Raven Kaldera "Northern Tradition Shaman"

[Phillip63]

Hello members,

I was encouraged to post by one of your mods. This is my first post and I'm quite sure the guy in the title is a lying, pompous appropriator, but collecting more information about him and his associates can only bolster the argument.  I've been aware of him for over ten years and his list of publications grows every few months--scarily so.  The as-yet unreleased Neolithic Shamanism: Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition  published by Destiny Books & due out in November is next in line. http://www.amazon.com/Neolithic-Shamanism-Spirit-Norse-Tradition/dp/1594774900 It's co-authored by one of his associates who is just as dubious.  I'll post about Galina Krasskova also--she's got a list of offenses at least as long as his.

Here's a *brief* look into the ugliness of RK's methodology.
I find his entire ethos to be foul.  The "ordeal shaman master" stuff most of all because it hurts already hurting people.

A personal blog entry by a woman afflicted with PTSD http://theicarusproject.net/false-memories/19-years-riding-mental-hellth-train says at the very bottom:

Here it is 19 years after I went to a therapist to get help for having been abused, having severe anxiety issues, and wanting to learn how to not be abused anymore. I still haven't gotten that help. But I got this story. And a lot worse. My PTSD is more severe now that I know there is no help. I cannot trust anyone. I don't think I can get better because there are no trained people to help persons with PTSD who have been raped.

Northern Tradition shaman Raven Kaldera http://www.northernshamanism.org/readings.html recently told me that the Gods chose me as a sacrifice. "It was not personal. They needed someone to experience this and help others, and you were chosen because you wouldn't die, and most people would not have made it. You've lost your freedom because you were God-touched."
And so here I am."

This poor person, whomever she is, feels doomed because of the weird pernicious influence exerted by Kaldera.  He has an office in Fitchburg MA and takes 'clients' http://www.northernshamanism.org/raven/shamanic-readings.html
Given the mental health problems of those who are drawn to him (as above) this appears a serious violation of licensure to be a truly therapeutic professional.
There was also a very peculiar interview with him at vice.com in which he was described as   

an Ordeal Master who devises events to humiliate servile followers, looking to learn the limits of their strength and endurance.  He tests them by acting out fantasies of rape and torture.

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/Bow-To-The-Ordeal-Master
He authored an entire book about BDSM rituals for neo-pagans.
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Moon-Rising-Pagan-Ordeal/dp/1847288928/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Additionally he practices what he calls "Shamanic Herbalism" for money while having no degree or certification whatsoever
http://www.backntouchwellness.com/raven-kaldera-shamanic-herbalism.html

And, feels pretty entitled to use the word "shaman":

RE: [grouchyspiritworkers] Defending use of the word shaman    
Posted By:    cauldronfarm
Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:23 am
My defense is that my Goddess told me to use it, and that I pay for it. The first reason is no defense because the sort of people who make these accusations don't believe in Gods, spirits, or their authority over people. In fact, when I relayed that once to an activist, she sniffed that if my spirits were real they wouldn't ask me to do offensive things like that. (Which just shows how little she know about how spirits really operate, and what they do and do not give a damn about.) My second reason is here:

http://www.reindeerspirit.info/

I put time and effort into helping Reindeer Spirit, who can arguably be considered the spiritual owner of that word, because it was her people that we borrow it from. (Although it was borrowed itself from Sanskrit, so you could trace it back to India if you want, but the Hindi Gods do not claim it.) I help Reindeer Spirit by doing what I can, when I can, in little pieces, for her kind and her people. I do as much as she says I need to in order to pay for this one word.

This is my choice. It is not anyone else's. Everyone has to figure out where they stand with these things. But I can point out that I've done more for the Reindeer People than the person complaining, and that's something that usually makes them crawl off with their tails tucked between their legs.

