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 false claims of Native American descent and shamanic knowledge, his exploitation of American Indian beliefs, and the ritual abuse many of his members have gone through. In 1986, Reagan founded the Deer Tribe Metis Medicine Society. The adjective Mayan is sometimes used to refer to the indigenous peoples of parts of Mexico and Central America, their culture, language, and history. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... An Atsina named Assiniboin Boy Native Americans in the United States (also known as Indians, American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples, Aboriginal Americans, Amerindians, Amerinds, or Original Americans) are the indigenous peoples within the territory that is now encompassed by the continental United States and their descendants in... A shaman doctor of Kyzyl. ...

Claims made by Reagan

Ancestry

Reagan claims that he is of Cherokee and Irish decent. This is disputed by the Cherokee Nation: For other uses, see Cherokee (disambiguation). ...

"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." — (Buchanan)

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. — (Hagan)

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). Soke is a Japanese title that means Headmaster (or sometimes translated as Grand Master or Head of the Family). It can mean one who is the leader of any school or the master of a style, but it is most commonly used as a highest level Japanese martial arts title...

It teaches what Reagan terms Chulukua-Ryu ("the only truly American martial arts system") which is said to be a synthesis of Apache fighting techiques with Jiu-Jitsu and Karate [1]. 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. Group of Apaches Apache is the collective name for several culturally related tribes of Native Americans, aboriginal inhabitants of North America, who speak a Southern Athabaskan language. ... Jujutsu (also jujitsu, ju jitsu, ju jutsu, or jiu jitsu; from the Japanese 柔術 jūjutsu gentle/yielding/compliant Art) is a Japanese martial art. ... Karate or karate-dō is a martial art of Okinawan origin. ...

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.

Sex seminars

Reagan appeared on the Home Box Office's program Real Sex in America in 1992, promoting his sex therapy "Chuluaqui Quodoushka " as a Cherokee ritual. The chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma 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". 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. Others are cult techniques for breaking the will of new members, such as having groups of men sexually assault one woman, or having heterosexual men submit to a male cult leader's advances. HBO (Home Box Office) is a premium cable television network with headquarters in New York City. ... Real Sex is a television series broadcast on and a production of HBO. As its name implies, Real Sex is a sexually explicit magazine which explores sex 90s style. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... // Chuluaqui Quodoushka Chuluaqui Quodoushka (CHOO-la-kway Kwuh-DOE-shka) (Also known as the Q to its adherents) Sexual rites of passage are the foundation of the lineage from the Olmecs, Mayans and some secret societies within the Cherokee Nation. ... Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 20th 181,196 km² 355 km 645 km 1. ... Wilma Pearl Mankiller (born November 18, 1945 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma) became the first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation. ... Some American Indians use this term to refer to a European-American person, with little or no social or blood links to any tribe, who claims to be an American Indian. ... Modern translated version of the original Sanskrit. ...

Book about Swiftdeer

• Star Warrior: The Story of Swiftdeer by Bill Wahlberg, Francis Huxley ISBN 187918107X

References

• Buchanan, Susy: “Sacred Orgasm”, New Phoenix Times, 2002-06-13.
• “Letters Page”, New Phoenix Times, 2002-06-27.
• Hagan, Helene E.: “The Plastic Medicine People Circle”, Sonoma County Free Press, September 1992.
• "Real Sex" Offends Cherokees, Tribes Demands Apology from HBO Avis Little Eagle, Lakota Times, March 11, 1992