TOMMY LIGHTNING BOLT

 

JL: I recently discovered a website entitled New Age Fraud and Plastic Shamans  http://newagefraud.org  In the "about us page" Dr Al Carroll states 

"Native belief systems are COMMUNAL, not focused on the individual's faith like Christianity, and are TRIBE-SPECIFIC. There is NO "generic Indian" form of spirituality. There are as many differences from tribe to tribe as there are between Hinduism and the Church of England. No one would think of teaching those two as the same and calling them "Indo-European," yet many of these FRAUDULENT operators teach a thrown together mishmash of bits and pieces of different beliefs.

TRADITIONAL elders are very cautious about changing rituals and mixing different customs, it does happen, of course, but only after lengthy discussions that can take decades. FRAUDULENT operators are very casual and haphazard in what they do, in a manner that shows they have no understanding of or respect for the sacred.

TRADITIONAL elders DO NOT believe that any ceremony can be done by anyone who feels like it. It's that same caution and respect for the sacred. Yet these FRAUDULENT operators will let anyone do their inaccurate version of a ceremony if they have the money. Vision quests, for example, are intended for young boys age 12 to 14, but boys don't have much money, so these FRAUDULENT operators sell "quests" for hundreds or thousands to mostly middle-aged men and women.

There is also the matter of telling people they can be shamans and charging them for it. If you were interested in Judaism, would you pay money to someone who said he could make you a rabbi in just one weekend seminar? If someone did this and then claimed Jewish objections were foolish, we would recognize he was anti-Semitic. Think about the lack of respect these operators show to native people and beliefs, and to their own followers, by defrauding people.

 

In spite of the various meanings attached to the specific words denoting the shaman in different cultures (yachac, Kitchwa; uwishin, Shuar, Achuar; yagé unkuki and inti paiki Secoya; ido, Huaorani), the shaman's distinguishing characteristic is his ability to manipulate spirits in order to heal by removing bad or evil spirits, or to call upon these spirits to do harm.

Native people DO NOT use the label "Shaman."

JL: What are your thoughts on this?

TLB: It is true that Native American People don't generally use the term "Shaman", but in today's world it is a term most can understand. It is generic at best. The word "Shaman" is actually Russian, it comes from Siberia, it means "teacher", but is being used as a slang term for someone able to dance between the physical world and the spiritual world.

And for those who don't know it the term "Medicine Man" is also NOT Native American. But again, in today's world these are terms more understandable. When I used the term "Shaman's death" in my C.D. bio it was metaphoric, all though I did say "literally". You have to understand what a Shaman's death is, and it is really messy, it is not a pretty picture. but the experience I endured really was a "Shaman's death", and it was done the "old way", and I almost died physically. My teacher told me "you can try to explain to the people what you went through, but they will never understand".

 

JL:  What are your thoughts on this below posted on this same forum?

What We Do & How We Differ From Nuage Frauds

No one at NFPS has ever:

-- sold ceremonies, workshops, seminars, healings, readings, "asteroid avoidance courses" (yes, some frauds actually do), or anything else like that.

-- claimed to be a medicine man, elder, healer, wiseman, "don", "ascended master", "avatar", holy man, or anything else that frauds claim to be.

-- claimed to be descended from Geronimo, Chief Joseph, Black Elk, Crazy Horse, etc. or to "channel" or be the "reincarnation" of those same famous people.

-- told the gullible, vulnerable, and desperate that they had to put out to take part in a made up ceremony, give head, be sodomized, whipped, and even pay to be sexually abused. No one at NAFPS ever molested children as part of their roles as alleged "great leaders".

-- lied or deceived for a living; formed a cult around themselves; threatened lawsuits at anyone that disagreed with them or tried to isolate the people who listen to them from other people, often breaking up families in the process.

-- regarded selling spirituality and pay-to-pray scams as an acceptable way to make a buck (often tens or even hundreds of thousands of them).

