John Luke Edwards, "Wolven Path Tradition"

[Defend the Sacred]

Hi:  I am Sarah, from Canada and am interested in alternative healing.  This has led me to some great teachers and not so great teachers.  One in particular has me very concerned and I was referred to this website for guidance.

Has anyone heard of John Luke Edwards?  His website:  http://wolfindark.com/
He is teaching 'shamanism' and some of his practices are very suspect.

I appreciate your feedback.

Looking around his site, he appears to be doing a salad bar, culture vulture mixture of Harnerisms with out of context and misused terminology swiped from Buddhism, Gaelic festivals, Jewish mysticism, and thinly-disguised, romanticized NDN fantasies.

On these pages he throws around his mishmash of things fake Buddhist, fake Jewish and fake Celtic: http://www.wolfindark.com//shamanic_pract.html http://www.wolfindark.com/workshops_list.html

http://www.wolfindark.com/shamanic_proc.html

The process utilises:
Soul Retrieval - reconnection to that which is lost & exiled
Past life regression & Alignment - linking to the 'un-done' in our spiritual history
De-possession - redemption of primal wounds
Psycho-pomp - a calling to our spiritual service
Dis-armouring - breaking free from useless barriers
Medicine touch – spirit healing
Vision Quest - re-connecting to our spiritual guides and our spiritual destiny
Extraction – identification and removal of soul intrusions
Soul Rememberment – reconnection to exiled and forgotten soul relationship
Exorcism of memory ghosts
Dis-possession, & Depossession

Shamanic work is undertaken under the Wolven Path Tradition and is regulated by the Laws & Principles of that Lineage.
http://www.circleofgreatmystery.com/principles.html

John-Luke is a member of: The Society of Shamanic Practitioners
A Minister of the Circle of The Scared Earth
And Presidor and Ordained Minister of The Sacred Circle of the Great Mystery
and as such is guided & held by their philosophies and ethics

[emphasis added]

I particularly like, "Circle of the Scared Earth". Be afraid, be very afraid. 


ETA: Checked out http://circleofgreatmystery.com/tradition.html  Holy crap. What bullshit. It's about as Celtic as dressing as an orange Oompah Loompah for the St. Paddy's parade and declaring yourself the Pope. Actually, that would be less offensive in the long run, as there'd be actual Irish people there to kick his ass. He hopes that by being a Fake NDN Druid Rabbi Internet Shameon no one with a brain or culture will ever cross his path. This type feeds on the lost and ignorant. Shameful.


ETAA: I'm showing his site to some of my Irish friends and we're alternating laughing and feeling sick. Dig this quote:

http://www.wolfindark.com/about.html

The Wolven Path Shamanic Tradition. This northern European Tradition, a so called romantic ‘Celtic’ Shamanism, is a Nordic/Druid Lineage Tradition lost in history to religious repression and extinction of its elders and teachers. This Tradition is taught as part of the Apprenticeship.
...
John-Luke works from his Medicine Room in the village of Lions Bay, BC, Canada.

[emphasis added]

Never mind all the blatant ignorance, he's even admitting the fantasy "tradition" he claims to teach was "lost in history" and "extinct". So, he's yet another appropriator, ignorant of the cultural survivals there are, and he inadvertently admits what's obvious to anyone with any knowledge of culture and religious history: he's making all this crap up, wrapping Harneresque NDN fantasies in a plastique, Celtique, made in China cloak. Ick. Ick. Ick.

You know, Harner has a lot to answer for.

[Ravenbird]

This same comment has been spammed across several websites. The Wolven Path Tradition is a Northern European spiritual path. Its not Core Shamanism, its not Jewish, its not Buddist, its not North American or South American., its not Christian and not simply Celtic (I say that as there seems to be this misapprehension that Celts are the Irish, they are not just the Irish, Celts spanned across Europe toward Asia) or New Age. There is no pretention that this line is unbroken. As individuals who's ancestory is North European  we have a right to claim our indigious spirituality. Nobody can take that away from us. Its ours. We have to start somewhere 

[Defend the Sacred]

Then start with the actual traditions, beliefs and worldview of your ancestors, not stuff ripped off from other cultures.

