James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney

[Barnaby_McEwan]

David Meanwell from Four Directions here in the UK sent me this link. He's snowed under with work so I'm posting it. Mooney lives in a half-million-dollar mansion and is suing the local NAC. There's a photo of him and some interesting comments from NAC members, who are looking forward to their day in court. Lots of other Indian people have made comments too. I'd be interested to hear people's opinions on his story about the mysterious phone call from the Seminole chief.

http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=55590&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0?

[educatedindian]

If you go through the comments there's a lot from angry Natives, plus Mooney hawking his website.  Several people pointed out how silly his name is and how his "Seminole tribe" is not legit. There's also a new blog, www.jamesmooneythefraud.com.

[debbieredbear]

"He was counseled by LDS Church leaders in southern Utah on how to conduct the ceremonies in a way that did not conflict with his LDS beliefs or church doctrine. "

Uh, I kinda doubt this. My husband's niece grew up in Utah and she was told that if she participated in Indian ceremonies, she could be kicked out of the LDS. Not that this stopped her.

"And he gradually came to consider himself a medicine man."

Oh, yeah, he considered himself a medicine man....

[Barnaby_McEwan]

Recent activity: seems he's milking his new-found victim status for all it's worth.

January 19, 2006. Native Americans seeking backing for bill to limit peyote use. Religious leaders say drug abuse mocks their culture, ceremonies.

"Some people in Utah have made a mockery of Native American religion, making money in the guise of religious freedom," Oda told fellow members of the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Standing Committee, which advanced the bill to the House by a unanimous vote. Carma Nez, a Navajo who is vice president of the local Native American Church of North America, said she has used peyote in sacred ceremonies since she was a little girl. Through tears, Nez said she felt Mooney and his followers were "making a mockery of our way of life." Ute religious leader Clifford Duncan told committee members he was hurt that a legal loophole was allowing peyote to be used by members of the general public. "I'm saddened that people will trample on something so sacred to Native Americans," Duncan said. "We need to stop our culture from being exploited."

February 7, 2006. Senate committee passes bill that clarifies the use of peyote.

Mooney, who faces federal charges over his possession of the drug, told lawmakers that not allowing white members of the church to use peyote was discrimination. "It's a racial statement with racist bylaws," he said.

February 23, 2006. Peyote charges dropped. Mooney links action to top court's ruling, vows to resume ceremonies.

James Mooney said he received the news of the charges being dropped from his attorney Wednesday morning. "My feelings are, without a doubt, a lot of gratitude for the Constitution of the United States," Mooney said. "I'm honored that I, for whatever reason, was chosen to make a stand under all kinds of opposition." [...] The U.S. Attorney's Office states it has agreed to drop the federal indictment. In exchange, the Mooneys have agreed to never again possess, buy, use or distribute peyote "until they become members of a federally recognized tribe or there is a definitive clarification of the law regarding the use of peyote by court ruling or legislative action." The agreement also specifies that the Mooneys can be re-indicted on the same charges if they violate the terms of the agreement. The statute of limitations were also waived on the charges. But Mooney said he and his wife signed that agreement about two weeks ago. Given the high court's ruling allowing religious use of some hallucinogens, he said he plans to have the agreement thrown out of court. [...] U.S. District Attorney Criminal Division Chief Richard Lambert [...] pointed out that it was Mooney who had initiated the agreement through his attorney, not federal prosecutors.

March 8, 2006. Mooney says office suppressed evidence. Church founder calls for a probe of Utah County prosecutors.

David Lee Hamblin, spokesman for the Oklevueha EarthWalks Native American Church, says a report made in 1998 by the Utah County Sheriff's Office authenticated Mooney's church as a legitimate Native American Church, giving it the right to legally possess and distribute peyote. That report, Hamblin said, was suppressed by the county attorney's office. "Kay Bryson has been treating Utah law with contempt with regards to this Native American Church for many years," he said. "It's against the law for a prosecutor to suppress evidence." Bryson said the document in question was a report done by a deputy who had responded to the Mooneys' home on a complaint. "He's reading more into that report than is there," he said. "There was never any authentication of his church as a Native American Church. There was never any recognition by the sheriff's office of that status."

May 17, 2006.
Mooney action targets government.

Monday's complaint states ancestors of the Mooneys deliberately avoided enrollment in tribal organizations to avoid negative consequences such as discrimination, forced migration, denial of property rights and various civil liberties. The Mooneys uphold their ancestors' decisions and believe themselves to be deserving of all constitutional rights, regardless of whether they are enlisted into a tribe.

