NAFPS Forum

Does anybody know anything about this pair?  They are scheduled to do a "Native American style ritual" in the London (UK) area on Feb 1st

"Native American style"? In the same way that the tasty and nutritious snack cake made by Hostess is "chocolate-flavoured"?

Sounds quite barf-worthy to me.

I almost cried "Ruth" myself when I read this from Grandfather Old Hippie:

On this occasion I will not be wearing Eagle feathers.

One of the three principles of the Pagan Federation, quoted from London PF's own site:

The Pagan ethics: “If it harms none, do what you Will???. - a positive morality expressing the responsibility of Individuals towards the Collective (outer world and community).

Contact details are at the bottom of that page, should anyone wish to remind them of their own principles and that Native people do indeed still exist in that outer world - gosh, even in the UK - and do not feel honoured by hippies prancing about in "Native American style clothing" (remember we saw quite a bit of that at Glastonbury, Al?)

ok here is his explanation (excuse) for what he does. his words are bold..my response to him is italics.
------------------------------------------

Francis..I hope you take these words as they are intended. I will be honest with you about my thoughts. You may not like them and as a result reject them and me or you may take them to heart and think upon them…your choice. I will write about what you have written here as it comes to me.

United we stand, divided we fall.
It is not blood that makes a Native American...
It is the soul....
Too many... With fire of Native blood... Walk ignored.
Do not say I am Apache or Kickapoo..
Do not say I am Sioux or Cherokee.
Say.... I am of the Mother Tribe...
This is the pain of our children...
To return from the stars without a home or community...
A tribe lost returns... Scattered in the wind.
Those who hear must unite and reap the seed of this return.
ONE tribe...ONE Earth...ONE Heart...ONE People.
Those with ears must build a fire and give thanks this night.
Be united with ONE soul.
Oh, my Children come home...
Teachers step forward without fear...
You are real.

Author & title unknown

Whomever wrote this poem I guarantee was not a native person to turtle island. We hear this so often as a justification from those who would claim whatever privilege in their minds they think comes from being indigenous. Substitute the word Chinese for native american and read it again. Silly yes? I love Chinese food, kites, fireworks, and admire their martial arts. I enjoy a walk thru the streets of china town in boston. But no matter how much I love and admire the culture…I will never be Chinese no matter how hard I concentrate! Yet so many claim exactly this with us.

I have smudged this prayer and it is good.
Francis Grey Wolf

Is this a seal of approval? I don't understand why you said this.

United we stand, divided we fall
Written in the spirit of love harmony and understanding
There are those who have Native American blood coursing through their veins who stand up and fight for the rights and privileges of their NA ancestors in the hope to right the wrongs done to them from 15th Century right up to the present 21st Century. And there are those who have no Native American blood in their veins at all but take up the cause of the Native American and help in that fight. Some of these non natives are quite rightly rejected as pretenders, "wanabees" "new age do gooders" or quite simply out to make a few bucks riding on the backs of the Native American. These are the stealers of culture, land, philosophies and a myriad of other unwholesome things that bring shame on both sides including shame on their ancestors by falsely claiming that they have Native blood. For the rest of the non natives who are the genuine article and speak from the heart and truly support the Native American through their words, deeds and actions they have to face suspicion, rejection and the accusation of having ulterior motives.

You are correct on this part. We have all seen many people of good heart of all colors and can easily within minutes spot someone who's ego is bigger than their heart.

I am writing this article because I truly want people to understand where I come from and what my philosophies are and where my spiritual path is. Unfortunately there are those of you who have misunderstood my intentions
And even think I am stealing my name from the Native American. But the name "Grey Wolf" was also used by the Druids and Vikings among others in days of old right up to the present day. Many years ago I was told by a Native American that "when we have no one to fight we start fighting each other" I did not believe him at the time but now I know his words to be true.

Since you have told us you had a ndn naming ceremony then yes, you took what you consider to be an ndn name. whether or not druids or Vikings also used such a name is irrelevant here.

