Here is what I sent out...This is a letter from Robbie Crane (the organizer for The Dance of one/Global Eden Event.
Cat
____________________________
Hi, my name is Robbie Crane.
My husband Joe and I are the organizers of the Global Eden Event in West Yellowstone, Montana, this June. This may come as a surprise to you since you were probably under the impression that it is Gary (GW) Hardin who is doing so. Gary is assisting us in organizing this event, and other committees have also been involved in assisting with the event, but we are the organizers and the only ones who are making the overall decisions for this event. Gary does not speak for the whole event. I have known Gary for 13 years and he does this periodically, where he thinks he is being taken advantage of and blows off some steam through email, and then it is "OK." Then, I get to clean up the mess after him so to speak.
Let me give you the whole story of how all this began and you can put the pieces together yourself.
But first, I am going to clear some things up right up front --
Topic 1: Suraj (Rachel Holzwarth) was officially disinvited from attending the West Yellowstone event on May 6, 2008
We made attempts to do so earlier but were unable to reach her. When we did get a hold of her she asked us to postpone the dis-invitation until after her May 2, 2008 meeting in Michigan. As of May 6, though, she was officially disinvited from the program and no longer scheduled to do the up-to-three-hour performance she had originally been scheduled for (contrary to descriptions of all day June 18-21 on her website).
Topic 2: Bennie LeBeau's participation in the event:
Bennie LeBeau, known to us as Blue Thunder, will be neither presenting nor attending. He removed himself upon being informed in late April that no Native American ceremony, real or otherwise, would be a part of the event.
Topic 3: The use of real or supposed Native American ceremony at the event:
There will be no Native American ceremony, real or otherwise, at the event. There will be other processes taking place that could be described as ceremonial, but they have been given to us by the angels.
Topic 4: The Dance of Oneness
Although the form of the Dance of Oneness has not been decided yet, it may very well take on the form of "The Hokey-Pokey." We aren't kidding. We have come to realize that we were not told to learn Native dances, but to learn the "philosophy" behind Native dancing—to dance with our entire being, to dance as a way of creating, to dance together in oneness, and to dance whatever dance we decide on in joy.
Topic 5: Native American speakers:
There will be Native American speakers, including Sequoyah Trueblood, several members of the Kogi tribe of Colombia, and Jim Tree. Also coming are Don Alejandro and his wife from Central America. It is our understanding that the "legitimacy" or appropriateness of some of these speakers has been questioned on this site.
Ben Carnes has also been invited to speak. If they accept, they are invited to speak on the topics of their choice, which we understand would probably address the fraudulent and exploitative misuse of real and/or supposed Native cultural heritage and spirituality. In his blog entry, Ben Carnes requested that anyone wishing to hear him speak not be charged to do so. We are open to this as long as we stay within the maximum room occupancy of 600 people.
Topic 6: Charging for the event:
This is not a money-making venture for anyone organizing or involved with this event, but it is true that we are charging for the event in order to cover the costs of the event (which so far, in reality, is covering only about 60 per cent of the costs) As many of you are aware it takes a lot to put together a large conference-like event. We have 3 different spaces we are paying for, along with port-a-potties, postage, copying, name badges, travel that we have had to do, travel for others coming, forestry department permits, covering some costs of those who have been working all year to make this event happen; etc. We understand this is not the Native way, especially when spiritual ceremony is involved, and that there are other ways of covering the cost of events in Native cultures. But this is the only way we know of to accomplish what we have been given to do by the angels.
So, how did we get to this point? Here is the background to who we are and what these events are about.
My husband is Joseph Crane—a former Navy man during the Viet Nam war--who has been having angelic visitations for the past 13 years. Not channeling or anything like that. Angels really show up in physical form and speak with him. You can accept that or not, but it is the basis for everything that follows. The information he was given focuses on teaching only love, knowing our own greatness, discerning and living the gift of humanity that we are, and realizing that we are perfect, whole, and complete just the way we are. At the same time we are encouraged to grow spiritually—just as a rosebud is perfect, whole, and complete just as it is, and still grows into a perfect, whole, and complete flower. Being given this information does not mean, though, that we are freed from our human frailties and our "feet of clay," or from what we call "working out our sums." What we are about is not a religion; no one has to give up any particular approach to Spirit to follow what has been given if they choose to do so. What Joe has been given is a way to live your life -principles to apply to your life to be happy, healthy and prosperous – if you choose.
