Jose Arnaldo Rivera & Laralyn Davis AKA Joseph & Laralyn Riverwind

[ndnoutlaw]

I took some time to do some more research and what I found was pretty interesting. First off I sent the wrong link about clann an drumma seeing as how this StormCrow guy isnt with them anymore but here are two articles that prove his legitimacy about being Scottish

http://www.clanadonia.co.uk/ 

http://www.tmcentertainment.co.uk/speaker-index.html?speakerid=491&speakertypeid=37

The post MCewan made about the legitimacy of this guy (Tubardh) reminds of when a 1/6th gr grandma was Cherokee type of person goes to your home rez and tells you your doing ceremonial things wrong or dressing the wrong way etc. The guy is obviously a performer/musician who dresses the part for his shows and he was born and raised in Scotland soo..insert foot in mouth unless you are from Scotland too. As to the term Blessed Blend why don't you ask them where they heard it from or found that information. I doubt anyone on this forum is an expert in Scottish/Irish history especially since this is a native forum.

Ok enough about that guy..

Here are some more links with things that were posted by topic of the hour.

http://www.bluecorncomics.com/stbasics.htm

This is an excerpt from what he wrote and it looks like he believes and speaks out against many of the same things the people of this forum fight against. Read the whole article:

"We do not have shamans
Thanks to the New Age craze that has spread around the world, there are many self-proclaimed "medicine men" and "shamans"—people who claim to follow our spiritual ways, having "learned" everything they know from books bought at the local book store. After the book Black Elk Speaks was published, people thought they could become instant medicine men and women. Little do they know that Black Elk did not tell the whole truth to the book's writer.

Some people go so far as to charge for vision quests or sweat lodge ceremonies. Never get taken in by someone like this, much less by self-proclaimed spiritual leaders who cannot tell you truthfully where they received the permission and training to perform these ceremonies. It is dangerous when these people attempt to perform these ceremonies and involve others who do not know any better. We do not tolerate these people within our Native communities, and lately many of our medicine people have traveled off the reservation to put a stop to these charlatans.

Some quick definitions of the most common names for our spiritual leaders:  Medicine Man—A medicine man is a person who is knowledgeable in herbs and cures for various ailments and ills. Healer—A healer uses prayers and ancient methods for curing and healing. Shaman—This is not a Native American word. "Shaman" is derived from Russian Siberia and is not used by us."

Here is another link with some more info: Do you think he would have been brought into a warrior society if he really wasn't a veteran? Also, some of those posts that you linked to are really old. Have you found anything recent with him claiming one thing or another?

http://www.hopeforthefirstnations.com/docs/2007_Summer.pdf

Here is a military records verification links. I searched his name and it popped us yes, he did military service but I'm not about to waste my money on digging into his service records. If a true warrior society brought him into their society then that's enough for me. Try contacting the Anishinabe reservation for verification or the people who wrote the article at hope for the first nations.

http://www.govtregistry.com/lp.php?sk=Military&tc=mI01I150


and another:
http://www.celticradio.net/php/news.php?item=593

Creative Native you wrote : "He seems to be combining Christianity, Native American and Celtic stuff to get some kind of new agey thing."

After reading both of their websites thoroughly its obvious that they are not combing things as you put it. You started this thread with a incorrect slant right from the beginning. Im glad this is in the research column because when you do the research its obvious that they combine or "blend", as they say, the music of the celts and natives. So do we say that all people who do ethnic fusion type of music are new agers? hardly. Otherwise there goes Brule, Robert Mirabal, Indigenous, Robbie Roberston and so many other native musicians that blend their music styles.

He claims to be enrolled with a Taino tribe while his wife claims descendancy and its on the web site for all to see. It seems they are pretty straight up about who they are and are not trying to hide anything. Here is a link to his tribal nation website from their own site. Why dont you call them to verify his enrollment?

http://www.taino-tribe.org/jatiboni.html

and this is a govt web site that has that tribe listed as a recognized tribal govt. Interesting but hey, many of our brothers and sisters south of the border are pure blood natives too so who knows? Ask an Aztec dancer at your next powwow to show you their enrollment cards before they dance and see what type of response you'll get-lol

http://www.usa.gov/Government/Tribal_Sites/J.shtml

They are obviously Christian but I have not seen anything that would make me believe they are melding Celtic beliefs in with their own. Their ministry site is straight forward about what they believe and it is pretty obvious that the ministry is separate from their band although it sounds like they are straight up about their beliefs in their music as well.