It is often said that the Whites can never truly understand the native ways or their concept of spirituality, To this I humbly ask; teach me how to know, for as much as I learn and as much as I respect Mother Earth and the NA people who are so rich in culture and spirit I am still ignorant and your fear that I may misuse this knowledge stops you from teaching me what I am ready to learn. I have been privileged in my life time to learn the concept of Mother Earth, Father Sky, Grandmother Moon and Grandfather Sun and to also understand that when the Creator Great Spirit created life on Mother Earth he gave everything his spirit "the two legged and four legged, the winged and the finned, the creepy crawlies, the trees, the rocks, and the plants" this I know and understand and was taught by great teachers among them a man whose name I will never repeat for he is dead to me but lives on in my heart.
I try to be humble and inoffensive this was taught to me also but when people insult me and offend me am I supposed to remain silent, when people misunderstand my intentions or what I wrote am I not supposed to reply, and when I apologize and then treated with silence am I not supposed to ask why my apology was not accepted, when some NA people accept me as an elder and others say I cannot be an Elder because I am not Native American am I not right to become confused? Admittedly I have a tenancy to act too hastily at times and fly off the handle but I am also patient and a good listener and ready to apologize when the need arises and not provoke an argument by making other statements which are hurtful and unjust in an attempt to avoid an apology.

You are trying very hard to sound humble but your actions are not that of one who wishes to learn. You wish to be seen as a teacher and healer. And no real ndn would call you an Elder. Our elders are within our communities and know the culture and are the ones we go to for guidance in spiritual and sometimes practical every day life problems. WE call them Elders, they do not call themselves such. I saw no one insult you unless you consider questions to be insults…another sign of ego that we should simply believe you because you say we should. In reality this post is all about you…your feelings…your needs…your wants. You just said we have every right to be suspicious of those who may have the wrong intentions but of course that does not apply to you. Truthfully the more you speak the more suspicious I get. Tell me mr wolf…how long would it take you to spot a phoney Englishman? Not long I am guessing. The same is true here.

For those who truly want to understand me and my philosophy of life I am ready to tell you a little, but please do not expect me to tell you all and bare my soul for some things are sacred knowledge and should never be revealed to friends or for that matter relatives.

Yet you ask us to teach you all things sacred to us. A double standard.

I will only tell you that spirit first came to me when I was laying in a hospital bed and dying, for those few brief moments when I went into spirit I was met by a great heavenly being who told me that I had to go back to earth because my life would change and my true destiny was to help people to connect with their higher self and to give them information and hope for the future. Some years later I met my first Native American and the first of my teachers, forgive me for not telling you his name, but like I said for to me he is dead now but lives on in my heart. Some would say he was a “medicine man??? and to me he was but I do not want to upset you or sound patronizing by calling him that because I know how some people can be sensitive about these issues. He told me that I must go on a vision quest. I had no idea what a vision quest was and no idea where I was going but he told me I would know when I found what I was looking for. How could this be since I did not even know what it was I was supposed to be looking for! But I went and wandered alone observing nature and noticing its wonderful colors, sights and sounds. I was becoming aware now of how beautiful and bountiful the flora and fauna of Mother Earth is and how when I half closed my eyes and let them go slightly out of focus I could see an aura around the tree tops. When the day ended I fell asleep on the bare earth, hungry, thirsty and feeling totally drained of all energy, I did not even care if I woke up in the morning or not I was so fatigued. During the night the spirit of a she wolf came to me and told me many things about the Wolf family and how she was shot by hunters but her cubs had survived motherless looked after by her sister wolves. I imagined that this was a dream, but knew that it could not be a dream for I could smell her, look into her bright yellow eyes and see my reflection in them, and even hear her breathing as she sat next to me telling me her story. The next day when I awoke there was no sign of her but a slight indentation on the ground where the fallen leaves had been disturbed where she sat. I found my way back to my teacher who told me I had been gone two days when I thought I had only been gone one and to this day I still have no idea where the lost day went.
When I told him about the she wolf he looked at me straight in the eyes and asked me if I spoke the truth. I looked him straight back in the eyes and told him it was. He then said “huh! Now you have your name you will be known as Grey Wolf. You will find a path of wisdom so long as you first become truthful with yourself, the more truthful you are, the more wisdom will come to you???  I told him I did not particularly like the sound of “Grey Wolf??? and could he choose a different name for me. He told me “I did not give you your name, Spirit did???. Ok I argued, if I accept the name what does it mean? “The teacher and pathfinder… you will find a safe path for others to follow??? Supposing I don’t want to do that I asked. There was a long silence before he spoke and then he said “You will, it is not for you to decide, somebody upstairs has decided for you???.

