Real name is Acaxel Gomez Ramirez and he's set up a kind of school in Chicago. I was sent this statement from former members of his circle. Bolding is mine.
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YqrLnpOZNDb8KHR_H-22aoIFn7MnDb6F/view?fbclid=IwAR0VZdCGR0GAV2MMkRFl1LkT7lTvvp0lVT9sWI4XHP3HUNWMfMb1OO3akH8Dear community,
We write this statement as former students of
Acaxel Gomez Ramirez (known as Akaxe Yotzin), who over time have come to see this man for who he is-a narcissist who has taken advantage of people's desire to build community and learn about their roots and has abused his power and knowledge to create a cult under the mask of indigeneity.
We share our thoughts, lived experiences, and demands for accountability knowing that we may face backlash, victim blaming, gaslighting, and more from Akaxe Yotzin,
his wife Ixpahuatzin (Clarissa Gonzalez) and perhaps others. To this we respond that what we are sharing is truth, and we write with honesty with the objective that no one else be harmed by Akaxe Yotzin and Ixpahuatzin, to reclaim our voice, and to respect ancestral knowledge that has shamelessly been used to manipulate and control others. We hope that those reading this statement will also remember to question cis het men in positions of power, and trust your body.
To start, we want to acknowledge that the space now called Mahtinauhkalli was not created by Akaxe Yotzin, it was built by the community. Prior to Akaxe starting to teach in Chicago, many of us were already part of danza groups and had a yearning to continue growing and learning more about ancestral knowledge. When Akaxe arrived in Chicago, it was
the community that fundraised to buy his plane tickets, give him stipends, find him housing and get his groceries. The community decided to form a manada and found the place that is now Matinauhkalli and for a long time, that space has been
maintained mainly through student tuition and personal student investments, and
the building of separate rooms, the addition of a shower, and the renovation of the basement was done through the work and money of students. Over time, power was taken from the community. As Akaxe took over Matinauhkalli, his exalted ego grew.
The ways in which Akaxe and Ixpahuatzin harmed students and disrespected the very knowledge he was teaching is extensive but we have tried to stay as concise as possible.
Through conversations we have come to realize that Akaxe Yotzin failed his title of ‘young master’, and disrespected the
rank of Tezcatlipoca given to him by Maestro Arturo Meza Gutiérrez. Instead of being a guide, he became a narcissist, and used Matinauhkalli as a means through which
to create a cult which included making profit. Akaxe positioned his knowledge as truth, letting people believe that his shared knowledge is all traditional (ancestrally rooted in indigeneity) without publicly stating that
a lot of what he teaches he invented.
Steven Hassan, a leading national and international expert on cults created the BITE model which stands for Behavior control, Information control, Thought control and Emotional control, and is a model that outlines how cults work and how members are retained. In Behavior Control,
we attest that Akaxe and Ixpahuatzin tried to dictate who we should associate with, our clothing was controlled within the space,
we were financially exploited, punishment was used to modify behavior (in the form of
having to do handstands for extended periods of time, hitting each other for committing errors, holding physically stressful positions (even while severely injured), and even
one time breaking a stick on a student’s back, individualism was discouraged,
questions were met with silence and shaming (we were told “were not worthy enough to have our questions answered”), there were rigid rules,
he forced members to engage in corporal punishment, and he instilled dependency and obedience. In the Information control category we attest that
Akaxe deliberately withheld information from students, discouraged information gathered from sources other than him and his teacher, discouraged talking to students who had left the space, and controlled information at different levels within the group. In the Thought control section we attest that Akaxe required students to adopt what he taught as reality (though unknown to us,
he made up a lot of what he taught) and instilled black and white thinking,
used cliches and pseudo-science and stopped critical thinking, rejected constructive criticism, critical thinking and rational analysis,
forbade critique of him and his teaching style under the guise of “traditionalism” and “indigeneity,” he discouraged students joining together to study or practice, he masked the promotion of silence (not asking questions) and his toxic masculinity with erroneous definitions of “focus” (i.e if you ask questions then you are not focused), and he created a new “map of reality.” In the Emotional control section, he
used pseudo-science and erroneous logic (toxic masculinity) to position some emotions as wrong or weak, he led students to believe that all problems were their own issue and never an issue of the leader; he denied the diverse role of genetics in mental/emotional well-being and
claimed that if mental illness could not be overcome—it was an issue of willpower; he
recommended injured students not take medications/drugs prescribed by clinicians so they become “worthy” of receiving certain ranks or indigenous knowledge shared by him; a sense of
worthiness was attained through endured suffering at Akaxe’s will; he
promoted feelings of guilt and unworthiness, instilled fear of leaving the group, presented with extreme emotional highs and lows, and
shunned those who were kicked out or who left, referring to them as the “weak leaves that fell of the tree.”
