It's great to see how the protests against Holzwarth are taking off, with some of her events getting cancelled. I'm reposting some of what's on the Jay Fulton blog because there's a lot of good information. Keep in mind this is not all of that link but just what I feel is most important. The stuff that was already posted in previous posts I haven't included also.
http://jayfulton.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/grandmother_peace_drum_and_pepper-spray/26 Responses to “Grandmother Peace Drum: Conflict and pepper spray???
Helen Kanclerz Says:
April 7, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I am Native American. Please, Think how you would feel if someone made a mockery of your culture and religion for money.
What she is doing is not only against our spirituality; we do not sell our religion which is what she is portraying, (and you paid for!) it is against the Treaties signed by the government, which will not enforce and actively breaks, check this out for yourself.
If you contact the Unitarian Universalist Church in Chatanooga Tennessee (where she was last month) they will tell you she is not of Seneca descent, she told them she was Jewish and Irish.
Check with Gary Harrison, the Chief of the Chickaloons in Alaska where she supposedly had the drum blessed and he will tell you she is a “Fanatical Flim Flam Artist out to fleece the public???.
Check with the Seneca’s in New York and Canada and they will tell you they have no record of her or her purported ancestry on their rolls.
All this information is available on the web.
Again I repeat, Think how you would feel if someone made a mockery of your culture and religion for money.
Then you will understand the ire these young people felt, forcing them to stand and be arrested to protect their heritage.
Thank you for the opportunity to shed some light on what is happening to a people who traditionally have welcomed others with open arms, this is the traditional way of the native american; but do not make us into a Bufalo Bill Cody Wild West show and continue to exploit our culture heritage and spirituality/religion.
Sincerely, Helen Kancelrez
Jay Fulton Says:
April 7, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Dear Helen,
Thank you for writing. I am listening. Thank you especially for offering new information that can be checked and verified. You are the most valuable of correspondents, namely someone who will speak her mind.
Please do not misread me! I am neither in her favor, nor against her. would you be kind enough to elaborate some more? I’ll open up the blog for comments without having to be checked first, ok? I am a thoughtful person who reads widely. I have no strong religious belief of any kind, nor any agenda to attack or promote any religion, or culture....
Jay
Helen Kanclerz Says:
April 7, 2008 at 4:38 pm
....You were charged a set amount with no chance to recind your “donation??? to her 501-c-3 organization. Again look on the web, she claims Whirling Rainbow is non-profit. You will find on the web, she charged the organization that brought her to Weymouth $2500.00 or 60% of the door whichever was greater, additionally all profits from the sale of the drums and rattles went to her. We do NOT sell our sacred drums, nor pipes or feathers, etc. The sale of any sacred item is DEFINITELY never done by a shaman. They would fear the wrath of the ancestors. This is the mockery of which the young man spoke. She claims she is a “shaman??? and yet openly sells our traditions and sacred items....
Judy Gould Says:
April 8, 2008 at 12:57 am
Jay, I must thank you for this really honest report, and all the time you have taken to make this as full a report as possible. You have helped immensely.
First, let me say this. If this woman (Rachel Holzwarth, AKA Suraj Holzwarth, AKA White Eagle medicine Woman) was aware, as she reported to you, that these demonstrations and blatant objections to her prayerformances would continue, as they had in the past (and obviously, since she told you this ,there was no reason to believe otherwise), then, she was responsible for any damages or injuries which occurred.
(This statement has nothing to do with Indians or non-indians,..any promoter of any venue, who is aware that his promoted event may cause rowdiness, damaging or aggressive behavior - such as a wild music concert- the promoter is expected to have retained adequate security personnel to control situations. ) Her admission that this is apparently a common occurrence tells me that she was remiss in 1. Not informing her audience of the inherent danger, and 2. She was negligent in retaining adequate personnel as guards to protect her audience.
Next, as I stated, her real name is Rachel Holzwarth. She charges exorbitant fees for something we are NOT ALLOWED to charge for. When we hear Creator speak, we are not charged for his messages. Therefore, we cannot charge, anymore than a catholic priest would charge to hear confessions or to pray for someone’s welfare or to read the Bible to people. It’s just not done. In fact, it’s a really big no-no.
....The problem we are having with this woman is, she is using our ceremonies to fill her pockets. She is dressing in our traditional regalia, misusing feathers, misusing the sacred medicines, misguiding people who really want to know about native beliefs, and taking huge amounts of money for it!
She has made up her own set of “Indian
beliefs and turned it into her own religion, but pretends to have heard it through her Seneca ancestors.
What she is babbling about is not Native American. She believes she spoke to an entity named Metatron for 13 weeks in her sleep, who told her to do this. That’s all New-age stuff, but since she tried for several years at her Alaskan Wilderness Women’s Foundation to make money from the New-Agers and failed, she decided to turn into an indian since it apparently sells better.