In addition, he was given certain work to do and processes to share to return the world to Eden. Along these lines, one task given in more recent years has been to bring a certain number of people together in sacred geometrical formation each year in a different part of the country, although it looks a lot like just a group of people standing out in a field. And, before people come into this sacred formation, they were to spend several days together to come into unity. This is what we have come to call an "Eden event."
We have been having "Eden events" every year since 2003 in different parts of the country. This year's will be our sixth, and was to be in the Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho area, which led us to the town of West Yellowstone. Each year has a different theme that is the focus of the event. This year is TRUTH, or the paths of Truth which lead to Wisdom. (Side note: I find this very ironic since all of this is happening and the TRUTH, no matter what, is coming out.) For the first time it was also to become a global event due to some connections made with Common Passion, a group that wants to achieve the same goals we have—world peace and harmony for all. Gary asked if Native people could stand in formation or around it to join us in our cause. Joe asked Michael and we were told 'yes'. This is the first time that others have been allowed to be there and participate without having to go through a process we call 'gathering.' Michael also told us about the 'first people.' I am just going to copy his words here for they are always more eloquent then mine –
Joe speaking to Michael: Gary brought up some points that we could use some clarity on. I have them written down so let me just read them off. We know the central formation at Yellowstone is a must, and that we need at least 222 people for that formation. Since there may be Native American groups who might show up for the Dance of Oneness at Yellowstone, might it be OK that their groups join us as guests for that part of the Event without having moved into the gathering formations? And if it is OK, might these groups also be guests at the Saturday night formation as bystanders, perhaps standing in a circle around the formation?
Michael
You will need 222 gathered masters to open the paths of wisdom that lead to Eden. Yet you ask if it is OK if the Native Americans which might show up join you as guests at the formation. I tell you truly these were the first people and it is your kind that is the guest on their land. These people need not be gathered to circle the Grand formation. It might be wise to have them, to teach your kind to dance.
And that is how it all started from there about finding the 'first people' and having them teach us to 'dance.' Cause, c'mon, we all know that white people can't dance.
When we started thinking about who to have come speak, one of the people we had begun to work with, Joseph Giove, of Common Passion, mentioned that he knew and could invite Don Alejandro Oxlaj of Guatemala.
Don Alejandro said that in order for him to consider coming to Montana, we would have to get permission from the appropriate Elders for him to be there. Despite what has been written, Don Alejandro did not say to go through Blue Thunder (Bennie LeBeau), but only that we needed to get permission for him to come. We had no connections with Native American communities in the region, (or any other region, for that matter) but through other connections, we ended up contacting Bennie LeBeau—, whom we knew at the time only as Blue Thunder—who claimed to be a spiritual elder, a claim we now know to be false. He did set up meetings (which he did not attend) between four elders of the Shoshone Nation plus a Shoshone man named Heavy Eagle and my husband Joe, Gary Hardin, Heath Ward, and Ed Bizzell from our group.
In these meetings, three of the four elders gave their permission and Heavy Eagle told Joe, Gary, Heath, and Ed that a tribal council would not have to be called because 3 of the 4 had given their OK that Don Alejandro and others from other tribes could visit the area there and that we had permission to hold the event.
With Don Alejandro coming and with the other people from South America and North America coming forward, the thought ran through Gary's mind that maybe, just maybe, this could be the beginning of the Eagle and the Condor prophecy. We are completely ignorant as far as who is an elder and who isn't. We mistakenly assumed that if the person is older then that makes them an elder. And what some of these untrue elders told us we believed. And, by this time, the people guiding us on 'how to and who to' were Suraj Holzwarth and Bennie LeBeau—but I'm getting ahead of myself.
At some point during all of this, we had also been put in touch with the woman calling herself "White Eagle Medicine Woman" (This is the only name she ever used with us). One of the musicians in our group had heard of her work, her Grandmother Drum tour had been well-received, and the values of unity and oneness she espoused seemed in keeping with ours. She also represented that she could be a liaison between us and people of Native cultures, as well as provide training in appropriate protocols for approaching and inviting Native speakers. She agreed to provide these services and even perhaps to bring her "Grandmother Drum" (which later became definite) for a presentation to our group at the event and presented a contract for us to sign, which we did. It was Suraj's idea to call this event 'The Gathering of One,' a name which came from some of our members paying her for one of her "spirit walks" to receive further information. I was not a part of that session but this is where I began to question her true motives.
