Ocean Seminary College

[Sandy S]

Today I stumbled across an institution called Ocean Seminary College and felt that it needed to be included here in NAFPS simply as a potential future reference point since several of our fraud names were mentioned in their curriculum.

http://www.oceanseminarycollege.org/

This school has, among other things,  a Dept. of Shamanic Studies where an ordination is available.

They have a catalog of courses, and starting on p. 73 of the 2015 offerings you find that a number of the required texts are authored by people who are solidly in the Fraud category here at NAFPS.

The following course is also available--

http://www.oceanseminarycollege.org/uploads/3/5/5/3/3553533/aiu_2015catalog.pdf

01.01.007 Shamanism & Native American Culture (3 Credits)
This work will explore the diverse tribal beliefs of Native American culture and their relationship to informing contemporary shamanism as well as explore the issue of Western usurpation of Native American traditions and the current drive to separate ethnic traditions from New Age practices. Text: The Religions of American Indians by Ake Hultkrantz & Monica Setterwell; (Optional Shamanic Healing & Ritual Drama by Ake Hultkrantz). Additional readings supplied.

So what sort of requirements do the faculty have to have?

From p. 12:

Augustus University International, Florence College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Ocean Seminary College always welcome individuals who have specific backgrounds in the associated field they are volunteering to teach in. All positions are unpaid and voluntary. All individuals must have a Master's degree
or higher to teach at Florence College and a doctoral degree or be a doctoral candidate to teach at Ocean Seminary College (an exception is made for the department of World Shamanism and the department of Neopagan Studies, for these department relevant work experience is required. For further information and an application, please contact: Faculty@AugustusInternationalUniversity.org

What attracted me to their website was that one of their students provided a glowing link to one of our super obvious frauds.

[Autumn]

Another proud unaccredited degree mill.  It is only $50 for one semester.

The dean and founder is Katherine Batten MacDowell.  This is her LinkedIn page:

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=98381886&authType=name&authToken=pDPO&locale=&goback=.npv_98381886_

Founder & Dean
Ocean Seminary College
February 2005 – Present (10 years 2 months)

A tuition-free online graduate seminary program. All staff are volunteers, including this writer, donating their time and experience to foster the next generation of environmentally conscious, socially mindful, interreligious seminarians and theologians.

She holds degrees from several accredited universities, but I am not sure about her doctorate.  It may be one of the degree mills, but I am not sure.  She lists the doctorate from UC Seminary and I can't readily find anything when I Google it.

This is her bio on the Ocean Seminary College site:

Dr. Batten holds multiple graduate degrees in both psychology (doctorate in Health and Clinical; Masters in Counseling Psychology) and Theology (Doctorate in Christian Theology; Masters in Comparative Religion, Christian History and Buddhism) and has also studied Neopagan traditions with Z Budapest at the Women's Spirituality Forum and Eclectic Wicca with Lady Raven Moonshadow. She was recently honored with ordaination by Z Budapest as one of her first Summoners. She has also studied at the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality and Healing and has certifications in Botanical Medicines, Overview of Integrative Therapies and Healing Practices, and Clinical Aromatherapy. She is certified in human research by UCLA. In addition to graduate and post-graduate education, she holds a Bachelor's in English literature with subspecialties in religion and premedical science.

http://www.oceanseminarycollege.org/dr-katherine-batten.html

This is a Lulu site where her music and publications are sold and she goes by the name of Katie Batten MacDowell:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/katiebatten

Katie is a professional composer, pianist, and singer with multiple album releases including: "My Name Is...", "Hitchhiker", "She Waits: A Retrospective" (her vocal alubms collected & other pieces, avl only digitally), "9 Sacred Pillars" (orchestral), and "Chasing Zebras" (piano and guitar). She is currently at work on her 5th album for cello and piano, titled "My Inner Fish," which is due out in October 2011, and a symphony.

In addition to her musical career, she is an award-winning playwright and a prolific published poet. "Love Amongst the Fishes" is her 5th volume of poetry. Her prior volumes of poetry are "Witness", "Vestiges & Bones", "Turning the Silver Wheel", and "Into Quiet". "A Study of Sandy Hook" is a collection of her reflections and photograpy. She is the editor-in-chief of the new academic journal "Restoration Earth" with her colleague Dr. Mark Schroll.

Katie holds multiple graduate degrees in psychology and religion and a doctorate in theology.

[Autumn]

Katherine's response in 2013 to someone questioning the non-accreditation of her school:

A word on the accreditation. OSC remains largely tuition-free with only a $50.00 fee that went into effect this year to offset the online operational costs per semester. It is not accreditated due to this facto. As per many discussions with NJ Department of Higher Education over the years, in order for the school to be accreditated such as Princeton Theological Seminary, we would have to chage substantial tuition in order to meet their requirements. This is unacceptable as it would make the school in accessible and faith and the desire to become religious leaders should not be inaccessible. Additionally, the online accreditation board that oversees this region requires residencies as per discussions with them and reviewing the application process. Finally, there are no religious accreditation boards that oversee Neopagan traditions or interreligious seminaries. Hence we have no accreditation.

