Helmut Boljan

[educatedindian]

This is about questions raised about our newest member. Below are the translations Ingeborg did of his website.

Helmut, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, which is why this thread is here under Research Needed. For one thing, I think it's possible you might not know what you do is considered wrong and disrespectful. Since you were "taught" by two men regarded by most Natives as unethical exploiters(Wallace Black Elk and David Swallows) you may be a victim as well as someone doing harm without realizing it.

What I hope you will answer for us is if you know about all the objections almost all Natives have to what you do. Also, do you charge for ceremonies? And do you realize that many people routinely get injured or even killed by untrained or badly trained outsiders who think they have the "right" to do this ceremony?

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www.olowan.de "Welcome to my website
Why Olowan?
Olowan means Song in the language of the Lakota (a tribe of the Sioux). When I sing the songs of the Lakota during ceremonies, this is for me like entering a different world. A gate opens, my soul opens - the spirits become visible for me.
Old things go, new things come into being
Sometimes these processes are painful and perhaps one sees one's own death. These are moments of change and cleansing, one recognizes one's own pain of soul, the self-mutilation which one does to one's own life. Be it consciously or unconsciously.
I love, I live, I feel
Thanks to the grandparents accompanying me, those who are always close to me, even if I was no longer in a position to feel.
www.olowan.de/
Personal info
Born in 1960, I grew up in the Allgaeu region [southern Germany], finished school, learned a profession and then went back to school for higher education and eventually studied Chemistry. I work as an employee....
In 1992, I participated in the sweatlodge ceremony for the first time - a changing point in my spiritual life. In it I found what I had been longing for for years before. To have arrived, to be accepted, without strict rules and regulations bound to words. The direct and unfiltered wire to the Great Mystery or whatever you may call it.
Also the every-day routine in a relationship left traces in form of a marriage divorced. Through my son who is an irreplaceable part of my life, I am learning anew. To let ease happen, to enjoy care-free in childlike form and most of all accept life in ever new forms. Thanks Junior!
I can be reached at:
Helmut Boljahn
Ingolstädter Straße6
86529 Schrobenhausen
Tel.: 08252 / 881782
mailto: helmut at olowan.de
Companions and Mentors
Teacher - for me a difficult term. Therefore I replace it by the terms companion resp. mentor....
With all encounters I had with shamanic working persons (Europeans, Lakota), I realized that the allegedly "simple" persons were those with the least prejudice against shamanic work of others. They were open - were respectful - even when they had their personal view of the respective ways of work.
I experienced support and company from Hugo-Bert Eichmueller, Kurt v.d. Wijngaard, Wallace Black Elk and David Swallow Jr. From everyone in their own way and with varying intensity and duration.
The basics of shamanic work I learned from Hugo-Bert Eichmueller. He accompanied me during my first visions quests and from him I knew what it means to lead sweatlodges responsibly.
The conversations with Wallace Black Elk were of great help on my way with the Chanupa and with leading sweatlodge ceremonies (inipi). His simple way to show things for me were a valuable directive in a difficult situation. I feel very close to him.
Kurt v.d. Wijngaard - a friend who helped me a lot. In times of personal change as well as with coming to terms with my path.
Meeting David Swallow Jr. was important to learn about my roots. He accompanied me during one vision quest. Through deep-going processes following the vision quest I found the trace of my path and its beginning....
The term teacher I want to use for the Spirits... power animals... the Great Mystery... the incredibly beautiful life.
I thank them from all of my heart for accompanying my path, for their support!
Pilamayaye - Thanks to all
The sweatlodge
The sweatlodge is no Indian sauna, at least for me it is not. Its Lakota name is Inipi. A word composed of two terms: Inyan and Tipi. Inyan means stone and tipi means tent, so literally it means stone tent of tent of stones. Here is my personal description of how I do and see this ceremony.
The sweatlodge is a place of cleansing and praying. Viewed superficially, the building of the sweatlodge place consists of fire, the altar with the tree of life and the sweatlodge. In its entirety, the place is an altar as well.
Fire - Sun
The fire represents the sun. In it, stones are heated until glowing red and then taken into the sweatlodge. The stones, they say, were the first thinking beings on this earth. Inside of Earth, these embers are still there. It warms our planet from inside, without it life would not be possible in the way we
know today. When the stones are carried into the sweatlodge, this is at the same time a reminder that a huge glowing stone once left the sun - Earth in its original form - and circles its origin. The glowing stones bring life into the sweatlodge - warmth, the sunrays. Every stone is a prayer, therefore
the stones are greeted respectfully and cleaned quickly before taken into the sweatlodge.
During the ceremony, water is poured over the stones which spreads out as steam. It wraps us like the water of the uterus wraps the unborn child in the womb of a pregnant woman.
Altar - moon, with tree of life
The altar is placed between fire and sweatlodge - this is, between sun and earth. It is the moon which circles our earth and at the same time symbol for femininity, fertility. Rooted in this earth, the mother, is the tree of life.
It stretches out into the infinite width of creation, as he digs his roots into earth. It symbolizes the axis between sky and earth, the axis of life between past, present, and future. The centre of the four directions. Where all directions - above (sky), below (earth), West, North, East, South - meet is the centre, the Here and Now, the kernel, the moment of infinite eternity and at the same time of transitoriness, die seventh 'direction' where everything meets.
Sweatlodge - earth
The sweatlodge is the pregnant womb of this earth. So we go back to the origin of our own being. When you sit inside, it is not necessary to long for a place which we like. The uterus of the mother is the safest place where a child can be, warmth comes. Water is poured. Physical cleansing from without, psychic cleansing from within.
Procedure
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This "how to" section I won't repost since I think it's dangerous and unethical to have these kinds of instructions online. Have you ever considered that, Helmut?

