A Dragon Quest
My Grandmother, Spiritual Lineage, and Dragon Guidance from Across the Veil
One of the ways I seek discernment is to enlist the insights of psychic mediums. Never taking their words as “absolute truth,” I would glean messages that spoke to my experience and inner spirit. In this way, my intuition was connecting to a transcendent Spirit. This process would often serve as a guide along my life journey.
This process took me on a personal and transformative year-long journey that began in June 2022 and continues to this moment.
I share this story for a variety of reasons: (1) As a part of my transformative process, (2) to encourage others to seek to connect with an inner process and transcendent presence, (3) to offer my experience as a portal into psychic and mediumship phenomenon for those who have not had this experience.
The Chance Encounter
At the beginning of June 2022, Chris and I took a brief two-night trip to California Central Coast to see the “Lights at Sensorio” by Bruce Munro. In our free time, we wandered through the small town of Atascadero, happening upon a heartwarming metaphysical shop advertising psychic reading and energy healing. Unfortunately, the shop was closed.
Later in the day, at our hotel, Chris tweaks her back, forcing her to a prone position and giving us the incentive to reach out to the owner of the metaphysical shop we had been to earlier.
Fast forward a few hours, and we met with Tiffany. Chris has an energy healing session, and I would follow with a short psychic reading. Chris finds tremendous physical relief; still unbeknownst to me, I begin this year-long adventure to re-discover my grandmother in Spirit, a spiritual lineage I had not known, and a transformational process.
Here is the part of my reading when my grandmother comes through. In years past, other psychics have mentioned a “little Japanese lady,” but I have assumed it was someone generations before, not of my grandmother’s generation.
Enter the Dragon
Dragon Figurine on the front porch of the Airbnb in Joshua Tree.
In the ensuing months, the Spiritual Life Foundation occupies much of my time and mental energy as we travel to the Big Island and plan a trip to Joshua Tree and the Integratron. The Big Island trip was magical in many ways, and I felt Spirit was with us each step of the way. Interestingly, this Hawaii trip inspired a late-night vision of the “Integratron,” leading me to plan a trip to Joshua Tree.
In early September, I reached out to Tiffany for an online reading. I had no agenda for this reading, with my prompt being, “What is it that I need to hear from Spirit?”
In this reading: (1) The dragon motif is introduced, (2) my identity of my grandmother is further strengthened by Tiffany’s description of the nature of our relationship. I barely knew her since she passed away when I was five years old (in the reading, I say eight years old, but I was mistaken.) The “picture on the fireplace mantel” solidifies my sense that it is my mother’s mother who is coming through. (3) I begin to get a hint that my grandmother’s spiritual home was related to some form of Buddhism yet, I am encouraged to trust in the “weaving and integration.”
The Dragon Begins to Lead…
In sharing the reading with my sister, she recalls grandma’s church as “Buddhism with a twist,” but she couldn’t remember the name of the church/religion. She remembers the religion was open to other faiths, and she had our grandmother’s gold cross.
Several weeks later, on our trip to Joshua Trip, a friend, Gayle, pointed out a cement dragon figurine on the front porch of our Airbnb. It is the only decoration with an Asian motif in this desert-styled Airbnb. The dragon was beginning to lead.
A couple of weeks after the Joshua Tree retreat, along with my sister, I had the opportunity to visit my uncle, who was in the early stages of dementia and lived in Sacramento. I vaguely sensed that my grandparents were Nichiren Buddhists, so I asked if she was Nichiren Buddhist. He responded, “Oh no. That was the old man (meaning his father.) She was… what was the name of that church?... that church?…“ Fortunately, a cousin was there, and she knew. “Gedatsu Church,” she responded. I had never heard that term before, so I had to ask her to spell it. Skeptical, I quickly googled it and found out there was a Gedatsu Spiritual Center on the outskirts of Sacramento. As we drove home, I now had a new topic to research.
Spiritual Lineage… the Gedatsu Church…
Over the next few weeks, I scoured the internet for information on the Gedatsu church. I discovered it was a “new” Japanese religion started by Gedatsu Kongo from his revelatory experience in 1929. There are three churches in the U.S.: Sacramento, Rosemead (Southern California), and Honolulu, Hawaii. (The Honolulu branch is not far from my son’s home.)
