The process of researching this topic has been an interesting one. It seemed that it would be easy to find information on the Twelve Cycles of Truth if it formed the basis for the Iroquois Confederacy. However, it didn't take long to discover a distinct lack of information on the Twelve Cycles of Truth, while finding a vast amount of information on the Iroquois Confederacy.

It initially came to me that perhaps the person promoting the Twelve Cycles of Truth did indeed gain their information from an oral tradition, as it is acknowledged that there are no complete or exhaustive writings on Native American teachings.

Likewise, I considered that Carlos Castaneda is also highly likely to have made up his stories, yet much of his philosophies are coherent with teachings from various sources. I've seen it suggested that much of his philosophy derives from others such as Gurdjieff. So, Castaneda is promoting reasonable (in my opinion) philosophies based around a fictional teacher (Master) and fictional events, to illustrate his points on magic. As a willed suspension of disbelief is an important function of the magical process, writing about magical and spiritual teachings in an easy to read, fictional, way helps get the message across by stimulating the imaginative side of the brain.

However, checking further into the person promoting the Twelves Cycles of Truth, the only good reviews of her works seemed to come from people who had been recommended her books and hadn't read them yet.

I discovered a whole web site devoted to exposing people who are ripping off the teachings of the Native American cultures, mainly for profit. Jamie Sams, who seems to be the only person claiming the Twelve Cycles of Truth to be traditional teachings, comes from a long lineage of people promoting concepts and beliefs that have never been part of any tribes cultural treasures, and often making a lot of money from it.

This, at very least, seems to be highly disrespectful to the cultures they claim to represent. Then, their only recourse at defending their claims is to counter that the tribes are only angry because they don't want their teachings made public (implying that the tribes are in fact racist towards the Europeans who are lapping up the pseudo-native teachings).

Although I haven't read any of Jamie Sams' books myself, if the information reported about them was correct, then I couldn't accept her teachings as being in any way authentic or useful (to me). For instance it is claimed she has created a 12-month lunar calendar (perhaps to fit with her Twelve Cycles of Truth), when most (if not all) native peoples, worldwide, have a 13-month lunar calendar. Likewise, if it is true that she promotes various acknowledged frauds, such as the 'crystal skulls' teachings, and the 'medicine shields' and is a member of the Wolf Clan (which has many alleged fraudsters operating under its banner), then it makes it incredibly difficult to take her Twelve Cycles of Truth seriously at all, especially as she doesn't seem to be living them in the slightest.

All this information is compounded by the fact that the authors of the book The Paradigm Conspiracy (which from my cursory readings of it appears to be worth some consideration) have based the structure of their book on the Twelve Cycles of Truth, and relate that these Cycles formed the basis for the Iroquois Confederacy. It seems that no matter how much research is done, it is possible to overlook untruths because we identify strongly with them, and desire them to be the truth.

So, it is from this knowledge that I write my thoughts on how the Twelve Cycles of Truth correlate to the Buddhist teachings on the Twelve Link chain of causation, and how, along with the principles of Psychosynthesis, a model can be constructed providing a method through which Western Society can heal.

To be in the spirit of things, I will consider the Twelve Cycles of Truth on their own merit, free of any claims of falsity, or validity, although must state that from my research I cannot find any point of evidence that they formed the basis of a working model in the past. The merits of the Iroquois Confederacy stand on their own, including that they are acknowledged as helping inspire the Constitution of the United States of America, which in turn gave rise to the charter behind the United Nations. At the heart of the Iroquois Confederacy there is the respect for the sovereignty of each and every person (man and woman alike) and an aim of averting conflict through effective communication (to achieve peace).

Having written this, new information has come to light, in the form of Jamie Sams' Sacred Path Cards book