As its been said, no ndn I know would brag about a vision. This part seems very well rehearsed as if its been told many times. I even had a hard time reading it because to me and possibly others, its like eavesdropping on something very private. In fact I had to make myself read it simply to respond.

Since that time many other visions have come to me including the one where I saw my wife Tonya in a vision 5 years before we met, and even today I refer to "my friends upstairs" when recounting these visions. Sorry not to tell you more, but too much information in one go cannot be digested in the proper way, and probably give you indigestion.

I know you don't see this but…could you be more condescending? Truthfully Francis you come off as the superior white person sent to help the poor ndns survive. You DO see yourself as superior. Be honest with yourself. Its all here. Chosen by a higher power…sent to help the less fortunate…but of course you must only give us small doses of your wisdom since we are such simple creatures we could not possible understand one such as you. Come on Francis! How insulting!

And while speaking of my wife we have heard it said that she cannot be Cherokee because she has a German accent. Well I for one did not know that it was mandatory to have an American accent, and since she lived in both America and Germany from a young age flying between one country and the next and went to German Colleges and has a German father I am not at all surprised she has a German accent. If you know anything about linguistics it is quite common for people living in a foreign land to speak with an accent when reverting to their mother tongue. Oh! I know, I hear you say you have lived here for 20 years and still speak with an American accent but you are still speaking English so your accent will only vary by a few degrees. Try speaking German or French for over 20 years and your accent will change too. But you don’t have to take my word for it, you can ask any language expert, maybe later you can tell me what they said. Tonya has spoken on  the telephoned tonight and assured Linda-Lou and Deanna that she will tell them which Cherokee band she is from in person when we next meet.

I will not speak about your wife. I do not know her. It is your words I speak about.

Thank you for listening to me.
Now I hope there will be peace and trust among us.
I am not on the path of appeasement but hope for reconciliation.

If you cannot accept me as a true friend of the Native American who I see as my brothers and sisters I will understand but in return will you please understand that it will not stop me supporting the Native American people in my words, deeds and actions. I am proud of my English heritage and to pretend to be somebody other than who I am would dishonor my ancestors and I must respect them with the same love as I respect yours.

No one wants you to stop being interested and active in native issues, but you will never get along with native people so long as this attitude is present. I am assuming you wish for that connection. If so then listen to what is being said here.

I will not sell your culture or attempt to profit by it in any way but really hope to enrich it with my love and support. I did not choose this path where I connect so strongly with the Native American, for one reason or another spirit chose it for me and guided my footsteps towards the Native American people.

Our culture has survived thousands of years Francis. Do you really believe you can enrich it? Make it better for us?

I cannot argue with spirit.
Aho! I have spoken
and offer my love, light, and blessings.
Reverend Doctor Francis "Grey Wolf" Billington DD

Again, the long title..the letters after your name ..doctor of divinity. None of this impresses native people. Many of us have degrees. I'm a professional person, speak several languages including my native tongue, am married with children, am an associate publisher, blah blah blah. What does it matter? Are you impressed with me? When I am with ndn people such things don't matter one bit. All that matters is my heart and what I do for Onkwehonwe..the people.

I do not believe you are used to people standing up to you. If you were as humble as you wish to be seen, none of this would have happened. You would not have felt the need to be impatient with a response or defend that which was not attacked. I am not meaning to be harsh although I am pretty sure by now you are quite angry with me. My only obligation is to speak truth. From this point, what you do with it is your responsibility. I leave you with one last quote from an aboriginal elder.

"If you've come here to help me, you're wasting your time.
But if you've come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." Lilla Watson


mo

Frying Mamas = mothers dropping acid together? Could explain the amalamated New Age weirdness. 

Billington, quoted by Mo:

Some years later I met my first Native American...

He collects you guys...don't you feel honoured? What will he do when he's got the whole set?

I'm really, truly, not making this up. Here's his 'favourite quote' from his Yahoo profile page: you are only young once - but you can stay immature for life.

Many a true word is spoken in jest.

Mo , your very patient and reasonable discussion with "Grey Wolf" had me laughing out loud . 

I wonder if  he has any  idea how absolutely silly he sounds ? Like someone preening themselves in a mirror imagining they are the dressed in high fashion , when they are actually wearing a plastic grocery bag  and are badly in need of a bath  . In a way he might be right about his "helping Indians ". Even most New Agers have some common sense , and this guy might do a lot for making playing Indian look as foolish and unattractive as it actually is.  At least he isn't giving people of distant ancestry a bad name by acting foolishly and claiming to have Indian blood ,  though unfortunantly there is more than enough who do.   

