Atlas›Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements›Guide 185
Guide XIV-185

Deer Tribe Métis Medicine Society

Harley "SwiftDeer" ReaganScottsdale, Arizona
A 35 · L 55 · M 1013 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: the Deer Tribe Métis Medicine Society (DTMMS) as it described its public programmes in a 2020 press release (Scottsdale, Arizona); Indigenous criticism as reported by Tim Giago (The Baltimore Sun, 1993) and Avis Little Eagle's Indian Country Today reporting (as carried by Westword); and one former member's self-published account, attributed and not independently verified.

What it is. DTMMS is a neo-shamanic organisation founded by Harley "SwiftDeer" Reagan (1941–2013 [uncertain: secondary, unverified]). It describes itself as the home of the "Sweet Medicine SunDance Path", and says it seeks to transform "the experience of all life" through "empowerment, hope and inspiration" [source: DTMMS 2020 press release]. In 2020 it was based in Scottsdale, Arizona, and listed programmes in Phoenix, Chicago, Toronto, Germany and Australia, with events in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia [source: DTMMS 2020 press release]. It is an organisation and a spiritual path, not a therapy. This guide therefore covers how the organisation presents itself, and then the psychotherapist's work with clients who are members, former members or family members.

How it says change happens (attributed). The organisation presents personal transformation as coming from ceremony, from the study of a set of "Sacred Laws", and from progress along a graded path under teachers [source: DTMMS 2020 press release]. A former member reports that the community expressed this as dreams being "just one ceremony away". Advancement was presented as growing maturity [source: former member's account]. The organisation teaches that its "mystery teachings" come from a "Twisted Hairs Council of Elders", and that the founder learned from a Cherokee grandmother, "Spotted Fawn" [source: DTMMS website as quoted in a former member's account; uncertain: not verified].

Indigenous criticism (stated as Indigenous sources state it). The Cherokee Nation condemned Reagan's claims to Cherokee identity. Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller publicly called him a fraud after a 1992 HBO programme presented him as Cherokee. The Nation demanded an on-air apology from HBO, which Giago says was never given [source: Giago, Baltimore Sun 1993]. Giago, a Lakota journalist and the founding publisher of Indian Country Today, placed the Deer Tribe among non-Native or impostor "plastic medicine men" who profit from "Indian spirituality". He described claims of Métis ancestry as a cover that is hard to check [source: Giago 1993]. Indian Country Today reporting described the group as mostly non-Native "new-agers". It said the group mixed sweat lodge, Sun Dance and Sacred Pipe ceremonies with Buddhism, crystal healing and magic [source: Westword, "Bad Medicine"]. Cherokee Nation language and policy staff are reported to have said that the terms Reagan used are not Cherokee and that the teachings were made up [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. A 1993 Lakota, Dakota and Nakota summit adopted a "Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality" aimed at "plastic medicine men" in general [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. See 188 and XI 094 for Lakota inipi and its commercial imitations.

Sexual teachings. The organisation has sexual teachings under the name Chuluaqui-Quodoushka ("Quodoushka"). They are named here only and not described [source: Phoenix New Times letters page; Wikipedia, Harley Reagan, uncertain: secondary, unverified]. The claim that these teachings came from Cherokee tradition angered Cherokee people [source: Westword].

Evidence status (one line). Claims of ancient Cherokee, Maya or Toltec lineage are rejected by the Cherokee Nation [source: Giago 1993]. No controlled evidence is cited here for the organisation's claims about readings, energy or healing [uncertain: not verified].

2. Framework

This is an organisation's structure, not a treatment protocol. No source gives session counts for therapy with members. The phases below are the clinician's own [synthesis].