[educatedindian]

Another thing I want to ask you Helmut is if you could tell us how you met WBE and Swallows, and what you went through with them.

More from your website.
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www.olowan.de
Mitakuye Oyasin
These words often get used in the sweatlodge or in the Talking Circle. They are meant to remind of the closeness with all life.
This is just a first, superficial view. At the beginning of my sweatlodges, these words go round, the common circle is closed this way. But it is not only the circle of persons in a sweatlodge which finds together this way. For me, it also expresses closeness to creation and, at the same time,
responsibility for creation in its encompassing beauty. Wallace Black Elk says that we are Earth People - Keepers of the Earth. I understood for myself that which is expressed with Mitakuye oyasin constantly re-defines itself and shows different aspects which make Mitakuye oyasin appear from a different point of view.
In a tribal culture, there are much more aspects. There, it additionaly expresses that people in this clan structure are related to each other -which very often is the case. The number of persons in a tribe/clan is
limited in these cultures and attention is paid to avoid relationships which were based on close blood kinship. Kinship not based on a genuine family relationship can be caused by a ritual called Hunkapi-uitschochan. During this ritual, e.g. persons can become brothers/sisters who are not by blood.
At the same time one must be aware that with such a kinship relation one also takes over the respective duties. In native cultures, like the Lakota, this is a complex issue and for us Europeans a matter not always transparent.
www.olowan.de
Guestbook
[Translator's note:
On april 2, 2006, there is an entry by a woman propagating the so-called "New Germanic Medicine" which has not been removed by the site owner as of today, July 3rd, 2006. This NGM was invented by a practician gone slightly bonkers and promoting a cure for cancer, then going more bonkers and calling this NGM, and becoming an open Nazi. They percieve a giant Jewish conspiration, so that Jews would cure themselves with NGM from cancer while advising non-Jews to seek refuge to the -Jewish- mainstream medicine. As true as it is that entries in a guestbook come uncalled for, an entry like this is a liability, and not taking it down is at least stupid.]

