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

Phil Joy has been a student of Yoga, Taoism, and Eastern wisdom traditions for more than fifty years. In 1986, he was initiated into the Golden Mountain (Gin Shan Pai) Taoist lineage and received the Taoist name Tian Hui. After a career in Systems Engineering with IBM, Phil retired in 1990 and has devoted himself to the study, practice, and teaching of Taoism, with a particular interest in cultivating health, longevity, and spiritual growth.

For thousands of years, Taoism has offered a path of inner cultivation, a way of returning to the deeper source from which all life arises. Central to this tradition are the Three Treasures: Jing (vital essence), Qi (life energy), and Shen (spirit or consciousness)—the states of internal energy that Taoist practitioners refine and transform on the journey toward spiritual realization.

Phil will share these timeless teachings through the perspective of the Gin Shan Pai lineage of the Complete Reality (Quanzhen) tradition. Drawing from decades of study and practice, he will explore how the cultivation of the Three Treasures leads beyond physical vitality and inner balance toward awakening to our original nature and the ultimate return to the Tao. Whether you are encountering Taoism for the first time or have long been drawn to its wisdom, this talk offers an invitation to contemplate the deeper mystery of who we are and our place within the unfolding of the universe.

August 16th

Byron Jackson

Byron Jackson has spent a lifetime helping people build bridges with those who are different from themselves.

For more than 52 years, Byron dedicated his life to nonprofit and community service, building a career centered on helping people connect with one another and strengthen their communities. He began his career as a youth worker with the Episcopal Church before serving for many years as a substance abuse counselor and prevention presenter. Throughout his career, Byron worked with individuals experiencing mental illness, partnered with people with disabilities to become advocates for themselves and others, and worked extensively with Native American tribes throughout Oklahoma through the Johnson O’Malley (JOM) Program.

For the final 27 years of his career, Byron served at Possibilities, where he eventually became Executive Director. The organization’s mission was to bring people together to improve the communities where they lived and worked. Since 2004, Byron has also performed as a DJ under the name Brown Gravy, using music to bring people together at weddings, celebrations, and community events. Today, Byron continues building bridges through Breakfast With Byron, hosting one-on-one conversations and community gatherings that encourage understanding across differences. He also serves on the Board of Directors of OKC Club 29 Rotary and on the governing board of Aztec Charter School. Whether through nonprofit leadership, music, or a conversation over breakfast, Byron’s work has always been guided by one simple belief: We all have far more in common than what separates us. Our greatest strength is found in our connection with one another.

August 23rd

Amy Thurman

August 30th

Shiitake Mama

Shiitake Mama, PhD, formerly Sandra Dutreau Perky Williams, has a history of teaching, writing, growing mushrooms, acting in and directing plays, and training mushroom farmers abroad. She and her husband Doug Williams have been growing mushrooms on logs since 1986 in Perkins. They’ve volunteered with USAID to help African farmers with food security and economic stability, and formed a non-profit to support mushroom production in West Africa. They traveled to China, India, and Italy learning about medicinal mushrooms.

A late-in-life psychic, Shiitake channels “Messages from Mushrooms” as herself and as Madame Tremella, a Romanian comedic psychic whose messages flow in through a Tremella mushroom on her head.  Shiitake is member of the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Stillwater and Sunset Spiritualist Church in Wells, Kansas. She is writing a book, its title provided by the Morel mushrooms, Everything is Always Singing.

Through an intuitive counselor, the mushrooms asked me to tell humans that they are more than just fuel. “We are healers and spiritual teachers.” I’ll be sharing samples of our 10-plus years’ collaboration about living, healing, and loving, and our relationships with all that is.

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See our YouTube channel for recordings of previous gatherings: 

http://YouTube.com/@MorningStarSpiritualCenter