I have studied intensely many religious beliefs, and customs from around the world. Some of the things being taught by those who do not have the right or knowledge to do so is scary. this is my first post, as I was reading the board, I felt I had to point out something.
Yes, many cultures around the world had rituals/ceremonies similar to the american indian sweatlodge. No one has denied this. The problem is that the person in question is claiming to do a sweat lodge in the tradition of the american indians, which he has no right to do.
Yes, if you are celtic, and wish to revive the old ways, then that would be fine. but, being polish, you would not have the right to revive it, as it is part of the celtic peoples history and spirituality.
In all cultures, in order to be able to practice a ceremony, the person must first be taught by someone from that tradition who themselves learned from another. A person cannot just decide that they are going to become one. Yes, some of the various cultures do share some information about ceremonies, but it is just general information and does not mean you can use it to start performing them. It is the information they do not share that is vital to the ceremonies and without this information, some ceremonies will not work, and some can be very dangerous.
Just because you read the writings, or hang out with a hindu holy man, that does not mean you have the right to go out and start teaching those things to others. Just because a mexican goes to europe and says he has been taught the ways of the feathered serpent and has been authorized to teach it to everyone, does not make it so.
$115 US is not much? lets say he does 3 workshops 1 day each, with a total attendance of 200 people each. that is 115x600= $69,000 US. (I think I am in the wrong business
)
That is a lot of money for teaching things that he has neither enough knowledge or the right to be teaching. Using native names for ceremonies, to get people to come to them, even if he is using the name only and the ceremony has nothing to do with the actual native ceremony, is fraud, and taking advantage of people who spend money they do not have, to satisfy a spiritual hunger that these decievers offer to feed. (I know I don't have 115 dollars laying around to waste on something like this)
Now on the referenced website, it claims this person does ceremonies and refers to them as american indian ceremonies, dresses in a tv western indian costume, then claims not to be representing himself as a teacher of their ceremonies?
In this case, the offer to participate in a ceremony from a particular culture is offered, the culture referenced has made the statement "you are not authorized to perform this ceremony, stop doing so". It is simple, nothing to misunderstand.
