A Pagan's Blog

A Pagan's Blog

Two Die in New Age “Sweat Lodge”

posted by Gus diZerega | 12:21am Saturday October 10, 2009

UPDATE on sweat lodge sacrilege. The words of a survivor.

Among us Pagans, a popular joke is “what is the difference between a New Age and a
Pagan workshop?”

“Two decimal places.”

When I read of the deaths of two people in a ‘spiritual’ sweat
lodge retreat
I was reminded of the death of a friend
of mine, alone in a sweat lodge.

UPDATE

It seems even more abusive and incompetent than I imagined.  The sweat lodge is a wonderful sacred practice when done by people who respect it and know what they are doing.  In my view it is defiled by people such as Ray.

But as I read more, I was utterly appalled. Sixty-four people were crammed inside the lodge. Twenty one people required medical treatment. Two died and one remains in critical condition as of when the story appeared. The article mentioned that some participants had paid $9000 for the workshop that ended with this sweat.

$9000.

No wonder the thing was crammed with 64 people. It was the New Age equivalent of derivatives. Even minus two decimal places $90 is too much for a sweat. As one Crow sweat leader/healer told me “I’ve been paid for my healing with everything from a hand shake to a new car.”

I have been in sweats run both by white folks trained traditionally, and by traditional Native Americans. They were never used as money generating machines, and they and their immediate aftermath were sometimes very powerful and transformative. They were serious undertakings for all concerned. I would never venture to conduct one without training by someone who knew what he was doing.

Further, it would have been impossible to get 64 people inside a traditional sweat lodge.

Then I searched out the website for the leader, James Arthur Ray. What a crock. What an utter travesty of spirituality. What an obscene event in the purest sense of that word. The entire appeal was to ego and wealth. My sympathy for the dead and injured remains – but they got a valuable lesson in mixing Spirit with the desire for wealth, status, and power.

As Ray himself put it 

There is no sacrifice–only greater and more magnificent results, wealth, adventure and fulfillment.

You owe it to the rest of your life to get to Spiritual Warrior as quickly as you can. The investment is ONLY $9695 per person.

So it was apparently even more than $9000. 

But then, when I looked at Google to see who this guy really is, in his own statement, the first concrete thing he mentioned was

James is President and CEO of his own multi-million dollar corporation, James Ray International (JRI), which was named to Inc. Magazine’s coveted Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies in the September 2009 issue, reaching a remarkable 547.4% growth over the previous three years.

Spirit has sent a pretty clear message to this joker and the people who thought they could buy their way to wisdom.

I am very tolerant of different spiritual approaches, even ones with lots of hokum.  But there are limits.  In this case I wish the lawyers good pickings.  May they feast well. 



Previous Posts

Wonderful Imbolc celebration in England
The pictures in this article are fantastic!  Enjoy the visual feast.  With thanks to Anna Korn for turning me on to it.

posted 10:10:27pm Feb. 12, 2012 | read full post »

The case against "Pagan Clergy" 4.0
There has been considerable discussion within our community for many years about whether or not we should have a “Pagan clergy.”  I think this is a very positive development because it gets us thinking positively about who we are as a spiritual community.  We are confident enough, many of us,

posted 8:16:02pm Feb. 12, 2012 | read full post »

Where to in 2010?
I have not been doing much political posting for many months, ever since I finally gave up hope that the Democrats, with a few exceptions, amounted to anything  more than a somewhat more humane version of the moral filth that the Republicans now represent. Of course I will vote Democratic in Novemb

posted 5:29:00pm Feb. 04, 2012 | read full post »

Delving into the meaning of Brigid
In 2010 I wrote in this blog “Imbolc is one of the less intensely celebrated Sabbats, I think because it has fewer real world connections in our lives.  In most places the coming Spring Equinox, Ostara, is well suited to its symbolism of the triumph of the sun and powers of growth and regeneratio

posted 1:03:27am Jan. 31, 2012 | read full post »

Important scientific argument that the world and everything in it is alive
UPDATE  below Science Daily reports on a new theory by Erik D. Andrulis that if true demonstrates the earth is alive.  The peer reviewed journal Life has just published Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life, which argues the earth is alive . Andrulis writes: "In the theory pro

posted 7:10:06pm Jan. 27, 2012 | read full post »

