Harley Reagan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harley "SwiftDeer" Reagan (who has also gone by the nicknames "Swifthorse" and "Thunder Strikes", a Mayan persona) is an American New Age cult leader and survivalist, controversial for his exploitation of American Indian beliefs, his claims of Native American descent and possessing shamanic knowledge. In 1986, Reagan founded the Deer Tribe Metis Medicine Society.
Contents |
[edit] Claims made by Reagan
[edit] Ancestry
Reagan claims that he is of Cherokee and Irish descent. This is disputed by the Cherokee Nation:
"What we find are numerous false prophets out there playing Indian and making a buck. Frankly, we are overwhelmed with these folks," says Dr. Richard Allen, a research and policy analyst for the Cherokee Nation who has been receiving complaints about Reagan for more than 10 years. "To start with, [Reagan] claims he grew up on a Cherokee reservation in Texas. The Cherokee don't even have reservations. We've always owned our land, fee simple." Allen says Reagan's claims are merely a marketing technique. "He's not a member of the Cherokee Nation."[1]
For many years a number of Native American leaders have stated that Mr. Reagan is a Caucasian man who has adopted a false Indian identity, as have many of the people listed as venerable teachers by Sedonia Cahill, Bird Brother and The Great Round in their publications.[2]
[edit] Military service and decorations
Reagan claims that he joined the United States Marine Corps in 1959 after being kicked out of the United States Air Force Academy, and went on to complete four tours of duty in Vietnam as a gunnery sergeant, for which he claims he was awarded bronze and silver stars. What ended his military service, in Reagan's account, was being blown out of a helicopter by enemy fire and tumbling 300 feet to the ground, after which he recovered in Bethesda Naval Hospital and was discharged in 1969. Later, Reagan claims, he performed "black operations" for the United States government.[1]
The Marines' Military Awards Branch has no record of Reagan receiving the bronze and silver stars he claims. When questioned about the discrepancy, Reagan repeated his claim to have received the commendations, but called them "irrelevant."[1]
[edit] Qualifications in martial arts
Reagan claims to be a "worldwide Soke of the American Indian Fighting Arts Association", an organization of which he is a co-founder. (Soke is a Japanese term unrelated to Native Americans).
It teaches what Reagan terms Chulukua-Ryu ("the only truly American martial arts system") which is said to be a synthesis of Apache fighting techniques with Jiu-Jitsu and Karate [3]. Reagan states that it is the only such martial arts system "accredited by the International Society of Black Belts", an organisation that does not exist outside of the promotional literature for Reagan's American Indian Fighting Arts Association.
Reagan's claim of teaching "Native American martial arts" of more than 160 tribes is itself fabricated, since he has had little if any contact with actual Native people, much less elders. His titles are also themselves fictitious, widely disdained within the martial arts field since they can be purchased.
[edit] Sex seminars
Reagan appeared on the HBO's program Real Sex in America in 1992, promoting his sex therapy "Chuluaqui Quodoushka" as a Cherokee ritual. The chief of the Cherokee Nation at the time, Wilma Mankiller, threatened to sue HBO for misrepresentation, and a resolution was passed by the Cherokee condemning Reagan and other "plastic shamans".[1][4] Reagan later claimed that Quodoushka is a blend of many ancient sexual traditions to avoid a lawsuit. In fact most of his practices are a clear imitation of the Kama Sutra.
A Hard-Core Porn movie called Quodoushka, Native American Love Techniques (or Quodoushka) came out in 1991 (the year before Harley promoted "his" sex therapy), distributed by Vivid Video and starring such hard-core porn actresses as Ashley Nicole, Heather Hart, Hyapatia Lee, and Madison.
[edit] Book about Swiftdeer
- Star Warrior: The Story of Swiftdeer by Bill Wahlberg, Francis Huxley ISBN 1-879181-07-X
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Buchanan, Susy. "Sacred Orgasm", Phoenix New Times, New Times Media, 2002-06-13. Retrieved on 2006-06-12.
- ^ Hagan, Helene E.. "The Plastic Medicine People Circle", Sonoma County Free Press, September 1992.
- ^ missingauthor (missingdate). missingtitle. missingpublisher.
- ^ Avis Little Eagle. ""Real Sex" Offends Cherokees, Tribes Demands Apology from HBO", Lakota Times, 1992-03-11.
- "Letters Page", New Phoenix Times, 2002-06-27.