A. The organisation's published structure [source: DTMMS 2020 press release unless marked]

  • Sweet Medicine SunDance Path: the core, long-term path the organisation teaches.
  • Friends of the Deer Tribe: an introductory outreach programme. It covers rites of passage, "LongHouse" programmes, healing ceremonies, physical-mastery classes, community ceremonies and relationship workshops.
  • Sacred Law School: a workshop on "30 Sacred Laws" applied to one's relationships with self, others and Spirit.
  • Red Lodge Longhouse: a 12-month programme of six weekends plus a ceremonial week in nature.
  • Desert Dreaming: a women's retreat in Scottsdale.
  • Ceremonies: weekly sweat lodges with rotating roles, pipe carrying with a "pipe test", and Sun Dance [source: former member's account; Westword]. This guide gives a public outline only, with no ceremonial steps or words. Sun Dance, sweat lodge (inipi) and the Sacred Pipe are ceremonies of specific Plains nations, and the use of them here is the subject of the Indigenous criticism above.
  • Grades and roles (one former member's account, uncertain: not verified): neophyte; an intern role in the Quodoushka programme; Sacred Pipe Carrier. Paid annual "APA readings" assessed five areas (emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, sexual), and "Book of Life" readings were also offered.
  • Costs: the 2020 release gave no fees. Independent reporting gave $200 for one 1990s workshop [source: Westword]. The former member reports annual apprenticeship dues, $150 for each APA reading, gifts expected by teachers in addition to the traditional tobacco offering, tithing and volunteer labour [uncertain: not verified].
  • Leadership: the founder until his death. The 2020 release names programme teachers and contacts. Current overall leadership is [uncertain: not verified].

B. Clinical phases [synthesis]

  1. Engagement and meaning. Goal: understand what the path gives the client, in the client's words. Move on once the client feels their commitment is understood, not judged.
  2. Cultural and differential assessment. Use the CFI and its Religion and Spirituality module. Screen for psychosis, mania, dissociation and trauma. Assess physical risk in ceremonies, money, sexual boundaries and the power held by teachers. Move on once a formulation is agreed with the client.
  3. Client-directed work. This is one of the following: (a) staying, with safeguards; (b) taking stock and deciding; (c) leaving and recovery; or (d) a family member's concern. Move between them as the client's position changes. A crisis (harm, coercion, child-safety concern) takes priority over everything else.
  4. Consolidation. The client has their own values, supports and decision-making, whatever their membership status.

3. Guiding principles

  • Describe the path as the client and the organisation describe it [synthesis]. In practice: use their terms (Sweet Medicine SunDance Path, Sacred Law, pipe, lodge) with a short gloss, and neither endorse nor ridicule them.
  • Hold Indigenous criticism and the client's experience together [synthesis]. In practice: you can acknowledge that the Cherokee Nation rejected the founder's claims [source: Giago 1993] without telling the client what to believe or shaming what they have lived.
  • The client leads on meaning; you lead on safety [synthesis]. In practice: explore beliefs freely, and ask directly about money, sex, heat exposure, sleep, isolation and threats.
  • Do not pathologise belief [synthesis]. In practice: unusual spiritual experiences within a group frame are not symptoms in themselves. Assess for distress, impairment and loss of insight.
  • Never act as teacher, reader, healer, pipe carrier or initiator [synthesis]. In practice: no readings, ceremonies, "energetic" assessments or opinions on a client's rank in therapy. Keep any personal practice of your own entirely separate.
  • Do not reproduce restricted or sexual content [synthesis]. In practice: you do not need to know the content of ceremonies or Quodoushka to assess consent, power and harm. Ask about the client's experience, not technique.
  • Name wrongdoing only on firm sources [synthesis]. In practice: report what courts, regulators, tribal governments or major news say. Otherwise use role descriptions ("a teacher", "a senior member").
  • Respect autonomy over affiliation [synthesis]. In practice: whether to stay or leave is the client's decision. Your work is to restore the client's capacity to choose freely.
  • Cultural humility and competence [synthesis]. In practice: use the spiritual and religious competencies framework (Vieten et al. 2013 [uncertain: not verified]). Consult Indigenous colleagues or community resources when a client's identity or heritage is involved.
  • Safeguarding comes first where children are present [synthesis]. In practice: children in sweat lodges, sexualised environments or high-control upbringing trigger safeguarding assessment under local law.

4. Intervention inventory

The organisation's own ceremonies, readings and Quodoushka teachings are not therapeutic interventions. They are not reproduced or taught here. The procedures below are the psychotherapist's own. Each is [synthesis] unless a source is named.

4.1 Client-led exploration of meaning

  • Purpose / when: at the start of therapy, and whenever the path comes up. The aim is to understand what membership gives the client (belonging, purpose, ritual, a model of the self) before assessing risk.
  • Steps: (1) Ask permission to talk about the path. (2) Ask how the client came to it, what drew them, and what it has given and cost them. (3) Reflect back using their terms ("Sacred Laws", "lodge", "pipe"), and ask what each term means to them. (4) Separate the experiences they value from the claims they are unsure about. (5) Summarise, and check that the summary is accurate.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Tell me what the SunDance Path has meant in your life. The good parts and the hard parts are both welcome here." / "When you say you're in 'resistance', what does that word mean in your community, and what does it mean to you?"
  • Watch for: speech that sounds rehearsed or scripted and is hard to step outside of. Distress when meaning is discussed. Relief at being asked. It is working when the client speaks in their own words and can hold mixed feelings.

