Much of what he claims is vague, some of it slightly exagerrated, a little bit of it not good.
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http://www.spiritedjourney.com/Pages/Resources/LenchMore.htmLench's background includes work with numerous Native American Nations, as well as 15 years as an advisor for the Department of Defense on Ethnic and Human Relations with an emphasis on Native American traditions and philosophies.
He has worked as a counselor and teacher for over 20 years and lectures throughout the United States. Some of his work has been in
cooperation with Dr. Lewis Mehl-Medrona, the author of Coyote Medicine....Dr. Mehl-Medrona has been referring patients to Lench since 1980.
In the fall of 2000, Lench represented the Native American Peoples at the World Mission Conference....
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Work with nations is so vague. As for the Dept of Defense, apparently he was in Human Resources. Being in personnel hardly qualifies you as a healer.
His main recommender is Mehl-Madrona, who uses his academis credentials to promote numerous frauds like Maria Naylin. Madrona was himself asked to resign from a hospital for unethical practices, is listed on Quackwatch, and faced protests by AIM members at the Univ of AZ for selling ceremonies.
World Mission Conference is a gathering of Baptist missionaries, so no idea why that'd be a recommendation of his work. What he does is so vague, I'm not sure he does much besides make his clients feel better about themselves.
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http://www.spiritedjourney.com/Pages/Resources/LenchNewsArticle.htmHe's not a doctor, but doctors send him clients. He's not a medicine man, although he uses stories and traditions learned from his Yaqui grandfather. His clients describe him as a friend, a teacher, a facilitator, a spiritual guide.
If you ask Lench Archuleta what he does, he'll tell you he takes people into the desert and helps them journey within to understand and unlock parts of the self.
"Many people feel very, very detached from life," he said. "And they don't know how to find their way back.
"In 20 years of doing this work, I have noticed one common denominator," he added. "People come to a time and point in their lives when they begin to ask questions about their personal spirituality: 'What is spirit about? What is my destiny? What is my direction?'
"Wise men and wise women and sages and mystics all come to this point in their lives. And a lot have been drawn to the desert - Jesus, Moses, many others."
There is a special energy felt only in the desert, he said.
"And it helps us get in touch with who we are. Through the silence we feel the profoundness of our creation. Because we are never alone. We are in constant communication with creation in various ways. Animals, plants, events, weather - wind, rain - all speak to us and can be revealing."
....Mehl-Madrona said via e-mail."I don't send him people who aren't motivated and who wouldn't benefit. But seriously, what person wouldn't benefit from sitting in the desert with Lench and connecting with the earth?"
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Again, this doesn't seem harmful to me. It's just taking people on retreats in the desert to be meditative. It seems potentially helpful, pyschologically and thus perhaps for physical ailments. I don't doubt him when he says some are cured by these retreats, though some may just be coincidence and others may have just been helped by this in addition to other treatments. I haven't seen any study done of his supposed cures, and if Madrona were more serious of an academic, he'd do one to back up his claims.
Whether what Archuleta does is specifically Yaqui, or whether Archuleta himself is, I'm not sure. One would have to ask around all of the many Yaqui communities in Arizona. It doesn't resemble what I know of Yaqui traditions. The Yaqui talk a lot about their seven sacred towns, deer dances, and the Bow Hunters Society, all of which are mixed together with Catholicism. They revere Mary and the Saints, esp St Francis who they depict as a Yaqui warrior. I don't see any of that even mentioned by Archuleta.
But I certainly wouldn't call him (or Madrona for that matter) a fraud or exploiter on the same level of most of those we investigate. Perhaps he exagerrates or has never proven what he claims, but he doesn't seem to be trying to abuse anyone. One thing I don't see any mention of is what he charges.
