i finally read this article..great! especially this part...
Warnings against exploiting Native spirituality are increasingly blunt and direct. Vine Deloria, Jr., a Standing Rock Sioux, attorney and author of Custer Died for Your Sins and God ls Red, was featured in mid-August as a key speaker at the Spirit of Place Conference at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. Organizers of the event had for the second consecutive year brought together architects, theologians, geomancers and community activists to explore perceptions of landscape, geography and the meaning of the sacred. Deference was appropriately shown to the Native community on this matter. But it was also apparent that many of the participants had been heavily influenced by popular images and expectations. When Deloria was asked about the popularity of Castenada’s writings, his answer was short and succinct. "Jamake Highwater, Lynn Andrews and Castenada are all of the same genre. Their writing is interesting, but it has nothing to do with Indians." He paused, took a sip of water from a glass, then continued, "It’s about what white people think Indians should be."
that about says it all.
