anyone have information on this man? operates mostly in Arizona utilizing phony native american agenda. some members practice "soul retrieval". There is a lot about him on the web but I am interested in former members' observations. thanks/

This statement by a council of Native American Elders sums up the problem. You could try and contact some of the people listed here and see if they know this man and what his standing is.

[sustainedaction.org]

Someone posted here describing her involvement in two dysfunctional groups whose leaders claimed to be shamans. You might PM 'cozyquiltz' and see if she crossed paths with the person you're describing.

[board.culteducation.com]

'soul retrieval' does [i:a21e5ab6bc]not [/i:a21e5ab6bc]sound like something that genuine Native American medicine people would do--however it is an entree on many New Age menus.

There is a big thread discussion on this topic here

[board.culteducation.com]

I recently joined this group to discuss a friend's involvement in a psychotherpsy cult called the Pathwork. I recall my friend saying he went to ONE weekend retreat hosted by Swift Deer and an Asian woman who he assumed was Swift Deer's wife or girlfriend. This would have been back in the late 80's or eraly 90's. My friend's Pathwork therapist recommended his going to one of Swift Deer's week-ends re "sexual issues" and "learning to open up sexually," based on the recommendation of another Pathwork therapist. (The second Pathwork therapist later denied recommending Swift Deer but by that time my friend had already attended). He later showed me some of the hand-outs and reading material. It had something to do with the American "Indian wheel" and your place in the Universe related to this Indian wheel. As far as the sexuality is concerned, he said everybody basically sat around naked and then took turns standing up in front of the whole crowd to have their genitals analyzed-or perhaps categorized would be a better word- according to this American Indian philosophy (apparently genital configurations and shapes of both men and women have a parallel to various animals- i.e. "bear man," "mink woman," etc.).
There was sexual experimentation (couples, trios, whatever) but no intercourse- at least that he witnessed. Intercourse was supposedly not allowed. All the attendees were annointed by the Asian woman with some sort of "sacred oil" which my friend swears sent him reeling. The more "repressed" attendees were encouraged to spend time on their backs yelling and screaming out loud to loosen up. One of the attendees - a therapist, if I recall my friends recollections correctly- spent a good half hour chanting various prayers of worship to various planets and their energies. The week-end wrapped up with a "sweat lodge" where everytbody spent time in tents heated by hot coals followed by a wipe- down with towels, preceded by a fan-down with palm leaves or something. That's all I know and it's second-hand.
Oh, yeah. And my friend said that someone- I don't know if it was Swift Deer himself or someone else- claimed that Swift Deer was related (I'm not sure how closely or distantly) to the late President Ronald Regan.

sound like warmed-over encounter group stuff. Started at places like Esalen, then propagated far and wide, in a variety of names.

Among tribal peoples, sexuality is usually treated with the utmost respect, often hedged in with many precautions and taboos. (And this is for practical reasons.. Tribal peoples live close to nature and Mother Nature doesnt forgive errors. In such conditions, living close to the edge, people learn fast not to be careless with sexuality and the dangers of using it for casual entertainment purposes.)

This acting out described above sounds like tintillation, something to staged to turn on bored suburbanites, and assuage consciences by calling it 'spiritual.'

Variou statements by tribal peoples indicate that medicine people and shamans do not market themselves or do outreach to non tribal peoples--period.

No argument, here.

see if this matches with what you've already observed.

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and

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