[Defend the Sacred]

I was sent this by a former student of Edwards':

---------begin quote---------

I was his student and know enough (actually quite a bit) about Celtic practices.  I noticed soon how he has bastardized many of these to fit into his own thing.  He is gaining quite a following, and initiating these people as "Shamans".  He recently put on a rather successful conference, engaging the Society of Shamanic Pracitioners.    He is from England and has taken his training for Elsa & Howard Mapals.  He puts down pretty much all other practitioners, he belittles his students and he breaks confidentiality by sharing information freely with others.  He talks about his students behind their backs and is basically a master triangulator.  The people who are drawn to him are extremely wounded.  They do not seem to be getting any better but cling blindly to his "authority".  He is extremely good at performance art, creates elaborate ceremonies with beautiful props but are devoid of what I would call authentic connection to Spirit.  I left his training after a few months, and then was pretty much abandoned by the 'wolf pack' for not buying his sugar coated brand of shamanism.

It is interesting to note that I am in correspondence with a number of others who have left his tradition or have been ex-communicated because of questioning him.  All of these are very strong women.

I have no problem with my experiences being posted and will encourage the others I know to do the same.

---------end quote---------

[Ravenbird]

I am a student of this path. I am not John Luke Edwards. He is not a fraud. I originally posted because I thought the comment unfair over what was a personal disagreement between a fellow student and her teacher. I don't believe this should be a forum for personal attacks.

The Wolven Path Tradition is based on a form of Irish Celtic Spirituality. It is animistic, and believes that all living things are connected and have a soul and that everything is part of the Divine. It is a way of living not a religion. I happen to Pagan who hails to Anglo Saxon gods, which is my personal faith. The Wolven Path is a way of living and uses Spirit and animal Spirits in its ceremonies and rirtuals and healing. We do use texts from the time and do research from primary sources. However, many pre-Christian beliefs had an oral traditions that never made it through to our present day and this poses problems for us. We use texts on plant medicine such as the Lacnunnga because it discusses at length, albeit in OE, plant healing and other forms of healing methods. The Tradition genuinely attempts to utilize genuine myths, legends and oral storytelling and writes its songs in Irish Gaelic. We do cover Sidhe ceremonies and honour the tradition. We work in the community face to face not on-line.

It is a Spiritual Path. If one wishes to learn about pre-Celtic history then one should read the many academic texts that discuss Celtic recontructionism at length.


Many people deride those who seek pagan paths, often by individuals with an agenda, religious, racist etc. Just because I am English does not mean I have to be Christian. Its easy to rip into non Christian white culture because its own traditions were decimated and re-written and corrupted. It is difficult to re-engage in what once was but what we have now is all we have to go on and we can only do our best to peice it together. I don't believe what is gone, should stay gone. That would be a very sad day and leave us with a foreign faith that was forced upon us in the first instance and one that destroyed Native European traditions. 

I honour other people's spiritual traditions such as those practised by the Coast Salish or Lakota or any other earth based spirituality. We do not use them. That said The Wolven Path would not discriminate against those who wish to join our group, based on ethnicity, blood or lineage or sexaul orientation.  My own view is, and I believe it to be many who are on the Wolven Path is that we would not dishonour our own ancestory copying or stealing anyone elses. Yes I have read many of the comments on this site. Most of which are based on people who rip Native American spirituality off. Well I agree with many of the comments. The Wolven Path is not one of these groups but seeks out our own through our own Ancestry. 

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

why do people *have* to have some sort of path that they *have* to pay to be on. Isn't the life in front of you enough? i speak from the point of being a white person with no traditions or cultures, i would never pay anyone for a path. look within and all you need is there. for me, i accept i will never know my ancestral roots. so be it. that doesn't mean i *have* to go about hooking up on the shadow of a cult or the cusp of some forgotten and "claimed to be remembered" traditions or steal off another and claim it's helping me find mine (that's b.s.).

i looked at this guys page. it's a mish mash. why bother with it let alone pay the guy.

just seems if you are interested in your pre-christian ancestors and heritage, then research for it, for your self. learn what you can with whatever scraps are left that you can find.   why sign up and pay to follow the words of someone else. why always needing this 'teacher' element, or to be a student of or apprentice.

everything regarding your ancestors are within you, not in someone else.

[dabosijigwokush]

he is from england non native

http://web.archive.org/web/20041127184728/http://www.wolfindark.com/

from his own sight

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

taken from the link is this:  Dr. John-Luke Edwards will help you discover who you were meant to be.

imo, anyone who says this is a fraud, 'who you were meant to be' implies you are not who you are.. how crazy is that. that's really messing with peoples minds and self esteem. and he's supposedly a therapist as well. good grief. i guess the more he can mess up a person the more money he can make "helping" them..

he is from england non native

http://web.archive.org/web/20041127184728/http://www.wolfindark.com/

from his own sight

[outershell]

"Celtic Shamanism" is always a giveaway.
How can someone claim to be teaching ancient Celtic spiritual tradition and NOT know the terms for the "shaman-like" practitioners/ leaders of that culture?

