Our weekly Gatherings take place each Sunday morning starting at 10am Central Time. Please join us via Zoom if you can’t make it to 329 S. Peters, Norman, OK, in person.

May 4   

Susanne Blake

“Beyond Grief: My Dying Son Opened a Portal to Bliss”

One day after her 84^th birthday, Susanne lost her 59-year-old son to the same gastric cancer that took her 39-year-old husband some 45 years before. What ordinarily would have been the most tragic of stories, instead mystically transformed into an ineffable experience as her son’s passing spirit opened a portal for her to glimpse the incredible beyond. Susanne is here today to share what should have been the greatest tragedy of her life, but instead was an experience of the greatest transcendence. She offers her inspiring message of hope, life, and love to her Morning Star family.

Susanne is a founding member of Morning Star whose life has been blessed with an incredible array of life experiences. She has an MBA in business, is the author of two books including “When Spirit Speaks”. She was a member of the Ruidoso ski patrol. She was a dinner partner of Governor Ronald Reagan and lunched with President Gerald Ford at the White House. She once refused a ride with Billy Joel and Richard Gere. She is a builder of outhouses, a graduate of A Course in Miracles, a meditator, a fire walker, an adept of the I Ching and the pendulum. At 40 she led a group of scouts on an 80-mile Philmont, NM hike and at 50 she was tossed by a mule. She sings over 50 songs in Lakota and is a veteran of the sweat lodge, the Sundance, and the vision quest. And that’s just the short list.  We can’t wait to hear more so hope you’ll be able to join us!

May 11

Joan Brinkworth

“Healing Through the Mother”

In this special Mother’s Day gathering, Joan will share her personal story of healing—how childhood experiences shaped her as a seeker, and how that path led her through a variety of modalities and mystical doorways. From navigating a complex relationship with her own mother to uncovering the deeper patterns beneath it, she will explore how we all carry echoes of the Mother Archetype within us—regardless of our family histories.

Through storytelling, teaching, and a gentle tapping practice, Joan will invite us to connect with the archetypal energy of the Mother—not as an external figure, but as an inner presence of unconditional love, nourishment, and wisdom. We’ll end with a guided meditation, a conversation between you and your own inner Mother, designed to restore softness, trust, and a sense of sacred connection. Whether you’ve had a nurturing mother, a complicated one, or longed for something more, this is an opportunity to tap into the deeper spiritual truth: the Mother is within us all.

Joan is a former hair stylist turned EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique or “Tapping”) teacher and energy educator at OpalFox Studios in Oklahoma City. Drawing from her background in emotional freedom techniques, archetypal studies, and Human Design/Gene Keys, she helps clients release limiting beliefs and return to their inner authority. Her work blends tapping, energy psychology, and personal storytelling to create lasting transformation from the inside out.

Joan teaches with warmth, clarity, and a little bit of sparkle—guiding others to not just understand themselves, but live as their most aligned, empowered self. For more information about her services, including free tapping resources, go to: www.opalfoxstudios.com

May 18

Doug Bannister

“Honoring One’s Self-Authority”

Doug Bannister started life in Erie, PA 79 years ago. He graduated from Penn State and entered the Army after graduation, serving honorably in the Vietnam War. He then relocated to OKC where he spent 50 years running a highly successful, internationally recognized decorative concrete business. During this time, in 2006, Doug joined the School of Metaphysics in OKC. He quickly obtained all the certificates they offered and became an ordained minister. He moved to the SOM Headquarters in Columbia MO in 2016, becoming a teacher and director of the school even serving on the Board of Directors in 2024. He most recently introduced Elderberry, Nature’s Medicine Chest to SOM as well as Bitcoin and Regenerative Agriculture. He currently leads a weekly meditation class and participates in the Dream Webinar as a senior dream interpreter. According to Doug, he is currently looking for his next rodeo.

There is a lot of talk about Authority in the news these days, but our speaker Doug Bannister will lead us to not only understand, but learn how to honor our Self-Authority. While the term self-authority may be new to us, the go-to self-managing principle of the Golden Rule (Do Unto Others . . .) will feel like familiar ground to start with. Doug will explain there are certain unalienable rights that can direct and shape one’s path. There is a Divine Birthright available to all. It is time to learn to give ourselves permission to own our Authority. This will be an interesting, and enlightening opportunity to gain an important tool to help navigate this thing called “Life”.

May 25

Tom Mckeown

“Healing with Drum Energy”

Tom Mckeown was born in Oklahoma. The drum was given to him in the 1990s by friends with whom he used to – and still does – meditate, participate in sweat lodges, fire walks and other ceremonies. The energy of the drum began to attract people for healings and connection with other dimensions, and themselves. The drum provides an experience unique to each person. Tom is a conduit for the medicine and the journey.

Join us this Memorial Weekend Sunday morning to experience Tom’s transformative drumming meditation, a powerful movement of energy that will challenge you to examine what stands in the way of you living your truth.

June 1

Charlotte Etherington (speaking via Zoom)

“Hypnosis as the Portal Between the Subconscious & the Sacred Void”

Charlotte Etherington is a hypnotherapist, subconscious reprogramming practitioner, and Kundalini energy worker from Suffolk, England. But before she ever led identity-shifting rituals or built a global online presence with over 99,000 followers, she spent over five years working as a telecommunications and Wi-Fi engineer—literally designing and optimizing invisible systems that kept the world connected.

