I found some more info in German language on Villarreal:
http://www.nwzonline.de/oldenburg/kultur/medizinmann-folgt-stimme-der-liebe_a_3,0,3666819660.htmlarticle dd Oct. 15, 2008
72-year-old wants to help people with the knowledge of his ancestors
„Standing Eagle“ does lectures and wrote many books. During a workshop, he fell in love with a physicist from Oldenburg. This was four months ago.
Paths intertwined: Had somebody told 72-year-old „Standing Eagle“ ten years ago that he would ever live in a town by the name of Oldenburg in the north of Germany, he wouldn't have believed it, although the man with the water blue eyes and the braid knows much about developments of consciousness, as he perceives himself as a medicine man passing on the knowledge of his Indian ancestors. But who also uses scientific explanations about states of relaxation in the human brain for a reference.
That he would fall in love at first sight with an Oldenburg physicist, mother of four children, and marry her after just a few months, this would have been too unreal for him. Today, he lives in the town of Kreyenbrück near the Osternburg Canal with Ellen Naujoks. Originally from Berlin but living in Oldenburg since 1995, Naujoks says: „I love this town“.
„Standing Eagle“ was born as Joseph Villarreal in the south of the US-State of Colorado, his father worked for the railway. From his grandmother, member of the same tribe of Sonoran Yaqi Line [sic] as he is, he learned the traditions of the Anasazi, stood at the canyons in the Southwest of the USA. He does not know vertigo.
At school, the teachers of the Benedictines complemented the knowledge of the Indians. Joseph Villarreal studied philosophy and taught in Denver for 29 years where he lived with a wife and children.
By the end of the 1980ies, he wondered whether this should have been it. The crisis became a chance: he went into the desert to find back to his roots again. During a traditional Sundance ritual of the Lakota Indians at the Rosebud Reservation, an area in South Dakota, an eagle is said to have circled above him. Thus he received the name „Standing Eagle“ and found his path. „I then moved to Santa Fe to live according to the traditions of my ancestors.“
Since 1990, he does workshops in Spain, Germany, California, and New Mexico and has written about 20 books, does lectures at congresses. People trying to find themselves, or with a longing for deep relaxation and a new consciousness come to him. He speaks of „star portals and of the experience of one-ness which all seekers strive for“. This also comprises initiation rites from Indian life, e.g. with the canoe. [...]
Some more biographical data:
http://www.gelebter-schamanismus.at/standing_eagle.htmlStanding Eagle was born in Cruz Pagoso, Colorado, in 1935. He studied at the universities of Regis and Denver and graduated in arts, philosophy, and literature. For 29 years, he was a teacher and counsellor at state schools in Denver. He also worked with young people suffering from chronic depressions and drug addiction. He also taught at the universities of Valladolid and Alicante. He also gave workshops and courses in Barcelona and is the author of many books (among them ten novels). „Las Puertas Estelares“ is his first book published in Spain, others are „Los Pasos del Chaman Inspirado, Spain“ [sic] and „The Little Bird (El Pajarito), USA“ [sic].
Standing Eagles grandmother, a powerful woman of the tribe of Tewa, initiated Standing Eagle into the knowledge of the ancient mysteriafrom earliest childhood. The work of Standing Eagle is the result of these exceptional episodes in his life which began with this initiation. About 20 years ago, he received the name „Standing Eagle“ in a ritual and he has worked as a shaman since. Today, he lives in Santa Fe/New Mexico as an Indian „medicine person“ (this is what he calls himself).
Far from imposing us his knowledge as a dogma or putting it into cryptic words, Standing Eagle shares with us in a natural and humourous way. His lectures and workshops thus are distinguished by touching stories and cordiality.
Standing Eagle leads participants of his seminars to their own flow of life in order to use the full potential and lead a fulfilled and harmonious life in clarity and in the knowledge of being part of the unity. Part of this path is the Path of the Canoe. At the end of September, he will offer a seminar on detection and solution of maledictions and curses. The beginners' seminar in July is a prerequisite. Next year, he plans to take us into a common dreaming network in a retreat.