Mmmm.  Sounds like a lot of justification to me.  So, they do not charge high fees and this prevents them from being accreditated.  If they did charge high fees, it would make education inaccessible and "the desire to become religious leaders should not be inaccessible".  Plus, they would have to share the reviewing of the application process, which now seems to only be handled by the dean and founder.

I thought accreditation had to do with meeting certain minimum requirements for education.  This is what the U.S. Department of Education says about accreditation:

The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality.

http://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html

Further comments by Katherine:

OSC is not a school for everyone, but unlike other schools, OSC allows students to adjust their programs to meet their academic interests and changes in their spiritual needs. It allows students to participate in school without going into debt and feeling oblighed to continue to justify their original choice. That is OSC. It is not a scam. It is a community of men and women who have a love of Nature, a spiritual identity and a sense of purpose, and for many who have been routinely denied access to education due to social class or disability. There are no barriers at OSC.

This is my school and it is a source of pride for the teachers and the students.

Sincerely,

Dr. Katherine MacDowell
D.Th, Ph.D, MA, M.Ed, OCP, Sum, RPDP

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/40891-ocean-seminary-college.html

[educatedindian]

She holds degrees from several accredited universities, but I am not sure about her doctorate.  It may be one of the degree mills, but I am not sure.  She lists the doctorate from UC Seminary and I can't readily find anything when I Google it.

It could be several different ones. There's a UC Berkeley Seminary, UC Seminary Skage, and a UC Seminary run by the Lutherans. The last one seems pretty unlikely to me. It could be she went to Berkeley and just assumed people would know she meant Berkeley, as the most prestigious. I didn't find any degree mills calling themselves UC Seminary.

Their catalog does show a heavy reliance on frauds, Castaneda, Harner, Ingerman, Villoldo, Lynn and Ted Andrews, Malidoma Some, Eliot and Tom Cowan, Ross Heaven, and Miguel Ruiz. They also have a course falsely claiming Huna is legitimately Native Hawaiian. The one positive note is this course description:

"01.01.007 Shamanism & Native American Culture (3 Credits)
This work will explore the diverse tribal beliefs of Native American culture and their relationship to informing contemporary shamanism as well as explore the issue of Western usurpation of Native American traditions and the current drive to separate ethnic traditions from New Age practices."

But they also will certify you as a "world shaman."

As others noted, degrees from here won't be accepted anywhere else. They are unaccredited, and have a .org designation, unlike universities that have an .edu.

[Epiphany]

2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20080101130938/http://www.oceanseminarycollege.org/About.html

About Ocean Seminary College

Ocean Seminary College opened its doors in March 2006 as www.sacred-counseling.com. During its inception the primary focus was providing general public access to shamanic-based workshops and full training opportunities to interested men and women. Since it began, it has undergone numerous changes to finally emerge as Ocean Seminary College.

There were many influences to this change, all of which stemmed from contact with men and women from around the United States and a few abroad in thousands of emails since its online doors opened. What became apparent within the emails was the sincere need for deep and formal education in religious frameworks outside of shamanism, but who share common threads with shamanistic worldviews. Many individuals wanted a way to incorporate a more mystical and shamanistic way of viewing, knowing, and experiencing their current religious affiliations, ranging from the Goddess Tradition, Wicca, to more traditional Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faiths.

In this fashion, as we near the fall of 2007, the school has once again expanded and redefined its identity to create a religiously diverse community who share a common vision of deepening their scholarship of the shamanic and mystical aspects of their faiths, as well as those seeking to become fully embodied shamans through seminary studies in the tradition that this school is founded upon, the Tradition of the 9 Sacred Pillars.

When considering the expansion of this seminary and how we would integrate the needs of others with the founding shamanic faith which follows the principles, ethics, and teachings of the 9 Sacred Pillars, two things emerged. The first was that all faiths are not incompatible to the shamanic tradition, for spiritual exploration and religious expression may be manifested in universal loving kindness. Where we experienced the greatest struggle was the absence of Nature as the context from which we are born, in which we live and rely on, and to which our bodies return. Such absence in centrality of Nature (where Nature is at best backdrop, at worse, in human control) in all religious frameworks (and this includes the general eclectic vision of contemporary shamanism) was our greatest dilemma. Such a worldview has contributed extensively to the global environmental problem and as such religious and spiritual frameworks are intimately responsible for changing this. As such, a core aspect of this seminary program that links all of the departments together is the re-shaping of our relationship to Nature within our chosen spiritual path.