 

TLB:   First of all,  I personally do not approve of selling ceremony, nor have I EVER sold or EVER will sell ceremony. I do think that it is spiritually wrong. How ever just  because someone may sell ceremony does not necessarily make them phony, it throws into question their ethics. I have never conducted workshops or seminars. I am not allowed to openly teach just anyone. And would someone please explain to me what an "asteroid  avoidance course" is! PLEASE tell me they are joking!! Secondly,  as for claiming to be a medicine man ect... didn't Black Elk say he was a medicine man and talk about medicine in a public forum, along with many other "Untouchables" (people beyond reproach) Fools Crow, Geronimo, Lame Deer ect... ?  Third, If you are the descendant of someone famous you cant share that? You cant honor your ancestors? What kind of garbage is that? And most of the order of medicine carriers I was made a part of are "Ancients", they have been walking this continent for thousands and in some cases millions of years. Those people at NAFPS don't have the first clue about true mysticism. There are documented cases of mystics being able to "Bi-Locate" (to be in two places at the same time)! My point being is that if some one such as my teacher reveals himself to be Fools Crow it CAN be real! Several people I know have told me that Fools Crow has come to different people in different TIMES throughout history. Does that make him phony? I think people better have some respect for the sacred themselves and stop pointing the finger and clean up their own side walk first! Fourth, Sexual abuse is one of the most hurtful and longest lasting forms of abuse on the planet, and people who do this are way beyond "in trouble". I would never do this kind of thing for I know what it is like to be a survivor. Nor would I "get involved" with anyone I was doctoring. My teacher told me this is an ethical boundary that should never be crossed, and I know in my heart he is right.

Photo © David Michel Kennedy

 

I have seen people make up these kind of allegations also, and they do because they are such lethal character assassination darts, which is why they use them. And I have seen some of these allegations be proven wrong as blatant lies and still the lies get spread. People of all walks of life abuse and I feel it is VERY wrong, there is too much hurt on this planet. Fifth, These people are lying on that web site about some good people. I am not saying that everyone on that site that is listed as fraudulent is not "fraudulent", I am saying that not every one on that site that is listed as fraudulent is fraudulent and I know this for a fact, my self included. I do not approve of "cult followings". As for law suits, people have a right to defend themselves from attack, character assassination and blatant lies. These kind of lies that these people are spreading break up families, which makes NAFPS hypocrites and two faced. Sixth, It is never o.k. to sell ceremony or make a living in this manner. If you are true to your path, and walk it in a good way, Creator will provide in his own way all that you NEED, not WANT. A friend said to me "A righteous man needs for not, for if you live righteously all that you need will be provided for you by God".

Now lets talk about what these "fraud hunters" ARE doing. Defamation of character, slander, libel, character assassination, gossip mongering, lying, (by the way didn't these same kind of people do these same kinds of things to Jesus?) hiding behind a web site to afraid to say their true names while trying to destroy true servants of the Great Creator and doing the work of the "dark ones", and taking sadistic pleasure in it in the process. And by the way, Why did they attack you John? True spiritual people encourage people to ask questions, not invade their privacy by throwing their home address on the internet. These people are "people" not "human beings" they have a lot of learning to do and growing up to do, they are acting like they are on the elementary school playground.

 

JL: Yes funny you ask. Im not sure exactly but It started when someone posted a thread entitled "disturbing" then AlCarroll/Educated Indian and Barnaby McEwan (Administrator) added their comments. Then I responded in agreement saying yes it is disturbing and listed my reasons why I agreed. For some strange reason they perceived me as promoting the people I Interviewed. Which I explained I was not and was just asking objective questions. I'm not anyone's PR person.  What really set them off is when I asked to see their evidence on why they were calling LBW a fraud and the rest. 

What I do see is a pattern that Al Carroll/educated Indian attacks anyone who seems to not to fit into his compartment of what he believes an authentic medicine man should be. It looks like he took it upon himself to be the new age Tomás de Torquemada.  "The hammer of heretics".  A part of It appears its based on the Green Grass proclamation 

Another reason is Kevin Annett. The priest up in Canada I interviewed who brought to light the rape, torture and the murders of 50,000 native residential schoolchildren. The only other native person I can think of that has a problem with this is a well known police agent up in Canada. That AIM and Sea Shepherd Society outed. Now why would anyone have a problem with bringing murderers and pedophiles to justice?  Its interesting because these self proclaimed newage busters criticize someone for selling a dream catcher, but if you're a human rights activist like Kevin Annett and is breaking up pedophile rings, you get called revolting and exploitive by Al Carroll and especially Barnaby McEwan  See Kevin Annett's film here  unrepentant  

In my opinion  Kevin Annett deserves a Nobel peace prize and his film unrepentant an Academy award for best new documentary and not this newagefraud nonsense. This is someone who has devoted his whole life to this and has basically sacrificed everything for this cause. He has not made a single penny on it.