Date: Monday, March 13, 2006, 10:38:22
Comment Helmut:
Hi Unknown-Iktomi.... I know Steve very well... Would say we are friends ;-)
Name: Unknown-Iktomi
Email: Blabla@...
Date: Thursday, March 9, 2006, 17:14:40
Comment:
I met Wallace and unfortunately also Hugo in 1989 [presumably Hugo-Bert Eichmueller mentioned as a mentor]. Hugo did not leave a good impression.
Wallace has reprimanded him really often. But it was hard in Bitterfeld. The time afterwards certainly was a further lesson. I find the contents of your site pretty strange. I go different ways. That's alright. We would certainly not find points of contact. Still, tolerance seems to be important. Why I write this? Do you know Steve? Am trying to learn from him. Fare well.
..........
Name: Helmut
Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2005, 09:04:06
Comment:
Hi Ryan, the lodge depends on the tradition and on who interprets it which way. There are no fixed rules, that's the way it is in this culture - they don't have decrees and strict rules. Apart from that I have got the authorization by a medicine man so that I may lead a lodge and also can take people to the mountain. Helmut

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Authorization? And the idea that there are no strict rules in Native cultures is pure nonsense. There are incredibly strict rules!

Helmut also shows up at a few sites from Germany and Austria, all sellers of ceremonies. A few examples:
www.trafo.or.at (cooperating with Oldfeather and his young scholar)

At www.schamanische-therapie.info, Helmut is advertised under "other shamanic therapists".

He links to www.shaman.ca.de which links to him and Oldfeather.

So I hope you can explain yourself.

[Helmut]

First I want to introduce myself:
My name is Helmut Boljahn, my father was Werner Boljahn, my grandfather was Hans Boljahn.
I want to thank Ingeborg for her excelent tanslation from parts of my site.
I don't take money for ceremonies.
Wallace was Wallace and I am not responsible for his life.
David is David and I am not responsible for his life.

I help people out of an inner call of duty, not to pleasure anyone.

http://freedom.greatnet.us/mtrushmore.htm These heads are examples for things that happen out of ignorance.

Mitakuye oyasin
Helmut

PS: By the way- Everyone is invited to share an inipi. Please send me a mail in front, because I moved and the adress is not longer correct.
PPS: I miss any kind of imprint on your site. No adress, no names ...

[educatedindian]

Amazing. Out of half a dozen questions you do your best to avoid answering almost all of them, and then are so deluded you seek out people for a ceremony you already know we believe you have no right to do and are not trained for.

The fact that you avoid the questions tells us either you know what you are doing is wrong and offensive, or you are afraid of admitting (even to yourself) that what you do is wrong.

Once again, answer the questions, or we will know there is no point in talking to you.

Tell us how you met WBE and Swallows, and what you went through with them.

You claim you have "authorization" but the only people you learned from are exploiters.

Do you realize that many people get injured or even killed by untrained or badly trained outsiders who think they have the "right" to do this ceremony?

The "how to" section you have at your site is dangerous and unethical to have these kinds of instructions online. Have you ever considered that, Helmut?

Where did you get the crazy idea that there are no rules in Native cultures? It's pure nonsense. There are incredibly strict rules.
 
You shows up at a few sites from Germany and Austria, all sellers of ceremonies. A few examples:
www.trafo.or.at (cooperating with Oldfeather and his young scholar)  
At www.schamanische-therapie.info, advertised under "other shamanic therapists".

Once again, explain how you can keep doing all these things which almost all Natives think wrong and offensive. Or do you just not care what Natives think?

[Helmut]

Tell us how you met WBE and Swallows, and what you went through with them.
Why tell stories of the past, when you prejudiced?
 
You claim you have "authorization" but the only people you learned from are exploiters.
How do you know, that these people are the only ones I met?
 
Do you realize that many people get injured or even killed by untrained or badly trained outsiders who think they have the "right" to do this ceremony?
Yes, but what do you know about me - only the words on my site?
 
The "how to" section you have at your site is dangerous and unethical to have these kinds of instructions online. Have you ever considered that, Helmut?
Yes. I wrote knowing this.
 
Where did you get the crazy idea that there are no rules in Native cultures? It's pure nonsense. There are incredibly strict rules.
"There are no fixed rules, that's the way it is in this culture"
Did you read this part? There are a lot of rules. You as an educator for indians (this is what your nick claims for) should know, it depends from tribe to tribe, from family to family. If a person had a vision, this person follows its vision - never the less what rules are existing. Did you ever thought on this? ?
 ?
You shows up at a few sites from Germany and Austria, all sellers of ceremonies. A few examples: ?
www.trafo.or.at (cooperating with Oldfeather and his young scholar)
On my site is no link to this site. So please be correct!?  
At www.schamanische-therapie.info, advertised under "other shamanic therapists".
I dont have a link to this site, so please be correct!
 
