The N e w A g e Movement's Appropriation of

Native Spirituality: S o m e Political Implications

for the Algonquian Nation

SUSANNE MISKIMMIN
University of Western Ontario

In the predawn darkness, a line of figures can barely be discerned as

they slip into the makeshift sweat lodge. Inside, in the oppressive heat,
they encircle thefireand concentrate on purifying the mind, the body and
the earth. Sweet grass is thrown on the fire to aid this process of
purification. In turn, each individual gives h o m a g e to the spirits. O n e
honours Kitche-Manitou, one the Four Directions, another acknowledges
the summer solstice while a fourth gives thanks to the Goddess. It is a
scene becoming more and more c o m m o n in the suburbia surrounding
large Canadian cities. It is the N e w Agers.
The participants are, for the most part, "white" and of Euro-Canadian
heritage. The leader, however, is often a person claiming "mixed blood",
although more often than not this claim to native heritage is only the
most tenuous genetic thread linking an otherwise "white" individual to a
vague and uncertain Indian ancestor. This thread is embellished and
relished. Even individuals with absolutely no possible claim to native
heritage are in fact making that claim, or are culturally adopting what is
genetically lacking. This desire to be Indian has m u c h to do with the
N e w A g e M o v e m e n t which has sparked a n e w interest in traditional
native spirituality. Native spirituality is revered for its connection to the
earth and its respect for harmony and balance in all things and Indians are
envisioned to be the spiritual healers of Euro-Canadian maladies. A
market for Indian religious experience has developed throughout North
America and "guides" such as those noted above have c o m e forward to
give spiritual counselling. In actual fact, the N e w A g e Movement's
approach to native spirituality is a "grab bag" of native spiritual
traditions, with an emphasis on Algonquian and Plains spiritual belief
combined with holistic healing and "human potential" language.
206 SUSANNE MISKIMMIN

Not surprisingly, m a n y entrepreneurs have embraced this fad as an

opportunity for great profit. They sell sweat lodges or vision quests
which promise individual and global healing. O r they sell books and
weekend retreats which propose to teach traditional ceremonies to bring
out the Indian in everyone. A visit to the local N e w A g e Shop reveals
a bevy of items created to enhance the spirituality of the N e w Ager.
Here, you can buy sweet grass for purifying, shaman's rattles and drums
for that at h o m e ritual, dream catchers, medicine wheels or tools of
divination, such as "Sacred Path Cards" and "Medicine Cards". These
cards are heralded as "an extraordinary tool for self-discovery which
draws on the strength and beauty of Native American spiritual tradition.
Developed by [a] Native American medicine teacher... this unique system
distils the essential wisdom of the sacred tradition of m a n y tribal
traditions and shows users the w a y to transform their lives." Each card
depicts a symbol of native spirituality and an accompanying text relates
an "authentic" native story to aid in interpretation and direct meditation.
N e w Agers are responding to a genuinely felt emotional need within
dominant society. Despairing of their feelings of spiritual emptiness and
the lack of meaning in their lives, N e w Agers look to others for succour
rather than seeking transformation from within. Those w h o embrace
native spirituality, for the most part, believe that in doing so they admire
and express respect for First Nations. O n the surface, this attitude toward
native heritage m a y indeed appear a positive thing; that native spiritual-
ity is being revered and celebrated. In this paper, I hope to illustrate that
this is not the case. Stereotyping, appropriation and the politics of
primitivism are intrinsic to the N e w A g e Movement's "adoption" of
native spirituality and a dispute over ownership and authenticity has
resulted.
In her article "The tribe called Wannabee: playing Indian in America
and Europe", Rayna Green (1988) traces the history of the "whiteman's"
tendency to emulate Indians from the time of initial contact to the
present. This tendency, which she coins "playing Indian", offers an
unique opportunity to escape the conventional and often highly restrictive
boundaries of the "whiteman's" fixed cultural identity. Green finds that
the role of "playing Indian" began to have spiritual implications in the
late 19th century and was connected to several important notions: that
 APPROPRIATION OF NATIVE SPIRITUALITY 207

