Hello everyone. I found NAFPS by wanting to find out more about Forrest Carter after reading
The Education of Little Tree and doing a web search on his name. After reading the NAFPS posts and others about him and the fraud of that book I realized that I had been taken for a ride and it felt real bad
Looking back, I realized that there were a lot of little warning bells going off in the back of my mind while reading the book, but I wanted to believe so much that I ignored them and didn't connect the dots. It was humbling and a valuable lesson. Then I started reading through reams of NAFPS posts, and had my eyes opened
to the extent of the rip offs and frauds being perpetuated under the name of Indian/Native American spirituality, several of which I was familiar with. I am really grateful for NAFPS and see what you are doing as being of great service to everyone. I've become much, much more discerning about anything I see in print as a result of reading all of your posts! I'm glad to have joined the NAFPS community.
A small act of literary guerrilla warfare: I was in a used bookstore a few days ago, checking out the Native American section, and came across
Voices of Our Ancestors by Dhyani Yawahoo. I took out my pen and, praying that no store employee would come come by at that moment, huriedly scribbled inside the book cover, "This woman is a TOTAL FRAUD. Check her out on NAFPS on the net." Then, I saw The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter, (GRRRRR!!!) and scribbled inside its cover "This book is a complete lie. It is fiction! Check it out on the net." Made me feel good.
I am non-native and have been interested in various Native American teachings and ways off and on at different times of my life but it had been pretty much at an intellectual level. This changed when I participated as a supporter at the AIM Gathering of the Sacred Pipes Sundance at Pipestone, MN this last summer. I got there 3 days before it started to help with all the preparations and got to know some of the sundancers as we worked together. I worked security, and was allowed to help out as a firekeeper, which was a real honor. By the end of the 7 days my interior world had changed and my life has not been the same since. I was touched by something powerful there. Something happened that touched me deeply. I did not go there seeking or expecting such an experience. I did not pay anything to be there. (I did put money into the pot to help pay for the food and expenses, but this was voluntary and anonymous.) I have not stopped being the person who I was before going to Pipestone this summer. I have not thrown over my old life and taken on a new Native Americanized identity. But my perceptions and viewpoint have changed and this has prompted changes in my life. Since August, I have done a lot of reading on Native American, or ndn, topics. Reading is part of who I am and how I learn. I've read books about and by Native Americans before, but now it is personal. Now, for the first time, I have something like a visceral sense of what was done to First Nations peoples on this continent over the past 500 years, and look upon the urban, suburban and rural landscapes around me with a whole new sense of what once was, what was done to ndns by the European and U.S. peoples and governments, what was lost, what is struggling to still survive, and what is continuing to be done by the dominant society out of ignorance and greed. NAFPS has been part of this education for me.
I know from reading many NAFPS posts that the issue of non-native participation in traditional ndn sacred ceremonies is a serious one. Since returning from the AIM Sundance at Pipestone I've participated in a number sweats. Each time there was a mix of native and non-native people. Never was anything asked for in return by the sweat leaders, who have been participants at sundances at Pipestone and the Red Lake Reservation in northern MN. I am grateful that these sweats are open to and accepting of someone like myself. I recognize that I am taking part in a ceremony that comes from a different culture than my own, with contextual meanings and nuances that I have little real understanding of at this point, given the limited exposure I have had so far. As I am Jewish myself, and have spent much of my adult life learning and exploring what is in the tradition, I very much appreciated and understood exactly the message written in the NAFPS Introduction page: "If you were interested in Judaism, would you pay money to someone who said he could make you a rabbi in just one weekend seminar? If someone did this and then claimed Jewish objections were foolish, we would recognize he was anti-Semitic." That kind of thing has been happening recently with self-styled Jewish holy folk claiming to teach the mysteries of the Kabbala and Jewish mysticism for hefty fees in 7 easy lessons. I know that to seriously undertake the study of those teachings requires an in depth understanding of Torah, in the original Hebrew, Talmud, and centuries of Rabinic lore that takes years of learning and guidance by a master to arrive at. I know that the same is true with ndn religious ways.
I know, too, that there is a very real need for ndn traditions and sacred ways to remain under the control of those authentically living within the cultural, tribal worlds they come from. At the same time, I am deeply grateful to those who have been willing to share those traditions and ways with people like myself. I do not want to turn away from what has come into my life through the ndn connection I've experienced. Neither do I want to disrespect ndn culture and people. One thing I look do is to find ways to support and give back what I can to ndns here in the Twin Cities and wherever possible in gratitude for what I have received.
Well, this is my new member introduction to you. I welcome any response you'd care to make.
Leonard
