Yes I know Jade. Have spent time with him in sacred camp circles and in Costa Rica as well as a number of shamanic ceremonies. As far as I am concerned he is definitely a legitimate shaman. I wonder where the evidence is for anyone who is claiming otherwise. To my way of thinking his expression of what he calls "the ways" is much more authentic than some of the new agey stuff from Harner and company, but to each his own. I have never seen anything that would justify saying that he 'preys' on anyone.
Actually, you know Greg. He lied to you even when he told you his name and what he is. "As far as you are concerned" means nothing, since you know so little, you fell for him.
You fell for an obvious white American from Ohio, with Hungarian immigrant parents, pretending to be Mongolian and Native and trained by them. That's like falling for Johnny Depp as Tonto because you think wearing a dead bird on the head is believable.
He preyed upon you when he took advantage of your need for meaning and healing and took your money for phony made up imitations of Native ceremony. If these included sweats or ayahuasca, you were lucky not to be killed, severely injured, or suffer a psychotic episode, because he's not really trained except by other frauds who know as little or respect as little as he does.
I agree with you that Harner is much worse, but that's mostly from peddling his fraud on a larger scale.
You could continue to defend him and look foolish, like someone convinced that Nigerian prince he sent money to is real. One way to redeem yourself would be to tell us more about how you met him and what he claimed to do.