There is some more info in this post in an Austrian forum dd Nov 30, 2006, advertising a seminar with Villarreal:
http://seelenflug.eliphaz.de/viewtopic.php?t=88&view=next&sid=b25c7570bde07066d111fae1e37b581aStanding Eagle was the discovery of the latest shaman congress at Whitsun 2006 in the town of Mondsee. […]
His full name is Joseph Standing Eagle and he is a member of the tribe of Sonoran Yaqui Line from Colorado/North America. [...]
When he visited the Rosebud Reservation on the occasion of the traditional Sun Dance ritual of the Lakota and four eagles appeared, he was given the name of „Standing Eagle“ which he is using since. This initiation gave a new direction to his life. […] Additionally to his seminars and his acticity as a shaman, Standing Eagle also created shamanic ritual objects for collectors and art galleries between 1990 and 1992. Since 1990, he passes his vast knowledge in seminars and workshops all over Europe, the Canary Islands, California, and New Mexico. Since 1996, he teaches at the universities of Alicante, Valencia, and Valladolid. During the last seven years, the focus of his work was in Spain where also the first of his numerous publications (more than 20 books) appeared. Today, he lives in Los Pinos, New Mexico.
Emphasis mineSeems this more or less translates into: he is a blue-eyed person claiming ndn, but not quite decided whether he might be Tewa or Anasazi. Either he does not know this or believes his German clients do not know that Anasazi is a term for a pre-Columbian culture.
From the biographical data, he was a teacher, not a professor until he stepped out on his wife and children and decided he had enough of teaching other people's brats. Villarreal then moved to Santa Fe, or to Spain, or probably later went to Spain. Given his education and course of studies, he may indeed have worked at a university as a language teacher, a position well below that of a professor.
The 2006 ad mentioned above is interesting, as it indicates that the legend of how he came by the name of "Standing Eagle" has been revamped over the years. The way this is expressed he clearly was no participant of the Sun Dance, but a member of the audience. I suspect he got this all wrong - it wasn't eagles circling above him, but vultures denoting the future culture-vulture....
As EI said, Villarreal's books do not seem to be available. Contrary to his claims of having written 20 books, 10 of them novels, there are about 3 mentioned online.
http://www.tiercomm.de/workshop-standing-eagle.htmlThis site offers the same biographical info, except for naming a third Spanish university where Villarreal allegedly taught, in the town of Valencia.
There is a description of his workshop taking place in September 2014:
Course of Workshop:
Thursday, Sep 4, 8-9.30 p.m.: lecture „Living your dream in times of economic and political insecurity“
Friday, Sep 5, 10 am – 6 pm: Initiation: Canoe and Introduction
Saturday, Sep 6, 10 am – 6 pm: Part I: Dynamics of Canoe, practice and 2 voyages
Sunday, Sep 7, 9 am – 4.30 pm: Part II: Adaptation of the Canoe Path and 3 voyages
Fee: € 390 per person
The site also offers a description of the workshop:
There are no prerequisites for participation in the workshop. The workshop promotes a development of consciousness which enables an experiences of unity, the highest level of consciousness which all seekers strive for. By initiation into the Canoe all participants are introduced to experience „the currents of the flow“ [the German word used means both river and flow] in a more harmonious way so it will be easier to achieve the experience of basic acceptance and unity in a pleasant and easy way. The „currents of flow“ is a metaphor of the five internal experiences we make when we close our eyes for a meditation: Thoughts – images – physical perceptions and feelings – sounds and noises – silence.
The Canoe is a particular technique enabling us to flow effortlessly with these „currents of flow“, without resistance against the flow and without manipulating it in any way. This is innocence in the tradition of Standing Eagle, the necessary key to step through star portals (higher states of consciousness) with ease and in a sense of well-being.
During the workshop, the five voyages will be taught which enable to step through the star portals: calmness and personal healing – nature and the healing leaders – the lucid dream – reconciliation and dissolving of personal limitations and curses (banning attributions) – dialogue with the oracle. By practicing the Canoe during the workshop, participants will create a basis for an easier achievement of the star portals.
This site, BTW, belongs to a person by the name of Ruth May Johnson, originally from Scotland, and a dyed-in-the-wool Nuager. She is selling „animal communication“, in plain words: she claims to be able to communicate with your pet by telepathy, and then tells you lots of BS about your pets wishes and needs. An alternative way, if you pardon the pun, of spelling: rip-off.
