Advisory on Tim Walking Bear Goodblood.

[danielle]

In this advisory the man mentioned here,Tim Walking Bear Goodblood,reportedly was smudging and caused an elderly woman to have an allergic reaction to sage....And their`s more to come. He had videos of ceremony instruction,a 100 proof Russian Vodka and hops tincture video on the internet and got quite hostile when a group of Natives asked him to remove them.......Has quite a bit of other obnoxious baggage also.Seems to be targeting the vulnerable and innocent.Claims to be of the Aroostook or Micmac of Maine.


http://geocities.com/fakemedicinemen/goodblood.htm

[educatedindian]

Photo of him on his blog. Seems like a confused mix he's teaching.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=116535870
"Tim Walking Bear Goodblood, of Muin Medicines, is an ordained minister with the Universal life church, a globally known all denominational church organization. He is also a Native American Spiritualist of Micmac, Blackfoot, and French blood. He has studied herbal medicine for 14+ years, and has been involved in alternative healing and wellness work for more than 15 years. He is a certified Reiki practitioner, soon to be certified Reiki master. He preforms ceremonies of all types, from healing ceremonies, weddings, cross over ceremonies, medicine wheel, sweat lodge, pipe, and others. Tim works with rock medicine, crystal resonance therapy, aroma therapy, herbal medicines, therapeutic touch, and energy matrix alignment."

Found him selling an herbal medicine course and sweatlodge. The ones sponsoring him seem like herbal med buffs, not intentionally doing harm. A polite call or email to them might be best, pointing out their letting him sell ceremony is not ethical and the complaints there are about him not knowing what he's doing.

http://www.blessedmaineherbs.com/de3yecohepr.html
We're introducing our new 3 YEAR COMMUNITY HERBALIST PROGRAM which begins May 1 2007. Following you will find an outline of our exciting new Community Herbalist Program.
The first year of study for the Community Herbalist Program is the herbal medicine foundation work which consists of the 12 lesson Herbal Medicine Correspondence Course. This course takes one full year to complete and serves as the first of three years of herbal study with Gail Faith Edwards. This first year begins on May 1, 2007....
What you can expect: Our on-site time together will center around the continuing work of opening our wild hearts to the healing herbs, and to this end we will spend a great deal of time in the Blessed Maine Herb Gardens, and in the wild, with Gail. We will learn and actively practice Stephen Buhner's techniques for deepening awareness of and connection to all of nature.
We will learn from Tim "Walking Bear" Goodblood his Traditional Native American (Micmac) healing ways, including energy work, take woods walks for native woodland medicine plant identification/collection and participate in the sweat lodge ceremony....
The fee for the 3 year Community Herbalist Program is $3,600."

He's trying to get his own "spiritual camp" going, which sounds very Sun Bear-like.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=116535870&blogID=204341161
"Please help us make this vision a reality. I have 27 acres of land that I will donate to this cause. We have many healers and teachers ready to help. But really need people that can right grants and know the ins and outs of that and help establishing non-profit stat. And help with found raising.
I also have a book of spiritual writings ready for publishing. And I will donate all proceeds from this book to this cause. Some of these writings are in my blogs. Help with publishing is needed also.
http://www.myspace.com/timwalkingbear
Cleveland Goodblood Memorial Non-profit Corp.
Spiritual camp of natural healing.
Mission statement:
To creat a community or communities living in harmony and balance with Mother Earth and all of creation....
02/08/05
Governing bodies;
1. Board of directors....
Closed meeting. Invitation only.
2. Board of directions.
8 Members; 2 Yellow people in the East. Man, and Woman. 2 red people in the South. Man, and Woman. 2 Black people in the West. Man, and Woman. 2 White people in the North. Man, and Woman...
3. Council of elders;
All people of the community 65 years of age or older....
These 3 Governing bodies are a Sacred medicine circle....
Also needed are Attorneys, Doctors, Veterinary, Nurses, Midwives, Carpenters, Builders, Spiritualist, Healers of all types, Herbalist, Artist, Writers, Grant Writers, etc... Are all greatly needed now to get this corporation up and running. Anyone wishing to take part or help in any way please contact me, Rev Tim Walking Bear Goodblood"

Some other links showing him hanging mostly around pagans and "back to nature" type whites. I don't know, I'd call him naive but not intentionally harmful.