I've gotten into arguments about the "equal pay" thing as well, usually with people who are not full-blood aboriginals but are well-meaning western-raised activists (or just pissy people). Someone once sneered, "You mean stealing Native American religion is OK if you send a check to someone's Cherokee grandma?" And I said, "Yes. If every single white person that did *anything* with Native American spirituality made it their business to make regular donations to the Cherokee grandma and her equivalents and the organizations that help them, do you know how much change that would create?" Frankly, the full-blood aboriginals tend to be down with the idea - "Make 'em shell out!" - and this has been the attitude of the native Siberians I've communicated with. The only trouble I've had from that quarter are Americans of Mongolian blood who are taking up the old ways in high dudgeon. The actual aboriginals tend to be more practical.

I know that it will eventually be my job to push the "equal pay" idea with the neo-shamanic community, and I am not looking forward to that.
-Raven Kaldera

So, here's a guy who has NO mentors or lineage, has an entire career forged from picking and choosing in best neo-pagan fashion, as well as making things up along the way; styles himself a professional spiritual sadist, dispenses pastoral counseling of questionable merit, feels entitled to co-opt words from a specific culture, and says he pays for use of it when there is no way to even prove he has done any of the goods works alleged (as if that made it right anyhow!)

What a mess.

[englishman]

yeah that Raven guy is a complete nut! The Norse/Heathen reconstructionist community doesnt have anything to do with him and his crew and advises others to steer clear of him. They are liars, when confronted by heathens about their practices they defend themselves by saying they are not heathen but call their path the northern tradition........but when they are at pagan events where they think heathens arent present they try to pass themselves off as authentic heathens. These people are big into the BDSM (bondage) stuff, torture and crap and try to pass it off as spiritual. Raven and his group also performed an animal sacrifice in honor of Fenris! For those not familar with norse lore Fenris is the spirit/energy of insatiable hunger/greed and the chaos and destruction that follows. What kind of people would honor something like that?!

[Smart Mule]

Do you all know if Brian Chabot still heads up their militia?

[Phillip63]

No, Bella Kaldera heads the militia.
From an online profile she has: "I am now Queen of a (veryverysmall) kingdom with my beloved King Raven and Generalissimo of the Asphodel Free Pagan Militia."
Bella is in some manner of romantic relationship with Mr Chabot, however.

[snorks]

I have his Northern Trad. books.  What I have gleamed from them is that he practises a form of Core Shamanism with a Norse flavour.  He assumes that since we are all human beings, that all human cultures have the same elements of shamanism in them.  He claims that the Norse learnt from the Saami certain techniques.  But it goes further when he claims that Korean shamans have a tradition of "horsing deities", therefore his Northern group should have this tradition too.  Then, he claims that he practises Neolithic European shamanism.  For example, his "ordeal" shaman ideas originate with the Lakota Sundance, but he claims that they at one time must have been common to Europeans as well.

At first the reading of his books seems to be authentic, but once you start thinking about his concepts, they come across as Neo-Pagan borrowing of various Native traditions. 

Moreover, he practises "self-plagiarism".  His books are at least 40 percent material from his other books.  They are also group efforts, and the materials from other people are repeated in all his books.

[Phillip63]

The ironic thing is, he touts himself as being a TRULY authentic, spirit-chosen NON Harnerite "shaman" and writes claptrap like Public Horses: An Open Letter To All Shamans, Would-be Shamans, And People Who Think That White People Shouldn't Call Themselves Shamans
http://www.northernshamanism.org/general/shamanism/public-horses.html, which is itself just a fancy iteration of the Harner attitude.  The Saami DID teach the Norse some of their techniques.  This is recorded in lore, as Gunnhild konungamóðir (mother of kings) was taught by Saami (where they are referred to as "Finns") in Heimskringla, dated ca. 1230.  Archaeologist Neil Price also documents the overlap between the Saami and Norse cultures http://www.archeurope.com/index.php?page=sami-archaeology-viking-contacts   So, as usual, a mix of falsehoods and truth to really confuse people is the mode of delivery for this modern cult of charlatanism.  Kaldera ADMITS he has no actual direct lineage from any mentors or elders and calls his knowledge "spirit-taught."