On top of that, it would appear that she is defrauding the taxman, as she has a non-profit status as a religion, but asks that checks be sent in the name of the Alaskan Wilderness Women Foundation, rather than the Whirling Rainbow for which she holds this non-profit status.
In addition, I myself, used to live in Palmer, Alaska, and have many native friends there. She was basically ignored by them, as she kept trying to get them to “bless??? her , and kept pushing herself on them, in her attempts to “brand??? herself as this “White Eagle Medicine Woman???. They wanted no part of her shenanigans.
....When I was reading the part where she turned the events into a lesson, I was really upset. Again, she is making things up to suit her fraud. But, when you wrote that she had said she was “Incested??? I realized that she apparently needs professional help. Unless, of course, that was just more malarkey to make you feel for her lonely mission.
She has 5 to 7 people in her entourage (or so she claims in her price list) so, I would wonder where all of these people were at the time of this occurence. Have they abandoned her in the face of continual objections?
...Then, to use our outrage to pretend to know what is in our hearts, is ridiculous. Did she suffer any of these things? No! The issue is about being a fraud and selling some cockamamie fake made-up religious exercise saying it’s from her traditional Seneca roots!
If you want to find out what more people think of this woman, just google Whirling Rainbow or White Eagle Medicine Woman along with the word fraud or scam.
As I said, I believe she, herself, is both responsible for, and feeds on/utilizes to her advantage, the objections and loud reactions she gets at her “prayerformances??? from Native Americans. And, I believe that she should be charged in this instance with inciting the behavior that you witnessed, knowing it would happen, and taking no measures to ensure that her auduence was both aware of the chance of this happening, and protected to some degree from the actual interruption of the event.
....I am absolutely positive that the Native objectors had no intention of causing you or any member of the audience, or Mz. Holzwarth herself, any physical harm. We simply want this farce to be stopped, somehow, and if you understand that natives revere the big drum as a “Grandfather
(not a grandmother), and that the big drums were only for the men to use (Women are too powerful beings to touch the big drum, unless it is in private-ish circumstances or, if the men are all gone-as in on a hunting party), then you might get why he brought his war-stick down on the skin. As a male, he can hit the skin. As a female, she should NOT be, and if she had ‘native roots’ she would know this. Now, I know from a non-native perspective, that sounds like a sexist belief, but that is the tradition, and we native women understand why....
jayfulton Says:
April 8, 2008 at 4:22 am
Judy, Thank you. It seems significant to me that the first responses were so….. articulate and detailed. I appreciated hearing your insights about the emotional context and the background that creates that context.
As a side note, I did hear back from Chattanooga UUA, and my contact there said that she had announced her ancestry as Jewish, Irish and others. He also said that provided the sound on a Saturday and the event in Chattanooga was uneventful and trouble-free. His information confirms Helen’s suspicion that the story line of Suraj/Rachel changes somewhat over time, or that it’s sufficiently complex that observers have a hard time remembering exactly what she said.
I am amazed at the quality of responses here. They are so much better than the sniping and sarcasm I saw on youtube.
hartman deetz Says:
April 8, 2008 at 7:17 pm
wow jay i got pepper sprayed too
and cuffed and arrested
im sorry my actions may have caused you harm, it was not my intention to do harm to any human being that night, it was my intention to take or break that drum. for us when a drum is treated wrong it is to be taken away from those who have allowed it to be mistreated, especially if the caretaker of that drum is the one doing wrong by the drum. ive heard of a drum taken away from its group for singing a special cerimonial song casually outside of the cerimony it was intended for. helen and judy have done well to present the substance of my concerns so i wont go on and on.
this should tell you something as well about the validity of my concerns, when a strangers can relay a common understanding from a common world veiw....
rezgirl Says:
April 9, 2008 at 8:17 am
Hello to all,
I was sent this blog and I am saddened as well as elated at the events that happened here. I am the president and co-founder of the indian center here in the Great Lakes area and have recently had the chance to have the Grandmother Drum medicine show shut down in all of Ohio. She currently has dates scheduled in the Detroit area where THEY are planning a protest as well. Our goal was to let these people no they are not welcome here and that a “peaceful??? protest would be set in motion had the events went on as planned. Fortunatly for all, they were cancelled.
....I will be forwarding this blog to others in my area here to show that we are making some progress into what this woman and her organization is doing. When I spoke with her personally last week, she tried to tell me that the money she is charging is for the expenses of their travels. When I asked her if ANY of the money she is receiving is going back into native communites (she told me she had permission from Pine Ridge elders to do what she is doing) the answer was no, a resounding no for that matter! None of the monies is going anywhere to any worthy orgs or communities. It is lining her pockets and the new agers that she brings in. There is a “spirituality center??? in the Detroit area that is charging for sweat lodges as well as pipe ceremonies and asking for “love offerings??? in a feeble attempt to bring peace and healing to the Great Lakes.