Advertisement
Comments read comments(19)
post a comment
Joseph

posted October 10, 2009 at 3:20 am


In my book “Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy” I warn about the dangerous consequences of appealing to archetypes such as the warrior in spiritual journeys: “For a man to access the Wild Man he must retreat into his psychic depths, into the forest, into a pre-Christian pagan space of hirsute manliness. Bly intends the Wild Man, with his relationship with the young boy of the Iron John story, to be an example of how men can be initiated into adulthood and the deep masculine. This would be a worthy exercise if it enabled boys to flourish for both their own sakes and the good of the community, but instead Iron John ‘celebrate[s] violence and killing as the means to establish male identity’. This is the archetypal path established by Bly. … This disturbing precedent is continued with Moore and Gillette encouraging men to access the warrior in the male psyche, whose natural presence is indicated by the fact that chimpanzees resort to battle, and men’s fascination with war movies such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and Full Metal Jacket. Moore and Gillette would have their readers believe it is natural for mythopoetically inclined men to imagine themselves operating within the presumably dark and oppressive jungle … these appeals to archetypal models promote largely oppressive and violent masculinities.”
A sad outcome for everyone.



report abuse
 

Hecate Demetersdatter

posted October 10, 2009 at 12:45 pm


I know the “warrior” archetype is appealing, and I’ve known Pagan leaders whom I respect to lead “access your inner warrior” workshops wherein the fist thing they generally do is to try and “redefine” the term “warrior.” I’m generally of the “let a thousand flowers bloom” school of spirituality, but I always have to pause and wonder why we should be giving more energy to this archetype rather than less, especially in today’s world. Just my two sheckles.



report abuse
 

Pam

posted October 10, 2009 at 12:54 pm


That was some expensive sweat!



report abuse
 

Howard

posted October 10, 2009 at 1:00 pm


Love the joke, “about two decimal places.” Just to be clear, I believe the entire seminar was 5 days. The sweat was a ceremony at the end. It is amazing how much money these people command simply due to the fact that they were in the movie “The Secret.” Can’t really judge the real value of the 5 day seminar, since I wasn’t there. But I can say for certain, I wouldn’t want to be in James Rey’s shoes. Sounds like he has enough money to hire some good lawyers, though.



report abuse
 

Greg Stafford

posted October 10, 2009 at 1:06 pm


I mourn for these lost lives.
To Joseph,
I attended work shops where Bly, Gilette and Moore propounded their views on the subject your mention.
I will only say I came away with a much more positive understanding of their work than you have shared.
Why even bring them up in this context? Were they involved in this?
–GS



report abuse
 

Pitch313

posted October 10, 2009 at 2:44 pm


I suspect that the model of instruction is askew here. But enthusiastically American in its celebration of More! Quick! Pay!
What comes to mind as I read the descriptions of Ray’s events and what they promise is an occultural/human potential/prosperity consciousness traveling meeting counterpart to the growth of megachurches. Megachurches alter the relationship of adherent to congregation and clergy–and perhaps to deity–in lots of telling ways.
CNN provides an aerial photo of the “sweatbox.” It’s big. A mega-sweat facility that holds more bodies and, it appears, can get too hot. And produce tragic incidents. [Blessings to those who were injured and those who have crossed over.]
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/09/sweat.box.deaths/index.html
The entire enterprise, no matter how occult its trappings, seems so fa removed from anything that I or my co-practitioners do that it’s difficult for me to acknowledge what links us in history and in vision. But I cannot see how organization and marketing and haste can take a seeker very far compared to the low, slow, and gradual practice that I follow and advocate.



report abuse
 

Sarenth

posted October 10, 2009 at 2:57 pm


People seem too willing to access ceremonies they haven’t been prepared or accepted for, redefining archetypes that already have a wide range of interpretations, and energies that they may not be able to handle. Couple this with people who are trying to put as many bodies into an enclosed hot space back up by CYA paperwork to help prevent lawsuits, and you are asking for the organization not to take responsibility. Neopagans can have their own spiritual traditions, retreats, intense ceremonies and life changing rituals without nipping them from First Nations.



report abuse
 

sharon

posted October 10, 2009 at 3:26 pm


Any time you take a sacred ceremony and try to make money out of it , it becomes defiled.
Sacred ceremonies such as the sweat lodge are not for the unintitated or uninvited by an elder.
What happened to those ignorant people is a warning by a higer power to not play with or try to make money off of things you dont understand.



