Kahuna Lani
This article is mainly based on subjective information, while I got alot of it from other sources, most probably Kahuna Lani is being the original source from whom the other sources got the information.
Vince Wingo kindly provided his valuable insight in the comment below, and I have all the reasons to believe that Vince is correct.
Still here comes my original text (but make sure to read comments from Vince):
Kahuna Lani (Thomas Stucker being his civil name) started as a haumana (student) under Kahuna Huna Nui Max Freedom Long, FHF about Huna in 1962. By 1968 he had initiated him as a Kahuna of his lineage in his front room in Vista, CA, and he had become an HRA (Huna Research Associate) and a member of the FHF (Fellow of the Huna Fellowship - The Huna Church).
He is the founder of the Huna Heiau Church at http://the-light-of-huna.com/, was a practicing Huna healer and exorcist for many years.
He held a Huna Teachers Certificate from HRI (Huna Research Institute).
He returned the sentient fire of the Firewalk to that portion of Huna which is the Huna Heiau Church, through initiation into the Firewalk by Kahuna I Ke Umu Ki, Michael McDermott, DD. whom he named Kahuna Paka.
You can listen to a radio discussion with him on Prophecy Keepers, and there are some recordings at Voice of the Kumu
His website is http://www.kahunalani.com/.
Kahuna Lani passed away on Monday September 24, 2007.
I have covered Lani here
Submitted by Huna mind on Sat, 2008-07-19 13:00.
I have covered Lani here because he had a relatively intense online presence, thus it was probable that people interested in Huna will hear about him one day or the other.
What's written is simply based on information found elsewhere, mostly subjective as he was probably the primary source of it.
I have never met him in person, we only exchanged few emails in last three years or so, so it's hard for me to comment much just on the basis of few emails, moreover emails coming from his last years on Earth.
But based on the emails alone, I think I can confirm your diagnosis of him, as it was obvious he was suffering some kind of mental health problems, at least in those last years.
Thank you Vince. Your comments and authority perspective are highly appreciated. I have now ammended the original text slightly.
» reply
Kahuna Luni
Thomas Stucker appeared on the Huna scene in 2004, when he founded the Huna Heiau Church.
He published extensively on the Internet until his death in September of 2007, and much of what he wrote is misleading or simply false.
He did subscribed to the Huna Vistas Newsletter for a couple of years, and that's about it.
He claimed to be a personal student of Max Freedom Long, but the only evidence he ever provided was the newsletters he received.
Stucker was never a Fellow if the Huna Fellowship, and Max Freedom Long was not referred to as "Kahuna Huna Nui" except by Mr. Stucker and, perhaps, all seven of his followers.
According to Mr. Stucker, Max "initiated" him as a Kahuna because they drank tea together on the porch one day. There was no ceremony or any indication from Max of an initiation, even in Mr. Stucker's account of the story. The story he told about his visit to Vista is inconsistent with the details of Max's ranch at that time.
He received a Huna Teachers Certificate from HRI under false pretenses, and it was revoked.
Like many legitimate Huna members, he did begin incorporating the fire-walk after HRI sponsored fire-walking ceremonies in the 1980s.
Thomas Stucker was a very intelligent man who suffered from schizophrenia. This is unfortunate because he often mistook the newsletters everyone received to be personal letters to him.
So much of what he wrote during his lifetime is simply not true. but this does not retract from the success he did achieve in his practice.
As President of Huna Research, Inc., I still have the complete file of correspondence with Mr. Thomas Stucker, so my only wish is to correct the record on this account.
With my deepest Aloha,
--Vince
© 2008 Rev. James Vinson Wingo, DD
http://huna-research.com/