It's like saying "i'm a brain surgeon and i need to operate on that noodly- gray thing you have there".

[Saskia]

The first time I met Mr Edwards, he was a nervous, generous, honest and genuine English guy with a true intent to offer people a way to heal themselves.  As a qualified psychologist/psychotherapist (I forget which) he seemed to have come to the spiritual side of healing through his own path of self discovery.  Essentially, despite the eyebrow tatoo and other quirky 'props', I liked him!  His honesty in saying, "this is the first time I have done this, so please bear with me" endeared us all to him and he had a beautiful way of conducting a healing ceremony which allowed everyone to take part and everyone to heal in their own way.  It really was powerful and beautiful.  That was back in 2006.

Since then the Wolfindark 'show' has, unfortunately taken over.  A good psychologist should recognise the tell-tail signs of 'need' in one who has to shower themselves and their aspirants with titles such as Illuminati, Elder, pathfinder, Reverend, shaman etc.   What hole are these titles trying to fill?  Within a couple of years the Wolven Way 'tradition' and Sacred Circle of Great Mystery Shamanic Society had been birthed and at both the BC SCGMSS conference and the UK SSP conference we saw increasingly exotic and theatrical 'shows' including an initiation ceremony which was painfully silly to watch (several people all wearing black, bound around the waist to each other, bound at the wrists too and with black veils over their heads, all wobbling over, trying to get their wellingtons on to precess across the drive to the ceremony area) and a 'Ghost Dance' which, though probably honest in it's intent and sanctioned for one performance only by the Salish people (we were told), many of us found to be deeply troubling.

Why revive this thread now?  Because Howard and Elsa Malpas have, a couple of days ago, made a public statement distancing themselves from the 'Wolven Way' and essentially John-Luke Edwards. 

To All our Friends on Facebook.
Just returned from our Shamanic Conference at Gaunts House where we Danced the the Rhythm of Change. For us one unexpected change this year is that we have resigned as Directors of the SCGMSS and The Wolven Path Tradition as our spiritual path is in a different direction. We strongly desire to maintain friendships and heart connections with our Canadian Brothers and Sisters. We are grateful for the learning and good times together, let us maintain the bridge of love and communication as we go on our journeys.
With love, Elsa & Howard

I really wish that Mr Edwards (not the Rev, pathfinder, elder, celtic, shaman, wolven Illuminati) would find his way home to truth and humility.  He really is a lovely guy underneath it all but as many are now realising, he has lost his way.  For his students, all I can say is that you know what a lovely guy he is but be honest and ask yourselves why the need for all this false tradition and titles?  Surely a tradition is what naturally occurs over generations, not 2 or 3 years.  Think for yourselves, it's why you were given 'free will'! 

[Defend the Sacred]

The Ghost Dance is not a Salish ceremony (unless there is another ceremony with a name like that of which I am unaware). I suspect it was actually what some newagers have been attempting to do in recent years - a confused and fake ritual that they claim is a Ghost Dance, based on a radical misunderstanding and misinterpretation of a real Plains ceremony.

If that's what this guy is doing, the Salish have nothing to do with it, and are not really in a position to grant non-Natives the right to do another Nation's ceremony. BUT.... some people actually are OK with non-Native appropriators and shameons attempting to Ghost Dance... since the ceremony is actually about making all the non-Natives disappear from this continent, by whatever means necessary.

The idea of white pretendians attempting to Ghost Dance, unwittingly praying for their own destruction and banishment, is about the most surreal yet perfect example of how delusional these shameons are.

Speaking of shameons, Saskia, are you still assuming we will forget that you haven't answered the questions that have been asked of you? While it's useful that you are giving intel on other shameons, since you are deeply involved in the shameon scene yourself it is hard to not question your motives here. 

[Saskia]

What questions are those?  Can you point me to them and I will do my best to answer them.

You may be entirely correct about Ghost Dance, I really wouldn't know.

[used2bnaf]

I believe those questions were posed in my introduction thread.  I am interested in hearing your answers.


used2b....

[Defend the Sacred]

Saskia, I've posted the quotes here, where we ask all new participants to introduce themselves: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3836

[earthw7]

Ghost dance??? That was a Paute ceremony created by a guy names Wavoka who mixed his Native belief and Christianity together after going to school out east.