General > Frauds
Maria Owl Gutierrez
Twinkie_Slayer:
Another Bay Area pay-to-pray. Sells "vision quests" and claims a "five year apprenticeship" with a "Lakota Medicine man". She is conscientious of poor folks though...offers her vision quest services on a sliding scale from $850.00 to $1100.00. How generous >:(
http://www.soul-centeredhealing.com/pages/visionquest.htm
On her main page she lists a Steve Red Buffalo and Harry Charger among her "teachers". Steve Red Buffalo in years past I heard some stuff about him being a serial lodge-groper, and a search indicates he was involved in that UFO/ star nation nonsense. I think he has since passed on. I have heard of Harry Charger though I have never met him, and really know nothing about him.
http://www.soul-centeredhealing.com/pages/mariabio.htm
educatedindian:
Most of the sites on her say she's "serving her community for 15 years". On this site she describes herself as a Mexican-American with Mayan ancestry.
http://api.ning.com/files/Ww5Jn9Xw6RaettNGupLLN2Hkg5pmbtSFCxect16eGrYe0FKUB1IBNQo*jDqlr7GYLIPtMyj3GsS8By1Xv0E6LaujFc-kX*rN/MayansvMonsanto.pdf
So why does a Mexican/Mayan go to Lakota healers to learn and claim to do Lakota healing and ceremony? There's no shortage of Mayans, including in the Bay Area. There's also no shortage of Mexican curanderos. So "her community" is seemingly anyone who comes to her for healing in largely wealthy Marin County, right next door to the often poor Latino and NDN communities in Oakland and SF.
She does seem to want to do good on a number of issues, such as sacred sites. I don't see any sign of building up a cult, abusiveness, peddling workshops, etc. The main questions are if the people she claimed taught her actually did, and why choose a tradition not your own? Those, plus ceremony selling of course.
Her other "teachers" listed include Sashana Proctor, a faux feminist pushing feel good "initiations" into made up clans for a group calling itself Wisdombridge.
http://www.wisdombridge.net/Photos2.htm
Debbie Unterman is a common enough name that it's hard to pin down who she means. There's a hypnotherapist that may be her.
Adyashanti AKA Steven Gray is a white Buddhist teacher.
http://www.adyashanti.org/index.php?file=teachings
There's a long list of websites accusing him of being a fraud.
http://oceanofthought.com/philosophy/energy-of-a-free-being-adyashanti/ (See comments)
http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/advaita-vedanta/90993-fwd-adyashanti-mukta.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klBd7Hr0k20
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/real-meditation-learn-to-let-go.html (comments)
http://zenmonkeys.tribe.net/thread/03799f8d-a78c-47a6-80fe-89e1037b1084
http://www.takuin.com/adyashanti-on-awareness/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fjxAZ5ogGM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bRi6gDLJ_g
I'm guessing this may be the Francesca McCartney she refers to.
http://energymedicineuniversity.org/faculty/mccartney.html
Three of her other teachers Kaplowitz, Campbell, and Riverbend are part of these extremely vague feel good courses.
http://www.solsara.net/solsara-teachers.php
I don't see any harm done by these courses, except to the hole in your banking acount. I also don't see who they do much of anything at all.
Gutierrez seems to have cobbled together her ideas and practices from all over, quite a mishmash.
Lodro:
--- Quote ---Adyashanti AKA Steven Gray is a white Buddhist teacher.
http://www.adyashanti.org/index.php?file=teachings
--- End quote ---
It says on the site he "took teachings" from Zen. That's not the same as being a buddhist teacher. His name is reminiscent of hindu advaita (non-dualism) teachers. He gives Satsang, which is a kind of loose, discursive teaching session. I'd say he mouthes the words of people who have taught him and books he has read, and it's not possible to ascertain what is the lineage of him and of his teachers. He remains suspiciously silent on the people who taught him. If this were a proper buddhist teacher he would openly state from which teachers he received transmission.
Twinkie_Slayer:
What caught my eye is the pay-to-pray vision quest and the claim of Lakota teachers. I know very little about the Eastern religious traditions, so I cannot really offer an informed opinion. Thankfully, we have folks like Lodro and others who are knowledgeable and can provide commentary.
I found this on Harry Charger:
--- Quote ---The Akicita Heyoka (Fool Soldiers) is a warrior society of the Sans Arc Band (Itazipco) of the Lakota Nation. We are sworn to protect and care for the people. The Akicita Heyoka is very old and has survived the changing of times. We are here to serve and to help all people. The Fool Soldiers have been in existence for over 200 years carrying the message of peace,non violence,and the coming together of all people. Respect for ones self and respect for others is of the utmost as we are all one. The leader of the Fool Soldiers is Harry Charger (The Charger) from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.
--- End quote ---
http://www.angelfire.com/me4/charger10/
This I found on a Stephen Red Buffalo, not sure if it is the same "Steve" Red Buffalo that Gutierrez mentions but it does seem to confirm that he has passed on, some time ago it appears. I would imagine that Red Buffalo is not a common name.
http://www.fpm.iastate.edu/facnews/1999sp/page8.html
And this one:
http://groups.google.co.nz/group/alt.native/msg/5fdd06535f2068f7?dmode=source
Autumn:
Updated links for Maria.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maria333healer
http://www.mariaowl.com/default.html
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