I wanted to post this message here so that you and others would know, this is not an isolated event, she is not welcome by native communities and I would hope that getting this message out BEFORE people go and spend their money will be enlightening.
Chi Megwetch.
rezgirl Says:
April 9, 2008 at 8:39 am
BTW Hartman,
I spoke to some of the others here….we are all in agreement that if you need bail money, we’re her for ya brother….LOL....
jayfulton Says:
April 9, 2008 at 7:06 pm
....One thing I’ve noticed here is that there have been no responses from advocates for Rachel/Suraj. I imagined there’d be some pro Vs. con postings. Why have none of her supporters responded? Is it because the audiences who see her are not generally interested in these issues, and have no clue to the cultural background involved?
Also, there was a reference to Metatron. I avoided linking any information for that it just seemed inappropriate. Is there any written evidence of the claim of visitation to Rachel/Suraj by Metatron?
Thanks again to all contributors.-Jay....
Helen Kanclerz Says:
April 10, 2008 at 7:58 am
Sorry, I meant to add perhaps Suraj does not have any true supporters when they discover the truth.
Helen Kanclerz Says:
April 10, 2008 at 9:13 am
Jay:
Suraj told Rezgirl she had permission from Pine Ridge to perform her “Prayerformance???
We just spoke with the lead of the healers of all 13 nations on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He has no knowledge of Suraj and is thoroughly upset that she is out there selling anything having to do with our religion. He has never spoken to her and without going through the council none of the healers would dare to give permission even to their own family for someone to even perform a ceremony.
As you can see we have veryt rigid and structured religion as do most religions where you must be certified before being allowed to instruct anyone in the spirituality of our culture. We will talk about our spirituality, but then ALWAYS refer them to a true healer....
Wolfsraven Says:
April 10, 2008 at 12:18 pm
This woman is 100% white. She DREAMED she was Seneca, yet sells the Hopi and Navajo ceremonies. This is THEFT pure and simple. She is not even native…..and has NO RIGHT to steal from us and sell to non-natives. Anyone who charges for this kind of thing is a 100% bonafide FAKE! A true medicine person would never ask for money.
OUR CEREMONIES ARE NOT FOR SALE! AND THEY NEVER WILL BE!
Judy Says:
April 10, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Hi Jay,
I didn’t want to leave the links out here, but if you go to her site and look in the instructional courses online, she has a whole unit dedicated to Metatron.
Also, if you google the name of the foundation, or her name, with Metatron, you will get many references.
My point was that she is mixing her new-age stuff with native american spiritual and ceremonial, and presenting it as native american, insulting, and abusing our spiritual beliefs in the process.
I can only compare this to maybe someone taking large sums of money while LOUDLY practising wicca and performing Christian-ish Wiccan ceremonies wearing the Pope’s mitre(headpiece) and cassock, and carrying the cross, saying she has the blessings of the church. Throw in
Moses told me to do this in my dreams???, and “I learned this from my Catholic upbringing???and you got a Suraj Holzwarth!
....I’m not surprised that she would choose Pine Ridge as her “source??? of blessings???. This is the most financially destitute place in America, I believe. They have more to worry about than somebody claiming to have been in contact with her. If you read her sales pitches (sorry- promotional info) over the years, she first claimed to have blessings of the Hopi, Navajo, and Shoshone. Now, it has changed to Lakota. Has she forgotten the Hopi, Navajo, and Shoshone? Or did they tell her to stop? (She also claimed blessings from the Chickaloons of Alaska, which never happened.)
Had she any idea about the plight of the Pine Ridge people, she could not possibly carry on her farce without contributing to the needs of the people there.
Why wouldn’t she claim blessings from her own Seneca people?
It appears that she chooses her verification like throwing darts at a map of native nations, and hopes nobody catches up with her.
I’d also hazard a guess why she hasn’t chosen a nation positioned on the “Canadian??? side of Turtle Island,..and that would be our APTN, (Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network), which would have done a report on her claims in the news and then, you can be sure, some feathers would fly. (This is a 24/7 coast-to-coast cable station , available in even the most basic packages, that does an excellent job of reporting from Indian Country)....
mano cockrum Says:
April 10, 2008 at 1:24 pm
She claims the metatron “visitation??? herself on the whirling rainbow website under the 64- languages of love course description. I believe its also on her biography there;
http://www.whirlingrainbow.com/online%20language.htmthis has been a really good blog and responses, I am grateful there are so many ready to help educate others about this. i was the colorado coordinator for the longest walk 2 northern route (they just entered kansas after 4 weeks in CO), and will see you who are all going in DC.
ahee’hee,
mano....
