Spiritual Growth - Morning Star Institute -- About The Morning Star

THE VISION—THE MORNING STAR

It was October of 1993, when I flew into Kailua-Kona located on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was meeting Kimo (not his real name), a native Hawaiian healer and friend, who along with Sherry and myself would be leading a group of our students on a spiritual journey to the island’s various known and unknown sacred sites. This was not the first time that we had taken people on a spiritual journey throughout the island’s. But this time, I had planned on a sacred journey to Japan not Hawaii. I had taken groups to Japan before in the 80’s but had not scheduled any mystical trips there since 1988. Our two previous group journeys to Japan were full of “magic” and wondrous and amazing happenings. One of our participants on our 1987 journey feels that her cancer was cured on the sacred mountain of Koya-san, Kobo Daishi’s mountain (See below). Needless to say, we were excited to be bringing a group back to Japan.

Why were we then in Hawaii instead of Japan? An interesting mystery occurred. Out of the blue at the end of August, I received a fax from my friend and fellow spiritual teacher in Japan. He was arranging the segment of the journey that would occur in Japan and would assist Sherry and I in teaching. The fax caught us by surprise; he was canceling with no explanation. I was in shock, since this pilgrimage had been in the planning for over two years. Without his assistance and support, I decided that the best course of action would be not to cancel but to substitute Hawaii for Japan. Doesn’t sound like a major change except for the fact that all the people that were signed up wanted to go to Japan!

As you can see, our students trusted our judgment call and agreed on the change. Of course, a journey to the lush islands of Hawaii is not hard to take. I have been to the island’s many times. It is one of those places on earth that my soul feels at home not only with the land and sea but also with the culture and the ancestors. Many others feel this same magic of place and once they arrive, many never leave. The smells, the sounds, and the feelings of Hawaii have the ability to transcend the conscious mind and go directly to the heart. The culture is based on love, which is part of the four-fold path and message that Sherry and I bring to the world.

To express my love for these islands, I wanted to honor the Hawaiian ancestors through an ancient and ageless ceremony. This is called a “burning” and was taught to Sherry and I by dear friends of ours who are Northwest Coast First Nation Elders. We were initiated in this ceremony and passed on the spiritual power and authority to do this form of ceremonial practice. There is, however, one rigid spiritual rule and responsibility that is connected with this ceremony. Once the date is set, whether that is in your mind or in your words, it cannot be changed. NO matter what circumstances that might occur.

Now, if you have ever been involved with native Hawaiians, many listen to their hearts and their feelings, not worrying about time. Since they were Kimo's ancestors not ours, I needed to ask his permission to perform the ceremony. And I needed to emphasize the point that once set; it could not be canceled or postponed. A few days before the group was to arrive, Kimo, my son Jamie and I were visiting a few of the sacred sites we were going to be going to. At one of these, the ruins of an ancient Hawaiian fishing village, I decided that this would be the perfect place and time to discuss the “burning”. It was early afternoon, the sun was ablaze in a cloudless sky and the salt air was blowing in from the ocean. We had just finished a meditative experience and were discussing the burning. There was a pause in the explanation and before I could continue, a bat flew towards us, circled around us twice and then disappeared. Kimo, excited and pleased, exclaimed, “Did you see that! That‘s a great sign. Bats don’t come out during the day; this one came to show us that this journey is a blessed one—nothing will stand in our way. We’ll be able to flow around any obstacles, physical or otherwise.”

Kimo was touched to the core of his soul that we would be willing to do this type of sacred blessing for his people. He agreed. Then continued to explain that this ceremonial way was a part of the Hawaiian spiritual tradition centuries past, but was a lost art and seldom practiced today. We both decided that the perfect site to conduct the “burning” was the City of Refuge—a place of love and forgiveness. One slight problem; it’s part of the Hawaiian Park system with rules against open fires of any type, profane or sacred.

Pu’uhonua o Honaunau
Photo by JC Husfelt, D.D.

The City of Refuge - Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, a place of sanctuary, peace and beauty, is situated on the volcanic coast south of Kailua-Kona. This sanctuary was originally a sacred place that provided people with a second chance—a true place of forgiveness. It was here that people, who broke a Kapu or sacred law, would flee for refuge. If they could reach the sanctuary, their life would be spared and all forgiven. This was and still is sacred ground where life can begin anew. What a perfect place to honor and feed the ancestors and the spirits.

I’m not a stranger to this most sacred of sites. The city, the lands and the ocean surrounding it speak to me of a time long lost in memory. Standing on this volcanic shore with the beauty of the ocean before me, I can tap into the awesome power of the elements in their virgin nature. It’s a feeling words cannot portray; only through the experience can you hope to pierce the veil that encompasses this mystery of the earth and the heavens.

This land also holds the thoughts, the memories and the spirits of the Hawaiian ancestors, a perfect place for the burning. Even though I told Kimo that it was not necessary to conduct the “burning” within the walls of the city, he decided to ask the park rangers permission. Not only did we discover that permits were needed and on top of that, there could not be any un-contained fires. And not only do the rules apply within the walls but also outside the walls surrounding the city.

I’ve always believed that heavenly laws supersede human rules and regulations, so I decided that we would just perform the ceremony further down the beach still on park land, but most importantly still on the sacred land of the Refuge. The “burning” was set for late Saturday afternoon just before dusk as a honoring to the ancestors of Hawaii and also as a beginning ceremony for our sacred and mystical journey.

Food offerings, 'feeding the spirit' of Osiris,
from the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

A “burning” or “feeding the spirits” is a timeless ceremony that actually involves cooking food and then burning the food so that the substance and energy of it is taken into the Otherworld. This was the original honoring tradition of the Otherworld that was corrupted during certain past ages and in certain cultures and resulted in humans becoming the sacrificial food for the “gods.”

The Burning—Dusk on Saturday