(edited to add )

But then his wife is claiming a Chreokee heritage. Even if that was true , I can never understand why people who have some Native heritage which they are proud of, would behave in ways that would make their Nation ashamed to admit they even know them . I guess a lot of people just don't know better .

[Barnaby's note: I've removed duplicated material and added formatting to make it easier to tell where Tonya is quoting someone else. It's late, so my replies will have to wait 'til tomorrow.]

Does anybody know anything about this pair?  They are scheduled to do a "Native American style ritual" in the London (UK) area on Feb 1st...Sounds quite barf-worthy to me.

I am Tonya, and first I want to ask you, Sophia, what gives you the right to post something like this in here ? You don’t even know us. You say you are a member of the Pagan Federation, but in this case you must know, that Pagans have ceremonies as well, and they always do it with good intentions. Nobody there will ask you, if you are “allowed??? to do ceremonies. And as a Pagan you should also know the code of honour and respect. But instead asking us about your questions, you have nothing else to do, than accusing us as “frauds??? in this forum. Second : there is nothing wrong for a British person, like my husband, to be interested in the Native American culture. I am interested in the Finnish people, so no big deal.

"Native American style"? In the same way that the tasty and nutritious snack cake made by Hostess is "chocolate-flavoured"?...

I almost cried "Ruth" myself when I read this from Grandfather Old Hippie:...

...hippies prancing about in "Native American style clothing" (remember we saw quite a bit of that at Glastonbury, Al?)

Same question for you. You don’t even know us, but you accusing us in this way. If you got nothing better to do, than to resort to witless and sarcastic remarks, then shame on you.

i've encountered this guy online in a yahoo group not too long ago. after being confronted he left in a huff. he claims his wife is cherokee (of course) but someone in england says she speaks with a german accent...go figure. i need to dig out what he said. fancies himself a great teacher..even tried to teach ndns about ourselves. not too much arrogance eh?

forgot to add..his name is Francis Billington

here is his yahoo profile. http://profiles.yahoo.com/francisgreywolf

here is his wife's website http://www.native-american-stones.com/

Linda, you forgot, that this was your own group in yahoo, where we have proof, that you are very racist people, even having a vote on your site ( having a white slave ). Of course I have a German accent, because I am also part German and raced most of my years in Germany. If you would live in Italy the most of your life, and grown up there as a baby, then you would also have an Italian accent, when speaking English. My husband never said, that he was a teacher. Anyway, everybody is teacher and student every day, because you learn everyday, but you also know something, what other people don’t know. Where is your problem. And nor my husband or me tried to teach native people anything. Who is arrogant, when calling my husband “you are such a bloody Englishman???. Can I remind you, that you are adopted from British people ? And so I guess, the ones who gave you a home, you would call them as bloody English ?

A *registered* and *professional* clairvoyant? Is someone handing out licenses?

Frying mamas? Did he mean crying? I'm guessing he doesn't mean cannibalizing your mother.

Ironically, one of the Pilgrims (Christian religious fanatics who were very anti NDN beliefs) was named Francis Billington.

I was also amused by the links, one to a "Wiccan inspired construction site."

I want to say here, that there is a difference between unregistered and registered clairvoyants. That divides the real frauds from the true ones. And either you have such abilities or you don’t have them. And of course they have to prove that they really have those abilities, which comes naturally. You cannot learn to see or feel things.
What is this your concern, what he puts on his webpage ? And he wanted to bring people to laugh with “frying mamas???, but if you cannot understand jokes, then I feel sorry for you.

He collects you guys...don't you feel honoured? What will he do when he's got the whole set?

I'm really, truly, not making this up. Here's his 'favourite quote' from his Yahoo profile page: you are only young once - but you can stay immature for life.

Many a true word is spoken in jest.

And you think, you are being very smart to just interpret, what ever you feel like. What gives you this idea, that he would collect people like stamps ? That was a saying, and if you are honest to yourself, you should admit, that this was not a good joke.
And again, he can quote whatever he likes on his web page. That is not your concern or business.

