Concerning the deaths in Sedona

[walksalone11]

By Arvol Looking Horse

Story Published: Oct 16, 2009

Story Updated: Jan 8, 2010

As Keeper of our Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, I am concerned for the two deaths and illnesses of the many people who participated in a sweat lodge in Sedona, Ariz. that brought our sacred rite under fire in the news. I would like to clarify that this lodge, and many others, are not our ceremonial way of life because of the way they are being conducted. My prayers go out to the families and loved ones for their loss.

Our ceremonies are about life and healing. From the time this ancient ceremonial rite was given to our people, never has death been a part of our inikaga (life within) when conducted properly. Today, the rite is interpreted as a sweat lodge. It is much more than that. The term does not fit our real meaning of purification.

Inikaga is the oldest ceremony brought to us by Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit). Nineteen generations ago, the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota oyate (people) were given seven sacred rites of healing by a Spirit Woman, Pte San Win (White Buffalo Calf Woman). She brought these rites along with the sacred Canupa (pipe) to our people, when our ancestors were suffering from a difficult time. It was also brought for the future to help us for much more difficult times to come. They were brought to help us stay connected to who we are as a traditional cultural people.

The values of conduct are very strict in any of these ceremonies, because we work with spirit. The Creator, Wakan Tanka, told us that if we stay humble and sincere, we will keep that connection with the inyan oyate (the stone people), who we call the Grandfathers, to be able to heal ourselves and loved ones. We have a gift of prayer and healing and have to stay humble with our Unci Maka (Grandmother Earth) and with one another. The inikaga is used in all of the seven sacred rites to prepare and finish the ceremonies, along with the sacred eagle feather. The feather represents the sacred knowledge of our ancestors.
What has happened in the news with the makeshift sauna called the ‘sweat lodge’ is not our ceremonial way of life.

Our First Nations people have to earn the right to pour the mini wiconi (water of life) upon the inyan oyate in creating Inikaga by going on the vision quest for four years and four years to Sundance. Then you are put through a ceremony to be painted, to recognize that you have now earned the right to take care of someone’s life through purification. They should also be able to understand our sacred language, to be able to understand the messages from the Grandfathers, because they are ancient, they are our spirit ancestors. They walk and teach the values of our culture in being humble, wise, caring and compassionate.

What has happened in the news with the makeshift sauna called the “sweat lodge” is not our ceremonial way of life.

When you do ceremony, you can not have money on your mind. We deal with the pure sincere energy to create healing that comes from everyone in that circle of ceremony. The heart and mind must be connected. When you involve money, it changes the energy of healing. The person wants to get what they paid for. The Spirit Grandfathers will not be there. Our way of life is now being exploited. You do more damage than good. No mention of monetary energy should exist in healing, not even with a can of love donations. When that energy exists, they will not even come. Only after the ceremony, between the person that is being healed and the intercessor who has helped connect with the Great Spirit, can the energy of money be given out of appreciation. That exchange of energy is from the heart; it is private and does not involve the Grandfathers. Whatever gift of appreciation the person who received help can now give is acceptable. They can give the intercessor whatever they feel their healing is worth.

In our prophecy, the White Buffalo Calf Woman told us she would return and stand upon the earth when we are having a hard time. In 1994, this began to happen with the birth of the white buffalo. Not only their nation, but many animal nations began to show their sacred color, which is white. She predicted that at this time there would be many changes upon Grandmother Earth. There would be things that we never experienced or heard of before: Climate changes, earth changes, diseases, disrespect for life and they would be shocking. There would  also be many false prophets.

My Grandmother who passed the bundle to me said I would be the last Keeper if the oyate do not straighten up. The assaults upon Grandmother Earth are horrendous, the assaults toward one another was not in our culture, the assaults against our people have been termed as genocide, and now we are experiencing spiritual genocide.

Because of the problems that began to arise with our rebirth and being able to do our ceremonies in the open since the Freedom of Religion Act of 1978, our elders began talking to me about the abuses they have seen in our ceremonial way of life, which was once very strict.

It is forbidden to film or photograph any of our ceremonies.

After many years of witnessing their warnings, we held a meeting to address the lack of protocol in our ceremonies. After reaching an agreement to address the misconduct of our ceremonies and to remind of the proper protocols, a statement was made in March 2003. Every effort was made to ensure our way of life of who we are as traditional cultural people, because these ways are for our future and all life upon  Grandmother Earth (Mitakuye Oyasin, all my relations), so that they may have good health. Because these atrocities are being mocked and practiced all over the world, we even made a film called “Spirits for Sale.”

The non-Native people have a right to seek help from our First Nation intercessors for good health and well-being. It is up to that intercessor. That is a privilege for all people that we gift for being able to have good health and understand that their protocol is to have respect and appreciate what we have to share. The First Nations intercessor has to earn that right to our ceremonial way of life in the ways I have explained.

At this time, I would like to ask all nations upon Grandmother Earth to please respect our sacred ceremonial way of life and stop the exploitation of our Tunka Oyate (Spiritual Grandfathers).

In a Sacred Hoop of Life, where there is no ending and no beginning, namahu yo (hear my words).

Chief Arvol Looking Horse is the 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle.

[walksalone11]

After Sweat Lodge Deaths, Fewer Tourists With Spiritual Needs

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/us/20sedona.html?_r=3&partner=TOPIXNEWS&ei=5099

SEDONA, Ariz. — There is negative energy in the air here, which the channelers, mystics, healers, psychics and other New Age practitioners of Sedona are grappling to identify and snuff out. It has to do with the recent dearth of visitors to this spiritual oasis in search of enlightenment.