report abuse
 

Duff

posted October 10, 2009 at 5:22 pm


Thank you for your reporting on this sad event.
According to a report from the NY Times, there may have been negligence due to covering the sweat lodge with plastic, thus not allowing enough oxygen in:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/us/11lodge.html



report abuse
 

Joseph

posted October 10, 2009 at 7:49 pm


Greg, of course Bly et al are involved: they popularized the seeking of spiritual archetypes and a muscular form of spirituality and personal development, the pursuit of which is the reason these poor people died.



report abuse
 

arielseachild

posted October 10, 2009 at 11:23 pm


It is very unfortunate for this incident to happen.
I agree with the blogger, in that the quest to make money, combined with someone who never should have conducted ANY kind of traditional ceremony, let alone a dangerous one such as a sweat lodge, caused this incident.
Disrespect of a sacred tradition does not bring good to anyone involved.
May we in the Pagan world always remember this, and keep our traditions responsible, respected, and safe, for those who walk with us for learning.



report abuse
 

karim

posted October 11, 2009 at 6:22 am


Good one on Personal Development and it helps a lot.
Thanks,
Karim – Positive thinking



report abuse
 

anonymous

posted October 11, 2009 at 12:18 pm


Forgive me for sounding ignorant here. However, it is my understanding that a native shamanic healer does not charge for healing. That violates the basic ethics involved. It is akin to asking someone for prayer and then having to pay for it. It changes the motive and intent. With this in mind this event should not have happened to begin with.



report abuse
 

Gus diZerega

posted October 11, 2009 at 1:16 pm


As I understand it, tribes differ with regard to how payment is made – some shamans and medicine people charge for shamanic work and some accept gifts- but those cultures accepting gifts do not automatically discount the value of gift relationships, as our society does. So there may be traditional peoples where sweats are paid for in a formal sense. In others, gifts are given, but the gifts are expected to be in some sense appropriate, at least on balance.
With that preamble – I have been to many sweats, and I can remember none where there was a formal charge. Such exorbitant charges as this guys was charging – not to cover the sweat leaders expenses and give him some support, but to make him a bundle, were unheard of.
On the other hand, because an incompetent sweat is really nothing more than a sauna, if nothing goes wrong, made it possible for some folks to set themselves up as sweat leaders, and charge. I heard rumors.
This joker was a bit different and a lot worse – he charged almost $10,000 for five days, which ended in this catastrophe. One evidence the guy was a total incompetent is that the sweat leader is supposed to monitor everything going on in the lodge. I know of no leaders who would want 60+ people to monitor, even if somehow they could all be fitted within a real lodge. BTW, genuine sweat lodges are constructed ritually and according to a step by sacred step approach to the matter.



report abuse
 

delbert j sampson

posted October 13, 2009 at 6:02 pm


everything is done with prayer and good intention etc.



report abuse
 

Katiadriel

posted October 14, 2009 at 12:20 am


Well spoke, blogger, my sentiments exactly.



report abuse
 

E. Patrick Carroll

posted October 21, 2009 at 11:22 am


It’s the American Way!
Foolish PPL looking for a quick, trendy fix to their ongoing spiritual lack of awareness…And a charlatan who will help them do it-just another snake oil salesman. I honor and respect the dead involved, but a seriously lack of judgement was apparent when that many ppl were crammed into a plasti tent! One look and I would have left and gone back to Ohio!



report abuse
 

Your Name

posted October 21, 2009 at 11:23 am


It’s the American Way!
Foolish PPL looking for a quick, trendy fix to their ongoing spiritual lack of awareness…And a charlatan who will help them do it-just another snake oil salesman. I honor and respect the dead involved, but a seriously lack of judgement was apparent when that many ppl were crammed into a plasti tent! One look and I would have left and gone back to Ohio!



report abuse
 

Jay Rau

posted October 21, 2009 at 10:07 pm


Our prayers go out to those who died and their families in the hands of the Guru. I love to attend sweat lodges and I pray that people continue to attend their safe lodges.
http://www.soberliving.com/blog/2009/08/11/sweating-in-sobriety-by-jay-rau



report abuse
 

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.

Share this story


About Beliefnet

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness. More about Beliefnet.

Help

Media Kit

Subscribe

Legal

Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Constructed by Beliefnet.

Advertisement

Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.