I just had a look at her website. Apparently she had it done for her by a professional, and it is bilingual. As there are certain regulation for a German business site (although only the English version is a dotcom, the German site is an inconspicuous .de), they added appropriate info about the owner: Ms Tonya had her enterprise registered under her real-life name Tanja Fehlauer. Sounds perfectly Grrrman (as a matter of fact, the name 'Tanja' used to be quite popular here). It was registered with the city of Hanau which is in the South of Germany, quite incidentially in that part which had/has quite a few US barracks, and I think there used to be some in that city.

In this case all German Sites are inconspicuous, because they are using “.de??? which is just a sign for Germany. Like the one in the uk have “.co.uk??? and the American ones have “.com??? If you are able to look in the web page deeper, then you should know this. My real name was Fehlauer, because I was married to a German Guy with the name Fehlauer. And I know a native woman, who lived in Germany and married a German Guy and is still wearing his German name. I just forgot to change this. Oh what a big deal. And since the German Authorities could not accept the name Tonya, we made Tanja out of this, otherwise I would not be able to register the domain. And again this is no concern of yours, where I registered the domain. In matter of fact, I was living pretty long in Hanau. What is wrong with that I was living in a town with US barracks ? I did not choose this, but my former job was in Hanau, so I moved there. But if you are, who I think you are, then you of course should know this.

It could of course be a matter of lack of funds that the site doesn't seem to be upated all that often, but I did notice that Ms Tonya doesn't have any news on Peltier to break since the beginning of 2004. She also has something up re John Graham, and is using a text by a person of some renown here to ask for donations for Graham. I did find these two texts a bit on the meagre side compared to what it says in her intro: Lots of info on ndns....

Does this make me a fraud, when I did not updated my web page, because of sickness? Thousands of people have web pages, who are not updated.
And by the way, I was official translator for the Graham defence page, till my sickness, and if you are that smart, like you would like to show here, then you would see, that the donation button, went straight on their page. At least I can say, and I can prove this as well, I helped in a Native American issue, to free an innocent Native American person. What have you done to support them? Searching Web pages, just to call somebody a Fraud?

The sites aims at selling 'ndn stones' (votever zis iss) and 'other esoteric articles' as well as 'Indian jewelry'. Please take due note that Ms Tonya, despite her being a Cherokee princess [sarcasm off], does her very best not to step in nasty substances here: she uses the term "Indianerschmuck" which can mean both jewelry ndn style and jewelry made by ndns, although the term does rather indicate the items offered are only ndn style as otherwise Ms T would be only too pleased to announce she is selling "indianischer Schmuck" (I'm sorry, but jewelry is 'Schmuck' in German  ). There are only very few items offered, and these are declared to have been 'made by a good friend of mine', without mentioning whether this friend happened to be ndn or not. Someone's seeking to have their behind duly covered, I suppose. If clients mistake the term for meaning jewelry made by ndns, now this is certainly not her fault, is it [once again, sarcasm off].

How would you translate “ Indianer-Stones “ ? Of course it is Native American Stones. Since I have a German and an English page, I just wanted to translate the name of the page in English. There was never anything mentioned about an Cherokee Princess from my side. Stop your sarcasm. It is not always easy to translate different German words in English, so it can mean the same. This still don’t make me a fraud.The reason, why I didn’t mentioned the person, who made some of items, was his wish not to be mentioned namely.

And now I will say this again : You can try everything like posting about us in different forums, blacklist us, hacking our web pages, accusing us of fraud, telling lies about us, and even don’t get all the facts together.
We know, who we are, and I proved it. I know, that at least 2 people of this forum will search for reason to turn me and my husband down. But be aware, we will not give in. And we will still attend on Pow Wows, if you like it or not, because I have all the right to attend, and so has my husband, even he is not Native. We have been told from different Native American Tribes, that we should not give in, and we will not give in. You cannot hurt us, because you will never break our will.

To Mo ( or should I say Linda Lou ? ) I will say this :

We left you alone all these month since the last dispute and lived our life, so please leave us alone. This is Slander. Why can you not live your life before accusing others, which is not your concern.

We were asked by members of “The Circle of Ankerwycke??? (A Pagan group) if we could do an Imbolc ceremony with a Native American theme which we agreed to do as so many people showed an interest in sharing. However since this has become an issue and upset people who do not want to share we took the decision not to go ahead.

sharing means it was offered by those to whom it belongs. sharing is not taking  without permission. if i take your car without permission, that is not sharing..it is theft and you would not be happy. get the difference?  if they wanted something native american then they should have asked someone who is part of a native american community. why is that so difficult to understand?