While agree that the $100 fee is wrong and the focus on recruitment is disturbing as well, there's a lot of info out about Warfield Moose Jr.
He's from the Porcupine community in Pine Ridge. Here's a few links and his bio. I'm gonna reserve comment because I feel the need to know more from community members and what they think of him. I've also yet to see that he is advertising ceremonies for sale so I'm doing my best to be objective here. Not calling you a liar Jonathan
Here's his website:
http://www.warfieldmoose.com/His bio:
Bio
Warfield Moose Jr. is an Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He grew up in the small community of Porcupine and was raised in a traditional Lakota way by his parents, Warfield Sr. and Norma Moose, and by his grandparents on both sides of the family who played a major role in his upbringing. Warfield attributes much of his life philosophy and spiritual grounding to the way in which he was raised. Warfield experienced life through the actions of his closest relations who were humble people. The family spoke only Lakota in the home and Warfield did not begin to learn English until he attended school. His family taught him the history and culture of the Lakota; and honored the traditions of the relatives who went before them. Warfield enjoyed time spent with both sets of his grandparents. His grandparents Charlie and Martha (Kills In Water) Moose lived in Wounded Knee where Charlie was an Episcopal priest who also maintained the traditional ways and was a representative on the Council of Elders for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and a member of the Pes La Oyate (baldheaded clan). Martha was a Wakan Oyate (of the sacred people). Wilbur Locke and Frances (Shorthorn) Locke resided in Porcupine and Wilbur was a member of the Knife Chief Community. Warfield attributes his greatest life teachings to his parents, Warfield Moose, Sr. and Norma Moose. As a classroom teacher for over 25 years, Warfield Sr. was greatly respected by his students and a captivating teacher in the classroom. Warfield Sr. was one of the first individuals in the state of South Dakota to be honored with the South Dakota Indian Education Award for Distinguished Service. Warfield's father taught the Lakota language, history and culture - but his son remembers his father's teachings not only from the classroom - but from how he lived his life. His mother Norma still works as a classroom teacher at the Pine Ridge School where she has worked for over 30 years. At the age of 18, Warfield Jr. followed in his parents' footsteps and became a Lakota language instructor. He accepted the position at the time when interest in the Lakota language, history and culture was at an all-time low for Native Americans. However, with the encouragement and support of his family - Warfield Jr. thrived in the teaching environment, first by teaching Kindergarten through eighth grade for five years, then instructing high school students in history, language and culture. It was 1978 when Warfield Jr. first met the respected Lakota Yuwipi healer, Dawson Has No Horse and through him experienced the powerful healing of the traditional ways. Warfield's father was suffering from a serious nose bleed and bleeding internally; a condition that Western doctors had failed to diagnose or treat. Charlie Moose, the Episcopal priest and father of Warfield Sr., made a decision to seek traditional healing to cure his son. Although Warfield Jr. was very young, he recognized the gravity of the situation and accompanied his father and grandfather to meet Dawson. Dawson was a highly regarded healer in the community - and his name was spoken with great reverence and respect. They arrived unannounced at Dawson's home at 1:30 a.m., and the medicine man was awake with the lights on and waiting expectantly -- seemingly knowing they would come. Warfield Jr. knew Dawson's name but did not understand his power until he entered his home on that evening with his sick father and felt the warmth, comfort and welcoming of Dawson and his wife Emily. Dawson looked over Warfield Sr. and instructed Emily to go outside and gather three medicines to cure him. Dawson explained that she would know which medicines to pick because they would glow and reveal themselves to her. Emily returned, and the first medicine Dawson tried was a root that he ground into a powder. The second medicine was a leafy plant, and when it did not stop the bleeding, Dawson warned them that if the last medicine did not work, he would not be able to help Warfield Sr. The last medicine was a bundle of sage. Dawson broke off the soft leaves of sage from the branch, and formed a compress which finally stopped the bleeding. After much distress, the grandfather, father and son broke into tears of relief, joy and gratitude when the bleeding had stopped. They offered Dawson their thanks and asked him how they could support him. He responded simply, "From this day forward, you should always respect yourselves and the people. Respect traditional healing -- but also respect the many different ways in which we all pray. Everything we do and say in life has meaning. Each of us throws our words out into the world -- but they all come back together eventually." It was a lesson remembered, and Warfield's family began to actively attend ceremonies and support Dawson's work helping the people. One evening in a ceremony, Dawson spoke through the spirits to the Moose family and to the one hundred people who had gathered for the Yuwipi ceremony. He foretold that young Warfield Jr., seated in the room, would one day choose between becoming an artist or powerful medicine man. The possibility of Warfield becoming a medicine man was disconcerting to the young boy and his family, because they had witnessed first-hand the suffering Dawson endured. But Dawson quieted their fears and counseled Warfield's family to allow the young Warfield to enjoy his life until such time as the dream or true calling appeared. Dawson's impact on Warfield Jr's life was great. It was a great loss to him when Dawson died in 1982, and he experienced grief and loss like none other he had felt. Warfield has yet to meet anyone who instills in him the same feelings of safety, humility, openness and kindness