What do you mean, "spirit-taught"?
The Buryat Mongols have a word for shamans who are spirit-taught - it's bagshagui. Usually this happens when the shaman's lineage or clan dies out and the spirits who have worked with them all move over to another line or clan, and pick some poor slob that they have decided would make a great shaman. A bagshagui doesn't have the benefit of the old guy in the hut to teach them. Everything has to be learned from the spirits themselves, who are wonderfully effective but extremely frustrating teachers.
Since this tradition is largely lost, I as a white American don't have the old-guy-in-the-hut benefit either. I am in the service of the Norse death goddess Hela, and she sends me to various other gods and spirits for training.

As an aside, in all I have researched about Buryat practices, I have never once seen that word "bagshagui."

His admission of all kinds of modern patchwork one-person syncretism:

This web page is devoted to information on Northern Tradition shamanism. This tradition is a blend of the ancient shamanic traditions of many of the peoples of northern Europe - the Germanic, Norse, Anglo-Saxon, and a little bit of Saami, Russian and western Siberian.

http://www.northernshamanism.org/general/welcome.html

More flagrant co-optation lies in his and his colleagues' use of the term "horsing", which is from the Afro-Carribean diaspora.  When I typed "deity horsing" into Google, I got http://tinyurl.com/8gy866o...Cauldron Farm and Raven Kaldera are in the top four or five results.  He authored a book on the subject along with Kenaz Filan and THAT book, Drawing Down the Spirits, lands up being recommended all over the place http://tinyurl.com/8bl7yrq, especially among neo-pagans.  There are so many problems with this casserole of appropriation and lurid practices, it's hard to know where to begin.  Kenaz Filan isn't without controversy either, incidentally.  There's a whole snarl of documented issues on various Voudou sites.  The mod I spoke to is quite right--culture vultures LOVE to consort together.

Now onto the "ordeal spirituality" stuff Raven Kaldera and his confederates promote.  The habitues of Cauldron Farm made a blog portraying their practices...in only the best possible light of course.http://bloodfordivine.blogspot.com/?zx=6882624af280de40
Some listed contributors are AK (this is Anya Kless, whose 'marriage ordeal' to the god Odin http://bloodfordivine.blogspot.com/2009/04/making-love-to-odin-for-first-time.html made the rounds on all the Heathen groups, creating a great deal of shock and disgust), Wintersong Tashlin (you can see his Google results here, http://tinyurl.com/8rbbudy and note he too is a "shaman."  Of course).  S. Reicher, a nom de Internet for Galina Krasskova, another "shaman" whose trail of garbage is.....scarily complicated and highly financially successful for her.  Her Facebook publicity Page "Wyrd Ways" is extremely popular https://www.facebook.com/pages/Galina-Krasskova-Wyrd-Ways/127683903925705?ref=ts as are her blog and her books  She calls herself "Heathen" although the mainsteam Heathen community all revile her as a niþing or outcast because of her association with Raven Kaldera and her own misdeeds.  To explain the Norse term niþing   "nobody is allowed to protect, house, or feed the nithing. The outlaw is not only expelled from the kinship, he is also regarded henceforth as an enemy to mankind."  On a large Heathen message board, Gothi Rod Landreth posted

Galina Krasskova in my book is a true woeful witch, she has perverted Heathen ways, worked woe and ill towards solid Tru Folk, bragged about it to many folks in the NE region, and paints herself as a VIP of Heathenry to those outside of Heathenry to support her "legitimacy." I've sat across a table from this woman, looking at her in the face as I passed judgment of her complete unfitness to be a Gydhia when I was Clergy Coordinator of the Troth. This woman uses and hurts people for her own glory, and ego. A follower of Angrboda, and Laufrey son's dangerous children.

Any support tacitly means you support her, and *is exactly* what she wants. She and her Etin-lover kin want to muddy the waters on all sorts of theological points in and around heathenry, for their betterment!

