners-guide-to-native-american-culture

Poetry and nature lovers site
https://gertloveday.wordpress.com/2018/09/19/the-path-of-pollen-or-frauds-freuds-7/

Cult research site
Music Of Mind Control with Micah: An exploration into the musical output of religious cults, new religious movements, and individuals of a spiritually inspired and divine nature.
https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/112746

Articles on Margaret Noodin
https://www.scribd.com/document/681148924/New-Age-Fraud-Noodin-Forum-Archive

Even a site on Atlantis
https://atlantipedia.ie/samples/tag/carl-feagan/

Someone who got fooled by Lynn Andrews' fraud got called out on it.
https://culturalglimpse.com/2014/11/14/writing-to-change-the-world/

Academic site Wisconsin
https://madisonnewmusic.org/2021

The forum for the metal band Nightwish, discussing John Allen Hill.
https://www.nightwish.online/topic/143-john-two-hawks/

Genealogy site
https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/586674/list-of-unrecognized-tribes-or-native-clubs-in-us

Academic article
https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/opth-2022-0235/html

Skeptic site
https://edzardernst.com/2022/07/wild-reiki-and-shamanic-healing-no-thanks/

Reason article on eagle feathers
https://reason.com/2016/01/27/state-agents-investigate-yoga-instructor/

Academic
Journal of Religion, Nature and Culture
Native American Traditions, Depth Psychology, and Postcolonial Theory
Author Joy H. Greenberg Independent Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v7i1.88
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JSRNC/article/view/4649

Archaeology Review
https://ahotcupofjoe.net/2018/12/megan-fox-and-the-american-giants-legends-of-the-lost-review-of-episode-3/

Nat'l Endowment for the Humanities
https://www.neh.gov/sites/default/files/inline-files/CSU%20San%20Marcos%20App%20%28Hispanic-Serving%20Institutions%29%20%281%29.pdf

Star Wars fan forum, warning on imposter who also claimed to be in the films
https://forum.rebelscum.com/threads/autographed-hal-walmsley-jawa-is-a-fraud-selling-on-ebay.1079132/

Articles on ayahuasca tourism
https://independent.academia.edu/jeronimomm

Metis Museum
https://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/149772.EFN%202009%2009%20Sept.pdf

Psychiatric social work
https://www.academia.edu/22885366/PLASTIC_SHAMAN_I_AM_OR_NOT_SO_MUCH

Daily Kos article
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2010/12/27/931817/-

Cultural appropriation article
https://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2017/04/26/what-is-cultural-appropriation/

Blog by a "progressive non-Christian minister in Lexington, Kentucky" , 2023 post titled "Indigenous Fraud: Exposing the Lies of Hopi Wisdom Teachings" https://dharmaoccurs.com/hopi-wisdom-teachings/ - credits our work on Jeremie Leckron (AKA Grandmother Medicine Song)