Red Tent, Moon Lodge, and other made-up stuff white women are doing

[Defend the Sacred]

We have a lot of info on these topics here, if you search from the main page. But I figured we should probably compile it in one place.

Here's a good start, from one of our elder members who is a traditional Lakota woman from the Standing Rock community:

Another rant for today , I was asking when this concept of the Moon camps came about because it is not in our culture.

I was told it was started on the Rosebud reservation in the late 1970s. They said there was a sundance happening where people paid to attend the dance (which we know is wrong) they were white people and the women said they paid they had a right to be there, but they were on their moon, so they created a moon camp for white women who paid. Its only been 35 years of a makeup belief.  All though everyone laughed about it the crazy white women, these white women started to say this is our way. Now as you can see we have red tent, and moon camps, i just shake my head.

In my culture The women don't run sweat lodge for men, they don't hold pipes nor are they pipe keepers, nor do they become medicine women until after they are sixty, all our ceremonies are for the men, the women we have our way but that is private. 

I find that a person who knows our culture knows the step you must take to be able to do ceremonies, it taken 16 years of learning before you can claim to do anything.

I find that anyone who takes money for ceremonies is a fraud, we don't pay to pray at all no matter how you want to decide it. "Donation-fee-milage" its all payment. My rant for the day I am NATIVE and I LIVE

(note - to make quoted text more readable, you can use the "font size" function to make it larger.)

[MsWilma]

Hi from Aus. I'm not involved in this stuff at all but know lots of women who are drawn to red tent because they are seeking a more wholistic philosophy for women's health than what is forced on them by the male dominated profession of gynecology
Am posting some links to Aus red tent people
The women I know who are involved in red tent believe they are developing something new
They were inspired by a fictional novel about Old Testament figures, eg
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Tent

...it has caught on amongst women who are fighting for home birthing (a big deal in Aus) and others

http://www.moonsong.com.au/the-red-tent-movement/
I am not aware of the red tent people claiming they are following any indigenous practices, I am more than willing for someone to point me to & I can gently raise that this offends and see if I can help.
Thanking you

[MsWilma]

Lol ok 
Am checking my own link!
Lots of shamanic drumming and sage smoking
Not claiming a link to specific indigenous cultures
Interesting

[Autumn]

This is a Red Tent function which was recently held.  It was only $995 for 4.5 days

http://www.theredtentrevival.com/redlive2015/#schedule

[Autumn]

The first image didn't attach.

[Epiphany]

Seriously, the video on this page is like a glossy ad for a Nuage sex trade operation. Kristin could easily be soliciting women to work in a bordello.

At about the 3 minute mark she is in fish net stockings and high heels, seated on a counter, while two men admire her and one plays with her leg.

http://www.theredtentrevival.com/redlive2015/#schedule

She claims this is "wisdom that has been kept from the modern woman" and that experts in "Taoism, Mayan Healing, Tantra, and others" are offered. And there are many references on the site to seeeeeeeeecrets that you can only obtain through them. Oh and their secrets are "cutting edge".

Their cue words are "Radiant. Erotic. Divine.".

None of this is secret or special. It is a New Age Business. Women could just as easily take burlesque classes on their own without the pseudo-spiritual b.s. They could experience "sisterhood" through working on equal pay for equal work campaigns, working with other women and men at food banks, etc etc. Lots of things women can do to enjoy their lives and serve the community without getting ensnared in the Red stuff.

[Epiphany]

Some Red Tent on NAFPS links:

Marlise James / Marlise Wabun Wind
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4583.msg39762#msg39762

Brooke Medicine Eagle
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=581.msg39600#msg39600

ALisha Starkweather
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3932.msg32921#msg32921

DeAnna L'am
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3274.msg31290#msg31290

[Epiphany]

Who is Red Tent Dreaming?

RTD is a collective of passionate, creative women - students and graduates of the School of Shamanic Midwifery who strive to recreate and share Red Tent experiences with women of all ages, all around Australia.

http://www.schoolofshamanicmidwifery.com/School_of_Shamanic_Midwifery/Red_Tent_Dreaming.html

Shamanic Midwifery is the art of midwifing transformation.

http://www.schoolofshamanicmidwifery.com/School_of_Shamanic_Midwifery/Shamanic_Midwifery.html

Workshops http://www.schoolofshamanicmidwifery.com/School_of_Shamanic_Midwifery/SSM_Programs.html

The School of Shamanic Midwifery was founded by Australian midwife Jane Hardwicke Collings.