She didn’t know it at the time, but that career was her first training ground in the unseen. It taught her how subtle signals create real-world impact, how precision rewires connection—and now, she applies those same principles to the human mind. Today, she works not with routers, but with realities. Not with tech networks, but with neural and energetic networks, guiding people to reprogram their subconscious identities at the root. Her work blends hypnosis, trauma-informed transformation, Kundalini activation, and subconscious alchemy into one potent process: Subconscious Surgery™—a ritual of ego death, nervous system repair, and identity rebirth. Charlotte does not teach others how to manifest by wishing, she guides them to become the version who doesn’t just want the life—but is the life. When she’s not rewiring timelines or sharing soul codes online, she’s walking her 3 dogs, spell-crafting under the moon, or deep in study of the mystical, the subconscious, and the divine.

During her talk, Charlotte will share aspects of her process, a journey into how trance mirrors the divine feminine, the womb, and the void of creation itself. She said, “Hypnosis is not just a therapeutic tool. It is a sacred technology—a return to the void, the womb of the universe, where old identities dissolve and new realities are conceived. The subconscious is the inner cosmos, and hypnosis is how we access the primordial field—the space of no-thing where everything becomes possible.”

June 8

Ivy Norris

“Our Soul’s Evolutionary Journey”

We know we are here on purpose and with a plan.

Fortunately, we have incredible resources to help us have awareness on this path. In a world where so much information is available to us, Intuitive Readings is a resource which gives us knowledge and wisdom specific to the person or couple at the time of the reading.

Come learn about the history, benefits and universal wisdom from many years of these Edgar Cayce style readings, including Health, Past Life and Past Life Crossing readings. Also, meet the Conductor and Reader team later in the day for a demonstration.

“There are no unnatural or supernatural phenomena, only very large gaps in our knowledge of what is natural.”  Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut

Ivy Norris, a holistic health professional based in Tulsa, OK, brings over 25 years of experience in teaching applied metaphysics and practicing naturopathic health principles. With a deep commitment to helping others find inner and outer alignment, Ivy believes in the transformative power of healing and living from our wholeness. Her extensive toolkit includes bodywork modalities like the Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique, Cranial Sacral therapy, muscle testing, dream interpretation, meditation, visualization, counseling, and intuitive reading collaboration with Sheila Benjamin, all of which contribute to restoring balance, insight deeper understanding.

At the core of Ivy’s work is the identification and transformation of unhelpful patterns, guiding individuals towards patterns that support their truest self-expression. Through in-person and virtual sessions, regular classes, seminars, spiritual retreats, and conducting intuitive readings, she offers life-enhancing experiences that foster personal growth and healing. 

Ivy holds Doctorates of Divinity and Metaphysics, along with an ordination as an Interfaith Minister. 

June 15

Nathan Brown

“The Continuing Adventures of a Vagabond”

Nathan Brown’s 27^th book, The Fallen Autumn (Book 2 in the series “The Birth of a Vagabond”) follows the shatter and bottoming-out of The Broken Summer with a journey that begins with bare feet and moonbeams down in the American Heartland, but soon heads out to the Pacific coastline, rivers, and mountain towns of Oregon—and then back again to the southern reaches of the Great Plains.

Here, the vagabond’s odyssey takes a turn into the bittersweetness of the holiday season—as well as the early stages of a good father’s rapid decline—as the calendar year comes to a close. Yet another beginning to a couple of looming endings. Endings that will have to find their way through to the beginning of a new year.

Nathan Brown is an author, songwriter, and award-winning poet living in Wimberley, Texas. He holds a PhD in English and Journalism from the University of Oklahoma where he’s taught for over 20 years. He served as Poet Laureate for the State of Oklahoma in 2013/14.  He now travels full time performing readings, concerts, workshops and speaking on creativity, poetry, and songwriting.

A prodigious writer, Nathan will share with Morning Star some of the life and learning insights that led to his latest book.

June 22

Byron Jackson

“What, More Naps?”

When Byron Jackson started napping, he thought “what a great benefit for me.” Rest and live to be 200 years old. In his Journey with napping, he is learning that of all his life messages, napping has been his clearest vision. When he tells people that he naps, they immediately know what he’s talking about.

Byron said, “Whether others nap or not, people know what a nap is. Napping is teaching me to be more intentional in every phase of my life. My soul is learning to be first, before I begin the earthly mission of “doing.” Connecting to my inner God before I do any activity. When I push myself and my brain all the time, it is me forcing my will on life instead of flowing with it. I have learned to survive in this world through my masculinity – to achieve, conquer and protect. My feminine aspect connects to my nurturing, caring capabilities, and most importantly, it comes from a place of abundance. Napping teaches me that there is plenty in the universe. Please bring your favorite blanket on Sunday, and Let’s Nap!”

Byron Jackson is a community leader and program facilitator focused on bridging gaps in communication across races, genders and religions. Byron has a degree in Social Work from the University of Oklahoma and has worked for non-profits for 51 years.

June 29

Swami Brahmananda

“The Great Awakening”

Swami Brahmananda was born David Nowe in Pittsburgh, PA. As a young man, he attended Catholic School, then went on to Columbia University where he was introduced to meditation by his classmates. He set out on a spiritual journey to find God which led him to his Guru, Sri Baba Muktananda, whom he met in 1975 when he received shaktipapt initiation. He remained by Swami Muktananda’s side, traveling with him around the world as his disciple. He ran the Sidde Yoga Ashram in Santa Monica on Muktananda’s behalf and studied under him until his passing in 1982.

Brahmananda currently resides in India and is currently on a world tour giving Kudalini Initiation and Shaktipat Intensives – a spiritual energy transmission that can be transmitted through a sacred word, mantra or the light touch of feathers. Brahmananda will be speaking on Spiritual Awakening in modern times.

 

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See our YouTube channel for recordings of previous gatherings: 

http://YouTube.com/@MorningStarSpiritualCenter