Once again, explain how you can keep doing all these things which almost all Natives think wrong and offensive. Or do you just not care what Natives think?
During my visits in Pine Ridge and Rosebud I heard a lot of different oppinions on different medicince people. Each one of them was controversial duscussed by people - maybe one or two exeptions.

What I want to ask you: How you are, that YOU claim to be an educateindian. You only have a nick, you dont have a face. You dont have an adress .... Which tribe, what institution, what council gave YOU the authorisation to become a kind of judge?
You are one of these people wearing white habits with cowls on ther head, an in one hand a torch??
I will not discuss with you longer if you are not willing to answer these questions. I am not interested in people that have no name, no face. They are cowards.

I had a look on Trisha's site. I am sorry that something like this can happen. Where is the respect - its gone?

[piya]

 
Do you realize that many people get injured or even killed by untrained or badly trained outsiders who think they have the "right" to do this ceremony?
Yes, but what do you know about me - only the words on my site?
 
The "how to" section you have at your site is dangerous and unethical to have these kinds of instructions online. Have you ever considered that, Helmut?
Yes. I wrote knowing this.
 

Boy, oh boy.

The only question you really answered Helmut, and its an admission you wrote the instructions knowing them to be dangerous.....................are you some sort of fool, to be putting peoples lives at risk.

Jeez, I will step back now and wait for the rest of the arrows to come flying to you.

[Ingeborg]

Helmut, you probably did not quite understand the questions correctly. I'll translate them and you can answer them in German language for me to translate your answers if they are different from what you said before.

Do you realize that many people get injured or even killed by untrained or badly trained outsiders who think they have the "right" to do this ceremony?
Yes, but what do you know about me - only the words on my site?

Frage: Ist dir bekannt, daß viele Leute gesundheitliche Einbußen erleiden oder sogar ums Leben kommen durch unausgebildete oder schlecht ausgebildete Außenstehende, die glauben, ein "Recht" zu haben, diese Zeremonien durchzuführen?
Deine Antwort: Ja, aber was wißt ihr denn von mir - nur das, was auf meiner Webseite steht?
 

The "how to" section you have at your site is dangerous and unethical to have these kinds of instructions online. Have you ever considered that, Helmut?
Yes. I wrote knowing this.

Frage: In dem "how to"-Abschnitt auf deiner Seite sind Informationen, die gefährlich sind und es ist unethisch, diese Art Instruktionen online zu stellen. Hast du mal darüber nachgedacht, Helmut?
Deine Antwort: Ja. [There are several ways to re-translate the next sentence into German, it is ambiguous. What did you mean?]

As an aside: the nick in question is "educated indian", which translates to: "gebildeter Indianer", not what you said. ?

You shows up at a few sites from Germany and Austria, all sellers of ceremonies. A few examples: ?
www.trafo.or.at (cooperating with Oldfeather and his young scholar)
On my site is no link to this site. So please be correct!?  
At www.schamanische-therapie.info, advertised under "other shamanic therapists".
I dont have a link to this site, so please be correct!

Actually, nobody said you offered links to these sites - the other way round: they link to your site. Therefore, this has been said correctly.

You are one of these people wearing white habits with cowls on ther head, an in one hand a torch??[/color]

Helmut, this is in fact racist.

[Helmut]

I thought about how to answer.
I made a few drafts and disapproved them all.
I came to a decision.
My intention was to discuss – it was a fault.
Question to me and my site – but none of my questions where answered.
There is no need to justify.
A lot of emotions came up on both sides.
I stop here.
I will not discuss further on.
I have to act on a vision, but neither the internet nor a forum will be the place to do this.

From my point of view we all look for genuine truth. That’s the link we have. At the moment we are at different crossings.
Truth is not a definition on doing things in the right manner that is given by some authorities. Truth is not given by ruling the world. Truth you will find in your heard and by asking the spirits.

Mitakuye oyasin
Helmut