"Don Diego" of Sachavacay and Nadine Purdy of Evolver

[educatedindian]

Received a request about them.

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greetings,

i really appreciate the service your organization is providing, as nothing is so completely demoralizing and disheartening than seeing wounded, hurting people turning to frauds who claim to have all the answers with "ancient" wisdom and plant therapies that include powerful hallucinogens like yage or ayahuasca.  i'm extremely concerned about [name deleted} , as i believe he has fallen into a kind of scam circle full of these bloodsuckers.  i haven't been able to find much information on the internet about the specific people he's currently involved with, but all instincts seem to point to an utter scam.  if you have any information that would be helpful regarding any of these people, i would be so immensely thankful. 

he met an alleged "healer" down in florida by the name of nadine purdy, who has been systematically dosing him with peyote and ayahuasca, but the use seems incredibly recreational and is referred to as "ceremony" -- kind of like how young males talk about "partying."  anyhow, she has been literally attached to his side for the past two months, trying to coerce him to going to see a shaman named don diego, who has a website and advertises his "services" at a kind of retreat called sachavacay.  all the advising signs posted on your site seem to confirm the fact he is an absolute fraud. 

what's worse is that this nadine purdy woman - who is training to become a shaman apparently - is charging $5,000 to talk to my significant other.  nadine purdy belongs to this isolated, small group in naples, florida called evolver - which is seemingly a circle of white people who take ayahuasca and talk about bringing peace to the earth.  perhaps it seems unnecessary and stupid that i even bother asking if any of it's genuine, as it obviously isn't.  however, i was hoping someone affiliated with your group was aware of either of these people and could inform me as to whether or not there is anything particularly dangerous about this fraud - aside from them utilizing practices in a false way and taking money for it, i wanted to doubly make sure that there wasn't anything even worse affiliated with it all.  please help if you can, below i'm including a link to this self-proclaimed shaman's website, don diego of sachavacay.

http://www.sachavacay.org/

thank you so much for your time, and i dearly hope to get a response.  we're all very worried.

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At the website it's clear that "Don Diego" is a young non-Native man from either Peru or Spain who claims to do healing from a grab bag of many traditions.

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Don Diego, the founder, director and master shaman of Sachavacay Preserve fully embodies the ancient healing traditions of the Amazonian curanderos (traditional healers). As an apprentice to elder shamans throughout the region he was readily identified at a young age....

He is a master of the ancient art of Soplo, the traditional Amazonian tobacco blessing....he carries within him a vast repertory of "icaros," magical shamanic songs that heal and guide....

In Peru, Don Diego holds a rarely awarded certificate as a traditional plant healer based on his extensive study of ethnobotany of the Amazon.

....He has studied the biochemistry of plant medicines at the Phytochemical University in Iquitos, Peru.
Diego currently offers study in Amazonian plant medicine around the world as well as in the rainforest of Peru.....He has studied Natural Medicine at the University of Alicante in Spain, Jungian psychology, Neuro-linguistic Programming and Bach flower essences. He has experience in many forms of massage therapy, including Thai and sports massage.

....has learned from Hindu sages in India, "oracionistas," (shamans who heal with prayer) in Peru, and carries a humble devotion and reverence for the life of Christ.

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"Bach flower essences" are basically like aromatherapy, and there's evidence they DON'T work.
 http://hubpages.com/hub/Debunking-Bach-Flower-Remedies

NLP is pretty common as a cult technique to control followers. It's also strange to me that he's "studied" but there's no mention of any degrees from these universities. Just like there's no mention of any of the elders he allegedly studied from. I can't find any mention online of a Phytochemical University in Iquitos, not in English or Spanish. It's also striking that there's no mention of the name of that supposed rare and valuable certificate he's got.

[educatedindian]

Here's Nadine Purdy. The Evolver groups are basically a mix of Nuagers and pseudo shamans networking online.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124581251408&ref=share

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http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=124581251408&topic=10817
Shamanism Night -- The Aftermath
Displaying the only post.
Post #1Allowah wroteon August 23, 2009 at 7:30p

Regional City: Naples, Florida
Your Name: Alan Lowenschuss
Email: allowah13@gmail.com

....How many people showed up?

