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2 dead during a ceremony led by James Arthur Ray, author of the best-selling book "Ha

Overman

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Overman
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2 dead during a ceremony led by James Arthur Ray, author of the best-selling book "Ha

:eek:

Reminds me why we do what we do and why I post on here....

Linky

Ray, described on his Web site as a "personal success strategist," has appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" and on the "Oprah Winfrey Show," and is featured in the self-empowerment film "The Secret."

Neither Ray nor his representatives could be reached Saturday to comment.

Angel Valley Resort advertises itself as "a place to relax and heal ... where powerful earth energies are present and active." It was founded in April 2002 by Michael and Amayra Hamilton, both of whom are teachers and counselors there.

The resort is on 70 secluded valley acres 20 minutes from Sedona, surrounded by thousands of acres of national forest, according to the Web site. It has Internal Revenue Service nonprofit status as a religious organization, its Web site says.

"There are twenty marked vortexes and angel sites to experience connection with Earth and spirit, deep relaxation, and balancing," an online brochure says. "Angel Valley offers two labyrinths and an Angel Wheel for going inward, finding answers and getting insights."

No information about the sweat lodge could be found on the Web site Saturday morning, and numerous internal links were not functioning.

The use of sweat lodges for spiritual and physical cleansing is a part of several Native American tribes' cultures.

A traditional Native American sweat lodge is a small dome-like structure made up of willow branches carefully tied together and covered in canvas. Rocks are heated in a nearby fire pit and placed inside the lodge, and water is poured over them to create steam.
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From the AP: (link)

Felicia Fonseca (AP) said:
Ray's most recent posting on his Twitter account said: "Still in Spiritual Warrior ... for anything new to live something first must die. What needs to die in you so that new life can emerge?"
The posting and two others were deleted Friday afternoon.
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That is just creepy.
 
$9,000-$10,000 for a five day seminar.

I guess the "spirits" are as desperate for money as jesus is.
 
Ralph said:
$9,000-$10,000 for a five day seminar.

I guess the "spirits" are as desperate for money as jesus is.
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Hey, I was just going to post that :)
We have two threads on this it appears.

So, yea, two grand a day, and three days of fasting ( keeping those expenses down ) X 50 people= hummmm, maybe I should go woo :D
 
"There are twenty marked vortexes and angel sites to experience connection with Earth and spirit, deep relaxation, and balancing"
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Someone should tell them that the plural of vortex is vortices.

I wonder how many unmarked ones there are?
 
Right on

Glad someone else caught this tragic event :/ and posted it here.

Didn't see the thread until I posted another topic in General.

Right on, and yes, made some folks wonder if you can still sue a guru.
 
And if foul play is discovered the lead detective could publish a book titled "Ah Ha!"
 
From the OP link:

"A traditional Native American sweat lodge is a small dome-like structure made up of willow branches carefully tied together and covered in canvas. Rocks are heated in a nearby fire pit and placed inside the lodge, and water is poured over them to create steam."

Canvas? Where in the hell do these stupid people get this crap???
 
rockinkt said:
From the OP link:

"A traditional Native American sweat lodge is a small dome-like structure made up of willow branches carefully tied together and covered in canvas. Rocks are heated in a nearby fire pit and placed inside the lodge, and water is poured over them to create steam."

Canvas? Where in the hell do these stupid people get this crap???
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They get it here!
 
Not sure if this is the best forum thread here, but this gave me the sinking feeling in the old gut. I have never heard of this guy Ray. My only knowledge of Sedona is from Derren Brown's segment in his "Messiah" program. I think I'm paying attention now more than recently because of re-reading Randi's "Faith Healers" (after hearing DJ Grothe talk to Randi about it, and wondering what's up with Benny Hinn), which led me to re-read "The Truth About Uri Geller" (that got me looking here again for more mentalism/fraud debates and incidentally running into the Slydini videos that Dick Cavett posted on his NY Times blog), and then going to my treasure--an inscribed copy of Flim-Flam, in which my bookmark is an autographed Penn and Teller ticket stub. Today of all days, I get my JREF baseball cap in the mail, and then read this horrible news of what I can only assume is dehydration.

As easily noted, I'm a Randi fan. He's still using the oxygen (in his terms) but my oh my there is still work to be done. I can't attend the events just yet, but will use the 501(c) status of JREF to get something off my chest if I need to. Like $$$.

This is an honest and real post from no-short-time-poster-BPScooter. authenticated.
 
What's the harm? 2 dead people. That's not good. As others note here:

whatstheharm.net

Last I checked didn't have this Sedona sweat reported. I'm hoping/sure a link will be there eventually.
 
Asphyxiation, dehydration, .... you say potato, I say pot-ahhto .. let's call the whole thing off.

But oh, if we call the whole thing off
Then we must part
and oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart
 
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Going back and looking at the press reports, if I were Poirot I would begin to look for poison, or some other cause as well. The little grey cells seem to be called for here. One of my favorite lines when Scotland Yard says cause of death=heart failure: Poriot (exasperated): "I have yet to meet a corpse whose heart still beats!"
 
Every time I read about gurus, I wonder why I actually work for a living.

People pay 10.000 dolars to sleep in a hut, have some twerp talk Deepak Chopra crap, eat granola and have a sauna?

Some day I will just go over to the dark side, I tell ya!
 
Not too surprisingly, this is not causing much soul searching locally. Letters to the editor I'll probably see before this blows over:

See what you get when you go for spiritual enlightenment to those false superficial California gurus instead of our genuine local Sedona gurus! - Orion Starshine
or
Sad that innocent people find out this way the falseness of their beliefs. At our church we offer sound social programs, transparent finances, and literal Bible based teachings. - Pastor Joe Smiley

So... terrible that two people needlessly died, but hey Sedona might look bad. One of the first facts we were assured of was that they did not have a proper building permit for the sweat lodge tent. WELL I NEVER. (I can just see hundreds of like minded organizations skittering over to City Hall to get their inspections and paperwork...)

So far, the local 'take' is something like we should keep an eye on those outsiders.
 
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