Deer Tribe Métis Medicine Society

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Harley "SwiftDeer" Reagan · Scottsdale, Arizona

What it is

DTMMS is a neo-shamanic organisation founded by Harley "SwiftDeer" Reagan (1941–2013). 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". In 2020 it was based in Scottsdale,…

Format

• 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.
• Desert Dreaming: a women's retreat in Scottsdale.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status (one line). Claims of ancient Cherokee, Maya or Toltec lineage are rejected by the Cherokee Nation. No controlled evidence is cited here for the organisation's claims about readings, energy or healing.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the family member's own distress, and splits within the family.
• secrecy about children's involvement. Act on any indication of sexual exposure.
• the client recruiting you into the path, or you drifting into the teacher role.
• pressure from either side, including from you. It is working when the decision feels like the client's own.
• the therapist becoming an arbiter of authenticity. It is working when the client's own cultural connections strengthen.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.