Inipi Ceremony

[kameanani]

Aloha everyone. I did a bit of my own research on a person named Chief Charles Chipps who is the son of Crazy Horse's medicine man. He is doing an Inipi Ceremony here at the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp which often caters to alot of New Age Plastic Shamans and their wannabe followers. It seems he is very respected but I'm still not quite convinced that this ceremony is righteous. I have been invited and would love to participate but only if it will not be an offense. If anyone has any information please let me know. Mahalo.

Also, we have our very own monthly "Native American Gathering" which I'm completely disgusted about. There's alot of hot smoke where a bunch of non-natives have a chance to dress up and play "Indian" with their flutes and their empty rituals and lots of wasted time. "Grandmother", as the hostess of this event is called, reads from a handwritten crumpled up piece of paper the directions and their corresponding colors, herbs, and animals. Isn't this something she should know by heart? She then proceeds to ask if anybody in the "circle" wants to be the new medicine person and of course this arrogant self-righteous non-native woman that I met earlier shoots her hand up and professes herself to be "chosen" for this role - all the while having no background and no respect for native culture or beliefs. "Grandmother" then tells the new "medicine woman" to choose her new name - Silver Hawk or Fiery Owl. She chooses Fiery Owl and they proceed to make small talk with eachother about "the other day this happened to me and that happened to me," while we all sit and watch wondering what the heck is going on.

This was my first time at the gathering and it will also be my last. It was disappointing to see that it was the way it was. I had already known but needed to see it myself. The good thing was that I made a friend with a nice Seminole man who I had invited to come join us and also found it to be quite absurd.

Anyway, if you live near Cassadaga, Florida or will happen to be passing through on the first Saturday of every month please stop by and help me protest.

Mahalo,
~*Kameanani*~

[Barnaby_McEwan]

Hello, it's good to hear from you again.

I can only help by offering moral support, I'm afraid. How did you come to live there, if you don't mind my asking? It sounds like a nightmare!

[Cetan]

From my knowlege of Charles (which is admittedly second hand from a kola who Sundanced at his dance at Eagles Nest Butte near Wamblee) is like many he is a good medicine man but a bad man.

[earthw7]

I know Charles, I know that some of these people were given a gift from......
they abuse it. I know of people who have been taught and hurt by charles
That is all I can say

[Defend the Sacred]

May I ask if anyone knows if Charles is related to the Godfrey Chipps family of Pine Ridge?

ETA: I asked around a bit. A friend of mine knows Charles and his family (he is Godfrey's brother). She basically agrees with earthw7 and Cetan.

My understanding is that members of the Chipps family have in the past been very, very open about who they'll welcome to ceremonies, both at Pine Ridge and around the country, if people have asked them to come and do healings (usually Inipi and Yuwipi). While the ceremonies are authentic, there is a big problem with the people they allow to attend then going out and mimicking these ceremonies for white Nuagers.

My information about them being so welcoming is pre-Declaration of War. The Declaration, combined with how many people have abused what they learned from the Chipps, had made me think that the family would have stopped letting the white tourists and Nuagers in.  I am sad to hear Charles is still leading ceremonies for the Nuagers in Cassadaga.  I would think he would have realized, at least in terms of ceremony, that what he's sharing is being abused.

I have not been to Cassadaga myself, but have heard about it from family members who live near there. I gather it started as an enclave of old-school, spiritualist types. But even before the Newage boom hit, the people I heard about from there sounded like horrible frauds. It sounds like now it's become a sort of mini-Sedona.

I googled: This is the top hit: http://www.cassadaga.org/ complete with things like

Discover Your Animal Totem
Sunday , January 27 - (2:00 pm - 4:00 pm)
Discover your animal totem spirit through Native American tradition, guided meditation, drumming, flute playing.

and, what sounds like the awful thing you went to, kameanani:

Native American Gathering
Saturday , February 2 - (6:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Bring a chair and a dish to share. Drumming, dancing, flute playing, prayers, stories, and customs. This is a family-friendly event. Everyone is welcome!

Here's a page that mentions Charles:

http://www.huliq.com/46154/cassadaga-florida-spiritualist-camp-celebrate-native-american-heritage

Googling Cassadaga  Charles Chipps turns up a bunch more, but they seem to be based on the same listing. I couldn't find whether he's charging for the ceremonies.

[earthw7]

Aloha everyone. I did a bit of my own research on a person named Chief Charles Chipps who is the son of Crazy Horse's medicine man. He is doing an Inipi Ceremony here at the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp which often caters to alot of New Age Plastic Shamans and their wannabe followers. It seems he is very respected but I'm still not quite convinced that this ceremony is righteous. I have been invited and would love to participate but only if it will not be an offense. If anyone has any information please let me know. Mahalo.

Also, we have our very own monthly "Native American Gathering" which I'm completely disgusted about. There's alot of hot smoke where a bunch of non-natives have a chance to dress up and play "Indian" with their flutes and their empty rituals and lots of wasted time. "Grandmother", as the hostess of this event is called, reads from a handwritten crumpled up piece of paper the directions and their corresponding colors, herbs, and animals. Isn't this something she should know by heart? She then proceeds to ask if anybody in the "circle" wants to be the new medicine person and of course this arrogant self-righteous non-native woman that I met earlier shoots her hand up and professes herself to be "chosen" for this role - all the while having no background and no respect for native culture or beliefs. "Grandmother" then tells the new "medicine woman" to choose her new name - Silver Hawk or Fiery Owl. She chooses Fiery Owl and they proceed to make small talk with eachother about "the other day this happened to me and that happened to me," while we all sit and watch wondering what the heck is going on.

This was my first time at the gathering and it will also be my last. It was disappointing to see that it was the way it was. I had already known but needed to see it myself. The good thing was that I made a friend with a nice Seminole man who I had invited to come join us and also found it to be quite absurd.

Anyway, if you live near Cassadaga, Florida or will happen to be passing through on the first Saturday of every month please stop by and help me protest.

Mahalo,
~*Kameanani*~

I have to ask if you heard of a man named Rodman who was the first one to tells us about Chipps in Hawaii?

[Cetan]

Yes harles is Godfrey's brother

[chiefytiger]

Yeah I know of him as well ,If i remeber Gofrey chipps did an magazine article on a new age book ,and it showed Godfrey and it had to do with a yuwipi ceremony he had with a ska women, he held a pipe and the front cover was a sacred pipe and prayer ties , anyways Charles and Godfrey are both sell outs and do ceremonies for alot of money,and there is a ska man who does there inquries and how much it would cost to have a ceremony, scads of frogskin's
Chiefytiger