Venerable William Running Wolf Davis - Gadohi Usquanigodi

[Epiphany]

The Venerable William Running Wolf Davis, is a Cherokee Medicine Man, recognized by Grandfather John Rolling Thunder Pope. He is the elder spiritual leader of Gadohi Usquanigodi.

http://www.lightconnection.us/Archive/jun04/jun04_article2.htm

While reading up on Rolling Thunder/John W Pope - I came across this letter to the editor (copy uploaded here), Taos News, 1998, from the Pope children concerning Running Wolf.

[educatedindian]

There used to be a warning on Davis at the Gohiyuhi website, can't find it.
He's mentioned in another thread here.
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=861.0;wap2

Interview w/photo. His appearance doesn't inspire confidence.
http://www.lightconnection.us/Archive/jun04/jun04_article2.htm

Davis used to operate out of Chicago and was protested by NDNs there.

WARNING: Don't try to go to Gadohi.org. Site is down, but there is malware. Even the archived site has malware.
The site does show Davis selling the sweatlodge and Lakota vision quests as Cherokee to non-Natives and offering to make them licensed ministers and train them in sweatlodges and vision quests.

Here's their site listing four groups in Chicago, Inola OK, Taos, and near San Diego.
http://deirdresdesktop.com/6264.html
They still do faux Lakota ceremony passed off as Cherokee.
http://deirdresdesktop.com/9318.html

------
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.native/-m66s9wXGOU
From: The Chicago Native American/Indigenous Community
Subject: Community Protest of Venerable Running Wolf
Date: October 12, 2002
Place: Garfield Park Field House
100 North Central Park, Chicago
Time: 9:30 AM

The Native American Community of Chicago has been alerted to the fact that a so
called Cherokee Medicine Man by the name of "Venerable Running Wolf"
(www.gadohi.org <http://www.gadohi.org/>) will be attempting to lead Native
American Ceremonies in Chicago on October 12, 2002.

We have met as a community and have chosen to act as one voice, one spirit and
one mind to address Venerable Running Wolf and others like him.

We view our Native traditions and ceremonies as sacred and not subject for sale
or exploitation.

We will hold a peaceful protest at the above mentioned date and time. His
claims and advertisements have been challenged and supporting documentation
from different Cherokee tribal officials lead us to conclude that he is not the
person he claims to be. Authentic and genuine medicine men/women do not
advertise, do not sell ceremonies, do not sell videos and do not knowingly lead
others to do so as well. These actions contradict everything that we believe in
and hold true and sacred to us.

On Saturday, October 12, 2002 (Indigenous Day aka Columbus Day) the Native
American Community of Chicago will voice our feelings.

For additional information please contact:
Hugo Marroquin at (773) 784-XXXX
or
Vincent Romero (773) 271-XXXX

[Epiphany]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-10-13/news/0210130002_1_native-americans-cherokee-indians-sweat-lodges

(my use of bolding in these excerpts)

Native American lecture riles Indian protesters ; Man's portrayal of sacred customs called misleading
Chicago Tribune - Chicago, Ill.
Author:    Ray Quintanilla, Tribune staff reporter
Date:    Oct 13, 2002

 

Chanting and the pounding of drums disrupted a lecture Saturday by a self-proclaimed Cherokee medicine man as about 50 Native Americans protested the gathering as a "misleading portrayal of our sacred customs and rituals."

William Davis, who goes by the Indian name Running Wolf, said he organized the event in the Garfield Park Fieldhouse to teach about Native American religious ceremonies to those wanting spiritual training. Later in the day he led participants through purification in a "traditional Cherokee sweat lodge" on East 87th Street.

The protesters contended that Davis is not a Native American and that Cherokees do not use sweat lodges. They also denounced him for seeking donations of $75 to $150, saying that in authentic Indian ceremonies no one is asked for money.

Davis disputed their claims, and at one point began shouting at the protesters, calling them "uncivilized."

Chief John W. Crow Dog, a Lakota who sits on the 27-member Council of Chiefs of the Lakota Territory, an umbrella organization of elders, said he drove from Indianapolis on Saturday morning to confront Davis.

"These are customs we hold dear," he said. "Everyone has the right to follow a path of spirituality, [but] the path is no longer sacred if people are being misled."

Religious lectures and ceremonies are held only on reservations and are conducted only by tribal elders, he added.

Vincent Sice Romero, who organized the protest, and Crow Dog both said they knew of no federally recognized Cherokee tribe that recognizes Davis as a member. Representatives of the Eastern Band and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians said Friday that Davis was not listed on their rolls.

Lisa Stopp, a historian with the Cherokee Nation Historical Resources Center in Tahlequah, Okla., said her people do not use sweat lodges in the spiritual sense. Several hundred years ago, she said, her ancestors did heat stones and bring them indoors, but only for warmth.

"This is not part of our heritage," she explained. "We don't give this ritual any significance in connecting us with the creator."

"I have done nothing to offend any of you," Davis told the protesters, who also heckled him as he lectured.

