Hello, I'm new

[jim151]

Hi, my name is Jim and I live in Dallas Texas.  A few years ago I visited my fathers home in northeast Oklahoma.   I hadn't  been there in years but drove around and finally found the Stomp ground he took me to when I was little.   There happened to be a dance that night and my family and I were invited to stay.  It was quite moving and it was then that I decided to further explore my Cherokee heritage.   I have located my grandfather and great grandfather on the Dawes roll and have applied for citizenship and begun learning the language.    I'm writing because I would like to learn more about the spiritual beliefs of the Cherokee as existed before the Europeans "discovered" them.   There are many people in Dallas / Ft. Worth area offering to teach Shamanism and Native American spirituality; but, none appear to be genuine and most are laughable in their desire to be Indian.   I tried a seminar put on by the Harner people and you should have seen the "fish belly white" guy that showed up to teach the class - called himself wild horse or something like that.
        There is a section in the forum for non-frauds and I've looked through it.   - Do people really dye their hair before going to pow wows? - There doesn't seem to be a lot of info on non- frauds in this section, only more frauds.  Can someone steer me toward true sources of knowledge in the DFW area? 
     I have a few more questions but I'll post them under the appropriate sections.
Thanks
Jim

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

Hi, my name is Jim and I live in Dallas Texas.  A few years ago I visited my fathers home in northeast Oklahoma.   I hadn't  been there in years but drove around and finally found the Stomp ground he took me to when I was little.   There happened to be a dance that night and my family and I were invited to stay.  It was quite moving and it was then that I decided to further explore my Cherokee heritage.   I have located my grandfather and great grandfather on the Dawes roll and have applied for citizenship and begun learning the language.    I'm writing because I would like to learn more about the spiritual beliefs of the Cherokee as existed before the Europeans "discovered" them.   There are many people in Dallas / Ft. Worth area offering to teach Shamanism and Native American spirituality; but, none appear to be genuine and most are laughable in their desire to be Indian.   I tried a seminar put on by the Harner people and you should have seen the "fish belly white" guy that showed up to teach the class - called himself wild horse or something like that.
        There is a section in the forum for non-frauds and I've looked through it.   - Do people really dye their hair before going to pow wows? - There doesn't seem to be a lot of info on non- frauds in this section, only more frauds.  Can someone steer me toward true sources of knowledge in the DFW area? 
     I have a few more questions but I'll post them under the appropriate sections.
Thanks
Mike

Hi,

Just a little confused.. is your name Jim or Mike?

[jim151]

Whoops, I am Jim.   I was typing more and then figured I would put the rest under different headings.    Should have proofread better after editing.  Maybe I can fix it
Thanks