[180IQ]

Nick Nelson of the Daily Herald says "Along with causing its user to become violently ill, peyote eventually results in a feeling of intense well-being and produces a number of other psychological effects, including hallucinations and richly colored visions."

Out of hundreds of people at numerous peyote meetings, I never saw anyone get "violently ill" and no one ever mentioned having a single hallucination. Nick Nelson must have got his info from the DEA or some such agency. Or maybe from Carlos Castaneda!

[Barnaby_McEwan]

I'm curious about this Seminole band Mooney alleges he's a member of. Can anyone run their eye over this and tell me what they think?

The Oklevueha Band of Seminole (Yamasee) is a Historical Indian Tribe, separate from the "Seminoles," who were once enslaved by both the Seminole and Creek Nations. Swanton (Indians of North America)identified the Oklevueha Band of Seminole as a mixed band of refugees from various tribes who were under the leadership of the Yamasee, and located on the banks of the Oklawaha River in Florida. While there are many members of the Oklevueha Band of Seminole incorporated into the "Federal Recognized" Seminole of Florida, The Oklevueha Band of Seminole (Yamasee) aka (Yamasee Seminole) is comprised of those who were forced north into Georgia during the Seminole Wars, and who have remained distant to the southern Seminole. The legitimacy of the Oklevueha Band of Seminole is based upon a chain of Oral History of which support their position that they eminated from the Oklawaha River area prior to the Seminole Wars.

Another bit of history here:

The Oklevueha Band is of Yamasee descent. The Yamasee were part of the Cherokee (according to historical accounts in 1721) and were pushed from the Cherokee by the Yuchi when the Tuscorora moved south and displaced other tribes. The ensuing war with the Tuscorara was under the leadership of the Yamasee, who later warred with the colonists in Savannah (1713). The tribe moved south to Spanish Florida but were later enslaved by the Creeks and Seminoles. Upon their release to freedom, they formed autonomous towns on the Oklevueha River, hence their name the Oklevuea Band of Seminoles originated.

I'm curious about why a Seminole band would buy 40 acres on the Bad River Res in Wisconsin, and why it seems to have been based in Oregon in 1979.

This ministry was initiated to provide spiritual, mental, and physical healing to citizens of the Oklevueha Band of Seminole in the State of Oregon in 1979.

Also I'd like to know whether there is or was such a person as the mysterious Chief Little Dove, who allegedly phoned Mooney in the middle of the night after tracing his existence through Mormon birth records, in order to command him to give peyote to any old hippie.

[Raven_Walkingstick]

The Oklevueha Band is not a federal recognized tribe.

I am not sure about Bad River, but I do know that some of the rez's up in Wisconsin do allow non- natives to buy property and to live there.

The Oklevueha Band of Seminole is a not for profit corporation created by the members of the Oklevueha band community in Wisconsin who are citizens of Oklevueha band of Seminole .

All members are granted a campsite within "colony lands" which are non-transferable, cannot be sold and at which a member cannot be denied entry for usage as a campsite except by due process of Oklevueha tribal law.

Health services: ? Services in hand, foot and body reflexology shall be available with minimum costs to patients and based on ability to pay or barter
The costs for health services will be kept to a minimum as health servics personnel provide their services on a volunttary basis. The only costs incured will be for supplies, remedies, transportation and replacement of medicine plants. Every attempt shall be made to keep health care at the lowest possible level. They don't receive federal or state support for their health programs at this time.

The membership application comes down to proving to be a descent of the Core family.
I do not know of any tribe that only recognizes members from descent of one family only.

[educatedindian]

What he's claiming doesn't fit with what I know about the Seminole and Yamassee. The Yamassee were in Florida before that date, many of them in Spanish missions. Many historians (including an official state of Florida one) claimed they were wiped out, though the historical record shows they almost certainly joined the Seminole.
I've never heard of them once being a part of the Cherokee, and I certainly have never heard of any accounts of them or any other NDNs that were EVER "enslaved" by the Seminole or Creek.
Some Seminoles and Creeks did have what outsiders took to be Black slaves. Actually they were runaways from white slave owners. They took refuge with the Seminole and Creek and mostly had a tribute relationship. They paid so much each year in crops and other goods in return for protection and military alliance against white colonists and slaveowners and also got use of Seminole and Creek lands. Most Creek and Seminole "slave owners" refused to fight on the Confederate side.