Does anyone have anything else?

[Kevin]

that old guy with the plaid skirt on looks like he could bite, we better not be asking him about any  scars on his chest lol

[Defend the Sacred]

The post MCewan made about the legitimacy of this guy (Tubardh) reminds of when a 1/6th gr grandma was Cherokee type of person goes to your home rez and tells you your doing ceremonial things wrong or dressing the wrong way etc.

Huh?

I'm sorry to break this to you, but the fact that you didn't understand Barnaby's joke shows me that you know very little about life in the Celtic Nations, or about the backgrounds of people here, or even the history of this forum. Not that you have to know these things, but usually people do better when they take some time to introduce themselves and listen for a while before insulting the intelligence, experience or educational background of the people here.

I doubt anyone on this forum is an expert in Scottish/Irish history especially since this is a native forum.

*sigh* I hardly know where to start on the assumptions inherent in that comment.

Here is a military records verification links. I searched his name and it popped us yes, he did military service but I'm not about to waste my money on digging into his service records.  http://www.govtregistry.com/lp.php?sk=Military&tc=mI01I150

I just put in my dog's name and birthdate, and they tell me she has a record of military service, which they will sell me for a fee.

Look, I really don't think this pair are doing anything particularly harmful that I can see. Due to that, I don't really care what their ancestral or military backgrounds may or may not be. They have some statements and claims that are a bit odd and misleading, but unless I missed something I don't see any evidence of them selling ceremony. I think this thread would have died down on it's own. But whenever someone charges in "defending" a friend by insulting people here, it doesn't do their friend any favours.

Just sayin'.

Slàn.


ETA: You know, it does bug me when people put up weird misinformation like this:

http://www.theblessedblend.com/aboutus.htm

Galicia is the Land of the Gaelic People

Um, no. Galicia is in Spain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galicia_(Spain)
They don't speak Gaelic there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_language

I hope he's not charging people for this misinformation. The Gaelic people are no more quaint relics that one can treat as a dress-up fantasy than are the First Nations peoples. If one is presuming to teach, even on an informal, "infotainment" level, they really should get their facts right. Misinformation of this sort may not be as personally harmful as selling someone a psychotic breakdown via bad, fake sweatlodge freakout, but it does contribute to cultural death. If the misinformation is mixed in with enough that is attractive, perhaps people will seek out better information. But I fear that when it's mostly mixed with fantasy and dress-up, it leads to more fantasy and, eventually, offensive behaviour.

I mean, wouldn't you be offended by a website where someone said, "I am a cultural representative and an educator, dedicated to preserving our tribal traditions. Here is something I learned from my Gr-Grandfather, who was from Exotic Idaho, home of the Seminole and Choctaw, where they speak Azteca..."

Argh.

[ndnoutlaw]

You are right and I apologize for coming in here blaring like a seagull. I have a tendacy to latch onto something like a bulldog and not let go even when Im getting hit from all sides. Maybe thats why Im so bullheaded. Anyways, Im sorry if I offended anyone on this forum and I hope it doest reflect on these people.

I really dont think they are trying to mislead anyone with what they have on the web. I started to get into some digging on Galicia and found there is a celtic connection then I found other sites are fighting about how their connection to the Celts was ancient etc etc. I realized why am I wasting my time with this. Learning experience yes waste of time yes but for an ol mixblood this was kinda fun learning some new things.

As far as charging money; I have heard that they have done many performances for free and free for orphanages and nursing homes. This isnt anything they have ever said or bragged about but what Ive heard from other people so I dont believe its about money for them. They just love what they do and take pride in the history of their family heritages. It looks like, from what you are saying, they need to do some more research on the history of the Celtic nations and clarify some of the things on their website.

In a nutshell I hope that my seagull flapping didnt make them look bad or make things worse. New age people selling ceremony types I dont believe that they are. Needing to do more historical research, yes. In order to accurately represent who they are and their music it would be a good thing for them to do so there is no question about what they are trying to portray or represent without causing offense like I did.

so my vote is that they are good to go. Put them on the ok list and move on to people who are doing some real damage like the new agey frauds that you are all exposing.

by the way, the put your dogs name in the box and it come back with records for a fee was great:)

[Barnaby_McEwan]

I'm going to keep this brief since it's off-topic really. The band are street entertainers and great at it I'm sure: in that context I doubt whether anybody would mind what they do. However they've clearly been influenced by the recent popularity of Brazilian music in Britain. In that photo of Clanadonia (the successor to Clan an Drumma) the guys on the left and at the back are playing Brazilian surdos of the kind played in Rio de Janeiro's Carnival samba schools.

