Healers Led to Some Soul-Searching After Sweat Lodge Ceremony Deaths
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The Native American Sweatlodge ~ A Spiritual Tradition
PHOTO: Crow sweat lodge –Museum of the American Indian
Sedona, AZ – The deaths of two people in a sweat lodge and the hospitalisation of a further 19 last week has cast a pall over Sedona, a town renowned as a New Age metaphysical centre.
Self-proclaimed mystics, healers, channellers of past-life experiences (and aliens), sacred touch massage therapists, wind whisperers and vision quest guides offer their services in the town, often for a hefty price. Many of these spiritual pathways are based somewhat loosely around Native American traditions, including the ceremonial sweat lodge.
But the recent deaths at Angel Valley, about 10 kilometres south of West Sedona, are causing more soul-searching among practitioners and concern among town leaders. ”We are severely impacted by the fact that this happened,” said Sedona’s mayor, Rob Adams. ”We need to get to the bottom of what happened.”
At least seven other people have died in ceremonial sweat lodges since 1993 in the US, England and Australia, according to news accounts compiled by Alton Carroll, an adjunct professor of history at San Antonio College.
James Arthur Ray, a self-help expert from Carlsbad, California, led what was billed as a five-day ”spiritual warrior” experience at Angel Valley, concluding with a tightly packed sweat lodge ceremony. Participants paid about $US9000 each for the week-long retreat.
The authorities say that at any one time 55 to 65 people were packed for a two-hour period into a 39-square-metre structure that was 130 centimetres high at the centre and 75 centimetres high on the perimeter. Mr Ray’s employees built the wood-frame lodge, which was wrapped in blankets and plastic tarps. Hot rocks were brought into the lodge and doused with water.
