Amberlady

[Amberlady]

Hi,  I'm the Amberlady from the UK.  I am (I hope) a more down to earth Pagan who identifies with British Cunning Folk, those that the modern mythology of Witchcraft originated. I am also a historian and extremely active against those who twist, distort or invent European cultures whether for their own ends or out of a misunderstanding of what Paganism is truly about, I have a particular dislike of the way in which New Age beliefs are replacing our cultural heritage.
My reason for joining this group however is because of the increase within European Paganism of people claiming to speak on behalf of Native American Indians, I have no doubt that the majority of these people are actually pushing New Age beliefs but my knowledge of Native Indian culture is not good enough to publicaly discredit them, I hope that I may be able to air more concerns with the members here and receive advice on how to deal with fakes

[educatedindian]

Welcome. One of our members, Ganeida, just started a yahoo group, Pagans Against Sexual Emotional Financial Abuse, that also might interest you.

I've been hoping for years that pagans take the same sorts of steps we do here at NAFPS.

[Amberlady]

Hi educatedindian, thanks for the welcome.  Sometimes I fell as if I am fighting a lone battle here, there are others who feel the same way but find arguing their point against the tide of rubbish out there too discouraging so most simply drop out of the public eye and practice their beliefs quietly

I am currently trying to get a straight answer out of an Internet forum member who is claiming to be a member of the Muskogee Creek but whose ramblings about sweat lodges and the One Father sound very New Age, I keep asking if he is a citizen of the Muskogee Nation but he side steps the questions.

I don't know if it is prevalent in the States but I find it concerning that many of these British fake Native Indians seem to find it necessary to write long badly spelled posts as though that is how they expect Indians to write.

BTW excuse me if I use the wrong terminology, I'm not sure what the current politically correct term is for Native Americans

[earthw7]

Hi and welcome

[Defend the Sacred]

I don't know if it is prevalent in the States but I find it concerning that many of these British fake Native Indians seem to find it necessary to write long badly spelled posts as though that is how they expect Indians to write.

Yeah, that happens here, too. We've had weird appropriators join this board and try to "pass" by acting that way. Racist projections by culture vultures, who don't even know enough about the culture they're trying to steal to imitate it well. Like what the African-American protagonist in the movie "Hollywood Shuffle" deals with in terms of white people's ideas of what it means to be Black, but with First nations people instead.

[Defend the Sacred]

I've been hoping for years that pagans take the same sorts of steps we do here at NAFPS.

Yeah, me too. Some of us have tried, and we do our best on an informal level, but the support we've gotten has been mixed. I'll check out Ganeida's group.

Most of the Pagan communities are so full of cultural appropriation and bad behaviour, I've really backed off from most all of the American Neopagan events. There are people I talk to online who know better, so at times I think the situation is improving, but then I look at the schedules for most of these events and they are still full of appalling things. I've notice a trend lately of some of them thinking it's ok to rip off First Nations practices if they make it clear they also made a lot of it up and aren't pretending to be NDN themselves. But I think it's still a problem, as they use NDN symbols and things they wouldn't have thought of if they weren't reading crap books and websites by shameons or ignorant authors.

Do you have a link for Ganeida's group?

EDIT: Never mind, found it on Ganeida's profile.