What was also fascinating was as soon as I got too close to the truth, Al Carroll would immediately delete it and insert artificial comments about what I had just said. In some cases the exact opposite and then proceeded to tell me that the worst insult of all American native insults is to tell some one  "you behave as if you have no family" I then told him Im not insulted at all and at that point he deleted my password.

He did this especially towards the end of the disturbing post. For example when I told him what I thought his website was really lacking so he deleted it. See this here by Dave Chief   Then I told him this and he deleted that too and to reductio ad absurdum.

He does come across as if he wants to start a race war.  He keeps on saying we are not racist,  in every other sentence on his" who we are" page as if he thinks if he keeps saying this enough times he will start to believe his we are not racist mantra and self hypnosis.  Out of 110 interviews I have conducted, he basically harps on three or four like a broken record. He says I promoted one medicine man he accuses of committing rape, six months after I interviewed him.  Another he calls a "twisted haired pervert" I have never even heard off. Then he writes a blog on indianz.com and throws in Ward Churchill and 911 conspiracy theories and ultra left wing politics into the mix and jumbles it all up and talks about my bowler hat.

What I really found interesting was that no one was able to answer why a heyoka like John Fire Lame Deer was in the American church and taking peyote either. Or why was Black Elk was a catholic and also medicine man?   Or why Fools Crow was also a Bahai.  The other thing that gave him away as when I found out he viciously attacked a senior citizen who went on his site to defend herself for practicing shamanism.

TLB: I noticed that those people pulled down some of your posts. Especially the ones that you so eloquently wield the sword of truth. When you wield the sword of truth people like that run scurrying like rats with their tails between their legs!  As to the "box" people have
this distorted version of what a medicine man should be, as if they are above making mistakes. I will be the first person to say that I have made mistakes, but I have LEARNED from them and they have made me a much better human being. I will quote a friend and what he said to me (with permission):
 

In response to my having challenged this site's authority to sit in judgment on me, I have been subjected to a very nasty cocktail of abuse by some of the forum's members. That cocktail was made up of a combination of ignorance, fear, hatred, sexism, racism, ageism, and misogyny, as well as other forms of abuse . The horrible deaths of two of my family members was used as part of an attack on me, and my own physical and psychological suffering during my initiation experience were discounted  Scarlet Kinney

www.thestandingbear.com

John Fire Lame Deer is a very well known heyoka who took peyote and belonged to the American church.  He said "in a way the peyote cult as it is practice by many American Sioux is a perfect marriage of Indian and Christian beliefs. That part is alright. We really believe all religions are the same - all part of the great spirit.  The trouble is not with Christianity, with religion but what you have made out of it. You have turned it upside down. you have made the religion  of the protest leader and the hippy Jesus into a religion of missionaries , army parades, bureau of Indian affairs officials. These are together different religions my friend"  from Lame Deer Seeker of Visions.

I WANT a medicine man that has made mistakes, someone who has been there, who has had life experiences. Someone that I can relate to. Someone I can respect. To me, a flawless medicine man is phony.
                                      M. Gutherie -Ojibway

People like NAFPS don't have the first clue as to what it means to be a "human being". They are so miserable in their own lives that they have to try to make other people miserable too so they are not alone in their own misery. The actual truth is these people need prayers, they are sick. I will pray for them that they may come to understand the meaning of what it means to be a human being. These people are ignorant and conceited and when they point the finger they forget there are three fingers pointing back at them. This is EXACTLY what Fools Crow meant when he said "those who complain about people giving away medicine secrets know the least"! People who try to sabotage the servants of Creator are showing their own ignorance as to the work of Wakan Tanka.