If you wish to reference her books and say her manipulative words are good, then you are saying her actions and ways are good.

I do not advise any Tru heathen to read her or her Etin-lover kin. If one develops and understand one's "Heathen compass" that always points towards what is Tru; then when one stumbles over that which is not Tru but masquerading as such it should quickly lead them away.

We are telling new folk to stay away from these texts for a reason, Tru Folk should recognize immediately that the honeyed words are not "right."
----------------
Be Trú to the Gods and Goddesses,
Be Trú to the Ancestors, Vaettir, and your Folk,
and most importantly,
Be Trú to Yourself.
Simply be Heathen in all things.
Rod Landreth

scrwtape@gmail.com

Krasskova blogged recently about "Cultural Misappropriation" http://krasskova.weebly.com/1/post/2012/2/pagan-blog-project-c-is-for-cultural-misappropriation.html It is not as if she doesn't KNOW what she's doing.  For some reason, it's different if it's her doing the appropriating.

Another of the Blood for the Divine blog contributors is Del Tashlin, who is of course another "ordeal shaman," who "horses" various gods and performs ordeals on clients.  One of the ordeals was blogged about here http://divinetwins.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/witness-to-an-ordeal/ and Del's role as the inflictor of the assault is acknowledged.  All these "shamans" who make careers out of sadism--pretty rank stuff.

As an addendum:  it seems that the author I found and posted about further in this thread is a good source of solid information.  Read what he has to say about "new age shamans" and the harm they do.

[RedRightHand]

This all looks like a cluster of extremely disturbed people with a history of criminal activity as well as appropriation of a variety of native ceremonies.

I'm not sure I saw a link above to this post on Brian Chabot, onetime head of the Cauldron Farm militia. http://www.nhinsider.com/blogger-alerts/2010/6/10/nh-elections-2010-us-senate-candidate-is-convicted-felon.html

Interestingly, this is far from the truth because Brian Chabot is part of Cauldron Farm in MA. Now frankly this has nothing to do with his pagan beliefs---believe whatever you want here. This has to do with the fact the militia members and biker gang members still hang out at Cauldron Farm. The very farm Brian is part of and openly admits to being a part of. Thus, the point here is not the paganism but the well-known history of running girls(monarch) through Cauldron farm and other criminal activity under the umbrella of Cauldron farm. In fact, the federal file documents the white slavery--Brian Chabot was taking teenage runaways from Harvard Square in MA to NH and giving them to bikers and militia members.

There's quite a bit more in the comments. This may be getting a little off-track to focus on Chabot and his crimes but it does say something about the associates of the Farm. This is a bit more detail about the theft of military equipment. http://christopher-king.blogspot.com/2010/06/kingcast-asks-dirtbag-former-nh-ag.html

I've seen enough to think that this thread should be put in the "Frauds" section.

[RedRightHand]

This is the page where Kaldera and his associates sell their books:

Asphodel Press  http://www.asphodelpress.com/

In this book, Kaldera appears to believe he can write about Sun Dance, and compares Sun Dance to his sadistic sexual activities. I think this is clearly an offensive, particularly to Native peoples. It is misappropriation, racism and fraud:

http://www.asphodelpress.com/book.html?title=dark-moon-rising

Dark Moon Rising: Pagan BDSM & the Ordeal Path

"Throughout history, from the Hindu Kavadi ceremony to the Lakota Sun Dance, the Ordeal Path has been an honored spiritual road to the magic of the flesh, and to touching the Gods. Today many Pagans are discovering this path, by accident or by design. Simultaneously, many practitioners of secular BDSM are finding themselves having spiritual experiences in the middle of their most secular scenes. This book explores the crossover points between both these communities and practices, a cross-section which is growing steadily, baring controversial articles on topics as diverse as sacred pain, bondage, hook suspension, cathartic Pagan ritual, the spirituality of dominance and submission, and being the slave of the Gods."