Generally, Gedatsu has a universalist spirit in its teachings, believing that all religions should be affirmed as they are all trying to do good. The rituals are focused on connecting and supporting those in the spirit realms - for our lives here and their “lives” there are interconnected. If I were Japanese (speaking or culturally Japanese), it seemed like a religion I could resonate with.
While researching, the thought that came to the forefront was the words from the September 2nd reading, “…weave and integrate it because that’s what it looks like your ancestors have done. It has been a lot of weaving of one or two traditions and cultures… and we started weaving more. Now you are of this generation, and you’re really bringing that in.” (17:45)
At this moment, I began to ponder that my spiritual perspective, which began in my teenage years and my decision to enter the ministry, may have been influenced by a grandmother I barely knew or remembered.
Dragons, dragons, and more dragons…
As I continue my dragon search on the internet, I find that the dragon deity is venerated in at least two areas in Japan, Enoshima and Kyoto, where I have visited but have yet to notice the dragon motif. The dragon is also found in a variety of temples in Tokyo.
Enoshima is an island connected to the mainland by a narrow, long land bridge. In Enoshima, the dragon deity is featured in the local shrines and on the light posts on the land bridge. The dragon serves the goddess, Benzaiten, who is seen as the goddess of water and all things that flow. She is the female goddess of the seven gods in Japan. (From ”A Benzaiten Pilgrimage”)
In Kyoto, several temples feature the dragon, including the famous Kiyomizu dera Temple. At about this time, NHK broadcasted a feature entitled “The Dragon: Deity of Water, Protector of the Capitol.” It was a part of their “Core Kyoto” series.
I developed a library of dragon images from these parts of Japan and created a new bucket list to visit/re-visit in Japan. The search for dragons was beginning to take on a new excitement!
The Dragon Comes Home
Traveling with friends over the New Year’s holidays, I shared the dragon reading and about the Gedatsu church. These friends are natural internet sleuths, and shortly, they found an archived sermon/message (August 17, 2014) from a Gedatsu minister, Rev. Kazuo Yamada, entitled “The Sacred, Mysterious Power of Water.” In this article, Rev. Yamada connects the dragon entities as subordinate to Benzaiten, “the deity controlling water... (and) supporting the life of all creatures.” Benzaiten is the female deity of the “Seven Gods in Japanese” lore. She is often shown with a dragon and a biwa (Japanese instrument), for in addition to water, she is the deity of anything that “flows,” like literature, poetry, music, and culture.
This article and Rev. Yamada bring the dragon lore closer to home, Sacramento, and my grandmother’s spiritual home. At the Sacramento Gedatsu Spiritual Center, as it is called, is the US Goreichi, the spiritual grounds of the US Gedatsu Church. Along with the main sanctuary, the important shrines and memorials are scattered on these 20 acres.
I now know I will be taking a trip to the Sacramento Gedatsu Spiritual Center.
February 2022 - Friends Flame the Dragon’s Fire
As I am catching up with a friend, Don Houston, and hearing about his most recent project in his retirement, he tells me that he is working on a piece with me as one of the characters in his story. It is about this character (me) awakening to a deeper reality and beginning to see the world differently. Then, Don shows me images he has created with dragons emerging from trees. He creates another character representing a friend of ours, as a Japanese woman playing the shamisen (Japanese lute.) The last image has my character “leading the dragon” through this great hall.
I’m stunned, and I look at Don and say, “Have I told you my dragon story yet?” He says, “No.”
I tell Don my story and, later, send him the images I have gathered. I remember that Tiffany, the psychic medium told me, “Not to forget the guy you met in Hawaii…” That ‘guy’ was Don. Still, later, I asked Don how he came to create that story. Don tells me, “It was unconscious. It just came to me. I was going to have your character face and confront the dragon, but then I said, “No, he will lead the dragon.”
Again, catching up on Zoom with another friend, Brynn Saito, I share my dragon quest with her. Brynn turns around to look at a print on her wall as I am midsentence. At first glance, it seemed like it could have been Benzaiten. It isn’t, but later, she recalls her use of Benzaiten in her chapbook (the little book of poems) about the feminine lineage in her family, and she references “the water goddess” in the first poem of her new book, “Under a Future Sky” (Red Hen Press, August 2023.)
