Characters of the James Ray Trial: Michael Hamilton Edition

In any well crafted drama the characters are what allow the story to play out, and it is no different with the characters of the James Ray Trial. One interesting thing about this trial is the people enmeshed in it. For the past 2 days Michael Hamilton the co-founder of Angel Valley is testifying.

On the Angel Valley website is Mr. Hamilton smiling on their services page as the first in a line-up followed by his wife Amayra, Fawn Foster, and a host of others. The Hamilton’s are non-denominational ministers that perform wedding ceremonies. Their practices are referred to as modalities and Michael’s also include Intuitive Coaching and Affirmations, his wife Amayra’s modality list runs quite longer and includes Channeled Writing, Crystal Skulls, and Angel Walks.

On another page Michael talks of his spiritual journey that started July 22, 1996 when the Archangel Michael came to him during a channeling session, and from there on Michael found himself on a mission.

Much more recently, in December 2010, that mission got curtailed by a land use permit denied by The Yavapai County Planning and Zoning Commission who had some questions about his plans to section off parts of his property for third party use. For one thing the County didn’t want to see unchecked expansion over at Angel Valley.

Now if you asked where did they meet James Ray? It started when a guy who was “in with an agent” according to what Michael Hamilton said to detectives on 10/26/09 where they made it clear to him that he wasn’t under criminal investigation for the sweat lodge. They got into the sweat lodges after being around some people with the “Native American Energy” as opposed to the white minister energy I presume. Two of these natives are David Singing Bear and Angel Valley’s former manager Gary Palisch who has some native blood, according to Hamilton.

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Now jump to today and he is the wood expert. Defense attorney Do asks Mr. Hamilton as someone who has worked in construction for 30+ years and knows a lot about pressure treated wood. Then she drops the new organophosphate defense, which is CCA, with the key word here in the A which stands for arsenic. It is arsenic, the new smoking gun, well not exactly.

And one final word, last night when looking at the Angel Valley website to get a feel for how the Hamiltons choose to present themselves online, I thought to myself crystal skulls would be an easy target for the defense and sure enough here they are. Now we are in recess and I wanted to get a few words out on the trial. Then I will go ahead dig in to the Michael Hamilton story a little more, and later expand further into looking at Amayra.

Highlights from the LaVaughn James Ray Trial Blog

Since I got so late to the game I wanted to start covering some of the earlier discussions that were launched at the outset of this trial. I begin with some highlights from LaVaughn who as I keep mentioning is doing an extensive blow by blow of the entire trial, as she puts it - front and center with the popcorn.

The idea that the prosecutor Ms. Polk is using James Ray's own words to incriminate him seemed to be a good strategy for LaVaughn, and she pointed out several aspects of cult programming that she felt jumped out at her from some of the statements of James Ray leading up to the sweat lodge.

Here is a quick list for you to contemplate:

1. Building Urgency "Time is short"
2. Raising Fear "if you're not going to die"
3. Sleep Deprivation "some of you went to bed last night"
4. Food and Water Deprivation
5. Watermelon Fast Breaking (Sugar-Shock)

Then there is the topic of Holotropic Breath Work developed by Stan Grof, who claims James Ray was not certified to teach, LaVaughn provides the link.

Another activity of note during the 5 days of Spiritual Warrior 09 is The Samurai Game which caused some participants to lay "dead" for an extended period of time before the Vision Quest which entailed 36 hours without food and water.

And finally the opening remarks for the defense that came from Luis Li centered around the fact that adults have the right to choose, and thus must be held responsible for any actions they take.

Here you have some albeit disjointed points in their presently concocted form but important touchstones of the trial nonetheless. So when you get a chance go over to LaVaughn and thank her for all her insights, I'm sure she'd really appreciate it.