Turtle Island Medicine Society

[earthw7]

http://hometown.aol.com/medicineowl07/myhomepage/profile.html
Eagleheart is the Pipe Carrier for the Sun Bear Otter Tail Medicine Pipe, and has been a pipe carrier for over 20years. She is an ordained minister, Spirit Healer and Earth Steward. She is available for weddings , house blessings, & baby blessings both in Native American Traditional, and Contemporary styles.Eagleheart is a member of the Bear Tribe.

Turtle Island Medicine Society welcomes all with a good heart and mind.  This site is for people of all colors, and from all walks of life to come together as equals, and in unity.  Together we will learn more about Earth Spirituality as we strive to walk in balance during these times of great Earth Changes.  We support the Bear Tribe, and encourage others to support the Tribe as well.  If you would like to join us at the Longhouse on the internet, just contact Eagleheart at Chinooktina@aol.com  In the words of our beloved cousin, friend and teacher Beaver Chief, "Remember to be kind to one another, to light candles for one another and to pray for one another.  Dreams are like flowers, there is always enough room for another persons dreams.

[frederica]

I know Bear Tribe rings a bell. http://www.winddaughterwestwinds.com/Bear_Tribe_Med_soc.html   Associates of the since departed Sun Bear. I see a lot of these people are ordained ministers or ex-ordained ministers. I find that interesting also.

[Moma_porcupine]

http://web.archive.org/web/20050420154336/http://hometown.aol.com/medicineowl07/myhomepage/profile.html

The Turtle Clan
The Turtle Clan of the Earth. The Turtle Clan represents the Earth. The mineral associated with the Turtle Clan stone is petrified wood, the plant is Cattails, and the color is green-brown. When you are in the Turtle Clan, you learn about the solid, creating, strengthening powers of this most dense element.
The Turtle Clan is the most dense, stable and slow-moving of the elemential clans. Turtle Clan people are extremely well organized and can provide the foundation for any undertaking,. They are cautious in expressing themselves, except about viewpoints in which they believe strongly.  They are good at defending whatever it is they are helping you to build. They are very practical and security conscious and expert at taking care of the earth, minerals, plants, and other human beings. Turtle Clan people feel a great attraction to the Earth Mother. They often like to go outside and feel the earth energy, either by running their hands over the earth or by sitting on her. People under the influence of a Turtle Clan position can be among the most supportive, encouraging, friendly, and affirming individuals that you would ever want to meet. They are truly compassionate and have a gift for giving and for teaching their love of the Earth. -From Dancing with the Wheel-By Sun Bear.

I would like to aknowledge and thank the beautiful teachers and spiritual elders that I have spent time with on this learning journey called the Red Road.

Beaver Chief, Mary Thunder, Arvol Looking Horse, Steven Greywolf Kemp, Sun Bear, Charlie Wolf Moondance, Archie Fire, Buck Ghost Horse, Steven Little Coyote, Ghostwolf, Jamie Sams,Trishuwa, Sharon White Arrow, Dawn Songfeather, Wallace Black Elk, Bright Owl, Corbin Harney, Roxanne Arising Sun Arispe, Jeffery White Horse Hubble, Gilbert Walking Bull, Evelyn Eaton, Barbara Means Adams, Noah Longcrane, Dave Chief, Marie O'sota Hanhepi Wi Wainman, Rocky Shopbell .

   

Support the Bear Tribe,
PMB 223, 3750-A Airport Blvd.
Mobile, Alabama
36608-1618

This site is dedicated to
the memory of Beaver
Chief and Sun Bear.

http://www.ewebtribe.com/BearTribe/

Sun Bear had a Vision. A Vision of all Tribes, Nations, Peoples, returning to harmonious relationship with Mother Earth and All Our Relations. The Sun Bear Medicine Wheel was given to him to bring this Vision to fruition, into physical reality.

The Sun Bear books have helped many people. Through them and the Bear Tribe which he founded he hoped to spread the use of the Medicine Wheel around the Earth. To a great extent he succeded.

The following is quoted from The Bear Tribe Medicine Society flyers for the Medicine Wheel Gatherings:

    "Medicine Wheels of stone, constructed by the original Native inhabitants, once spread across the Americas. These wheels were the ceremonial centers of earth people; powerful vortexes for both giving and receiving earth energy. On the psycho-spiritual level, Medicine Wheels provide a complex map of the human psyche, a way to deeply connect with yourself and with others. Earth Peoples used the Medicine Wheel to understand and celebrate change in their own lives and in the cycles of the earth. What these ancient ones knew and practiced is knowledge sorely needed by modern men and women.


