Anyone is welcome to use it as a model.
To: eventservices@magickal-arts.org, historian@magickal-arts.org, grievance_committee@magickal-arts.org,
Dear madam or sir,
Hello, my name is Al Carroll. I'm a Native historian and activist of Mescalero Apache blood, also co-founder of a group called NAFPS (New Age Frauds Plastic Shamans). We work to warn the public about imposters who pose as Native medicine people or elders, and have both Native and non-Native members.
Our homepage is
www.napfs.netA Cherokee member of our group wrote up her opinion of Don "Waterhawk" at
http://users.pandora.be/gohiyuhi/frauds/frd0048.htm.
As you can see from her critique at the bottom, what "Waterhawk" (real name unknown at this point) does has no resemblance to Cherokee beliefs whatsoever. If he wants to be a pagan, we certainly have no problem with anyone practicing pagan beliefs. About one fourth of the members of NAFPS are white pagans, who prove to be some of our most fervent and understanding supporters. After all, we have much in common, a strong belief in the sacredness of the earth and a common position as little-understood religious minorities.
This is why it is all the more distressing to us to see a man such as Waterhawk taking advantage of pagans by falsely presenting what he does as Native or Cherokee when it clearly is not:
1) Waterhawk tosses around New Age phraseology and pseudo-rituals that are commercialized versions of Lakota ceremonies. Lakota and Cherokee ceremonies and beliefs have about as much in common as Hindu beliefs do with the Church of England.
2) The "Dance of Life" ceremony you are hosting on Friday is in no way, shape, or form a Cherokee ceremony. It is entirely Waterhawk's fabrication.
3) Waterhawk claims training by Dhyani Yawahoo, a Mexican who impersonates being Cherokee and passes off Buddhist beliefs as Cherokee. This she does in order to build a cult around her and for enormous profits.
Here is a critique of her by the same Cherokee member of NAFPS.
http://users.pandora.be/gohiyuhi/frauds/frd0025.htm 4) Waterhawk also claims training by the "Seneca Wolf Clan" who are actually white New Agers falsely claiming to teach Seneca ways. Again, this is a cult, one that makes an enormous profit, in part by "franchising" out fraudulent versions of Native beliefs.
5) Waterhawk also encourages masturbation inside his New Age knockoffs of Lakota sweatlodges. This offends Native people about as much as Catholics would be offended by someone urging masturbation using a crucifix inserted in the vagina.
***Even more disturbing is that some unscrupulous New Age operators use the sweatlodge to prey upon its participants <a target="_blank" href="
http://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Sex">sex</a>ually by getting them to confuse the heightened state within a lodge with <a target="_blank" href="
http://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Sex">sex</a>ual excitement. Molestation and rapes (including of people who have passed out) are quite common within New Age knockoffs of sweatlodges.***
***It is also quite common for people to relive child molestation or rape traumas while in a lodge. Thus the mastrubation he encourages is incredibly irresponsible and insensitive to their plight.***
Again, what is distressing to us is the *misrepresentation*** of Native beliefs, in addition to the possible dangers to your group's members.
The members of NAFPS (white pagans included) strongly urge you to take all precautions for the physical and emotional safety of your members.
6. Finally, we know from first hand experience that his claim of tolerance in the workshop he is giving on Friday is just a hypocritical pose. He apparently has members of his inner circle monitoring the net for any criticism which could expose his false claims. Barely a few hours after someone in NAFPS mentioned Waterhawk, half a dozen members of his inner circle tried to disrupt our message board and shout down anyone who disagreed with them. They also threatened a lawsuit, which not surprisingly they never followed through with, since truth is an absolute defense to libel.
We want to be extremely clear about what we are asking you to do.
We are *not* asking to you bar Waterhawk, though we would not raise any objections to your own decision to do so, and we certainly hope his lack of ethics and training by people who similarly have little ethics would cause you to be protective of the people at your gatherings.
What we ask is that you monitor his gathering very carefully for signs of abuse.
And almost as important, could you please quit falsely claiming what he does is a Cherokee ceremony?
Could you include a disclaimer on your website and on the entrance to his "ceremony" that states simply "This is not a Cherokee ceremony, but entirely Waterhawk's own invention."
Could you ask him to *not* say he is doing a Cherokee cermony?
Thank you for your time and consideration. Please feel free to email me with any questions. I would especially be interested in talking with your historian as a fellow historian.
Our best wishes to your members, and our hopes that they will not be harmed by Waterhawk as so many others have,
Dr. Al Carroll, PhD.
Co-Founder, New Age Frauds Plastic Shamans (NAFPS)