Jane has trained in Shamanic practices with James M Harvey, aka Blackbear and has had many wonderful teachers including Midwife Maggie Lecky Thompson, Birthkeeper Jeannine Parvati Baker and Teacher and Author Cedar Barstow.

http://www.schoolofshamanicmidwifery.com/School_of_Shamanic_Midwifery/About_the_School.html

[Epiphany]

Info on that above mentioned "James M Harvey, aka Blackbear" who does shaman workshops in red tents in Australia:

Coming from humble beginnings in rural Michigan, James was educated by Catholic nuns and religious brothers before attending university, studying classical music and receiving a Master of Music Performance. In conjunction with being a professional musician and university music instructor, James also ardently perused studies in transpersonal psychology, metaphysics and spiritual practices, in response to his life long spontaneous mystical experiences and vision quest.

This path eventually overwhelmed ordinary professional concerns, with his being lured into aboriginal Arnhem Land in Australia, in search of a didjeridu.  This adventure led him into finding more than he bargained for with his quest becoming even stranger than he had imagined. The course of the next twenty years saw him making music CD’s and documentaries, while also working as a shamanic teacher, transpersonal mentor and vision quest guide in Australia. James is a reclusive and reluctant ‘non-commercial’ neo-shaman who has nevertheless had a profoundly positive, personal impact on many people, while continuing to follow his own spiritual path.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110706112046/http://www.singularia.com.au/author.html

http://schoolofshamanicmidwifery.blogspot.com/2012/11/deepening-iii-d3-with-james-m-harvey.html

Don't know if he is still active. He is the name Australian midwife / red tenter Jane Hardwicke Collings invokes as who trained her in  "Shamanic practices".

[Autumn]

Seriously, the video on this page is like a glossy ad for a Nuage sex trade operation. Kristin could easily be soliciting women to work in a bordello.

At about the 3 minute mark she is in fish net stockings and high heels, seated on a counter, while two men admire her and one plays with her leg.

http://www.theredtentrevival.com/redlive2015/#schedule

She claims this is "wisdom that has been kept from the modern woman" and that experts in "Taoism, Mayan Healing, Tantra, and others" are offered. And there are many references on the site to seeeeeeeeecrets that you can only obtain through them. Oh and their secrets are "cutting edge".

Their cue words are "Radiant. Erotic. Divine.".

None of this is secret or special. It is a New Age Business. Women could just as easily take burlesque classes on their own without the pseudo-spiritual b.s. They could experience "sisterhood" through working on equal pay for equal work campaigns, working with other women and men at food banks, etc etc. Lots of things women can do to enjoy their lives and serve the community without getting ensnared in the Red stuff.

I agree with you, Piff.  Goddess is a word she uses a lot also.  Maybe she will be able to take that word and use it the way she does for Red - Radiant. Erotic. Divine. 

[educatedindian]

Got a request about this group "franchising."
http://redtentfacilitatoronlinecourse.gr8.com/

The complaint came from someone of South Asian heritage, pointing out they were whites "playing Indian" of a different kind.

[Defend the Sacred]

The Red Tent scam continues to run strong among newage women. They tend to be a mishmash of misappropriated traditions seen as "exotic" by the pay-to-pray, capitalist crowd. Usually with fake Hindu and Native trappings, and regressive gender stereotyping of the "Divine Feminine" sort.

Women should be very worried if any MEN claim to be running these things, or if they are offered by any women connected to male guru-types, as they have been used as fronts for sex traffickers, to groom young women into tolerating sexual exploitation including sexual assault, rape, and being prostituted to bring in money for the leaders of the group. 

Things to watch out for in particular are white people claiming to teach "tantra" (in reality a South Asian spiritual tradition, whereas newage white people usually try to pervert it into amateur sex therapy), or other sex-oriented "workshops" taught by random newage people, or people with made-up titles from bogus newage groups.

While the more benign groups are just bored white women having tea parties in rooms with red fabric draped around, there are proportionately a very high number of these groups that are truly dangerous.

[cheetos paws]

Wow, this is like, next level creepy! If anyone needed more proof as to how predatory people who do this stuff can be, this is it. I hope that anyone who's fallen for this is able to find a way out and get away from these jerks once and for all.

[kuljamu]

Thanks for all comments