"I have told you I am a Cherokee Indian. I am only teaching those things that have been taught to me. I am not getting rich doing this. I live in a trailer and in poverty with my wife," Davis said, waving a fan made of feathers.

"The way you all are treating me is not the way one should treat an elder. I don't ask people for money. They make donations to help carry on this work," he said.

Davis said he lives in Peoria and runs the Native American Spiritual Center, a non-profit group based in New Mexico, with an annual budget of about $15,000. He said he has been holding such talks in Chicago for seven years.

At one point, protesters asked Davis to show them identification to prove he was a member of a federally recognized tribe.

Davis declined, saying, "I believe that kind of registration is part of the genocide of our people in this nation."

[Epiphany]

2012 http://www.visionmagazine.com/archives/1205/1205_culture_spirit_of_gadugi.html

VM: How will the upcoming Spirit Balancing workshop in San Diego teach Cherokee spiritual ways to help restore the body, mind, and spirit?
RW: The emphasis will be on learning how to live in harmony with Creator and all of Creation through our spiritual teachings. And one of the things I need to point out is that there is a significant difference between Native American Christianity and Euro-American Christianity. In Native American Christianity, we incorporate our traditional ceremonies, beliefs, and practices into our Christian teachings. So it’s a merging of the two. This is based on our own belief in honoring the sacredness of those who give of themselves that others may live. And we respect elders, teachers, prophets, preachers—whoever you want to call them—healers, medicine people, which is one of my titles. In our experience, for many Cherokees and other Native Americans across the country, there has been no person who has done more to give of oneself than Yeshua. (Jesus is the Greek translation of his name, but the actual Hebrew name of Jesus is Yeshua.) That’s one reason we accept those teachings, and many of us do, though we still also adhere to our cultural norms.

Running Wolf will be leading the Spirit Balancing Workshop and Ganvnowa Ceremony in North Park, San Diego on Saturday, May 19, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (He will be available for one-on-one time during the week following the workshop.) Suggested donation is $100/person or $150/couple

[Defend the Sacred]

He looks like Jervis.

[Epiphany]

He is William Maynard Davis, in his 50s.

Formerly known as Gadohi Usquanigodi, Four Winds is a 501 © (3) non-profit, national organization founded in 1994 by our Cherokee Medicine Elder The Venerable Running Wolf MSW. Today, Four Winds has centers available In Tulsa, Taos, Chicago and here in San Diego

.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Four-Winds-of-San-Diego/125744030807303?sk=info
http://www.california-companies.net/gadohi-usquanigodi-of-san-diego-inc-c2405650

He says he is a Disabled American Vet and American Legion post chaplain:

http://financialtreason.wordpress.com/

Says he filed a legal motion against building contractor and bank to have them declared traitors to the country, because they allegedly screwed him over.

So read for yourself what my wife and I have had to endure and ask yourself how you would feel if it was you or someone you know who put their life on the line for this nation. That plus the fact that just to months ago my wife had to donate one of her kidneys to me just to keep me alive, thank God she was a compatible donor and had the love and courage to make this gift without hesitation!!!!

I also uploaded a copy of his letter to the editor Taos News 1997, along with a response from a director of a domestic violence organization. Venerable Running Wolf wrote to complain of "women who use raging and aggressive criticism to harass and provoke their male partners" into domestic violence. 

[Epiphany]

Here is his heritage claim:

The Ven. Running Wolf, MSW is a direct descendant of Thomas Barns of the Hiwassee River (in what is now the Cherokee National Forest in Southeast Tennessee.) Thomas Barns was placed on the Henderson Roll just before his land and home were taken from him and he was forced to walk the Trail of Tears.

[Epiphany]

There is said to be a Thomas Barnes "listed on the 1835 Census Candy's Creek, McMinn County, Hiwassee River, Tennessee".  http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/f/o/r/Lynda-S-Foreman/BOOK-0001/0004-0007.html
Thomas Barnes was married to Molly Foreman who is described as 1/2 Cherokee.

Here is one of their sons: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=BARN&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=38&GScntry=4&GSsr=601&GRid=8602765&

I haven't found any family trees for them with sources yet online. Many people want to be related to this family, to Cherokees in general, and there is lots of bad genealogy out there, obvious that people try to cobble on their own ancestors any which way they can., true in this case also.

I think Bill Davis is making sh*t up, but that's just my opinion.
---
This 1922 book History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folk Lore http://books.google.com/books?id=Ei0TAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA365&ots=Mo63fAU742&dq=%22Alexander%20Foreman%20Barnes%22&pg=PA363#v=snippet&q=%22thomas%20barnes%22&f=false includes Mary Foreman's parents.

[Late Worm]

Piff: "I think Bill Davis is making sh*t up, but that's just my opinion."

And you don't need genealogy to come to that conclusion - hahaha

"Thunder medicine?"  Sounds like a whopper to me.  I always wonder what goes on inside the heads of these charlatans.  I mean do they consciously spin tall tales while lecturing others about honesty - or do they actually believe what they say (as in dementia)?