    "Modern Medicine Wheel Gatherings began in 1981 near Mt. Rainier, Washington, the result of the vision of Sun Bear, Shaman, Teacher and Founder of the Bear Tribe. Since then, over 60,000 people have attended more than 72 gatherings in the United States, Canada and Europe. These Gatherings have provided participants with a ceremonial center to their lives and an important sense of family and community."

Sun Bear crossed over in 1992. His Medicine and position in the Bear Tribe were passed to Wabun Wind. Due to many factors, including health and family responsibilities (this is not official information, but what I believe from bits and pieces) Wabun Wind was unable to continue.

After much prayer and soul searching Wind Daughter accepted the Medicine and the position as Medicine Chief of the Bear Tribe in 1996. I have personally been to several Earth Dances and Medicine Wheel Gatherings since she has been Chief. My respect and love for her keep growing. She sincerely has the good and needs of the people uppermost in her heart and mind. She is a great teacher, a fantastic ceremonialist, and never fails to transport the circle to "other" places.

http://members.tripod.com/TopCat4/sunbear.htm

Cambridge said a man named Sun Bear exemplifies the exploitation of Indian religions and, in some cases, creation of new tribes. "Sun Bear saw an opportunity to make money by be coming a religious leader and healer with the naive, lost white folks. "He created the Medicine Wheel religion, which was made up of a hodgepodge of parts of ceremonies of many tribes" and started his own Bear Tribe with membership for a fee.

http://www.geocities.com/redroadcollective/NewsletterS93.html

SUN BEAR(aka Vincent LaDuke, Medicine Chief of the Bear Tribe Society)
c/ Midwest Medicine Wheel Gathering
340 E. Maple
Birmingham, MI 48909-6313


A self-proclaimed spiritual leader of the Chippewa. Mr. Bear formed the 'Bear Tribe' especially for wealthy hobbyists. Followers are encouraged to "spend their spiritual leisure time engaged in structured workshops building stone medicine wheels and acting out one of the 34 totems.(One for each direction)" ??? For a fee, Mr. Bear offers to make non-Natives
"pipe-holders" in short periods of time. (Sometimes as little as two-weeks.) He has claimed that the proper Lakota elders are "racists" for "not sharing their spirituality." Sun Bear has his many followers busy promoting his next gathering. The literature claims that the Hawaiian Hula will be taught, Sweat Lodges will be conducted and participants will birth
a drum, as well as "learn about business and marketing as a personal power tool." Sun Bear offers White hobbyists a smorgasbord of fashionable spiritual postures. He takes our sacred spirituality, breaks it to pieces and sells them for the most profit he can get. His so called Sweat Lodges are taylored to meet the fickle tastes of his rich clients. Women,
in all stages of their moon cycle, are allowed to sweat with men. Sacred objects are treated disrespectfully and horseplay is not only allowed, but encouraged at these events. This fall, over 3,000 are anticipated to pay $200.00 and up to come to his "gathering" at Camp Copneconic on September 23-35, 1994. (The camp is located somewhere between Detroit and Flint so collective members are organizing a huge protest)

http://www.powwows.com/gathering/native-issues/30327-exposing-fake-medicine-men-women.html

posted by Historian
11-09-2005, 11:51 PM


Sacred Pipe Keeper Fears Feds Will Step In
by Avis Little Eagle
Indian Country Today (The Lakota Times) - July 7, 1991