that he learned in the presence of the great Yuwipi man, Dawson Has No Horse. The mid-80's brought about two occurrences which shaped the rest of Warfield Jr's life. The first was the diagnosis of his father with incurable cancer in 1985 and the second was the dream. When Warfield Jr. was only 12 years old, he dreamed he was sitting on a hill and praying when a man appeared to him in the form of lightening and with a voice of thunder. The man spoke to Warfield and told him that they would be friends; and that this man had a job for Warfield. In 1983, he asked a medicine man named Pete Catches to put him on the hill for his first vision quest. Pete was reluctant to allow the young Warfield to undertake the vision quest, but agreed to speak with him about his intentions. Warfield spoke to Pete of his dream and explained what he sought. Recognizing the sincerity and truth in young Warfield's dream and reason for pursuing a vision quest, Pete agreed to help him. He explained to Warfield Jr. and his father that when a dream comes directly from the spirits - there is no need to interpret it. This dream would show itself over time and reveal itself to Warfield as he lived his life. He counseled him not to struggle with the dream - or he would live his life struggling. Instead, he encouraged Warfield to embrace the dream and where it would take him. At Warfield's first Yuwipi ceremony - it was his father who tied him up. Warfield knew, simply by looking into his father's eyes that night, that for Warfield Sr., seeing his son undertake the sacred Yuwipi provided him with sense of completion in his life. It was in this first ceremony that the spirits told Warfield that if his dream was to be a part of him that he should always tell the truth. Warfield committed to the spirits that night to not take drugs and alcohol so long as they would come and help him. Although the long and painful illness of Warfield Sr. was heartbreaking for Warfield and left him with permanent sadness when his father died on May 16, 1996, he never questioned why his father got sick but instead recognized how going through the disease with his dad made him a stronger and more compassionate person -- and more determined than ever to help others. It provided him with empathy for people dealing with life threatening illness and helped him realize that this part of his journey had been laid out for a reason. His father's struggle helped Warfield to better understand God - and that though life experiences he was offered choices: to love or hate; trust or mistrust. After his father passed away, Warfield put another of his talents to use and had already begun traveling to Sundances and Yuwipis to sing for ceremonies. Over the course of several years, Warfield sang for 11 different medicine men and learned about each of their deep commitment to the sacred traditions and the sacrifices they made in their lives to help the people. Warfield was taught by these men the ancient ceremony songs that have been passed down through the generations by the Lakota people. Warfield was a teacher when he first met Shilo Clifford who was a grade school student at the time. As a young student Shilo was sincere, enthusiastic and always expressed his willingness to help. Warfield recognized in Shilo the same level of serious commitment to the ceremonies and the traditional way of life that he had. In 1992 Warfield and Shilo went through the Hunka ceremony - a ceremony held in high regard by the Lakota people. The Hunka, or making of relatives ceremony, was traditionally performed as a way for Lakota people to provide comfort or support to those in need of it. To the Lakota, there is no such thing as an orphan and the Hunka ceremony is a commitment to become like a close relative. The son of Dawson, Sidney Has No Horse, performed the making-of-a-relative ceremony for Warfield and Shilo. At the ceremony he told the young men, "From this day forward you are not just hunka brothers - you are blood brothers. You will go through hard times and good times together - but you should always still help each other because you are connected for the rest of your life." Shilo's role in the ceremonies is significant, and as both a singer and helper to Warfield, he plays a vital role. Warfield and Shilo have helped tribes from across the US and Canada with healing ceremonies and have worked to revive the Sundance ceremonies for many tribal people. Warfield began running Sundance ceremonies in 1996 on the Blood reserve for the Blackfeet tribe. After his father illness and passing, he committed to holding a Sundance in his honor - and has done so for the last 10 years. Warfield and Shilo have traveled around the world to perform ceremonies in Italy, Canada and Switzerland, and Warfield presided over the opening of the Lakota Embassy in Florence Italy. In 2002, Warfield won a Nammy in the best historical recording category for "Ben Black Elk Speaks." Warfield currently runs four Sundances annually: the LeTendre Family Sundance for the Alexis Nakota Sioux, an Omaha Tribe Sundance on the reservation in Macy, Nebraska , the American Indian Movement Sundance in Pipestone, Minnesota and his own Sundance which honors the legacy of his father. He is currently archiving and restoring other historical Lakota teachings and working on a documentary and material for a new audio recording.
----------------------------------
To be fair, I don't see any fees associated or asking for money. However he does seem to be booked for "cultural gatherings" in NJ, Buffalo NY, Santa Fe NM.....but there isn't anything that elaborates on that other than these are not the sundances he runs. Other than the personal account from Jonathan I'm not finding a whole lot that is that disturbing. There's a good chance the organizers of this event are behind the fees and recruitment policies, but definitely not enough info about all that yet.
I would definitely like to see more info from his community members as his myspace music page contents lots of comments in the comments section from family members and other NDNs giving him a lot of compliments or just in general talking in a normal way back and forth...not a whole lot of metaphorical bowing and kneeling that is seen with new age groups.
Superdog
