Chuluaqui Quodoushka

Chuluaqui Quodoushka (CHOO-la-kway Kwuh-DOE-shka) is a collection of sexual techniques and theories developed and promoted by the Deer Tribe Medicine Society, a New Age new religious movement and business co-founded by Harley Reagan and Diane Reagan in 1986. Reagan cites a variety of ancient and contemporary cultures as the inspiration for these practices including the Olmec, the Mayan and the Toltec, though previously he claimed that these practices were Cherokee. Reagan has come under heavy criticism and his teachings have been denounced by the tribes whose ways he has claimed to teach.

Criticism

The sexual rites of passage which Reagan references as being drawn from spiritual practices of the Olmec, Maya civilization and Toltec cultures, and what he claims are secret societies within the Cherokee Nation, have been denounced as fraudulent by the traditional teachers of these cultures.

Many cultures contain rites of passage - usually social and spiritual ceremonies held as a child moves into adulthood. Reagan claims to take inspiration from these ceremonies. However, Reagan's many critics agree that Reagan's claims of what these ceremonies consist of stands in stark contrast to the actual teachings and beliefs of the cultures he claims to represent. The Cherokee Nation disavows Reagan's claims entirely, noting that Reagan is not an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, nor is he a member of any Cherokee community. After being denounced by the Cherokee Nation, Reagan abruptly changed his back story and now claims the teachings are inspired by a variety of cultures.

Critics make the following points:

• The ceremonies and techniques taught by Reagan are simply fraudulent and do not represent any historical or currently existing Indigenous ceremonies.
• Most of the websites that feature postings praising the "Q" are making money from it or from similar sex workshops.
• People taking the course have to agree to a non-disclosure clause.
• Quodoushka regards children and infants as sexual beings.
• Some of the sexual techniques taught by Reagan and his employees refer to the Chakras, which is a South Asian term.

Language

In the workshops a woman's genitalia are called "Tupuli", which Reagan claims is a Cherokee term for "sacred black hole of creation," and a man's genitalia are referred to as "Tipilli" also claimed by Reagan to be a Cherokee term meaning "like a tipi pole." However, according to Durbin Feeling, who is a linguistic specialist for the Cherokee Nation, there are no such words in the Cherokee language, and Cherokee do not and never have lived in tipis. In fact, the word "tipili" applied to genitals is likely taken from Gary Jennings' novel, Aztec. Feeling said Chu-Lua-Qui refers to Cherokee people; he said the closest translation he could find for Quodoushka is "(a)qwv-tol u- ska" a graphic term for a male sexual organ that has nothing to do with Cherokee spirituality. "It's pretty ugly. I don't know if he (Harley Reagan) realizes what it means." Feeling added as an afterthought, "He probably does know what it means."

Credentials

Despite the claims that the Chuluaqui Quodoushka is based on ancient traditions there is no corroborating evidence for this.

Much of the ancient Maya religious tradition is still not understood by scholars and there is no surviving information about Mayan sex rituals.

The Olmecs were a people in Mexico who predated the Aztecs. Their culture disappeared and the only clues left about them are some stone statues and hieroglyphic carvings. Olmec mythology has left no documents and therefore cannot have anything to do with modern-day sex rituals.

Reagan claims that the teachings are also Toltec in origin, also unsubstantiated.

The Cherokee Nation firmly denies any involvement in the Chuluaqui-Quodoushka. Harley Reagan appeared on the Home Box Office program "Real Sex in America" in 1992, promoting his sex therapy "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". It is believed by some that in order to avoid a lawsuit, Reagan changed his story to the claim that Quodoushka is a blend of many ancient sexual traditions.

Dr. Richard Allen, a research and policy analyst of the Cherokee Nation, says of the Chuluaqui Quodoushka, "Reagan's made it up. We learn about sex like everyone else does, behind the barn."

Proponents

One of the biggest fans of the "Q" is porn star Porsche Lynn who studied with Harley Reagan and has praised the "Q" workshops.

In film

A movie called "Quodoushka, Native American Love Techniques" (or "Quodoushka") came out in 1991, distributed by Vivid Video and starring such hard-core porn actresses as Ashley Nicole, Heather Hart, Hyapatia Lee and Madison. Porn star Hyapatia Lee was a student of Harley Reagan, and claims to be of Cherokee descent. The film itself is a pornographic film made to look as though it is a documentary. The film depicts various women of supposed Cherokee ancestry copulating in various ways with mostly white men.