Villarreal was also interviewed for a book written by Geseko von Lüpke, a well-known Nuager. According to his publishers Random House (
http://www.randomhouse.de/Buch/Altes-Wissen-fuer-eine-neue-Zeit/Geseko-von-Luepke/e273201.rhd?mid=10 ), von Lüpke, born 1958, studied Politics and Cultural Anthropology, worked as a journalist for radio stations and print media, and is the author of numerous books e.g. on shamanism, spirituality, culture, ecological ethics.
The book is titled „Ancient Knowledge for a New Era“, consisting of 17 interviews with shame-ons from five continents:
http://www.schamanismus.tv/geseko-von-luepke-altes-wissen-fuer-eine-neue-zeit.htmlGermany: Heide Göttner-Abendroth
England: Dusty Miller XIII. und Dusty Miller XIV.
Greenland: Angaangaq Lyberth
Guatemala: Eufemia Cholac Chicol
Indonesia: Morden Sitanggan
Korea: Hi-ah Park
Mexiko: José Lopéz Guido
Mongolia: Galsan Tschinag
New Zealand: Wai Turoa-Morgan
North America: Manitonquat and Joseph Standing Eagle
Norway: Ailo Gaup
Peru: Don Oscar Miro-Quesada and Don Pedro Guerra Gonzales
Siberia: Nadja Stepanova
South Africa: Percy Konqobe
West Africa: Malidoma Somé
In this book, Villarreal is described as Anasazi and Hisatsinom. Apparently, neither Villarreal nor von Lüpke are aware that these two terms denote the same culture, with the term Anasazi being Dinè, while Hisatsinom is Hopi.
Most of the persons interviewed have been touring Nuage congresses in Europe and giving seminars for years and are well established in the Nuage scene.
Von Lüpke wrote in an article:
http://www.oya-online.de/article/read/240.htmlOur ancestors in the dark forrests of Central Europe sent their young men and women into the wilderness. The adventures they experienced have been handed down to us in numerous stories […]: fairy tales! Sources from much older times prove that also Greeks, Germanics, Celts, and persons from the matriarchal cultures of Stone Age went into the wild Unknown to gather wisdom, grow internally, and serve the community. Indian medicine man Standing Eagle assumes that the peoples who wandered to America from Siberia 15,000 years ago, brought these methods with them from Central and Eastern Europe...
Emphasis mineHistorical misrepresentation at its finest. Peoples living in Siberia did not come from Central and/or Eastern Europe, in fact science is certain that Asia was settled by Homo sapiens sapiens first, and settlement in Europe took place afterwards. There is nothing indicating that peoples re-migrated from Europe to Siberia and from there migrated to the Americas.
Additionally, it is a nice piece of racism, once more making Euros the „better Indians“ who introduced the Indians to their traditions to create Indian cultures.
This probably is the most blatant proof that Villarreal's claims of being ndn are nothing but a load of BS he gives to (prospective) clients to fleece them.
And finally, so that you all know we're dealing with a celeb here, and article from an Austrian news portal from 2008:
http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/innviertel/Vorzeige-Indianer-zieht-es-ins-Innviertel;art70,10547Poster Indian comes to Innviertel
One of the most famous Indians in America comes: „Standing Eagle“ is going to do a lecture and a three-day workshop in the town of Mehrnbach
The 72-year old author of more than 20 books is a member of the Sonoran-Yaqui tribe in the US-state of Colorado. His former initiation into the Anasazi tradition by his grandmother in his early childhood is the basis of the knowledge his passes on today.
„Standing Eagle“ studied at several universities and worked as a teacher in Denver for almost 30 years. In 1987, he participated in the traditional Sun Dance ritual of the Lakota Indians at the Rosebud Reservation. When suddenly eagles appeared circling above him, he was given the name of „Standing Eagle“ which he is using since. At that time he decided to move to Santa Fe, to the home of his ancestors, and live there as an Indian medicine person. [...]
The workshop was titled „The Canoe Path and the five grand voyages“, with a fee of € 350, or € 249 for students.