And if they open their mouths it becomes even more obvious.    As for a peyote eating Heyoka like Lame Deer, people don't understand again that spirit can be found ANYWHERE if you are sincere and true in heart. Or Black Elk being Catholic, or Fools Crow being Bahai AND a devout Catholic! IT IS ALL THE SAME GOD, ALL THE SAME SPIRIT!!! PEOPLE PLEASE OPEN UP YOUR MINDS (it wont hurt I promise)!!!!

If these NAFPS people want to look for frauds they should check out the mental health community! Psychiatrists and Psychologists are some of the biggest scam artists on the planet, with their "theories" and bogus "medications" that can cause SUICIDE! In fact NAFPS should especially check out their medication for "delusional thinking", "grandiose ideation", "psychotic symptoms" and "paranoia", it sounds like these people may have an axis 2 diagnosis, and an axis 1 diagnosis to boot!   In fact If they are having mental health issues maybe they are "shamans" and know it, and are afraid of it and this is why they do what they do! 

The nafps is the internet's version of the Ku Klux Klan.the Nafps slander any true Medicine Man and human  being who is not in their pocket, and black mail Medicine Men,(do as we say or we will ruin you!)"

A brother in the Mii-Dii-Wii-An (The great Medicine Society) has said this about this issue: Are these people working for the C.I.A., or F.B.I., or something else? The old smear campaign against medicine people, divide and conquer concept. Who made these people God? How are  they qualified to sit on judgment on anyone? Who qualified them, the evil spirits, powers, and forces...or the Government? As they sit in judgment a much higher court is judging them!

I will quote something that A true medicine Man said to one of  his students that I have found to be profoundly true.

"This is not your choosing. You don't have the right or authority to interfere with what the great spirit has decided. You were chosen to be a Medicine man long before you came into this body on this earth. You have a duty and a responsibility to follow the calling. If not you will hurt your family, your people, and the spiritual function and design of the Universe. Sure, it's a tough  life. Your own Indian people will make fun of you, they will talk bad about you, they will probably even call you a phony or something. But the Great Creator Knows, The mother Earth knows, your relations in Nature know, the numerous people from all walks of life you will help, heal and teach will know; and you will know. That is all that really matters. And when things get tough in life you will just have to grin and bear it. That is one of the ways for a true Medicine Man. You take on the suffering, the fear, the hate, the anger, the pain, the confusion, and the sickness of the people. That is why you are different. And you can't run and hide from it. You were put here on the Earth to do a job for the Great Creator. Like it or not, you've got to be strong and just do it."

A Legal History of Blood Quantum in Federal Indian Law to 1935

The paper traces the development of the use of blood quantum, or fractional amounts of Indian blood to define Indian in federal law up to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

 

JL: Yes agree with that. I recently discovered that the BIA in Mescarlero New Mexico knows nothing about Al Carroll. Apparently he is not an enrolled, affiliated or is recognized by members of the Mescerleo apache tribe. They checked the records going back 125 years. No one else seems to have heard of this man either. There are many legitimate reasons not to be enrolled, but in his case its a weak defense and the fact that he uses an insult about Geronimo on his bio Goyathlay "one who yawns" isn't helping his case either. www.americanindianprisoners.com/Pages/Al%20Carroll.htm  That's what the US Calvary used to mock him. To Insult him when they locked him up in prison and after violating the treaties. That's more like something that would come out of the mouth of a member of the Scull and Bones Society. Not a PhD apache college professor.

TLB: It figures!! I rest my case! These people don't have a clue because they are not true. In fact these people are largely "behaving as if they have no family"! HOWEVER, I do know native people who do not have "cards" some little white man card that says "Yes this person is Indian". But clearly some one who is not even enrolled should not be
saying as "fact" that this person or that person is a "fraud". But bottom line is NO ONE has that right. I will say for myself to the people here and now,

"I wouldn't recommend taking my word for it that I carry medicine, and I wouldn't recommend taking these peoples word for it that I or other people on their "fraud" list don't carry medicine. I recommend that you FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF! I recommend that you listen to your OWN heart. PRAY to Wakan Tanka (Creator), ASK Creator for guidance. The saying IS true, ask and you shall receive, knock and the doors will be opened unto you."-Lightning Bolt

 

Thank you for sending me a copy of that "Green Grass Proclamation" by Arvol Looking Horse. How can he say those things? No non card carrying Indian should be allowed to carry eagle feathers? What about the Indians who have been railroaded out of their birth rights by the Government AND other Indians ie: Indians who have and are kicking out their own tribal members so they can selfishly hoard the Casino money for themselves (1,000,000,000$ goes further between 200 Indians than 2000 Indians)! 