Indians inhabit the spirit world, that Indians are wise and skilled in
healing, and that a m e d i u m directed by a guiding spirit can speak to, or
instruct, others. M a n y of these spirit guides were perceived to be Indian.
A precursor of the N e w A g e fascination with Algonquian spirituality
began in the 1960s, w h e n counter culture hippies, wearing headbands,
love beads, fringed jackets and feathers and inspired by such cult books
as those of Carlos Castaneda, began to show up on Southwestern mesas
and reservation areas in search of peyote cults and a state of "higher
consciousness" (Green 1988:44).
T w o early forms of "guruism" constitute the major literary forms in
North American culture which led to the birth of the N e w A g e M o v e -
ment. In thefirstof these, the persona of a famous Indian leader offers
the "truth" of the h u m a n condition through the voice of a wise, old, (and
now conveniently dead) chief. In the second mode, the old guru gives
the teachings through the transcriptions of a non-native student. Indian
"truth" and wisdom are purveyed by the "white Indians" to an audience
which prefers the white shaman to the real Indian (Green 1988).
One of the more notorious authors to write in an Indian persona was
Jamake Highwater, an alleged Cherokee/Blackfoot from either Montana
or Canada (the story varies), born by his o w n assertion in several
different years. Prior to his "rebirth" as an Indian, Highwater appeared
as Jay Marks, a non-Indian whose main literary claim to fame was his
"authorized" biography of rock star Mick Jagger in the late 1960s. In
response to having been revealed by a native newspaper to be of
Armenian Jewish heritage, Highwater, clad in expensive "Santa Fe Chic"
clothing, insisted that he is Indian because — and I quote — "I say I a m "
(Highwater 1981).
T w o recent works in the "guru" genre attract attention because of
their phenomenal success — Carlos Castaneda and Lynn Andrews (Green
1988). Castaneda's series of works on the teachings of D o n Juan were
tendered both as serious anthropology and as an authoritative treatise on
Indian life. Lynn Andrews capitalized on Castaneda's success and her
own interest in feminism with her account of the teachings of her wise
spiritual guide, Agnes Whistling Elk, whose apparent life's ambition was
to unburden herself of her people's sacred knowledge to thefirstavailable
"white" w o m a n . These works, along with Highwater's, have been
208 SUSANNE MISKIMMIN

instrumental in engendering the vast and avid d e m a n d for native religious

experience.
The image of native people held by m a n y Euro-Canadians has been
imprisoned in history. This has m a d e it possible for N e w Agers to
identify with images of First Nations people in the past and attempt to
possess part of this identity, without considering the impact of this
appropriation on the present. A s D o n Alexander writes, "From cigar
store Indian, to cowboy and Indian movies, to the 'noble savage', native
people live in a prison of images not of their o w n making" (1986:45).
These pervasive images, removed from the daily reality of native peoples,
mask their struggles for empowerment. They do not reflect the history
of native people but rather express another heritage; those representations
of natives by the non-native social imagination which fragments and
freezes native identity. Native peoples exist within a milieux of images
and contradictory symbols which result from history, consumerism and
popular culture. These images have silently contradicted the lived
experiences of native people and have worked to construct a discourse of
subordination. They are pervasive and powerful and their influence on
native identity has political implications. These images are intrinsic to
the debates surrounding aboriginal rights and resources, cultural tourism
and cultural trespassing, intellectual property and cultural appropriation.
Further, the concern for "authenticity" and the "desire to rescue
'authenticity' out of destructive historical change" as Clifford puts it
(1985:121) denies culture its dynamic quality. Indians are today what
they have always been (constructed as it is): silent, stoic, mystical and
clad in beads and feathers. A contemporary First Nations person is
deemed less "authentic" than the distorted caricature residing in the Euro-
Canadian imagination. This notion that native people today are not "real"
or "authentic" makes the appropriation of aspects of their cultural heritage
a non-issue.
The N e w A g e Movement's conception of native spirituality is
superficial at best; it seems they are after a quick spiritual fix. They
cling to the positive aspects of spirit forces and deny the dualistic nature
of the spiritual world. A s an Ojibwe friend recently elaborated,
Spiritual learning is a lifelong process; it has taken m e m y whole life
to learn what I know about m y tradition. H o w can a N e w Ager expect
 APPROPRIATION OF NATIVE SPIRITUALITY 209
to learn all there is to know just from one book or a weekend course?
What they know of native spirituality is so superficial, it makes it look
as if it's not real or genuine; not something to be taken seriously.
The concern is for the reaction of those Euro-Canadians w h o have had
limited experience concerning First Nations people themselves and are
forming their impressions of them based on what N e w Agers are doing.
Further, the N e w A g e Movement's approach to native spirituality does
not acknowledge the cultural diversity a m o n g native people and creates
a "generic" Indian. Such a perception fosters the idea that the First
Nations are not viable nations — nations that have ownership and
jurisdiction over natural resources. Such a perception also implies that
there is no political foundation for First Nations, that they exist, for the
N e w A g e M o v e m e n t , merely as a spiritual guides.
It has been suggested that w h e n N e w Agers see h o w "white" people
have historically oppressed others and h o w they are coming very close to
destroying the earth, they often want to disassociate themselves from their
"whiteness". They do this by opting to "become Indian". In this w a y
they can escape responsibility and accountability for "white" racism
(Smith 1994:70). This dissociation also allows the individual to continue
to benefit from the colonialism of which they are part, but to not take
responsibility for it. Certainly, N e w Agers want to b e c o m e only part
Indian. They do not want to acknowledge First Nation struggles for
cultural survival, treaty rights, self-determination or an end to substance
abuse. They do not want to acknowledge that which would deny them
their romanticized vision of Indian reality. Rather, N e w Agers see
Indians as "gurus" w h o exist to meet their consumerist needs.
Andrea Smith writes that