This text sounds like he got his misinformation about Hindu and Native ceremonies via the fake ones in the Modern Primitives book, which mainstreamed the piercing and tattooing trends, and has led to many non-Indigenous people trying to imitate or create their own piercing and suspension ceremonies. Clearly this is cultural desecration of the basest sort.

Concerning abuse of individuals, this link is very troubling. It has explicit sexual discussion and will probably by triggering for abuse survivors, so be aware of that if you click through: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/Bow-To-The-Ordeal-Master

"He’s a celebrated writer of transsexual pornography and an author and essayist on topics like vampirism and shamanism. Or he may be your abuse counsellor."

Kaldera once again compares his sadistic harming of his sexual partners to Sun Dance and Hindu rituals. This is profoundly clueless on his part, and harmful. Then he goes into detail about sadistic sexual things he likes to do to people, and how he considers it, "empowering".

He refers to Native ceremonies as (only) something you see "in National Geographic." So while he feels entitled to (mis)represent Lakota and Hindu sacred ceremonies, he also dismisses Indigenous people as "something you see in National Geographic". He renders Indigenous people invisible and presents himself as the authority.

His attitudes about women, and what it means to be "feminised" are also disgusting. This is a partial account of what he did to a man who came to him wanting an initiatory experience:

"On the first day he was sent to sleep in a park. The next day we hosed him down, dressed him in skirts, and he spent a day forcibly feminised and we slapped him when he wasn’t learning fast enough. In the evening when he came home, three guys threw him on the floor and…. had their way with him, as if he were a woman. The first two were pretty rough but the third was gentle."

Apparently, people go to him wanting to learn about the gods of their ancestors, and wind up raped and beaten and mentally abused.

Trying to blame this sadistic behaviour on Indigenous or Hindu ceremonies is beyond misguided. It is racist and fraudulent and in at least some cases, criminal. It is good that some pagans are declaring this man and his associates outcasts. But it also looks like the more new age and appropriation-happy groups, like this one, are happy to hire him: "Changing Times Changing Worlds Conference "http://changingtimeschangingworlds.org/programming/presenters/
(thread on them here, in Frauds: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3498)
 
Those conventions are full of naive, wide-eyed seekers, who are lambs to the slaughter for this type of predator.

Really, really should put this in Frauds. I don't think there is much question about these people.

[Phillip63]

Oh, I agree 100%, frauds all the way.  Kaldera and compatriots are having an event down in Maryland this October.

http://www.nineworldsfestival.org/

This presentation strikes me as particularly ironic:

Northern Religion as Indigenous Faith by Galina Krasskova and Laura Patsouris
"Galina Krasskova and Laura Patsouris will discuss and explore Heathenry as an indigenous tradition. The impact of the spread of Christianity across Europe and the attendant decimation of Northern European indigenous religious practices will be examined in light of the many challenges facing  those engaged in restoration today. A strong emphasis will be placed on reconnecting with one's ancestors as a means of making the shift from post-Conquest consciousness to a deeply rooted indigenous perspective. The workshop will examine what it means for us to be practicing an indigenous faith and how we can best root ourselves in that awareness."

Because their appropriation casserole is so *very* indigenous--and the rest of Heathenry, which views Krasskova as a niþing--would be delighted to know she is advertising this as Heathenry.  Co-presenter Laura Patsouris has family history in Cuba.  Her book Weaving Memory:  A Guide to Honoring the Ancestors was published by Raven Kaldera's on-demand press and contains rituals which are decidedly Cuban in nature for "Elevating the Ancestors."
http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/laura-patsouris/weaving-memory-a-guide-to-honoring-the-ancestors/paperback/product-15326168.html

Galina Krasskova wrote about this type of thing in her blog, acknowledging it is Cuban, *not*  northern European at all.
"My own style of ancestor working has a very Cuban flavor, perhaps because I was taught my first fumbling steps by a Cuban woman and one of her students, perhaps because so many of my colleagues also work in this style"
From http://krasskova.weebly.com/1/post/2011/04/april-9-open-ancestor-ritual.html

Krasskova's blog is such a melage of appropriation it would take a LONG time to untangle all of it.