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview with the Religion and Spirituality module

  • Purpose / when: early assessment, and when identity or heritage is part of what draws the client. The core CFI has 16 questions in six areas: cultural definition of the problem; perceived cause, context and support; stressors and supports; the role of cultural identity; self-coping and past help-seeking; and current help-seeking, including the clinician–patient relationship. It is meant to inform clinical judgement, not to be the sole basis for a diagnosis [source: APA DSM-5-TR CFI]. A Religion and Spirituality supplementary module is listed [source: APA DSM-5-TR CFI].
  • Steps: (1) Introduce the CFI as a way to understand the client's view. (2) Work through the core areas in your own words, including how the group explains the client's problem and what it would prescribe. (3) Add the Religion and Spirituality module, and the Social Network or Cultural Identity modules where relevant. (4) If the client claims Indigenous heritage or identity, explore it respectfully: family history, community ties, and how they understand the group's lineage claims. (5) Write a brief formulation and share it.
  • Example language (illustrative): "How would your teachers explain what you're going through, and how do you explain it yourself?" / "Who outside the lodge would you turn to if things got hard?"
  • Watch for: the group's explanation crowding out every other explanation. Few supports outside the group. Use the informant version for family members where useful [source: APA DSM-5-TR CFI].

4.3 Differential assessment without pathologising belief

  • Purpose / when: when the client reports visions, "energy" experiences, altered states after ceremony, sleep loss, or sudden personality change.
  • Steps: (1) Map the timeline of experiences against intensive retreats, ceremonies and readings. (2) Screen for psychotic symptoms, mania or hypomania, dissociation (including derealisation and depersonalisation), trauma symptoms, OCD-type scrupulosity and complicated grief. (3) Ask whether the experiences fit what the community expects, whether they can be set aside, and whether they impair functioning. (4) Use ICD-10-CM Z65.8, whose inclusion terms list "Religious or spiritual problem", where the issue is spiritual distress without a disorder [source: Unbound Medicine ICD-10-CM Z65.8]. The DSM-5-TR wording is [uncertain: not verified]. (5) Refer for psychiatric assessment if psychosis or mania is suspected.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Some people find these experiences meaningful and manageable. Others find they keep going after the ceremony ends. Which is it for you?"
  • Watch for: loss of sleep, fixed beliefs that are distressing or dangerous, and command-type experiences. It is working when the formulation separates belief from disorder and the client agrees with it.

4.4 Ceremony-related physical safety check

  • Purpose / when: the client takes part in sweat lodges or extended outdoor ceremonies (the organisation lists a "ceremonial week in nature" [source: DTMMS 2020 press release]).
  • Steps: (1) Ask about health conditions, medicines and pregnancy, and advise the client to check with their own doctor whether heat exposure is safe for them. Give no advice on medicines. (2) Ask whether they feel free to leave a ceremony, to drink water, or to stop. (3) Agree warning signs that mean leaving a ceremony and getting medical help (confusion, fainting, chest pain, vomiting). (4) Give emergency routing. This guide gives no durations or temperatures.
  • Context: a self-help seminar leader unconnected with DTMMS was convicted of negligent homicide after deaths at a commercial sweat lodge he ran in Arizona in 2009, as the Associated Press reported (see 181, which cites that report). See also 188 and XI 094.
  • Example language (illustrative): "If you felt unwell in the lodge, what would happen if you got up and left?"
  • Watch for: the client believing that leaving is spiritual failure, or that pressure to stay is being applied. Treat that as a safety issue.

4.5 Mapping power, money and time

  • Purpose / when: when the client reports financial strain, tithing, dues, or teachers expecting gifts and labour. One former member describes dues, paid readings, gifts to teachers on top of the tobacco offering, tithing and volunteer work [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: (1) With the client, list everything they pay in a year: dues, workshops, readings, materials, gifts, travel. (2) List unpaid labour (errands, childcare, programme staffing). (3) Compare these with the client's income and their other goals. (4) Ask how decisions to pay are made and what happens if they decline. (5) Ask whether advancement depends on payment. (6) Let the client draw their own conclusions.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's put the numbers on paper, not to judge them, just so you can see them clearly." / "What happens if you say no to a teacher's request?"
  • Watch for: debt, secrecy from a partner, and spending above income (the former member describes medicine expenses exceeding income [uncertain: not verified]). It is working when the client makes deliberate financial choices.