[timwalkingbear]

That is not my herbal school, I do teach herbal medicine and alternitive healing arts there. But the school itself is owned by Gail Faith Edwards, a world renowned herbalist. I do go to this school and do workshops on herbs and healing arts, but my workshops are free, I am sometimes gifted stypin from Gail for traval and time expences, very much the same way a drum group is at powwows. I do, conduct a sweat lodge there from time to time, but this is done on the week ends when school is out and is open to anyone that wishes to come, no fee or anything like that is charged as is emplyed here. most of what has been said here is hear say and not based on facts. This is getting close to slander. I hope I am not forced to let my attorney handle it. That is not how I like to handle things. But I do have constitutioal, and civial rights you know. This is America. I am willing to talk with anyone wishing to get facts and to better understand me. But only if aproached in a respectful way. My email is goodbloodnaturalhealing@yahoo.com   Moderater of this page please remove these slanderious posts. Respectfully; Tim Walking Bear Goodblood

[educatedindian]

There's nothing even close to "slanderious". I'm guessing you meant slander or slanderous. Most of what's here is the websites who are promoting you, or your own webpage. The rest is us discussing our opinions of what you do. Danielle thinks you're a fraud and I called you naive but probably not intending to harm people, and probably mixed up.

After all, do you seriously exepct any actual NDN to believe "crystal resonance and matrix alignment" are from any NDN tradition?

Throwing around threats of legal action and monitoring the web to try and suppress any criticism is generally what Nuage frauds do, not actual Native elders or medicine people. But like I said, I think you're probably misguided and don't know much about the traditions, rather than trying to actually exploit people.

From what I've seen so far, you and your pagan and "back to nature" white followers are probably the blind leading the blind. They give you Nuage sources to learn from, and then you pass what you learned off as Micmac or Blackfoot to the people who go to their herbal school. It would probably just be more honest of everyone to say you're someone who has some NDN ancestry but doesn't know the traditions who is teaching pagan/altmed ideas, and sometimes harming people (like the elderly man who had an allergic reaction) because you don't know as much as you need to before practicing.

All of this, of course, is just my very preliminary opinion. Hope you come on back so we can discuss some more.

If you don't mind, could you tell us:
Who was it who taught you any Micmc or Blackfoot ways?
Why would you mix things like crystals and energy matrix nonsense with Native traditions?
And that ULC "ordination"? Most people already know it's just filling out a form and sending in your name.

[timwalkingbear]

I never said I mix crystal medicine, or energy work and anything with native ways. All though many of these things are a part of many native cultures. Native have used all forms of healing arts ways. But none of that really maens anything when it comes down to it. By that way of thinking, if a native becomes a doctor, or dentist than he has exploited his native ways. That kind of thinking makes no sense to me. Look I just do not like others putting me in the same class as rapist, and some one that takes advantage of others. I do not do that. All you have said on here is just hearsay. Anyone that knows me knows I give and I give and I give. To help others anyway I can. thats it. Some times others give to me too. Not because I ask or make it a requirement for what I do for them. No, if some one gives to me it is because they want to. In another online group I was faced with this ame kind of thing and I posted a reply to some thing that really hit home as to what I'm really all about. I will share that with you now. Some of it may not make a sense as it it a quote responding to some thing some one else said. But the root of it is very easy to understand. Here it is...
      "Very well said. A bit wordy but I made it through. And you do make some good points. But the fact is I was gifted the teachings of the lodge by a native elder more than one as a matter of fact. Any knowlege gifted to me or anyone else from elders, books, videos, by a Spirit, from a song, no matter the source it all is from the Creator to that person. And if that person chooses to gift those teachings to anyone else, that is their right to do so. Period! If the native teachings are safe with the native people then why are you all so afraid someone else will learn them. You said your self that the native people will never loose the teachings, so why be so conserned with what others may learn. I do not do what I do just to make sure the teachings are not lost. The biggest reason I share these teachings with others is that they need them, and we all need to unit and understand all the teachings of all sacred walks if there is to be any hope of healing our selves, the human race as a whole is what I'm speaking of, and the Mother Earth. What do you think all the sacred teachings are really all about? Its not to keep one peoples identity, that may be part of it, but the real bottem line; The real reason these teachings ever came to be at all is to bring healing to our selves, each other, and the Earth. Period. That is the main reason I share these teachings. All sacred teachings are of the same base teaching, the Bible, the Pipe, the Lodge, the Korain, every sacred teaching on earth now and ever, are here as a gift from God to all the world for one base reason. To heal our injured hearts and open us all to respecting, loving, and honoring all life. Thats it, thats all there is. And only through shareing and unity can it ever be. Period! And only when this starts to happen can the earth, our Mother be healed. Period! Thats what I'm all about. All this fighting over who can do what and all that crap. It just pulls us farther and farther from the one real truth. Jesus said it, Buffalo calf woman said it, Budah said it, every sacred teaching on earth says, "WE ARE TO LOVE, HONOR, AND RESPECT ALL LIFE, FOR WE ARE ALL ONE. WE ARE ALL RELATED. WHAT WE DO TO ANOTHER WE DO TO OUR SELF. My real Brother would share his cookie with me, because he loves me. PERIOD!"
    Now you can condem me all you want for being compationate, loving, and giving, for sharing teachings and everything I have to those in need. You can call A.I.M. and bring worriors to my door, you can even take my life. But it want change a thing. And it will be creator you face for your deeds, just as I will face Creator for mine. You can ask who my elders are you can say I have no rights, what ever. None of that matters. Who are my elders...you are, I am, God is, the tree I harvest nuts from is, the lake I swim in is, all life is our teachers. I will not debate on all this. I am what I am, and you can think I am what ever you think I am, but when you go hurting me, my family, and loved ones with lies and hate. Well, I will do as anyone would. Everything in my power to stop you. End of story. Do you really think Creator wants you to go after people the way you do? These a hell of a lot better ways to be a native than that.