If his neighbours knew that this Stormcrow character (whose real name is the very English Wilkins) was allowing himself to be promoted abroad as some kind of authentic Scottish cultural figure, I expect they'd laugh, as I did. I don't claim to be Scottish but I'll give you three guesses where my surname might come from.

[educatedindian]

Riverwind emailed me. I'm including his statement and a link to his site. Much of this thread is discussion of Gaelic spiritual beliefs etc not really related to him. It seems as though this was largely requests from those who were surprised to see a mix of NDN and Christian beliefs. I think the thread shoud be moved to Archives, marked No Longer a Matter of Concern. Other opinions?

---------

Taiguey and greetings,
 
I write this to you with a humble heart and no pretenses. Attention was brought to me about the post concerning my wife and I, our music, spirituality, and other claims that I supposedly made. I have always been against new age frauds, plastic shamans, and people who exploit indigenous ceremony and spirituality. I used to work closely with medicine people from other reservations who would look for these plastic shamans to put a stop to them. I believe whole heartedly in what you are doing and applaud your efforts to silence or stop those who would make a mockery or a dime of the old ways by exploiting people who are seeking.
 
We were never contacted by anyone concerning any of these false claims or to investigate if any of these allegations were true. I cannot control what the media prints and I know they have made mistakes and no one on this forum knows my walk, where I come from or what I have been through in order to accurately judge truth from lies. I can say that being a proponent for stopping plastic shamans and exposing them is very close to heart as you can see through some of the links on your very pages where I decry stereotypes, exploitation and more. I have found some sites that copied and pasted what I wrote then inserted their own statements or opinions. One person posted that I claimed to be Creek/Seminole when I was merely giving the reference from where I heard a story that I posted, which I personally heard during a private Muscogee Creek/Seminole Green Corn Bvsketv festival.
 
My biggest concern is how these forum pages have been used against me, my family, my honor and more....
 
I humbly request that you remove these pages that have been used against me in my fight against these exploiters of native spirituality...
 
Here is a personal link to a webpage that I had to put up to combat the outright lies that have been posted about me. www.josephriverwind.com
 
Please pray and consider these things and I am more than willing to continue dialogue with you and any others in the fight against these shame-mans.
 
Sincerely and with a thankful heart,
 
Joseph RiverWind

[Defend the Sacred]

Bumping this as Riverwind is now claiming to be a Chief, and there are indications he's been presenting himself as a spiritual leader.

Still looking into this, but on his website http://www.josephriverwind.com/  he's now calling himself Chief Joseph RiverWind, and claiming he's been given the right to tell stories from, "elders hailing from many First Nations tribes. Comanche, Dineh, Apache, Anishinabe, Aztec, Cherokee, Creek, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Mohawk."

He's written a book: https://madmimi.com/p/e0ed75/preview

Part of the press release: "The exposition is framed by Chief RiverWind’s campfire conversations with a friend: PipeCarier, an Oglala Sioux veteran who served in Iraq."

http://www.theblessedblend.com/about.html

"He serves his First Nation's people as Vice-Chief of the Northern Arawak Nation."   

[Defend the Sacred]

"He serves his First Nation's people as Vice-Chief of the Northern Arawak Nation."   

Which looks to be a heritage club based in Pennsylvania: http://i09964.wix.com/taino

[stesse]

Joseph Amahura Riverwind and his wife, Laralyn are now in Detroit Lakes, MN.  They say the Lord called them there to begin a Hebrew Roots type congregation.  Joseph calls himself Chief Riverwind.  Tenants of Torah observant believers accepting that Jesus is the Messiah is that they keep the law.  Yet, the couple joined an illegal encampment of trespassers on government land in North Dakota after the Governor of the state declared an evacuation order and the US Army Corps of Engineers issued an order of eviction from the property.  The Riverwinds posted on their Facebook page that they were eating llama there.  Llama is like pork.  It is not eaten by Torah observant believers.  Do the Riverwinds now consider themselves to be rabbis?

[Sparks]

… an illegal encampment of trespassers on government land in North Dakota …

Are you referring to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Access_Pipeline_protests?