4.6 Assessing consent, sexual boundaries and teacher power

  • Purpose / when: when the client has taken part in or been invited to the organisation's sexual teachings (Quodoushka), or describes sexual contact with teachers or senior members. This guide does not describe those teachings, and you do not need their content to assess consent.
  • Steps: (1) Ask, without asking for detail, whether any sexual activity took place, whether the client felt free to decline, and what role the other person held. (2) Ask about pressure framed as spiritual growth or as being "in resistance". (3) Assess for trauma symptoms, shame and self-blame. (4) If the client discloses assault, exploitation, or anything involving a minor, follow reporting duties and offer specialist sexual-violence services. (5) Respect the client's pace, and do not press for a narrative.
  • Context: Indian Country Today reporting described sexual activity among members and the founder's claim that it was Cherokee tradition [source: Westword]. No court finding against any named person is reported in these sources [uncertain: not verified].
  • Example language (illustrative): "You don't need to tell me what happened in detail. Did you feel you could say no, and would there have been consequences if you had?"
  • Watch for: a power difference between teacher and student, consent obtained through spiritual rank, and secrecy. Name this as a consent issue, not a spiritual one.

4.7 Recognising coercive control

  • Purpose / when: when the client's life is increasingly organised around the group, or when doubt is met with labels. One former member reports that questioning leaders was labelled "resistance", "pity" or "egoic activity", and that marriage, friendships and social life were all tied to the group [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: (1) Ask about time spent, relationships inside and outside the group, and who controls what information. (2) Ask what happens to people who question or leave. (3) Ask whether the group's language for doubt makes it hard to think critically. (4) Gently mark patterns of control (isolation, fear, dependence on a teacher for decisions) as patterns, not verdicts. (5) Restore the client's own reference points: values from before joining, and people outside the group.
  • Example language (illustrative): "When you have a doubt, what word does the community give it? And what would you call it in your own words?"
  • Watch for: fear of losing everything by leaving, and avoiding conflict with teachers. It is working when the client can voice doubt without anxiety in the session.

4.8 Decision support: staying, taking stock or leaving

  • Purpose / when: when the client is ambivalent about membership.
  • Steps: (1) Explore both sides with motivational-style reflection, staying neutral. (2) Separate the practices the client values from the organisation's claims and demands. (3) If the client is staying: agree safeguards (a spending ceiling, the freedom to decline, keeping outside friendships). (4) If the client is leaving: plan for practical ties (housing, work, a partner who is a member), for how they will tell people, and for support. One former member reports leaving by email, being told no notice was needed, and the teacher later saying she would have preferred a call [uncertain: not verified]. (5) Prepare for the loss of community.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What would you want to keep from these years, whatever you decide?"
  • Watch for: pressure from either side, including from you. It is working when the decision feels like the client's own.

4.9 Religious trauma and recovery after leaving

  • Purpose / when: after exit, when the client has grief, shame, loss of identity, fear of spiritual consequences, or trauma symptoms.
  • Steps: (1) Stabilise: sleep, routine and safety. (2) Name the losses: community, purpose, spiritual identity, years and money. (3) Treat trauma symptoms with your established, evidence-based trauma methods, adapted to the client's pace. (4) Help the client rebuild a spirituality (or none) of their own choosing. (5) Address shame, including shame about having taken part in practices that Indigenous people regard as appropriation.
  • Example language (illustrative): "It makes sense to miss the people and the ceremonies even while you're angry about what happened."
  • Watch for: depression, suicidal thinking (assess risk using standard practice), and retraumatising contact. It is working when grief and meaning both have a place.

4.10 Working with Indigenous clients and questions of appropriation

  • Purpose / when: an Indigenous client is affected by the group (for example, distressed by the use of their nation's ceremonies), or a non-Native client is struggling with appropriation criticism.
  • Steps: (1) Let the client lead on their own relationship to their nation and ceremonies. (2) Name, factually, that the Cherokee Nation rejected the founder's claims [source: Giago 1993], and that Indigenous journalists and leaders have criticised "plastic medicine men" [source: Giago 1993; Westword]. (3) Do not offer or arrange ceremonies yourself. With the client's consent, help them connect with their own community's leaders or with Indigenous-led services. (4) For non-Native clients, explore guilt and responsibility without demanding that they denounce anything.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would it help to talk with someone from your own community about this? I can help you think about who that might be."
  • Watch for: the therapist becoming an arbiter of authenticity. It is working when the client's own cultural connections strengthen.