Further, there are several
accounts of Akaxe being ableist, misogynistic, engaging in spiritual bypassing, and
being transphobic. Of
the art he creates, a lot has been plagiarized from students or is a direct copy of a symbol from a codex that he claims to be his own. Many scientific connections between contemporary science and ancestral knowledge were adopted from students, taught in later classes and thus monetized, without credit or compensation to the original thinker.
Students of different physical abilities were also shamed during danza, and were made to stand outside of the circle and he would not teach them in the same way he taught people inside the circle, and were sometimes kicked out for not being able to move in the specific ways Akaxe wanted them to.
People who struggled with their mental health were told that their symptoms were an issue of will power and were told to “defeat their inner enemies” through
his abusive disciplines instead of seeking medication or therapy.
Differently-abled and neurodivergent folk were labeled as “the leaves fallen off the tree,” which alludes to knowledge and the creation of a space meant to “select” the “strongest leaves on a tree.” This concept is a reference to artificial selection, and in an indigenous community with queer, neurodivergent, and differently-abled folks, this is called eugenics. Akaxe created what he names ‘the four principles of the mazehual” (at the time they were shared, we believed they came from traditional elders but as of late he has stated that he created these) which he has also dishonored. The four principles are respect, gratitude, honesty, and service.
Akaxe has constantly shamed students and emotionally abused them, even going so far as disrespecting an elder. He has shamelessly created rules against using the restroom, not considering individual biological needs, including menstruation. When people have called on him for support, he has continuously failed students, especially women and trans people, in this way only being “of service” when it benefitted him or was convenient to him.
We recognize that toxic cis men are not new, and Akaxe is one of thousands of men who manipulate well meaning people and use them to feed their own narcissism, which unfortunately includes using indigeneity for corrupt purposes. As we work on healing from the trauma we experienced at the hands of Akaxe and Ixpahuatzin, we stand firm in our belief that this abuse must stop. For this reason, we demand Akaxe Yotzin be stripped of his rank as Tezcatlipoca, we demand Akaxe Yotzin’s hair be completely shaved off, we demand immediate and indefinite closure of Matinauhkalli located on 1759 W 21st street in Chicago, IL, we demand the immediate and indefinite shutdown of all websites and social media pages connected to Akaxe Yotzin including but not limited to, the facebook pages of Nahua Lessons and Machtia Toltekatl, the instagram page of Machtia Toltekatl, the website
www.inasca.org, the redbubble page name Akaxe Tekpatl, and the Akaxe Yotzin (machtia toltekatl) patreon page. We demand redistribution of funds to those that have been harmed, and if there is money left over, that money be donated to a local Chicago domestic violence organization. Finally, we demand that Akaxe Yotzin and Ixpahuatzin undergo an accountability process with an independent third party as a mediator.
We know that accountability takes a lot of work and time, and as people healing from this trauma while also trying to survive in this world, we need your help to make these demands come to life.
Please reshare widely, and reach out to us if you have the energy to support us through this process.
Tlazohcamati
In strength and unity,
Mazehualtin
