DeathRay's staff tore down the Death Lodge after the deaths:
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4/1/2011 9:48:00 PM
Sweat lodge trial
Angel Valley employee helped tear down sweat lodge
Jack Kurtz/The Associated Press, file
Mark Duncan
Enterprise Reporter
CAMP VERDE - Three days after emergency lights had ripped into the night in Angel Valley, three days after two souls had departed, Fawn Foster and others tore the sweat lodge down.
"It is my belief that when a lodge has been desecrated it needs to come down in a sacred way," Foster said. "It should never be used again."
Sometimes angry and sometimes sad, Foster testified Friday in the manslaughter trial of James Arthur Ray, who is accused of recklessly causing the deaths of Kirby Brown, James Shore and Liz Neuman. The three died after taking part in a sweat lodge ceremony at Ray's Spiritual Warrior seminar at the Angel Valley Retreat Center near Sedona.
Foster has been an employee of Angel Valley since April 2008. She described herself as one-fourth Cherokee and one-fourth Sioux and freely admitted that it offended her to have someone charge for a sweat lodge ceremony.
"I'm not in agreement with anybody charging money for a sweat lodge," she said. "It doesn't have anything to do with him (Ray) personally."
Foster was filling multiple roles during the Spiritual Warrior event, working in the kitchen as well as doing maintenance and housekeeping tasks. She had previously participated in a sweat in the same structure that Ray was to use.
So, when it was time for the seminar's climactic event to begin, and all her work was done, she decided to hang around for the sweat lodge ceremony.
"I just sat down and watched," she said, "because my gut told me to."
The first thing that struck her was when Ray ordered in 12 stones for the first round, more than twice as many as she had seen used before.
"It seemed like an astronomical amount to me," she said.Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2011 10:41PM by Sparky.