[educatedindian]

It's pretty hard to make any sense of what you just said. I doubt even you understand your own words. After all, you just "quoted" yourself and then stopped the quote at some point.

From what I can tell, you're making a couple main points, so correct me if I get them wrong:

You don't charge, which we never accused you of anyway.

You claim you don't mix, but that if you were to mix it'd be OK (insert singing of We Are the World.) And that if you do mix Nuage and altmed with Native ways, Nuage and altmed ARE somehow Native ways anyway...?

You say you were trained by Native elders, but then say it doesn't matter, and won't say their name, and that your elders are trees, etc., and it doesn't matter because you can do what you like anyway...?

And then comes the whole image of yourself as a martyr, imagining you're being persecuted or even that your life is being threatened because someone tried to warn people that you don't know what you're doing and injured an elderly man through your ignorance.

Followed by vague threats, "I will stop you," and claims we're such terrible people for warning others that you don't know what you're doing.

So far I've seen nothing to change my opinion that you're extremely confused. You're so convinced that you're a "healer" and "helping people" that you just don't care how you're only spreading confusion and sometimes harming people like that elderly man. The only good thing I see is that you don't charge.

For everyone's sake, please go back to your elders and just LISTEN and LEARN for a very long time before you go out and do more harm and spread more confusion.

[timwalkingbear]

Agree that we Disagree

   There are those that believe one color of peoples spiritual ways are those color of peoples ways, you could replace the word color with the word culture, either way its the same message. And that no other colored person should follow the ways of another color's. And that No person of one color should teach their people's ways to any others. And that if this happens then it is the responsibility of the people of that color to do all they can to stop people of another color from learning or practicing the ways of their people's color. So by that way of thinking, all red people should stick to the teachings of red people, all white people should stick to the teachings  of white people, all black people should stick to the teachings of black people, and all yellow people should stick to the teachings of yellow people. This is the belief that is being pushed by some. Do we all agree on that?
       Now, it is my belief that all teachings of all ways is for all people. And that if anyone wishes to learn and live the teachings of any other color of people than that is okay. Not only okay, but their right to do as they choose. That is my belief.
   Others can disagree with my belief, and I can disagree with other's belief. Thats perfectly okay. We all have the right to believe as we choose. There is nothing wrong in that.
   The trouble starts when others say "you must follow what I believe or else" and take action to enforce that. And it is even okay to do that, so long as we stay with in the bounds of human respect, and the Law.
   I will not go around and try to drive my beliefs down someone else's throat, or start a web site that calls those that disagree with me rapist, or criminals, or go to such lengths as to attack them verbally or physically, or destroy what they hold to be sacred. That is criminal.
   Nothing anyone says to me is going to change my beliefs in this way. And probably nothing I say will change anyone else's beliefs in this other way either. So, lets just know that we understand each other, and agree that we do not agree. Leave it at that. You live your life your way, and I'll live my life my way. Mutual human respect. You do what you feel you need to, and I'll do what I feel I need to. But know this...When someone else stops leaving me to live as I wish to live and takes action to keep me or anyone else from living the way they choose, then I will stand up and be heard. I will stay within the bounds of human rights and the law. And that is all I ask of anyone else. Do not go outside the bounds of human rights or the letter of the Law to enforce your beliefs. That is all I advocate, nothing more nothing less.
   I have heard your arguments and you have heard  mine; And it has become clear nothing is going to come to any resolve in that. So lets just leave it at that. We now have an understanding that we agree that we disagree.
   