"One 'New Age' man is Sun Bear, who claims to be a sacred teacher of the Chippewa. One of his advertisement reads, 'Sun Bear is looking for Spiritual Warriors. Become an apprentice.' According to these advertisements, he is an expert on crystals and 'The Path Of Power.' He has conducted the Sun Dance and charged non-Indians to participate in this sacred rite of the Sioux. It is not native to the Chippewa tribe. Mr. Sun Bear founded the Bear Tribe Medicine Society, which claims to be a group of people striving to re-learn their proper relationship with the earth. He has written several books, 'At Home in the Wilderness,' 'Buffalo Hearts,' 'The Bear Tribe's Self Reliance Book' and 'The Medicine Wheel: Earth Astrology.' Mr. Sun Bear writes a lot about mystic power, shamanism, and crystal healing. A Lakota man, who lived in Albuquerque, N.M. for several years, said Mr. Sun Bear uses a pipe studded with crystals which he claims 'could be wiser than man.' Mr. Sun Bear claims to have founded the first new tribe of this century. Because he is geared to 'New Age' people, it is hard to say which ceremonies are actually Chippewa, pan-Indian, or totally fabricated. The worst thing is that there are people out there who will pay large sums of money to seek ties to the earth and to fill a spiritual void within themselves. They never know when they encounter a true medicine man or are being taken in, for their money.???
(article continues )


"Every time you turn around in white society they pay. It's their culture, so they never question having to pay medicine men. Mr. Looking Horse is spiritual leader, saddened that spirituality is being used for monetary gain. He wants the people to know there are ways to tell if someone who claims tobe a spiritual leader is legitimate. First of all, you don't ask for money, for any spiritual teachings or assistance with ceremonies. Second of all, they have close ties with their reservations and they are respected and recognized as spiritual leaders by their people. He said the legitimate holy man will speak the native language. Sacred words are handed down and you cannot be a spiritual leader without knowing your own language, he said. He also has found that a legitimate medicine man will have a spouse of his own culture. It is pretty hard to practice your spiritual religion with a spouse who has other beliefs. Mr. Looking Horse said he knows Wallace Black Elk and Mr. Sun Bear and has no faith in the ways they conduct themselves. He said a longtime friend called him recently and told him she saw Wallace Black Elk and Mr. Sun Bear on a Caribbean cruise. They were doing sweat- lodge ceremonies for the voyagers. Mr. Looking Horse said he laughed when his friend told him there had been one point at which there was great fear the ship might sink. The friend described how Mr. Sun Bear practically climbed on top of women and children to get to the life boat, saying, 'I'm a medicine man I must be saved!'

Mr. Looking Horse said one of his main concerns is that the Lakota people became free to practice their spiritual beliefs only after the Freedom of Religion Act was passed. The government has tried to stifle freedom of religion by calling Indian beliefs paganistic. He fears that the government will use actions by people such as Mr. Sun Bear and Wallace Black Elk and Marilyn Youngbird, and other plastic medicine people, to put a stop to Native religious freedom. He urges people to look beneath the surface and examine the real motives of these so-called medicine men before being taken in by them.???

Here is a mention of stock options in the Bear Tribe
 
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~schacht/rhe309k-04/ch6.doc.

Sun Bear and Many Smokes/Wild Fire:

      - originally a small circulation of Indian readers, editorial on native issues

      - in 1970's and 80's, magazine became full blown New Age periodical aimed at   larger, non-Indian audience

      - publication also offered catalogue goods for sale, as well as stock offerings for the Bear tribe

      - in 1980's, Sun Bear made visible collective by legally incorporating the "Bear Tribe"

      - Bear Tribe offered path to tribal indianess through monetary exchange

- Ambiguous figures like Sun Bear served not to reveal the lines between Indian and non-Indian but to blur them even further

Here is some more of the Bear Tribe operations.

http://hawkwindrenews.com/mwregistration.html

MEDICINE WHEEL REGISTRATION PACKAGE
Sept. 21st -23rd 2007

Location:
HAWKWIND HEALING ARTS CENTER
549 ROCK RIDGE RD.
VALLEY HEAD, AL. 35989
(256) 635-6304

Registration: Begins at 3pm Friday Sept. 21st
$250 at the gate includes camping
$150 per adult if paid prior to August 20th
$65 for children under the age of 15
(no charge for those under 2)

List of local hotels and bed n' breakfast included

Meals:
Coffee, Tea & juice stand set up throughout the day
Outside dish station set up all day at mess hall
Bring your own eating utensils, a travel cup and your own food to cook in your camp space UNLESS YOU WISH TO PURCHASE SOUP & SALAD BAR w/ homemade breads
$5.00 PER PERSON, PER MEAL (Friday night, Saturday & Sunday lunch)

Saturday Night Hawkwind & The Bear Tribe will provide a Family celebration feast as part of the program to honor Sun Bear Turkey, Venison, potatoes, corn, squash, beans, and a delightful fruit cobbler

Elders Sharing:
BEAR HEART
Is a full blood Muskogee Creek Elder, an ordained minister of the American Baptist Church, a Spiritual adviser and and teacher. He is one of the few remaining traditionally trained Medicine Men and has been adopted by many tribes. He is carried by Cannunpa ( the Sacred Pipe) in the tradition of the Lakota and Cheyenne. Bear Heart demonstrates how traditional wisdom and guidence from above can be integrated in todays lifestyles.