13

Did you collaborate with any groups? If so, which ones?

Omvibe Yoga Studio, and we had Nadine Purdy, our guest speaker, share with us her story and talk about plant medicines (particularly ayahuasca) and Don Diego of Sachavacay, a shaman who she has been working with. Rayna Stengel, Nadine’s friend, also came and spoke about Don Diego and plant shamanism. Regina Gelfo, one of the Regional Coordinators, also came all the way over from Vero Beach for the Spore, and Regina added much to our discussion.

Where did the event take place (name of café, yoga center, etc)?

Omvibe Yoga

What did you do that night (give brief outline/description)?

We sat in a circle, held hands, united our energies with some toning & OMing & conscious breathing, then I spoke a little bit about Daniel’s work, Evolver, and how this all came to happen here in relatively unhappening place ; ) , then Nadine Purdy talked, and so did Rayna. This was fairly new stuff to most of the assembled group, so we had a good bit of questions. Mainly Rayna and Nadine shared, though. I filmed Nadine’s talk, but the room was dark and not sure how well it all came out.
It was supposed to be a potluck, but no one really brought any food, and that was okay because we got more discussion in. At the end, I thought maybe we’d get up and dance and then do some Shamanic Breathwork (like Holotropic Breathwork), but there didn’t seem to be the interest and then there was a lot of little discussion groups happening.

How did it go? What was the response?

It went very well, very nice response. Lots of interest in the topic, and many people wanted to work with Don Diego, the Shaman, when he comes to the area in September. Some folks have come up to me since wanting to talk more about it all.

What themes came up?

The main theme of the night was plant medicine and working with a shaman who can guide one on a sacred journey using plant medicine, mainly as a way of healing, but also for spiritual growth. I also talked about Yoga and Shamanism a bit. We didn’t completely connect the discussion to 2012, and one person who came was a bit confused because she thought that was what we were going to be talking about.
She understands now that every Spore theme is related to the overall picture, which is the shift that is happening on the planet now as we approach 2012....

[Superdog]

Found some interesting info on Nadine Purdy.  Through the facebook page I saw her profile pic and did a little searching.  Kept coming up with a woman who has a story in the NY Times from the 90's and also an appearance on Oprah more recently as well as a follow up story on MSNBC.

I wasn't sure if this was the same Nadine until I met up with this blog.

http://www.scabvendor.com/2008/06/16/tourniquet-for-a-bleeding-heart/

The Nadine Purdy we're talking about that's involved with the Evolver group is the same one from the Oprah interviews and others.  She's a former owner of a high class boutique in NYC who became too entrenched in the 80's high class elite pop culture that unfortunately involved lots of money, sex and the drug of choice back then...cocaine.  She fell from grace through her addiction all the way down to living in the NYC underground and turning to minor crimes and street prostitution to support her addiction which grew to involve crack and heroin as well.  She's had a well-documented recovery and works with one of her children now running a few small clothing boutiques, but also seems to be searching for spiritual enlightenment....which sadly seems to have inevitably led her to pay-to-pray shamans, who prey on just this type of individual, and abusing South American plant medicines.

Her story is quite a sad one, but it's still no excuse for taking up the cause of bilking others for $$$ in order to draw in others to the "enlightenment" she thinks she's bought. 

I find the Oprah connection troubling as well as it seems Oprah has a small track record of involving herself with questionable spiritual gurus in one form or another and this seems to be another link in that disturbing trend.

Superdog

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

It is the same pattern, though..  whether bilking people for clothing or "spiritual" ..  it is the same pattern she is repeating.  One can only wonder if the drugs too are involved, well, the drugs are involved according to the first post.. so.. it's just time before again the fall.  It is the same pattern that I see here.  Just swapped out the "product"...  apparently, she didn't learn the first time around..