   It was never my intent to use my native blood to advertise my healing arts practice. I am proud of my blood, all of my blood lines. And it was my intent to show my pride of that. Nothing more. I thank you for showing me that this is being misunderstood. And I will take steps to change that and make myself better understood. But as for teaching others what I know. That I will keep doing. Spiritual teachings I will give away freely, other teachings such as herbal-ism I will give away and maybe charge for. Not sure about that one. I still am very undecided in that. One part of me feels giving healing wisdom away has great power, another part of me says you have to live and there are those that wont value the healing arts unless they pay for it, and that to can have healing power. That is a hard one for me to come to grips with. So I leave that open for now. There is one other aspect of selling herbal medicine a struggle with, that is, if I keep giving my medicine away as I always have then I only reach those that I come into contact with, but if I market it I reach 1,000s. As I say I am undecided with this one. I know the power of giving and I see the power of selling to. This I am still seeking to find resolve in. I pray about it, I seek advice of others both ways, I fast on it, and still I do not know for sure how to go with it. So for now I keep giving it away. Spirit tells me I should give the medicine away, but consider asking a fee to teach it or to sell books about it. This I still am not so sure of. So I walk lightly in that regard.
     Oh, and this elder you speak of that I so harmfully smudged, was a woman. And I did not smudge her. I smudged the dance circle at the request of the drum group playing and the smoke drifted to her vending both because it was set up right on the dances circle. I was always told that the vending thing should be kept away from the sacred circle. But the band that put on this powwow is into the making money thing more that honoring tradition. All I did was try to honor tradition as best I could.

[timwalkingbear]

We live in a world that requires money to live, I have always been open to accepting any and all love offering donations to cover travel and living expenses, never a requirement mind you. This is not an uncommon custom with native peoples. I have always believed that life work is about fulfilling needs, not greed. In traditional times, there was no need to charge fees for services given from one to another, no matter what those services were, herbal or other wise. In days of old, it was known that if someone performed a service for you, then it was proper to gift him or her in some way to fulfill a need they may have. However, we do not live in such a time today. Everything is based on money and contract these days. So how do we find a harmonious balance in today's world? I believe Creator wants us to live and survive by the use of the gifts Creator has given us. Meaning, if you are gifted with wisdom of working with herbs than you should be able to live and have all you need to live by following that calling. And in traditional times that is exactly how we lived, it was commonly known, no contract or set fee was needed. That is not the custom of today's world. I have never claimed to have a great power, quite the opposite, I always try to help others learn to know their own power and that they heal themselves. It is not me that heals anyone but myself. I am about empowering others to heal themselves, not setting it up so they must seek their healing from me or anyone else. In traditional times if you were a hunter you made your living hunting and giving to your community in that way, in turn people of the community took care of your needs in the ways they were gifted. If you were an herbalist, you gave to your community in that way, and others gave back to you in their way. Through this community sharing, all the needs of everyone were met. Given that today's world is not like that, how do we find a harmony and balance in that? Sure we could just go ahead and work a "punch the clock make someone else rich, and struggle to get by job" and in doing so get farther and farther from unity and become ill as a result; As is the state of today's world. In not honoring our God given gifts as our living we are being disrespectful to those gifts and to the Creator that gifted us with them, not to mention the disservice it creates to ourselves and the community. In traditional communities making a living was done by dedicating yourself to mastering and giving the medicine way Creator has called you to , whether that be ceremonial, hunting or whatever you were called to. Today's community does not promote that. So where dose that leave us? We could go to one extreme and keep our gifts to ourselves, do ceremony and our gifted work when we can in the private circle we are part of. Or we could go to the other extreme and and charge big fees for our gifts and offer it to the world, this only feeds  the greed machine and pulls us deeper into unhealthy ways of living. I seek to find some other way that could bring healing to ourselves and the world community that is harmonious and healthy you the greater whole. How can this be done? I don't know. But I seek to find out. I have learned that it can't been done by some of the approaches I've tried, nor can it be done by the extreme ways others have tried. But by looking at all the ways that have and are being tried just maybe some real answers will come. So I look at the extremes some natives have taken to keep the teaching to them selves, and I look at the extremes others have taken in the other way. I choose not to feed completely into one or the other. Because I know the real solution is somewhere in between. That is all I'm trying to do through all of these post that have taken place and in the way I walk life. I hope that through all of this others will start to try to find the answers to. Then maybe we can all be a little better off.
Respectfully;
Tim walking Bear

[Moma_porcupine]

Hi Tim

It is good you are thinking about it , and you do sound sincere . I agree with Al that you don't sound like an exploiter , but you defiently sound very naive ! Have you taken the time to read through all the pages of problems discussed in this forum ?