I am FLABBERGASTED to see Jane Sibley recruited as a presenter for this "Nine Worlds Festival" but then, she's one of the co-chairs for the Changing Times, Changing Worlds conference which has ALREADY made it onto this board as another conduit for frauds
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3498.0

I understood Jane Sibley to be an authentic seiðkona from Norway.  I've asked her WHY she attends events and consorts with this bunch.  She said, "Raven and Galina mean well, but are misguided."  There's a statement and a half.
I do know she's friends with the other co-chair of Changing Times, Tchipakkan, about whom NAFPS moderator sky has written before---very unfavorably.

Tchipakkan is another of the people recruited to present at Raven Kaldera's Nine Worlds Festival.
One of the very sketchy places she inhabits online is http://liveparanormal.com/Tchipakkan   

I hope it's become apparent what a New Age neopagan clusterf*ck this all is.
It's like a never-ending sea of what a friend calls "New Age Sew-age."

[Smart Mule]

http://besom.blogspot.com/2009/03/convocation-2009.html

"From the Ordeal Path to Sado-Shamanism: Pagan BDSM." Here's the description:

From the Lakota SunDance to monastic submission, the elements of BDSM have been part of people's spiritual lives for millenia. We will explore the ways one can incorporate these varied practices into you spiritual life from the perspective of authors and practioners Michelle Belanger and Raven Kaldera.

(my bold)

[Phillip63]

I wrote to a contemporary researcher and author, Dmitry Ermakov, concerning current appropriation of the word shaman, and received this reply.

The fake 'shamans' are a big problem because not only they devalue the meaning of the word and the practice but they do inflict in some cases serious damage not only on themselves but  also on the patients they supposed to 'help'. Therefore it is important to unmask such people and, when possible, block their unwholesome activities in order to protect the vulnerable people.

His web site further states

Today, the word 'Shamanism' is used to denote a whole range of belief systems. For some, 'Shamanism' is defined as an ancient technique of ecstasy - i.e. all sorts of possession and mediumistic techniques; others apply it to a great variety of spiritual paths belonging to very different cultures all over the globe, including those which make little or no use of possession techniques. On top of that we now have the so-called 'New Age shamans' who believe in what they like, following a mixture of their own making with all but no idea about the choosing, obligations and work of a real shaman in the original sense of the word. Furthermore there is confusion between 'Shamanism' and 'Paganism', names which are often used interchangeably.

In Siberian shamanic traditions (as in Bön and Buddhism) all techniques and teachings have their own precise source and are passed down through a line of authentic masters. Thus the principle of lineage is of great importance and has mechanisms safeguarding the purity of its transmission against external interference or corruption from within. It is precisely thanks to this principle of lineage that these traditions have come down to us today in good working order.

You can read all of his insights at http://www.boandbon.com/Siberian%20Shamanism%20and%20Bo%20Murgel.html

Forum member snorks, who posted above, appears to be a shill for Kaldera, Del Tashlin, et al.
At Del's blog, under the entry "Hearing the Gods" http://sexgodsrockstars.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/hearing-the-gods/, snorks says

Virginia Carper ?
September 29, 2012 at 8:24 pm

Hello came by way of House of Vines. I was one of the posters at the fraud site – yes I am outing myself. I am the Snorks person. I walked into a trap set by someone who later I found out is in some sort of grudge match. I wanted a discussion on shamanism and what is and it isn’t. And there were concepts in RK’s books (Yes I purchased 6 of them, and slowly read each one.), that I wanted to explore further as to what was what. I had been taken in by a false shaman early on, and wanted further clarification. I did not want a discussion on that so and so eats puppies for breakfast.