The N e w Age movement completely trivializes the oppression w e as

Indian w o m e n face: Indian w o m e n are suddenly no longer the w o m e n
who are forcibly sterilized and tested with unsafe drugs such as Depo
Provera; w e are no longer the w o m e n who have a life expectancy of
47 years; and w e are no longer the w o m e n w h o generally live below
the poverty level and face a 7 5 % unemployment rate. No, we're too
busy being cool and spiritual. [Smith 1994:71]
A further concern regarding the N e w A g e M o v e m e n t is its appropria-
tion of native voice in the telling of native stories. Native stories are
powerful and often sacred. Stories affect change, impart strength and
heal. Stories convey the social values that the community deems
210 SUSANNE MISKIMMIN

essential and storytelling situates people in the world and keeps them
connected to it and each other. Stories are the fabric of native societies
and if they are appropriated by others, native people will no longer
control the process that is the very weave of their societies (Walkem
1993). Given the importance of stories in transmitting First Nations
cultures, a mistelling represents a destruction.
T h e question of ownership of stories and the licence of outsiders to
tell the stories of other cultures are issues that are currently being
debated. M u c h of the colonialist existence of the past few hundred years
has silenced native voices. Native stories were largely appropriated and
retold by non-native experts in such fields as anthropology, history and
in the political realm. Not surprisingly, the appropriated stories distort
the realities of native histories, cultures and traditions. Underlying this
practice is the assumption that these "experts" have the right to retell
native stories because of their place in dominant society. W h a t is
disturbing about those w h o would appropriate the voices of native
peoples is that they do not see their actions as political or as a continua-
tion of their o w n colonialist past. T h e appropriation of native voices
through the telling of their stories is a political act; it dislocates First
Nations people and attempts to restructure reality: it is assimilationist
( W a l k e m 1993:38).
It has been suggested that cultural appropriation is not necessarily a
bad thing all of the time, and that the world cultures are already very
entwined. However, such thinking assumes that individuals are playing
within an even field. This is not the case. T h e history of colonialism has
led to significant inequities and to the exclusion of communities not
regarded as belonging to the "mainstream" of society from telling their
o w n stories.
A s Smith (1994) comments, respecting the integrity of native people
and their spirituality does not m e a n that there can never be cross-cultural
sharing. However, such sharing should take place upon the initiative of
First Nations. Interested individuals should acknowledge and become
involved in native political struggles and should develop an ongoing
relation with native communities based on trust and mutual respect.
W h e n this happens, native people m a y invite a non-Indian to take part in
a ceremony, but it will be on native terms.
 A P P R O P R I A T I O N O F N A T I V E SPIRITUALITY 211

REFERENCES
Alexander, Don. 1986. Prison of images: seizing the means of representation. Fuse
February/March 1986, 45-^6.
Clifford, James. 1985. Histories of the tribal and the modern. Art in America, April
1985, 164-177.
Green, Rayna. 1988. The tribe called Wannabee: playing Indian in America and Europe.
Folklore 99(l):30-55.
Highwater, Jamake. 1981. The primal mind: vision and reality in Indian America. N e w
York: Harper & Row.
Smith, Andrea. 1994. For all those w h o were Indian in a former life. Cultural Survival
Quarterly 17(4):70-71.
Walkem, Ardith. 1993. Stories and voices. Fuse, summer 1993, 31-38.