Harley Reagan

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Harley "SwiftDeer" Reagan (who has also been known to use the alias "Thunder Strikes") is an American new religious movement leader, martial artist and gun enthusiast, controversial for his re-interpretation and marketing of American Indian-based teachings. He is the ire and continual target of Native American traditionalists, along with Carlos Castaneda, Lynn Andrews, Sun Bear, and other well-known teachers condemned by traditionalists. Reagan's critics include the American Indian Movement and other "plastic shaman" busters who provide a plethora of ammunition against his mixed blood Cherokee heritage, possession of shamanic knowledge and controversial Chuluaqui Quodoushka sex seminars to would-be seekers. In 1986, Reagan founded the Deer Tribe Metis Medicine Society.

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[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]

Garroutte[3] similarly rejects Reagan's claim to occupy a traditional ceremonial office in the Cherokee, describing the office as "invented".

[edit] Military service and decorations

Reagan states 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]

Critics allege that the Marines' Military Awards Branch has no record of Reagan receiving the bronze and silver stars he claims. When asked about this for a press interview, Reagan says, "I had several commendations, yeah. I think those are irrelevant. The people who deserved those medals are the ones who are no longer around on grandmother earth."[1]

[edit] Qualifications in martial arts

Reagan states he is a "worldwide Soke of the American Indian Fighting Arts Association", an organization of which he is a co-founder. (Soke is a Japanese term meaning "head master of a style of martial arts.")

Reagan teaches what he calls Chulukua-Ryu ("the only truly American martial arts system") which he purports to be a synthesis of Apache fighting techniques with Jiu-Jitsu and Karate.[4][5] Reagan states that it is the only such martial arts system accredited by the International Society of Black Belts.[4]

[edit] Sacred sexuality seminars

Reagan appeared on the HBO 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] Reagan later claimed that Quodoushka is a blend of many ancient sexual traditions.

A pornographic movie called Quodoushka, Native American Love Techniques was released in 1991, a year before Reagan began teaching his sex therapy. The video is distributed by Vivid Video and stars porn actresses Ashley Nicole, Heather Hart, Hyapatia Lee, and Madison.

Garroutte[3] reports Reagan's claim that he has the right and duty of initiating girls into womanhood by educating them in having sexual intercourse. She is highly critical of the account of this that is given in Reagan's biography, saying that "[w]ith the help of his biographer, he [Reagan] extols the virtues of statutory rape, in the name of cultural continuity, for some hundreds of pages." Curiously, despite Garroutte's published statements, Reagan's biography Star Warrior does not state any such claims. (See further reading.)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Buchanan, Susy. "Sacred Orgasm", Phoenix New Times, New Times Media, 2002-06-13. Retrieved on 2006-06-12. 
  2. ^ Hagan, Helene E.. "The Plastic Medicine People Circle", Sonoma County Free Press, September 1992. 
  3. ^ a b Eva Marie Garroutte (2003). Real Indians: identity and the survival of Native America. University of California Press, 89. ISBN 0520229770. 
  4. ^ a b American Indian Fighting Arts Association "Home of Chulukua-Ryu"
  5. ^ Barnes, Steven (1989), "The Core of Chulukua-Ryu: American Indian Traditions and Techniques". Karate/Kung Fu Illustrated, October, 1989, pp.38-41, 60

[edit] Further reading