Minnesotans in Sweat Lodges

Seriously, can't these people just go to church?

Okay. I don't, I admit. I'm a Conservative Heathen, if you need a label. I believe in God, but I'm not a Christian. The Christians used to call us heathens. Seems as good a name as any.

If was going to experiment with a "New Age" religion, I'd pick one that actually reflected my culture and heritage, like Witchcraft or Odinism. Say what you want about them, they're based in European traditions.

Why do flaky, unfulfilled white people insist on intruding themselves into native faith systems like Voodoo or any Native American Religious Cosmos?

Culture has consequences. And I know it's hard for the pinhead Liberal "seekers" to understand, but they are not all equal, and they are not all interchangeable...and you can't expect to go slogging around in another culture's traditions and expect to get the same results the natives get because, like it or not, you bring all of your cultural baggage, habits, expectations and limitations to the teepee.

Whether it was badly planned or well planned but just too much for culturally unprepared participants, this sad incident reflects this fundamental misunderstanding.

European-Americans: Get a pentacle, write a grimoire, dance in the heath, light candles, praise Odin or the Moon Goddess, cast spells or read the Runes ...

...but stay the hell out of Sweat Lodges and Oúfos*, for God's sake.

Let me put it in a way you'll understand: Stop being imperialists colonizing other people's cultural territory. 

The Gunslinger

*Voodoo temple