Iromeisters Abenteuerreise

I write this entry in English so that the people of the First Nations to whom it is addressed can understand it. Eine kurze deutsche Erklärung siehe unten.

When I read the Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality for the first time I felt deeply embarrassed and guilty. This was the first time I realised that so-called plastic medicine men (and women) or shame-ons exploit Native American culture and rituals. Nobody declares war just for fun. This shows how debased the Lakota must feel by the practices of plastic medicine people.
NAFPS - new-age frauds & plastic shamans is a good place to start when you want to learn more about this cultural sellout. If you are interested in the real spirituality of the First Nations, then have a look here.
In the list of frauds at the "Respect = go-hi-yu-hi" site I found several plastic medicine people whom I had believed to be honest Native American spiritual teachers:

• Manitonquat, alleged member of the Wampanoag tribe. His homepage is Mettanokit. Manitonquat has been a guest at the ZEGG several times.
• Michael Harner, founder of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. I knew he is not a Native American himself, but nevertheless followed his "core shamanism" and attended one of the FSS's "base seminars". See also the article "Shamans & Shame-ons"
• Carlos Castaneda, I read several of his books and liked them very much. I do like them still, but from now on I know they are completely ficticious and have nothing to do with actual Yaqui spirituality. See also the article "The sorcerer's apprentice"
• Dhyani Ywahoo who also has contacts to the ZEGG
• the Skwanasie StudyGroupLodge at the ZEGG, linked to Harley 'Swift Deer' Reagan, founder of the Deer Tribe’s Metis Medicine Society
• Sun Bear and Wallace Black Elk

My message to all American Native People:

I confess having sympathised with some plastic medicine men. Because I honour the culture and spirituality of the First Nations, I will never again trust someone to be a "true Native American medicine person" without examining that person's background. Furthermore, I will not take isolated parts of Native American spirituality to build my own spiritual world view, nor will I take part in rituals for cash.
To repeat: I respect the spirituality of the First Nations and will not use a single bit of it without explicit permission by First Nations people.

For those interested, there's an extensive article on the subject published in The American Indian Quarterly.
Some more links:

• The Rise of the Plastic Medicine Men
• Fake Medicine Men
• Native Religions & "Plastic Medicine Men"
• Our Red Earth
• New Age (and Other) Ripoff Sites

Hier nun also die Erläuterung auf Deutsch: Es geht um so genannte "Plastikschamanen", also Menschen die sich als nordamerikanische IndianerInnen (oder auch australische Aborigines u.a., siehe z.B. Marlo Morgan) ausgeben & für Geld deren Rituale anbieten sowie in Büchern ihre Version von "indianischer Spiritualität" verkaufen. Die Lakota haben 1993 eine Kriegserklärung gegen die Ausbeutung der Spiritualität der Lakota abgegeben. Die hat mich sehr getroffen. Wie sehr müssen diese Menschen sich entwürdigt fühlen, dass sie Krieg erklären!!

Oben liste ich etliche Platikschamanen auf, mit denen ich schon in der ein oder anderen Form zu tun hatte, darunter Michael Harner, der Gründer der Foundation for Shamanic Studies. Bei der Foundation habe ich schon einmal eines der "Basisseminare" mitgemacht, nachdem ich eine ganze Weile davor bereits Harners Buch gelesen hatte. Carlos Castaneda dürfte durch seine Bücher weithin bekannt sein.
Im ZEGG leben ebenfalls einige Anhänger von Plastikschamanen, siehe Beitrag aus dem ZEGG-Reader 2004 sowie Lust und Wissen. Das tut mir besonders weh, weil mir das was das ZEGG macht sehr am Herzen liegt. Ich werde die Betreffenden darauf ansprechen, weil ich das nicht auf mir sitzen lassen kann.