Kathy Erdman

[educatedindian]

Received this report.

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I have concerns about an individual who claims to be a shaman, psychic, and healer.  She is 65 years old and has connections with the things that go on in Sedona, Arizona.  She seems to be practicing New Age stuff with quartz crystals.  She claims to have a Ho Chunk Grandmother by Tomah, Wisconsin from whom she receives information about medicinal plant gathering, but of this I am also skeptical.  I believe that she is of Swedish descent from recent immigrants in the late 1800's.  She indicated that she grew up by Sioux City, South Dakota.  She also claims that there is another "grandmother" of Native American descent from Florida who she receives training from.  She buys sage.  She bought an white otter skin for a medicine bag, claiming that she is a pipe carrier.  I  feel she is a fraud.  She takes money from people for healing and psychic visions.  She claimed that I had been a great Native American warrior in a previous life and had been much respected by my tribe.  She initially tried to get money out of me that I did not have....

 Her name is Kathy Erdman.  She does possess an eagle feather and a kachina doll.  I saw the eagle feather in an office she had in Stoughton, WI....Kathy Erdman also claims to be a high priestess with the Re-formed Church of the Goddess International based in Madison, WI.
 
The main harm is psychological manipulation of people who are in dire or stressful circumstances who seek help from her.

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So far I've had no luck in finding anything further. The church is here, but I haven't seen anything about Erdman on their site.
http://www.rcgi.org/

[Sizzle Flambé]

I hate to tell you this, Al, but a lot of those Cherokees come along and just claim to be Swedes or to have Swedish grandmothers somewhere, with no proof. It's a shame.

[Defend the Sacred]

So far I've had no luck in finding anything further. The church is here, but I haven't seen anything about Erdman on their site.
http://www.rcgi.org/

I don't think RCG is a "church", per se. It's more of a long-distance "women's spirituality" network that has online discussions and periodic in-person gatherings. Before the Internet they mostly functioned through the mail. Women can "train" with them without ever meeting anyone in person.

If it's still like what they had in their newsletter ("Of a Like Mind") in the eighties, their spiritual orientation is very general and eclectic, and the founders I met were all white women from Wisconsin. Many of the women are Dianic Wiccans, though even less traditional than some groups in that line. Many are very nuage. I have no idea how big the group is now. I never heard of any NDN women involved in the group. At one point I saw an article they published about female NDN spirits, but it was written by a white woman involved in Twylah Nitsch's "Wolf Clan".

Though many of the women were interested in goddesses from diverse cultures, and interested in incorporating their ideas of these goddesses into a personal spiritual practice, the framework they seemed to assume as their baseline was eclectic Wiccan and pretty unquestioningly appropriative. (Sorry, J, if you read this, but that's what I saw back then. I have no idea where you're at now. Maybe it would be good to address this?)

On their page where they describe their training program (which seems to mostly be reading assignments and online discussions) they say, "Specifically, the Institute is not able to provide credentials to those studying Native American Spirituality, African and/or Eastern religions outside a Goddess context."

* Ordination Guidelines

* List of those they've ordained

[uktena]

I hate to tell you this, Al, but a lot of those Cherokees come along and just claim to be Swedes or to have Swedish grandmothers somewhere, with no proof. It's a shame.

I know what you mean, those phony Swedes are really a pain in the neck, especially the ones who claim to be Swedish chefs.  It's like every time you turn around, there's another website offering the services of a REAL Swedish chef, for a hefty price, of course. They tell you, without any proof, that they grew up in Minnesota, that their grandma came from Uppsala and taught them all the secrets of Swedish cuisine known only to the greatest chefs; and that in addition, they have special training in French, German, Italian, Greek, and Turkish cooking.  Then you find out that they learned all their cooking by watching Anthony Bourdain, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis on The Food Network, and working part time in a Greek restaurant when they were in high school.   And then when they try to speak Swedish, it sounds like Norwegian half-learned from Berlitz audio tapes, and they don't seem to know a lingonberry from grapefruit.  And don't even get me started on how they mess up when they try to do a smorgasbord!

As bad as those people are, there are even worse ones who claim to channel the spirit of The Swedish Chef, and believe me, you don't want to be around when they start serving Swedish meatballs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFmMKRGX5uQ

[Defend the Sacred]

I hate to tell you this, Al, but a lot of those Cherokees come along and just claim to be Swedes or to have Swedish grandmothers somewhere, with no proof. It's a shame.

I know what you mean, those phony Swedes are really a pain in the neck, especially the ones who claim to be Swedish chefs. 

HA! Maybe they'll start the Church of the Lutefisk.

When I was growing up, I wouldn't have believed you if you said one day I'd meet people who were lying about being Irish.... just so people would think they were spirchul.

[Sizzle Flambé]

But Jaysus, Mary, an' Joseph, so 'tis!

[Defend the Sacred]

But Jaysus, Mary, an' Joseph, so 'tis!

Green Beer! Shamrocks! Cultural Cringe! Fleeing to an ashram!

[Sizzle Flambé]

Ash... ram... naow that's a muckin' great sort o' shillelagh, ain't it, a whole ash tree instead of a bit o' blackthorn, big enough for a team o' men to knock down a gate....