Sheriff probes sweat lodge deaths as homicides

// added October 16, 2009 // 16 comments //
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Mobius2012

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091016/ap_on_re_us/us_sweat_lodge_deaths_12

PRESCOTT, Ariz. – The deaths of two people during a sweat lodge ceremony led by self-help expert James Arthur Ray are being investigated as homicides, authorities said Thursday.

Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh said the deaths last week of Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown N.Y. and James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee were not accidental.

"A combination of circumstances led to the deaths," Waugh said. "Whether or not we can prove a criminal case, that has yet to be determined."

Waugh said investigators are looking at the way the sweat lodge was built, the fact that people had fallen ill at previous sweat ceremonies led by Ray, and questionable medical care on site. Authorities have said a nurse hired by Ray was directing rescue efforts including CPR when emergency crews arrived.
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16 comments // Sheriff probes sweat lodge deaths as homicides

  • estee_arie
  • Mobius2012
    • 0
      Mobius2012  

    • Wisdomkeepers are the guardians of nature's mysteries within the Lakota ceremonies and their practices, the medicine that is ruled by them, the songs that infuse our senses and our spiritual body, and the forces they produce that are identical to nature and its motivating power. These oral and entirely spontaneous transmissions, given by the three holy men, Joe Flying By, Dave Chief, and Leroy Curley, are a rare treasure of the highest generosity, directed for the greatest good. Their stories are told with complete equanimity, vividly conveying, without rancor or judgement, how Western civilization lacks connection to the natural world. Because passing on elders' wisdom in the oral tradition to the next generation is almost impossible, given the fact that the three important elements of the Lakota culture--the land, the people, and the language--are all but gone, the film's producer/director has provided a great service to those who have an interest in, and wish to learn from, ancient Native American teachings that have rarely been exposed.

      Producer/Director: Ora Abel-Russell

      Donations can be made by credit card or check on the Donate page at:
      http://oneworldinconcert.com/node/5

    • 5 months ago
  • Mobius2012
    • 0
      Mobius2012  

    • NO NO NO, Native Americans weren't behind the sweat lodge deaths, it was James Arthur Ray, who appears to be Anglo. This is what happens when the ''White Man'' gets involved. But who knows what happened.

    • 5 months ago
  • Zurama
    • 0
      Zurama  

    • Wow, I had no idea that Native Americans were behind the Sweat Lodge incident. Homicide? That doesn't make any sense. It was probably an horrible accident!

    • 5 months ago
  • Mobius2012
    • 0
      Mobius2012  
    • Zurama:

      NO NO NO, Native Americans weren't behind the sweat lodge deaths, it was James Arthur Ray, who appears to be Anglo. This is what happens when the ''White Man'' gets involved. But who knows what happened.

    • 5 months ago
  • Zurama
  • Mobius2012
  • Mobius2012
  • Mobius2012
    • 0
      Mobius2012  
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    • Watch the proclaimed heart wrenching documentary about the 1970's uprising of The INDIAN SPIRIT titled ''Wounded Knee''!

      Film Description

      On the night of February 27, 1973, fifty-four cars rolled, horns blaring, into a small hamlet on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Within hours, some 200 Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement (AIM) activists had seized the few major buildings in town and police had cordoned off the area. The occupation of Wounded Knee had begun. Demanding redress for grievances—some going back more than 100 years—the protesters captured the world's attention for 71 gripping days.

      With heavily armed federal troops tightening a cordon around meagerly supplied, cold, hungry Indians, the event invited media comparisons with the massacre of Indian men, women, and children at Wounded Knee almost a century earlier. In telling the story of this iconic moment, the final episode of We Shall Remain will examine the broad political and economic forces that led to the emergence of AIM in the late 1960s as well as the immediate events—a murder and an apparent miscarriage of justice—that triggered the takeover. Though the federal government failed to make good on many of the promises that ended the siege, the event succeeded in bringing the desperate conditions of Indian reservation life to the nation's attention. Perhaps even more important, it proved that despite centuries of encroachment, warfare, and neglect, Indians remained a vital force in the life of America.

    • 5 months ago
  • Mobius2012
  • Mobius2012
  • Mobius2012
  • Mobius2012
  • Mobius2012
    • 0
      Mobius2012  

    • There are many different types of Sweat Lodges utilized by other cultures and are not exclusive to native Indians.

      This is an example of a Sweat Lodge as it is utilized within the Mexican culture.

      Through Sweat Lodges, Chicanos in Tucson are finding a connection to the Past, and to a Brighter Future. This video also takes a look at the prepartion of a sweat ceremony in Tucson's Menlo Park neighrborhood with the group Calpulli Teoxicalli.

    • 5 months ago
  • Mobius2012
    • 0
      Mobius2012  

    • General statement
      ---
      We don't know what happened, sweat lodges are a place for spiritual detoxification. Yes the steam may be good to clear out your pours, but the purpose of the sweat lodge is to clear out your spirit of negative energy. The sweat Lodge is a native Indian practice for reformation, to clean out the heart of unresolved issues and toxic thoughts and feelings. To purge oneself. let's not be so quick to judge this man, because, there were 50 other people there who survived, a few went away injured as would be expected considering they just went through a cleansing, in order to be cleansed you have to confront yourself, so you could end up coming out of that experience, injured, but alive and free, free to live as a newly reborn person.Kirby Brown,, of Westtown N.Y. and James Shore may have not survived having witnessed themselves and dealing with their own unresolved issues. Heart attacks are caused by high levels of anxiety, and what breeds anxiety? thoughts, issues, feelings, and having to face those unresolved thoughts and issues can be overwhelming, enough to produce a heart attack, and then again, they might have reached such a high level of spirituality that their spirits just ascended....

    • 5 months ago
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • Very sad. This will make all sweat lodges suspect, now.
      I know little of sweat lodges, but I can picture knee jerk reactions from many places around the US.

    • 5 months ago
  • Mobius2012
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