We have been following the news very carefully to try to piece together what actually happened in James Arthur Ray’s sweat lodge tragedy in Arizona last month. We have also been in discussions with Adam Yellow-Bird and other Natives who are concerned about what happened. Apparently this man had never been authorized to lead or run vision quests and/or sweat lodges. He did not follow the Native traditions, did not have the proper “spiritual protection” and was completely out of integrity because he used it as a for profit experience.
We feel very blessed that we have always had Native Americans lead our Vision Quests who taught our students to make prayer ties, who put them in their “spaces” in the traditional way with abundant protection, who taught us about true support for the questers and how important that is during the entire process, and who blessed the entire Vision Quest.
So in conclusion, I want to say that we are praying for the families of the people who committed their lives so that the rest of us could learn a very powerful lesson. Natives all across the world are meeting and coming up with statements about the true use of Native spiritual rituals. This has been a very important time for many of them to come together and speak out about the proper use and the misuse of what they have brought to our planet.
Lots of love, Diane and David
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Thank you Diane and David for addressing this issue. I must say that I always felt in very good hands when Tom WhiteEagle was leading our sweat lodges and vision quests. How very important to enter into any spiritual exercise with the correct values and proper guidance.
Barbara
Thank you for your insight into this tragedy Diane.
Some of us from far away places do not know the actual circumstances here, can you enlighten us on what this tragedy was ?
This is a good summary from ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/US/inside-james-rays-inspirational-controversial-world/story?id=8939491. Or you can Google for details. Thanks, David
I appreciate you addressing this tragic event, but in addition to spiritual guidance, you need some common sense and just a smidgeon of medical sense. Hyperthermia, exhaustion, and hypoglycemia seemed to be the result of profit driven, and spiritless pursuit of an experience. So sad, considering the good use of the sweat lodge that we all experienced under native american guidance.
I was at a party this past weekend with Aida and I found myself having to defend the sweat lodge experience. Many question’s asked by individuals who really didn’t understand the process. It would be great for the facilitators of the sweat lodge and vision quests ritual to expose the charlatans!