The name Little Dove is common it's hard to track down just who they mean. The Mormon genealogy bit...

[Barnaby_McEwan]

Thanks folks. I wonder if the Oklevueha Band of Seminole have been getting any heat from NAC people about their alleged member.

[Barnaby_McEwan]

Off topic replies have been moved to [link=http://www.newagefraud.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1149743430]This Thread[/link]

[earthw7]

http://deseretnews.com/article/1%2C5143%2C700246682%2C00.html
Native American church's items are returned
By Deborah Bulkeley
Deseret News
Published: July 29, 2008
It's been more than two years since federal felony peyote charges were dropped against the founders of a Utah County-based Native American church.
Now, James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney, his wife, Linda Mooney, and other members of the Oklevueha Native American Church are celebrating the recent return of documents and ceremonial items that had been seized as part of the federal investigation.

James Mooney said he was particularly grateful for the return of the "Peyote Chief," which he said is a peyote button, kept in a ceramic pot, designated to guide a ceremony.

"They took it off of our altar. It's almost as if they took a chalice from a Catholic church," James Mooney said Monday before a ceremony planned to be performed outside the Utah Federal Public Defender's Office. About a dozen people gathered for the ceremony honoring the Mooneys' defense.

However, Mooney says his legal struggle isn't yet over. Mooney is now seeking private counsel to try to gain back what he says are some 15,000 buttons of peyote, enough for 30,000 ceremonies.

The return of the peyote wasn't part of the 2006 agreement in which charges against the Mooneys were dropped, said Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"It was illegal for him to possess it," Rydalch said. "We believe the peyote was contraband."

In the agreement, the Mooneys agreed to never possess, buy, use or distribute peyote "until they become members of a federally recognized tribe or there is definitive clarification of the law regarding the use of peyote by court ruling or legislative action."

The U.S. Attorney's Office said in 2006 that its decision to drop the charges was independent of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the use of certain hallucinogenic plants, including peyote, for religiou purposes.

But the Mooneys and their supporters see their struggle as a religious one. Mooney says peyote is a "very sacred" part of some of his religious ceremonies.

Mooney's son Jareth McCarey of Murray said Monday's event was a celebration of his parents' freedom.

"They took a long hard road to defend, not only their rights, but the rights of anyone who chooses to follow this path," McCarey said.

[Rattlebone]

I don't know about NAC myself to make a judgment on this article and nor is Peyote a traditional medicine of my people.

 Without further information about the individual named in this article, and if they were doing things right or wrong I myself would not make a decision on things yet.

 As far as tribal affiliation, it does not really say, but only mentions that the individual named must be part of a federally recognized tribe to use peyote for even religious purposes.

 The individual mentioned may in fact be Native, but the article does not really say much about him, or others in this case.

  Though federal recognition is usually the be all proof that somebody is Native or not, it is not always the total proof of it. There are many tribes (most of the time it's usually certain bands of a particular tribe) in California and elsewhere that consist of nearly full blooded people who are not recognized due to some loop hole, or problem in the arising in the recognition process.

 Recently there was a case in Texas of Lipan Apache man having his eagle feather confiscated and he himself facing charges. I do believe it was a feather that has been in his family for generations.

What there needs to be from this article is more information. Especially to those such as myself who do not know much about NAC.

[Rattlebone]

 Cool the article provided by earthw7 was moved over to this thread. Now I see the full story and  understand the guy is a fraud.

[nemesis]

This fraud has turned up to defend the Phoenix Goddess Temple aka The Temple for 1,  a newage brothel that was raided by cops a couple of days ago.

He appears in the video below and gets his rights read to him in a classic moment

http://www.rgj.com/videonetwork/1150481570001/Was-Phoenix-Goddess-Temple-a-church-or-brothel

Here he is again in an older video, recorded before the "temple" was busted.  He enthuses about what wonderful people they are and describes his mission to bless the temple and give it protection of native people.  or something
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY6Usjiw1SQ

[nemesis]

Here he is again, this time with his friend "Wil Numaena".  The video was uploaded one one of "Baba" Dez Nichols' (of the Sedona Temple) youtube channels, TempleArtsPro on 16 Sep 2011

James Mooney and Wil Numkena discuss part of their journey bringing the Native American Church into various agencies and society.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiVnobih5RM&feature=feedu


This video (also hosted on the TempleArtsPro channel) is also interesting

Wil Numaena speaks of the Hopi way of life and responsibilities for right living.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=dO11s0_WLgk