Over the course of the next few months, Suraj had told me that she would help with the event and schedule. Bennie was doing the same. It became very clear it was going to be difficult to work with them as they had their OWN agendas in all of this that were not really in alignment with what we were told to do. But I was trying to work it out with all of them so that we could make it come together for everyone in the name of peace.
On April 18, we received the first e-mail from your group bringing our attention to the illegitimacy and offensiveness to many Native persons of Suraj Holzwarth's claim of being able to share Native spirituality, the charging for what was supposed to be Native ceremony (or later not-Native ceremony), use of Native regalia, and illegal holding of eagle and hawk feathers. At first, we were somewhat blindsided but as we did more research, it became clear that having her present at our event and the attempt to hold any other kind of Native American ceremony would be entirely inappropriate and not in keeping with what this event was to be about.
Joe made the decision in the latter part of April to disinvite Suraj Holzwarth but it was difficult to reach her by phone for several days, so we were in a kind of limbo. At the end of April, as all this was taking place, the man we know as Blue Thunder, Bennie LeBeau, called; Joe told him that he had disinvited "White Eagle" from the event and that there would be NO Native American ceremonies conducted at the event. At this, Bennie LeBeau became incensed because teaching Native American ceremony seems to have been the part he mapped out for himself at this event, and we suspect he had his own agenda for doing so. He pulled out of the event of his own accord which was something of a relief to us since we had learned through our own experience and additional research how inappropriate he and his proposed role were going to be. He also threatened at the time to bring his own protesters to the event. So, we were now in the ironic position of potentially having protesters on both sides of the ceremony issue—because it was believed we were going to hold Native ceremony and because we were not. Since then we have heard that he intends to hold his own event in the Grand Tetons, although we cannot confirm that. We do know that he has urged other groups to boycott our event, and has sent out an e-mail to this effect that is intended as a press release.
A few days later, Joe was finally able to talk with Suraj Holzwarth by phone and tell her that she was being disinvited.
I emailed back all the people who had emailed me about Suraj with a letter stating our stance and the disinviting of Suraj, which got posted on the blog sites. I found out later, though, that it still wasn't clearly stated because of the way things were still listed on numerous websites.
As we have taken in the steadily intensifying controversy surrounding this event, even though much of it was based on misinformation, we have realized that we do have more to learn on the issue of exploitation of Native spirituality and fraudulent use of native ceremony. I had learned that a member of your group, Ben Carnes, is a speaker on Native American issues. Yesterday, I was trying to gain the courage and figure out how to call and ask him to come and speak at the event. The miraculous answer came when I saw Ben's response to Gary Hardin where he himself said that rather than meeting at a table, he would prefer to speak to our whole audience. This gave me and Mara, another assistant for the event, the opening to make our phone call to Ben—and his wife, Cat—to invite him to speak. In turn, this phone call has led to an invitation to Bernard Red Cherries to speak as well, and to this e-mail letter to you at Cat's suggestion.
We understand that what we are doing is not the Native way to hold ceremony or approach spirituality, nor do we make the claim of doing so. We understand, too, that what we are doing is not what has been portrayed on several websites, including some websites held by those helping to organize this event. We are in the process of trying to bring all of our information about this event on the various websites that members of our group are responsible for into alignment with what this event is truly about.
On another note, since there is so much out there that is NOT who we are, if you still have concerns and would like to know more about who we ARE, we invite you to visit Joe's and my website:
http://www.teachonlylove.com/. There is also a 56-minute podcast describing past Eden events and touching on this year's event viewable on computer for free at dayanproductions (Warning: it can take 30 seconds or more to load, so patience is called for.)
We hope that this has answered your questions about this year's event in West Yellowstone, but if you have more questions please email me at Robbie@teachonlylove.com
Thank you for your time and energy and for the opportunity to address these issues from our perspective. We know this has been a very long message, but as we understood Cat to tell us and we agree, it is best to be as complete as possible and to leave as few questions in your mind as possible.
Bless your hearts,
Robbie Nicolai Crane, on behalf of myself and Joseph Crane, organizers of the Global Eden Event, West Yellowstone, Montana, June 17-21, 2008