Nobody is sure exactly what is keeping people away from Sedona's four vortexes, swirling energy sources emanating from the earth, but the effects are clear: far fewer crystals are being bought, spiritual tours taken and treatments ordered, from aura cleansings to chakra balancings.

That an earthly power — the economy — is a culprit is not in doubt. But some do not discount the effects of an awful incident from a year ago that put Sedona's New Age community in a bad light and that, to some degree, still lingers, despite efforts by metaphysical people to cast it away.

Last October, a celebrated New Age practitioner held a sweat lodge ceremony that ran dangerously amok, shattering the tranquillity of a spiritual center hidden in a forested valley here.

Packed into a circular hut on the grounds of Angel Valley were red-hot rocks, seething steam and scores of followers of James A. Ray, a California self-help guru. He encouraged them to finish the final test in his "Spiritual Warrior" retreat, participants told law enforcement officials, even though they might feel as though they were going to die.

Three of them did. Numerous others were rushed to hospitals.

The Angel Valley spiritual center, a place designed to bring harmony into the lives of visitors, was soon visited by homicide detectives not interested in the retreat's vortex circle, angel connections or Chartres labyrinth. Their questions were about who did what to whom.

"It was a very unfortunate and sad situation that could have happened anywhere," said Janelle Sparkman, president of the Sedona Metaphysical Spiritual Association, who attributes the woes that New Age practitioners are experiencing to a lack of disposable income for spiritual needs and not what happened that awful afternoon. "It was not indicative of Sedona or Sedona's practitioners at all."

But sweat lodges are now far less common, with the authorities shutting some down to avoid further trouble. And the spiritual association is pushing the importance of ethics among spiritualists.

Still, the tragedy of what occurred, along with the barrage of lawsuits, has caused some outsiders to look elsewhere for fulfillment.

"Initially, I didn't think it was going to affect business and, a year later, I know I was wrong," said Deidre Madsen, who runs a New Age travel company in Sedona and a Web site devoted to inner growth. "I'm shocked at the impact. My business is down 20 percent."

She is optimistic though, as New Age people tend to be. "It will come back, in its own time," Ms. Madsen said. Sedona's Chamber of Commerce said that tourism over all was bouncing back, but that spiritual business still lagged.

Some, though, are leaving nothing to chance. Two weeks ago, after months of spiritual cleansings, prayer and channeling sessions, the retreat where the sweat lodge victims died held a memorial intended to turn the page.

About 50 people joined hands at the site of the lodge, which was torn down soon after the deaths. Rocks were laid out in the shape of a heart, and three large crystals representing the victims were placed in the center.

"We do not want an energy that we're sitting on a graveyard," said Amayra Hamilton, co-founder of Angel Valley. "This is about learning and appreciating life. That means expanding our understanding of life and death."

One of those who participated in the memorial was in the lodge that day as a volunteer for Mr. Ray, and he shared why returning to the scene was such a challenge.

"It's been a long process of coming back here," said the volunteer, Mark Rock, who has since broken ties with Mr. Ray. "It was a step-by-step thing. I didn't want to come back at first. This is a powerful place for me. Having three good people transition from here is a lot to take in."

Despite the memorial, local practitioners say there is still much wrangling that is keeping the incident from fading away.

Mr. Ray faces three manslaughter charges for the deaths of Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y.; James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee; and Liz Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, Minn. He pleaded not guilty and faces trial in February.

Meanwhile, civil lawsuits abound. A Native American group has accused Mr. Ray and Angel Valley of damaging the sacred Indian tradition of sweat lodges.

Some of Mr. Ray's followers filed suit, saying he canceled his inner growth sessions without refunding their money.

Ten people who were either in the sweat lodge or were relatives of those who died sued Mr. Ray and eventually settled. Angel Valley, however, remains a defendant, with its owners rejecting any monetary settlement.

Mrs. Hamilton and her husband, Michael, also sued Mr. Ray, accusing him of damaging their struggling retreat's business of helping people find inner peace. After the sweat lodge deaths, the suit says, many spiritualists began keeping a distance from Angel Valley, and it began losing as much as $35,000 a month.

Several months back, the Hamiltons made a spiritual appeal to end the lawsuits, e-mailing those who were suing them and asking them to consider the implications of what they were doing. "Let's come together," the e-mail said. "Let's find a new way to do this."

Their effort drew no takers, although it did rile the plaintiffs' lawyers.

The Hamiltons also came up with the idea of holding a large grieving ceremony this month for sweat lodge participants and survivors at the one-year anniversary of the deaths, and planned to use their insurance money to pay for it. They insisted, however, that all attendees agree to drop their suits. Nobody agreed, so the smaller ceremony was held.

"We were waiting for a miracle to happen," Mrs. Hamilton said, "but it didn't happen."

She and her husband speak of how everything happens for a reason. And of how this awful event might serve as a lesson to other spiritualists that following gurus should be done with caution. They said they expected to be called to the witness stand in Mr. Ray's case and, if asked, would lay out their belief in communicating with angels and other nonphysical beings.

"That event happened," said Mr. Hamilton, who added that he was speaking to a reporter only after consulting the archangel Michael, his spiritual muse. "The real question is what have we learned from it."