Rev. MacDowell, M.Ed., OCP, RDPD

The Professor, Department of World Shamanism Robert J Malone had earned his divinity degrees through Ocean Seminary itself:

M.Div., Ecology & Environmental Religious Studies Ocean Seminary College, June 2010
M.Div., World Shamanism, Ocean Seminary College, January 2010
B.S., Business & Total Quality Management, University of Phoenix. Salt Lake City, UT May, 1992

https://web.archive.org/web/20120414213921/http://www.oceanseminarycollege.org/Malone.html

And the Professor, Department of World Shamanism Steve Serr:

Professor, Department of World Shamanism
Department of Pastoral Counseling
Department of Ecology & Environmental Religious Studies

Education:
Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Center for Psychological Studies. Albany, CA June, 2001.
M.Div., Religious Naturalism, Ocean Seminary College, June 2010
M.A., Government, California State University. Sacramento, CA June, 1979.
B.A., Social Sciences, University of California. Berkeley, CA December, 1976

Education in Shamanic Studies:

Three Year Training Program in Advanced Shamanism and Shamanic Healing, Foundation for Shamanic Studies (FSS), Mill Valley, CA 2007.
Two Week Intensive Course in Advanced Shamanism and Shamanic Healing, FSS, 2003.
Shamanic Extraction Healing Training/Shamanism, Dying and Beyond, FSS, 2007.
Shamanic Counseling Training Programs, FSS, Mill Valley, CA 2007.
California Shamanism: Medicine of the Coastal Redwood Mts., Carol Proudfoot-Edgar, Ben Lomond, CA 2008.
California Shamanism: Bear Medicine & Doctoring, Carol Proudfoot-Edgar, 2008.
Unraveling Curses, Betsy Bergstrom, Sebastopol, CA 2005.
Basic Heart Centered Depossession Training, Betsy Bergstrom, Occidental, CA 2004.
Advanced Heart Centered Depossession Training, Betsy Bergstrom, Occidental, CA 2005.
Mediumship Training, Betsy Bergstrom, Santa Rosa, CA 2006.
Mojave Desert Vision Quest, California Institute of Integral Studies, June, 2010

https://web.archive.org/web/20120414212235/http://www.oceanseminarycollege.org/Serr.html

We have Betsy Bergstrom thread here: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4136.0

The Path of the 9 Sacred Pillars is a shamanic spirituality that views Life, both physical and ephemeral, as a sacred ecosystem. Essential to this tradition is living in Så'Må (pronounced: Sah-mah), which describes the process of balancing the nine dimensions of the soul and self, and reclaiming one's connection with Nature. In keeping with the Earth Ethic of this tradition, all training and workshops are free, as are pillar readings and pillar constellations.

https://web.archive.org/web/20060828170740/http://www.sacred-counseling.com/

Shamanic Counseling is a therapeutic intervention that utilizes a spiritual framework for coping with life's challenges. During these sessions, I utilize a combination of traditional psychotherapeutic methods (such as cognitive-behavioral interventions), along with intuited information that I receive from the Sat'la Oona during the session.

https://web.archive.org/web/20060912163230/http://www.sacred-counseling.com/counseling.html

[Epiphany]

Another past incarnation:

Katie MacDowell, Shaman   http://katiemacdowell.netfirms.com 
Free/donation-based shamanic counseling, healing & training in the tradition of the Sat'la Oona (online or in-person). K. MacDowell combines 23-years' shamanic training with 8-years' experience as a mental health counselor for maximum wellness & peace!

http://accessnewage.com/links/Shamanism.htm

[Epiphany]

Katherine Batten MacDowell has run her organizations for "free" or now for $50 every six months, all while soliciting for "donations". For instance in the OSC catalog 2013 she makes a pitch to potential faculty stating that they will have the "opportunity to earn stipend through direct donations from students". There have been Paypal buttons available to make donations to specific faculty. And it sounds like she is not ruling out profit in the future: "While OSC does not financially compensate (at present) faculty for their time and service..."

In 2013 she posted this:

Due to rising costs and the failure to meet our donation needs, Ocean Seminary College will no longer be tuition-free as we have been since 2005. Students will be billed a $50 tuition at the start of the start of the Fall/Winter term and then again at the start of the Spring/Summer term beginning Fall 2013.

I've not yet found any listing for her orgs in corporation searches or Guidestar.

Registrant for AugustusInternationalUniversity.org and FlorenceCollege.org is Katherine MacDowell, Sacred Counseling, in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey. The oceanseminarycollege.org info is privacy protected.

She describes herself as "She is certified in human research by UCLA." But she needs to explain this more fully. What certification, and to do what exactly? Hopefully she is not doing her own research on people. For instance, here is info for UCLA research participants through their Office of the Human Research Protection Program : http://ora.research.ucla.edu/OHRPP/Pages/ResearchParticipantsInfo.aspx