"German 'druid medicinmen' and other ridiculous misinformation (from Pablo Russell thread)

[John Bone]

Hi there  ;)
first things first: thanks for the many answers!

Everyone has ancestors who had earth-honoring ways.

This is probably not the case in Europe. There was shamanism in Germany (our medicinmen where called druids) 2000 years ago. But there was no real earth-honoring tradition since then and so most of the knowledge was lost. We've had instead 2000 years of christianity and druids where eradicated by them (they where for example burned at a stake, yaeh, I know, not very christian).
All we know about druids today we know from their dreadiest enemys, the romans. And these spread words like druids eat children and such. Rings a bell, eh?

So, in my opinion, there is no real druid tradition that people in Europe could continue. What we've got is christianism.
But today even this tradition is about to be shattered.

@debbieredbear:

Where do they get this idea that tribes are on the brink of extinction?

It's good to hear that this "brink of extinction" is not the case.

But I am just puizzled about how some many nuagers and exploiters can say the cultures are disappearing. Is it because Native people do not live in the stereotypical way that outsiders deem appropriate? Just asking.

I think lack of knowledge is the key:

No one can deny that some tribes were extincted by the US Army or by the French and British wars, can we? This is like the old knowledge that most people in Germany don't get beyond. Sad but true.
Modern american society is not part of curriculae at school in Germany.
But then there is probably always some lesson about the planned extincion of the buffalo and then there's movies from Hollywood like The Last of the Mohicans and
last but not least there is Karl May.

That people in Germany and Europe are not up to date makes it easy for the frauds. I remember Pablo say something like that in the beginning of his speech,
that he was "trying to save" his culture or "bring it back" (sry it's 10 years ago or more, that I met Pablo, I don't remember the letter).
This made me of course think that what I learned in school was correct.
And probably I was not the only one who got set on the wrong track.
(Thinking twice this is odd, because why would he save it, transferring it to another people? Yeah... ouch!)

Maybe Pablo was good-willed once but he was lured away by the shiney money (he wouldn't be the first one).
Maybe he was catched in his good-willingness by the professional money-makers and deceivers?
Makes no difference in the end.

To make it clear: I'm not trying to excuse any of the behaviour!
What we are talking about is childish, bad behaviour, escapism...
At least on behalf of the Germans that are looking for spirituality.
I wouldn't go so far to call it racist, because they don't act out of hatred.
Rather it's stupidity and lack of knowledge. See, I'm a teacher (German language and biology). To me fools are like patients to a doctor.

On behalf of the men and women who try to make money out of other peoples cultures...

I agree with you.

[Defend the Sacred]

John, with respect, you need to learn history.

Everyone has ancestors who had earth-honoring ways.

This is probably not the case in Europe.

Sorry, but wrong.

There was shamanism in Germany (our medicinmen where called druids) 2000 years ago.

Sorry, but wrong again. "Shaman" is a Siberian term. It's over-used to the point of being meaningless. If we respect the ancestors and living cultures, we should use culturally-appropriate terms. "Druid" is an anglicization of an Old Irish term. It's not Germanic. This kind of ignorance and misinformation leads to appropriation.

Calling the druids "medicine men" gives a totally inaccurate picture of their role in a specific ancient culture, and that kind of misinformation leads to appropriation, because ignorant people who don't bother to learn history then misappropriate from NDNs and stupidly claim it's "druidic."

Much survives in the living Gaelic and Germanic cultures, though some reconstruction has been needed. The ancient Celtic and Germanic cultures were neighbors, but have as many differences as similarities.

But there was no real earth-honoring tradition since then and so most of the knowledge was lost.

Wrong. See above.

We've had instead 2000 years of christianity and druids where eradicated by them (they where for example burned at a stake, yaeh, I know, not very christian).

Wrong. The adoption of Christianity in the actual areas the druids were from was gradual, and much survived. But if you don't speak the language you won't know where to look. The witch persecutions happened in the middle ages, not 2000 years ago. Most of the murders had little to do with religion, despite what occult paperbacks will tell you. They were persecutions of women and about land grabs, and most were Christians murdering other Christians. The hysteria about possession and evil magic was sometimes part of it, but usually it was just about crazy people attacking each other. 90% of the myths about "the burning times" are flat-out wrong, and have zero to do with the "druids."

All we know about druids today we know from their dreadiest enemys, the romans. And these spread words like druids eat children and such. Rings a bell, eh?

Oh, please. We have lots of surviving manuscripts, and ways that were passed down as household, folk traditions. We no longer have a state religion led by "druids," but most of the positive things about the Continental priesthood were recorded by the Romans - who were also polytheists and had no "Christian" bias. 

We've discussed these things on here a lot. Do a search from the main page, or I can PM you links.  Seriously, this kind of ignorance, confidently spouted, harms us all. This is also a tangent from the subject of the thread. Actually, I'm moving these two posts to etc.

I wouldn't go so far to call it racist, because they don't act out of hatred.

It is racist. There is the racism of blatant aggression and the racism of disrespect, of ignoring NDNs when they say, "Stop. Don't do that." Both are wrong.

[Defend the Sacred]

This tangent split from Pablo Russell thread here: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=574