Further more, A Sun Dance leader once said "how can we not let people of other races into that arbor when all four colors of all four races hang in that Sun Dance arbor" White, Yellow, Black, Red. I am shocked that Arvol would say other races "keep out (basically)" Racism knows no bounds.

 

hy·poc·ri·sy
Pronunciation: hi-'pä-kr&-sE also hI-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -sies
Etymology: Middle English ypocrisie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrisis, from Greek hypokrisis act of playing a part on the stage, hypocrisy, from hypokrinesthai to answer, act on the stage, from hypo- + krinein to decide -- more at CERTAIN
1 : a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
2 : an act or instance of hypocrisy

 

An elder said that proclamation is "evil" and "crazy", He said these people are "crazy". And who the heck is Arvol to say anything about people selling the "sacred" when he himself was (or still is) selling copies of the sacred "Star Book" ON LINE! Some one I know said once "Hypocrisy is one of the biggest sins". And people complaining about people saying they are medicine people when they themselves are showing off their Sun Dance scars in public interviews and public places! Would that make them a "Quazie Sun Dancer"? That proclamation is ALL politics and my teacher said that politics is not Native American, it is a "white thing". Remember in our first interview I mentioned that people try to dictate who can and can't carry medicine, or be a medicine person? Politics! This whole situation is proving my point to a tee! These people are putting themselves in the place of the Great Creator! Man-o-man I would not want to be in their shoes when their judgment day comes!!

JL: Yes. So you never have done any of the things these newagefraud people have accused you off. Sold ceremony, healings etc.

 

TLB: NO! Certainly NOT! Never. If I was to sell ceremony then I may as well shoot myself, because if I was to sell ceremony all that I am would be dead already. I honor the gifts of Wakan Tanka (Creator). I do not exploit them. My true teacher said that people who sell ceremony are selling their power, it is their power in the sense that they have the power to harness the powers of Wakan Tanka the Great Spirit. I don't sell out on my creator. I love Wakan Tanka too much for that. And despite the "Wolves in sheep's clothing" who are saying these terrible things about true servants of the Great Spirit I will unwaveringly hold on to my faith in Creator.

I encourage the people to look at what one of my elders said regarding how often these "fraud hunters" make accusations of some kind of sexual misconduct and ask yourselves why? These "fraud hunters" who have the audacity to think that they are "helping" the people by exposing these so called "frauds" just because a medicine person doesn't fit in to their tiny little box, to bear this in mind, The road to hell is paved with good intentions! What is going to happen I wonder when these "fraud hunters" end up at some point in their life when they need help and no one is around to help them except one of these servants of Creator that they have smeared?

 

The part that concerns me the most is that some one who may need help AND IS WORTHY OF HELP may take these evil lies to heart and not ask the one person at the right time, at the right place, who could of helped them and not receive the healing that they DESERVED, in which case the karmic backlash of this will land on the heads of these so called "fraud hunters". Brothers and sisters of the Mii-Dii-Wii-An (The Great Medicine Society) I bring you this message to Take heart! Please don't loose faith in the Great Creator, or stop helping the people over these smear campaigns. We have survived for hundreds and hundreds of years, we will continue to survive as long as we hold onto Wakan Tanka (the Creator)!  I love you, I pray with you, and for you, I support you, I bleed with you, I cry with you, I hold you in my heart along with Creator. Keep up the Great work! Creator will deal with these with these evil people in his time and in his way. I love you! Please take Care of the people, and yourselves, they are counting on us!
                                Mitakuye Oyas'in
                               (All My Relations) 
                                 Lightning Bolt

www.lightningboltchichakos.com