Because of my traumatic brain injury, I have trying to piece my experiences with the Divine in a sane manner. For the record, I am a Roman Pagan (Religio Romana). As a recon, these experiences are outside of my experience, but I have had them. I have been exploring your site, though most postings are not my cup of tea, They do help in my understanding of messages from the Divine.

Basically in ritual, I have had the electric current from Neptune (Neptunus Pater). Not a voice saying blab, blab, blab, but more of a current. Summanus (the God of the Night Thunder) does something similar. Still puzzling out whether it is a damaged brain doing its thing or the real deal. Which is why I started to read Kaldera’s books in the first place since they do tackle the subject. I guess I am now a regular reader here too trying to fathom out UPG in a Roman context. (Which of course as the crusty Roman that I am, offends my sense of order. Sigh, I will just have to get used to it.)

I have to wonder WHY a long-term member of this Forum presents as critical on this board while darting off and ingratiating herself to the subject of the inquiry elsewhere and pretty simultaneously.  This strikes me as bizarre and inappropriate.

This is not a "grudge match" as snorks terms it.  This is a concerted effort to expose a nest of frauds, nothing more and nothing less.

[snorks]

For the record, I am not a shill for anyone.  For the record, I do ask questions and try to come to an understanding of things.  I am sorry that I do not have the same understanding as one of the posters.  However, I will not argue the point since there is no reason to do so. 

[Phillip63]

I find it darkly amusing you're trying to sound gracious at this point.    No sense of personal responsibility at all, apparently.  Wow.

For any who may be focusing on this thread and not following its evolution into a new thread  (it's not all that obvious to Heathens who may be following along at home)  check out:                          Virginia Carper aka "snorks" http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3849.0

Not a shill, huh?

[Phillip63]

I have found what SEEMS to be an ethical source of factual information, as I've mentioned above.

Dmitry Ermakov works from English into his native tongue, Russian. Dmitry studied elementary English in St. Petersburg, then gained a pre-Proficiency certificate soon after he came to live in the UK. He has since published several articles in English as well as 900 pages monograph Bo and Bon, and has spent a year as Research Assistant at Oxford University, UK. He has worked for the BBC and the EU. Forthcoming publications include Bon; article in the Encyclopaedia of Buddhist Philosophy, prepared by the Institute of  Philosophy, Moscow, currently being prepared for publication by Vostochnaya Literatura publishing house. (edited to delete the Cyrillic script, which kinda made the message board throw up a little).

In the introduction to his book on Bø Murgel and Tibetan Bön he talks about the issue of the New Age "shaman" http://boandbon.com/contents.html

I've combed the Internet to see if he's done anything off-color aside from authoring the one book.  His biography seems to be sincere and non-profiteering in nature--he actually declined an initiation when it was offered to him.
I do have some questions about a pair of links found on his site.  One is http://www.tengerism.org/ which seems OK but maybe someone will spot something off-color.  One of your former members, Sarangerel Odigon, seems connected to the Tengerism site.  The other is a film NOT made by him but by Anya Bernstein http://www.der.org/films/filmmakers/anya-bernstein.html

http://www.der.org/films/in-pursuit-of-siberian-shaman-preview.html  described at YouTube

"But who are these new shamans? Are they tricksters, magicians, businessmen, or cultural activists? This film takes a behind-the-scenes look at a Buryat shaman living on an island in the Lake Baikal as he moves between intimate shamanic rituals performed for local clientele and shows performed at various resorts for Western tourists in search of "primitive" cultures.

I intend to ask WHY he would have this link as a resource on his page, unless it is to make some kind of commentary on the precarious state of shamanism in its birthplace.
But--there you have it.  Direct lineage mentoring and initiations by predecessors are key.

[TheTruthBetween]

So my gender counselor recently recommended Raven Kaldera's book Hermaphrodeities to me, and I read everything in this thread here and now I'm wondering if I should read the book at all. Does anyone have any more information on him, particularly in relation to his gender work?