[Defend the Sacred]

If "Riverwind" was selling ceremony or making false claims at the pipeline resistance camps in North Dakota, this thread would be relevant: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4934.0

[Sparks]

Joseph Amahura Riverwind and his wife, Laralyn are now in Detroit Lakes, MN.
… The Riverwinds posted on their Facebook page …

This couple has separate profiles on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/amahura  [Joseph AmaHura RiverWind (Arawak Chief)]
[Intro: Chief RiverWind- Minister, Army Veteran, NAMA winner, Author, Watchman]

https://www.facebook.com/laralyn.riverwind  [Laralyn M RiverWind (Doc)]
[Intro: Doctor of Naturopathy and Master Herbalist. Ordained Minister, Teacher, Worship Leader.]

This seems to be their (common) Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FireKeepersFellowship/

There is also a comprehensive Internet site: http://www.firekeepersinternational.org/

[Piff]

JOSE ARNALDO RIVERA
aka
JOSEPH HAOZOUS RIVERWIND
aka Tvskekee
aka Tiny Tot Dancer
aka Taino

ACTUAL RECORDS

14J  Early Warning System Operator

95B
  COMPOUND SERGEANT
  DESK CLK
  DESK SERGEANT
  DETACHMENT LEADER
  ESCORT POLICEMAN
  FINGEREPAIRINT CLK
  LIGHT TRUCK DRIVER
  MILITARY POLICEMAN
  RADIO DISPATCH CLK
  RADIO TELEPHONE OPERATOR
  REGISTRATION CLK

NO COMBAT AWARDS

                        Claims Special Forces
                        Has stated he was a computer specialist in the Army stationed in Louisiana.
                        Has stated he had been in the Army for 5 years
                        Also stated 7 years.
                         He has a business in Murphy, North Carolina, reportedly under investigation for false claims of his business being Native American owned and operated. He is Puerto Rican and his wife is white with no proof of Indian heritage of a federally recognized tribe, a prerequisite to claiming Native American owned and operated.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100613150941/http://pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies634.htm

[Piff]

Info from the .pdf uploaded in prior post:

Dates of service:

as Jose Rivera:

NG 10/24/1991 to 2/17/1996
USA 3/09/1992 to 7/08/1992

as Joseph Haozous Riverwind
USA 8/13/1996 to 6/09/1999

discharged

rank/grade E4

-----------
Laralyn Mariesa RiverWind and Joseph Haozous RiverWind are currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy process.

6-60666 Laralyn Mariesa RiverWind and Joseph Haozous RiverWind
Case type: bk Chapter: 7 Asset: No Vol: v Judge: Michael E Ridgway
Date filed: 11/15/2016 Date of last filing: 01/12/2017

----------

They are raising money to go to Israel: https://www.gofundme.com/sendtheriverwindstoisrael

We have given up our business and practice, moving to the White Earth Reservation to serve the Anishinaabe (a Native American tribe) people in love, peace and joy... to share with them hope to overcome despair; love to overcome hurt; and peace to overcome turmoil.

Why do we need to go to Israel?
Simply put, the Lord told us to go... and we are thrilled to do so. We have a deep love for Israel and the Jewish people. This will be our first trip to Israel. We believe that the Lord desires us to be cultural ambassadors from the First Nations people of America to His chosen people, Israel. Our Native American elders have encouraged us to build relationship with the people of Israel and so we look forward to doing so. We are also going to do research on the book that the Lord has us drafting.

[Piff]

Joseph – Is a Arawakan Taino Indian with an ancestral root from Galicia (The Land of the Gaelic People).

http://www.sacredhoopministries.com/about-us/

Laralyn – Laralyn is Cherokee/Creek/Irish/Scottish. She is the daughter of missionaries, Lew & Mariesa Davis

Laralyn was born Laralyn Mariesa Davis. A prior married surname was Roman. She now is Laralyn Mariesa Riverwind.

Her parents are missionaries. They worked with Missionary Ventures, in The Marshall Islands and elsewhere.

Missionary Ventures, Marshall Islands includes Christian Training Center, run by Dr. Lew Davis. CTC is a two year Bible College offering an Associate Degree in Biblical Studies.

http://www.missionaryventures.org/miss/davis.html

Her father has made this claim:

Since I am part Native American (Cherokee and Creek), I have included some of my drawings of Native Americans.

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-lew-davis.html?tab=about

Laralyn petitioned for bankruptcy in 2005. Uploaded here is a clip from the records, detailing her other names.

She and Joseph are now involved in another bankruptcy case.