GRANDMOTHER TERRY EATON
Join this amazing woman who draws from her Celtic heritage and the renown stories of her mother, Evelyn Eaton. She is the adopted Grandmother of the Bear Tribe, as was her mother and she teaches the power of journaling, Earth Medicine and ancient healing rituals. Terry refers to herself as an on again, off again, poet, author and professional actress, an mostly an everyday loving Grandmother. Her sensitivity and deep wisdom have been a great blessing to all who meet and know her.

GRANDMOTHER WIND DAUGHTER
The adopted daughter of Bear Heart, keeper of the Sacred beta Star Bundle and care taker of the Black Lodge, Wind Daughter has honored the task of carrying on Sun Bear's vision for the past 11 years. As founder of West Winds, she is busy preparing a new home base in Arkansas to support the vision of the development of the Panther Medicine Lodge Society as an extention as her work with the Bear Tribe. Her gift of the vision Quest Altar and the many traditional practices that have been left in her care continue to thrive and be gifted to the many who have studied with her through the past quarter of a century.

GRANDMOTHER CHARLA HERMANN
The adopted daughter of Wanbli Chekila, and trained in the ancient Medicine traditions for over fifty years, Charla serves the Sacred Stone Peoples lodge and Cannunpa Wakan. As a co-founder and director of Hawkwind Earth Renewal Cooperative, a spiritual retreat center located in the northern Alabama mountains. Charla walks her talk leading an active youth ministry and continues to maintain the Spiritual Archives that have been shared with her to pass on to the generations yet to come in the form of documentaries and books which she has been authoring since 1974. Charla's work can be found throughout the world and her skills as a ceremonialist, teacher, and Earth Keeper has left a deep impact on thousands who have been touched by her deep dedication to honoring the ancient practices of her Elders, teachers and ancestors who have entrusted her with their wisdom.

GRANDFATHER TARWATER
As the co-founder and Elder of Hawkwind Earth Renewal Cooperative, Tarwater has shared his skills as an ceremonial leader and artist with thousands from round the world. His dedication to the vision of the old ones has guided him to build a healing center and safe haven that has cared for more than he can count. He is committed to his Medicine work and the vision of healing for all of our relations. The drums that he has created have blessed the finest healing circles and his hands have reached tosupport the needs of men, women and children of all walks of life. The creation of ceremonial circles and healing portals has been his great devotion as he creates healing space that will live on for generations yet to come.

w/ the Hawkwind Council of Rev.'s Alisha, Lee, Lulu & Joseph

Tenative Special Guests who may share
Grandmother Diane Duggan
Grandmother Mary Thunder
Grandmother Barbara Vitale
Paul Ghosthorse
Helga Thompson
more to be announced

THERE WILL BE A TRADING POST OPEN FOR YOUR SHOPPING PLEASURE
THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND!

Bear Tribe advertising for vision quests

http://web.archive.org/web/20000831162620/www.ewebtribe.com/BearTribe/news-events/visionquest9-00.html

Medicine Wheel gatherings
http://web.archive.org/web/20000831162603/www.ewebtribe.com/BearTribe/news-events/ncmwg9-00.html


And AIM specifically mentions Sun bear and the Bear Tribe as being highly offensive to many native people.

http://web.archive.org/web/20050316152212/users.pandora.be/gohiyuhi/articles/art00074.htm

[debbieredbear]

Some how, stock options don't surprise me. Sun Bear, even in death, is marketable to the gullible with $$.

[debbieredbear]

would like to aknowledge and thank the beautiful teachers and spiritual elders that I have spent time with on this learning journey called the Red Road.