Native peoples reluctance to "share" is not all based in a reasonable mistrust of white people , and not wanting to "share" beloved traditions that are likely to get trashed  . There is lot of problems that come up when these traditions get taken out of the communities where they originated , and the people who get hurt are all colors .

Even Elders have personal strengths and weakness . From what I have seen , in a traditional community there is enough Elders to provide a balance of knowledge , that if one Elder has a blind spot someone else can balance that out . When Elders have lived in a community their whole life , the community remembers their youth , and their mistakes and difficult times . There is no temptation to start
pretending you are wiser than you are . In a traditional community even Elders , have Elders , or they are old enough to be facing their own death  . Both which keep people humble and in balance . In a traditional community most the Elders knew the younger people when they were in diapers . Getting looked up to by grandchildren or neices and nephews who they knew in diapers is not so much of a big thrill that it becomes addictive .

Even more than the desire for money it seems people get addicted to the attention they get through leading traditional ceremonies or by playing the part of Medicine man / woman . It can get so that is all they want to do . In the city there are so many people looking for something , it can get so doing Ceremonies is all people do , and there is not much time to do  much else , so they begin to think " Why shouldn't I get paid ?" In the traditional communities I have seen , this was never how it was done .

ALL the real traditional Elders I have known , had a day job . In the old days they hunted , made useful impliments , tended grandchildren and washed dirty diapers .  The most inspiring Elder I have ever known spent most of her time up to her elbows washing other peoples dirty laundry . And she WAS a very respected tribal Elder . From what I have seen , this whole idea of becoming a specialist in healing or Spiritual teaching ,separate from the day to day activities of living , is in itself an entirely non native and "Christian" , interpretation of Native traditions  .

Over and over and over I see Native traditions get corrupted when they are removed from the balance a knowledgeable traditional community provides . Even when people who have spent their whole lives in a traditional community and decades learning from Elders , it seems there is so many problems and temptations that come up trying to practice the ceremonies outside of a Native community , even the wisest can get lost in it . When people trusted to lead get lost , people do get hurt , especially when there is not enough other knowledgeable people around to notice there is a problem and get things back on track .  The Medical community has a circle of Doctors that keep an eye on other Doctors .
The Christian community has a circle of Ministers that keep an eye on Ministers , but when Native traditions get removed from Native communities there is often NO ONE with enough knowledge and personal detachment , to make sure things stay on track .  This is as much a problem for Native people who have never known their culture , in urban areas as it is for non native . These problems are very real and they aren't about color .

I agree that the MORAL teachings of all religions tend to point us in the same direction , and we can all learn a lot from the MORAL teachings of various religions , but to imagine everyone has a right to select out of context bits of specific ceremonies,  sounds more like consumerism , and entitlement without respect or responsibility , than any true Spiritual path .

When you say things like the quote below , you do sound like you have some really naive presumptions of entitlement , which border on offensive ;

"it is my belief that all teachings of all ways is for all people. And that if anyone wishes to learn and live the teachings of any other color of people than that is okay. Not only okay, but their right to do as they choose."

Cultural traditions and Ceremonies such as the Sweat Lodge and Pipe Ceremony belong collectively to the tribe where they originated . What I mean is , the tribe , as a whole , has the internal right , and authority to protect their traditions from corruption  . To deny that Native communities have the internal right and authority to protect their own collectively owned cultural resources , in my opinion , is a type of racism . It is exactly the same type of racism that denied tribes had a right to control or protect collectively owned land, and though you may not have ever thought of it in this way , this attitude is offensive .

Hope this makes sense and is not overly long and repetive . I am tired today and my brain is not working very good ...

Take care

[timwalkingbear]

Walalin= Thank you very much
    You have given me much to think about. I will have to reflect on this a while. I understand what you have said, and I respect the great wisom it holds. I also know that often things are not as they may look at first. More often than not this is the case. I believe it was the ways of the ancestors to look closly at things, and to always look for what is not seen, and to see the blessing in all things. Sometimes my mind over takes my spirit and I speak or do before hearing spirits wisper. And that gos for everyone I would guess. Even when we see those that do what we think is wrong, there may very well be something we are not seeing. Anyways, thank you again. Your words are powerful and I will think long and hard on them, with my heart more than my mind.