4.11 Supporting family members

  • Purpose / when: a partner, parent or adult child is worried about a member.
  • Steps: (1) Hear the worry, and help the family member separate fears from facts. (2) Advise keeping a warm, non-judgemental connection rather than confronting or issuing ultimatums. (3) Help them set boundaries around money and lending. (4) Prepare them for possible contact if the member leaves. (5) Look after their own wellbeing. (6) Escalate if children's safety is a concern. Do not use coercive "rescue" or deprogramming methods.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your relationship with them may be the most useful thing they have if they ever want to step back. How can you keep it open?"
  • Watch for: the family member's own distress, and splits within the family.

4.12 Child safeguarding

  • Purpose / when: children are present in ceremonies, retreats, or a high-control upbringing.
  • Steps: (1) Ask what children take part in and who supervises them. (2) Assess exposure to heat ceremonies, sexualised settings or adult content, missed medical or educational needs, and harsh discipline. (3) Seek age-appropriate assent and parental consent for any assessment. (4) Refer for developmental or medical assessment where a spiritual label is replacing assessment. (5) Follow local reporting duties.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Can you tell me what the children do while the adults are in ceremony?"
  • Watch for: secrecy about children's involvement. Act on any indication of sexual exposure.

4.13 Referral and role boundaries

  • Purpose / when: throughout therapy.
  • Steps: (1) Refer for psychiatric, medical, legal or sexual-violence support as needed. (2) If the client wishes, and with their consent, involve community or spiritual leaders the client trusts outside the group. (3) Do not take part in the group's ceremonies with the client, and do not accept gifts linked to the client's practice. (4) Self-disclose about your own spirituality only briefly, and only if it helps the client.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm here as your therapist, not as a spiritual teacher, so that this can be a place where you decide for yourself."
  • Watch for: the client recruiting you into the path, or you drifting into the teacher role.

5. Handling problems

None of the sources address therapy with members directly. All guidance in this section is [synthesis] except where a source is named.

  • The client defends the group whenever criticism comes up. Stop raising criticism. Go back to 4.1, and to what the client values. Defensiveness often means the client feels their belonging is under threat. Ask about the client's experience; do not argue about the group's claims.
  • The client treats your questions as "resistance" or ego. Name the frame gently ("I notice the community has a word for doubts"), and invite the client's own word for them. Do not attack the group's vocabulary.
  • Stuck in ambivalence. Use decisional balance (4.8). Accept staying as a legitimate choice, with safeguards. Set a review point.
  • Overwhelm after disclosing sexual or financial harm. Slow down and ground the client. Do not take a detailed account. Offer specialist services, and move on to reporting only if the client consents or a duty applies (a minor, or imminent risk).
  • Not following through (missed sessions around retreats or ceremonies). Plan around the ceremony calendar. Treat absences as information about the client's commitments, not as a failure.
  • Rupture: the client feels judged about appropriation or the founder's identity. Acknowledge the hurt. Clarify that the Indigenous criticism belongs to Indigenous people [source: Giago 1993], and that you are not judging the client's sincerity. Repair before you continue.
  • Rupture: a family member wants you to "get them out". Clarify your role and confidentiality. Offer separate support for the family member (4.11). Never collude in a coercive intervention.
  • The client asks for a reading or ceremony, or asks your view of their rank. Decline warmly, explain why the roles are separate (4.13), and explore what the request is about (reassurance, belonging).
  • Spiritual emergency after an intensive retreat. Assess for psychosis, mania and dissociation (4.3). Check sleep, safety and hydration. Arrange urgent psychiatric review if needed. Avoid labelling the experience either as "just spiritual" or as "just illness".
  • Heat-related illness or injury at a ceremony. Send the client to emergency medical care. Afterwards, explore the pressure to stay, and the client's freedom to decline in future (4.4).
  • Threats, stalking or reprisals after leaving. Make a safety plan. Document what happens. Refer for legal advice and to the police where appropriate.
  • The client is an Indigenous person hurt by the group's use of ceremony. Validate their experience. Support connection with their own community (4.10). Do not ask them to educate you.
  • Naming people. In notes and in conversation, refer to teachers by role, unless a court, regulator, tribal government or major news outlet has named them. The founder may be named as founder.
  • Your own reactions (fascination, contempt, rescue impulses). Take them to supervision. Spiritual and religious competence is part of ethical practice (Vieten et al. 2013 [uncertain: not verified]).

Sources

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