The link to Goodwin is interesting to me.
The idea that white people can "channel" the spirits of various shamans and medicine men has a long and inglorious history predating plastic shamans.
During WW1 there was an explosion of interest in spiritualism driven by 2 main causal factors. The first was the huge numbers of people who lost loved ones in the war and who were desperate to believe that they could communicate with the spirits of their loved ones via mediums. The other factor was the rise of photography which, at the time, was used as "proof" that mediums were real via photographic images of ectoplasm. The photos of ectoplasm when considered today, simply look ridiculous and proof of fraud. An example here
A really nice blog article on ectoplasm here
http://ghoststoriesandhauntedplaces.blogspot.com/2010/01/ectoplasm.htmlFor reasons that are interesting, but that I do not fully understand, most mediums at the time operated through "spirit guides" and most of these spirit guides were described as "Red Indians" or "Red Men".
Quite why these people chose Indians as their guides is a mystery.
It could be that Indians were seen as being more spirchul. It could be that they were perceived as being "noble", "wise" and "closer to nature".
It could be that the genocide inflicted on native American people meant that there were millions of spirit guides floating around in the afterlife, although exactly why the victims of genocide would hang around after death in order to assist their oppressors contact dead relatives is a complete mystery.
This is a subject that is worthy of further research and consideration IMO.
I discovered something deeply unpleasant on a very sinister Australian website
www.lightworkers(dot)org
I broken the link as I have some serious concerns about the organisation running the website. I will post more about that later, but would advise anyone checking out the website to use a proxy server to do so.
One of the many pages giving cause for concern is this one (again I have broken the link)
http://lightworkers(dot)org/channeling/110480/last-camp-geronimo
I will post the text here so that you don't have to check out the link
Alongside a photo of Geronimo is the following text:
The Last Camp – Geronimo
Channeler: Samantha von Daniken, The Magicians Daughter
10th July 2010 Illnau, Switzerland
I am Geronimo
We are Preparing to take the People into the Forest
The Trees of Protection
This will be the Exodus to the Higher Planes
We are Packing the Horses the Packhorses and some Donkeys
We are Gathering the Grains and the Tipis our Houses
It will be our Last Camp in this Region as the Great Eagle says
It is No Longer Safe to be Here
And so we Gather Ourselves to Safety
We Wrap our Food into Tight Bundles
And our Most Precious Possessions that can be Carried by Hand
We ask you to Travel Lightly
As we Know not what Lays Ahead of Us
It may Seem that the Road is very Direct
When in Actuality it Not One but Two of These
We Rely on the Wolf the Coyote and the Drum
To Take the News of the Transit to our Fellow Indian Friends
I am Sharpening the Tools of Hunting and Trapping
To Provide the Necessities of Fellow Men
Geronimo
Re the "channeller" Samantha Von Daniken google turns up this
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1110866/I-stole-repossessed-home-How-woman-squatter-house.htmlthis is her myspace page
http://www.myspace.com/the.magicians.daughterShe has also channeled the spirit of St Christopher who is, amongst other things, Christopher Columbus. Or something
Samantha von Daniken - The Magicians Daughter
The University of the Universe - St Christopher
Channeler: Samantha von Daniken, The Magicians Daughter
Illnau , Switzerland 7th July 2010
I am the Spirit of Christopher Columbus and the Wayfarer
I am the Taxi Rank and the Taxiing into Land
I am the Picasso and the Gauguin
The Pestallozzi and the Steiner
The Montessori
The Alternative Path of Schooling for the Children
........
source:
http://lightworkers(dot)org/node/110056
So it would appear that this woman got into debt and is now looking for a new career channelling the spirits of NDNs and also of Christopher Columbus.
I can imagine that this will get interesting.
some further disturbing links
http://www.luckymojo.com/products-indian-spirit-guide.htmlhttp://www.readersandrootworkers.org/index.php?title=Black_Hawkhttp://www.portraitcorner.co.uk/spirit-guides.htmhttp://www.ev1.keen.com/details/Rain-Summer-Hawk/Love-Relationships/8845953This lady has an ‘Indian Spirit Guide’ that makes her paint bad art
http://www.joangreinert.com/Indianspiritguide.htmaccording to this article (scroll down) http://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/finding-your-spirit-guide.html
It is common for us to have Indian spirit guides... and part of the reason for this is the culture of the Indian races were very spiritual... and they had a strong connection with both the earth and the spirit world. So the information gained in these lives remains with the spirits... and they use it to assist those they choose to guide.
a satirical article on the subject
http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2009/04/28/alternative-therapist-sacks-red-indian-spirit-guide-for-being-useless/