If you're concerned, do a google on the relevant links. But the person who originally posted this on Craigslist is 100% correct: a lot of people are out there marketing tantra who have not received training from a genuine lineage.

Verify all claims. It is worrisome that the person on the wholebodywisdom site calls himself 'a recovering intellectual' and that he claims to have given classes at the medical center at University of California, San Francisco.

The Craigslist poster wrote:

I've been getting alot of spam lately from [www.wholebodywisdom.com] a local Bay Area SCAM SITE that is charging $300 for workshops called: Inspiring Masculine Presence - Unleashing Feminine Fire - Which is really a front for David Deida devotees to make a living off unsuspecting victims who are seeking some New-Agey wisdom.

'Who is David Deida, you ask? A misogynous homophobe Charlatan who claims to be a 'Tantric Master' and writes lots of lovely prose* and poetry* that is ambiguous and misleading and has made him rich.... teaching something akin to a bizarre form of Christianity, masking as New-Agey Tantra-Buddhism.

'It has nothing to do with tantra as tantra came out of India. It's that bizarre Americanized stuff; ideas like teaching men to really dominate women to make them happy, and women to give in to this domination to find 'happiness and fulfillment'.

'Group process at some of the David Deida inspired groups (like H.A.I.) is everyone getting naked and slithering around on each other in a pile on the floor. Now this is very exciting to many, when they've lead a typical self-deprived american lifestyle, and nothing wrong with that per se, just harmless entertainment.

'But the sad part is that it's a part of teaching the machismo crap to men who are already messed up because of the unbalanced masculinity they learned in childhood. And sad is that it teaches women to just shut up and submit to men; as if this was an expression of real femininity.

'Although women are to be called 'goddess'; a goddess is only a woman who is submissive to men. (plural). It also teaches that men are masculine only and women are feminine only and that there are no gay people, no bisexual people, no people with balanced masculinity and femininity inside.

'Not something that's really helping the world in my opinion.

Beware these Charlatans!! (and many other's like them) posing as Tantric Masters or Mistresses, Vedic Teachers, etc).'

**
(corboy notes: Someone can write material that is inspiring, that even awakens spiritual potential in sincere persons. However, eloquence does not guarantee that the author has the integrity, maturity and necessary training to lead groups, do individual guidance, or oversee a community.

A veteran spiritual seeker told me that the most eloquent spiritual letters he'd read were from a criminal psychopath serving a life sentence in a state prison.

Carlos Castaneda was one of the most inspiring writers of the 1960s-70s, but he became the sadistic leader of a highly destructive cult. [www.sustainedaction.org])

The ability to inspire is not by itself enough to function validly as a healer or as a leader of a community of seekers. Adult maturity, genuine altruism, honesty, and a great deal of training are needed if one is to teach through the medium of personal relationship or lead a community.

Hmm... I just got a catalog for Omega's "Living a Fearless Life" conference, at which David Deida will be taking participants thru" a unique dialog process/performance art experience that provides practical tools for living our everyday lives with ever-deepening artistry. "

A quick look at Deida's web site, especially "About DD" turned up no concrete info on him. There is a promotional blurb about him that gives no real info and the author is unknown, though one might be led to think that Coleman Barks wrote it, but it's not clear. The typical "internationally known" speaker, author, workshop leader, etc. appears but no CV. There's a list of schools where he has taught, but this means nothing, as campuses are great places to rent space for workshops or to participate in their events.

I used to set up speaking engagements for my doc, so I know. The internet makes it easy to look popular, too, when many "hits come up in a name search.

Just some thoughts for anyone interested in ANYONE offering transformation - ask lots of questions.