| by Judith Weisenfeld On February 3, 2010, the Yavapai County, Arizona Sheriff's Department arrested self-help counselor James Arthur Ray, charging him with three counts of manslaughter for the deaths that took place in the course of his October 2009 "Spiritual Warrior" retreat. Prior to the deaths, Ray had advertised the retreat as part of his program to "create harmonic wealth in all areas of your life" and offered secrets he said he had "searched out in the mountains of Peru, the jungles of the Amazon (and a few other places I don't care to recall)." On the final evening of the five-day $9,000 retreat, participants gathered inside a tarp-covered wooden sweat lodge for a ritual of purification they hoped would attract material bounty. About an hour into the "sweat lodge" event, some participants began to vomit and pass out from the high heat, dehydration and lack of ventilation. Before it was over, nearly two-dozen people were hospitalized, two people were dead and one more would die a week later. ... read more | 