Beaver Chief, Mary Thunder, Arvol Looking Horse, Steven Greywolf Kemp, Sun Bear, Charlie Wolf Moondance, Archie Fire, Buck Ghost Horse, Steven Little Coyote, Ghostwolf, Jamie Sams,Trishuwa, Sharon White Arrow, Dawn Songfeather, Wallace Black Elk, Bright Owl, Corbin Harney, Roxanne Arising Sun Arispe, Jeffery White Horse Hubble, Gilbert Walking Bull, Evelyn Eaton, Barbara Means Adams, Noah Longcrane, Dave Chief, Marie -O'sota Hanhepi Wi Wainman, Rocky Shopbell .

Wow! What a list! I knew Noah Longcrane. He was an honorabble man and I doubt his  family would appreciate his listing on a fraud site. He was not a "spiritual elder" as she calls him, but he was an Elder. He had his own drum group, Grandpa Noah's Boys. He taught many young men to drum and dance. I know his son and daughter-in-law. Maybe Iwill send that page to them.

as to other names:
-Mary Thunder and Jeffrey Hubble are a married couple who put on sweats and sundances in Texas. There is a thread on her.

-Dawn Songfeather Davis, a white exploiter who does monthly pipe ceremonies out of Bellevue, Washington.

-Buck Ghost Horse (deceased), there is a thread on this exploiter. His group, mostly white, calls themselves the Ghost Horse Nation and puts on sundances in Goldendale, Washington.

-Ghostwolf (deceased) real name Robert Franzone, a man of Italian heritage who liked to abuse women. There's a thread.

-Jamies Sams, anoithjer white exploiter who co-authored the "Medicine Cards".

-Evelyn Eaton (deceased), WAS actually taught some thingd by Indian people and then went on to exploit it. A friend of mine got a call (Long story I won't go into) from a new age type person she had met briefly. The lady asked her if she and her women friends got together for monthly gatherings. at the time, some of us were meeeting monthly for talk and eats, so my friend said yes. Then the lady made some assumptions and said "When you use the pipe, what method do you use?" My friend didn't understand what was meant and said so and the lady said "Well, I used to use the Evelyn Eaton method and now I use the Dawn Songfeather Davies methos. What method do you use?" My friend said "Lady this is my spiritual beliefs and I don't discuss them" and then hung up. We still laugh about the "method". We never used a pipe in our groups because none of us HAD pipesnor had reason to have them. Further, if we had, we wouldn't have bragged on it.


Some of the people who are Indian (or were) and I think mostly good people:

-Beaver Chief (deceased), respected storyteller from the Pacific Northwest.

-Arvol Looking Horse

-Corbin Harney (deceased), an activist who passed on recently. I spent some time with him when he visited my area. He was genuine and passionate about water and Native rights.

-Gilbert Walking Bull (deceased), was a friend of my late sister-in-law. She would have known if he was "bad news".

_Dave Chief, my husband's cousin knows him and has worked with him in adult education.

-Barbara Means Adams is a relative of Russell Means and used to live in Seattle.

[debbieredbear]

And she has her own yahoogroup:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/turtleislandmedicinesociety/

[Leonard]

Question ? I think that I remember that Arvol Looking Horse is of the opinion that no 'outsiders', especially 'white' people should be involved in any of the 'ceremony' or 'sacred ritual' of the Lakota - do I understand correctly that this is his position on the matter ?

Leonard.

[frederica]

Here is some of it. Maybe Earth or MP can give you insight. http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1051280913                         Here is more on Mary Thunder http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=94.msg272.#msg  And Red Elk had ties to her and her Crystal Skulls but not sure she was using his lizard people. A lot of these people interact with each other and unforunately the general public is accepting of this for some reason or the other. They are accepted as authoritative figures by non-Ndns. That is why there was a need for a proclamation. I be willing to say that most do not even speak the language.

[earthw7]

Question ? I think that I remember that Arvol Looking Horse is of the opinion that no 'outsiders', especially 'white' people should be involved in any of the 'ceremony' or 'sacred ritual' of the Lakota - do I understand correctly that this is his position on the matter ?

Leonard.

We are Lakota/Dakota/Nakota have taken a stand to have no more non-Indians in ceremonies. They can not Sun dance, they must not run sweat lodge, or other ceremonies.

[Leonard]

Yeah, this is what I thought. I got into trouble in Europe last year when on a visit there with 'ONE Spirit'.

I tried to tell some people that the 'indians' really did not appreciate the 'fairs', 'carnivals', and 'pseudo-ceremony' - Oh boy, did I ever get into trouble with that one !

Leonard.