A week later, another friend, Kit Nishiura, shared with me a dream she had where I was in a Buddhist-like robe, but I was in the church. For Kit, it was like being at church except for the robe, and there were other people she did not know trying to move closer to ensure they could hear what I was saying. I responded with my story of the dragon and how I found the spiritual home of my grandmother, the Gedatsu Spiritual Center. I believe Kit’s dream was about my current journey. (*update: Upon visiting with Kit in May 2024, she shared she had other dreams with me in it. One in particular was in the desert up on a cliff. I told her I thought she was tapping into my journeys (5 times) to Joshua Tree. Then, Kit shared that she used have out-of-body experiences as a child.)
Shortly after these conversations, Chris and I were off to Honolulu to visit our son, and daughter-in-law. I thought this may be a good time to visit the Hawaii Gedatsu Church.
Visiting the Hawaii Gedatsu Church
During the week, I began to have dreams about visiting the Hawaii Gedatsu Church. It was time to make a visit so on our last full day, along with my son, Paul, we stopped by the church to see if we could speak with someone.
Fortunately, there were four people at the church: Rev. Kazuo Yamada, Mrs. Yamada, the property’s caretaker, and a visiting friend, Masako. Fortunately, Masako was bi-lingual. Everyone else spoke primarily Japanese.
After introductions, I shared I was a retired United Methodist pastor, but I was on this dragon quest generated by readings from a psychic about my grandmother. Rev. Yamada became excited and quickly ran up to the “altar” area to bring card to Paul and I. He was explaining, the Japanese character on the card was for dragon. I feel it was a surreal moment for all of us present.
We talked some more. They gave us English pamphlets and tried to recruit Paul to their church. When Mrs. Yamada heard he lived in Kaimuki, she said they used to have an auxiliary church in Kaimuki. She enthusiastically waved her arm in a downward motion, saying, “Deeper, deeper connection.” Being a “PK” (preacher’s kid), Paul knew how to remove himself from such a commitment graciously.
Masako was a tremendous help. Since she was a member of one of the interfaith groups on Oahu, she knew a colleague, Rev. Bob Miyake-Stoner. She encouraged me to visit the Gedatsu Spiritual Center and seek out Rev. Michaela Rodriguez. I purchased some of the Amacha Tea used in their remembrance ceremony. They gave us “Gedatsu Church of Hawaii” bags. It was such a lovely and fun visit.
As we left, I turned to Paul and said, “I just feel so happy.” I felt my grandmother must have been there in spirit.
Visiting the Gedatsu Spiritual Center in Sacramento - May 31, 2023
In April, I contacted Rev. Michaela Rodriguez at the Gedatsu Spiritual Center in Sacramento to set up a time to meet with her and visit. The senior pastor is Rev. Akira Sebe. We scheduled a visit on May 31, 2023.
Rev. Rodriguez was very friendly and hospitable. First, I told her my story - grandmother and dragon and all - and we discussed the Gedatsu Church's history and teachings. She mentioned she was hoping that she had prayed for my grandmother, but initially, she didn’t recognize the name. I was skeptical that she could know her name given she passed away in 1964.
About 30 minutes into our visit, the senior pastor, Rev. Akira Sebe, came by. I told him my story and mentioned my grandmother. He said he remembered hearing from other older members about her, but she was before his time. Again, I was skeptical. (Later, in September 2023, I came across a video of their December 2022 “Never Forgotten” service where the last person named in the remembrance was my grandmother, Shizue Kodani. It blew my mind.)
Shortly after that, Rev. Rodriquez gave me a Gedatsu Spiritual Center grounds tour. They refer to these grounds as the US Goreichi spiritual grounds. On the grounds are a variety of memorials and shrines. I was most interested in the shrine for Benzaiten.
Full Circle
Near the end of the tour, Rev. Rodriguez took me to the Memorial Tower, where the names of past members are kept. She showed me the shrine, but along the back wall were glass-enclosed shelves that looked like they housed niches. Rev. Rodriguez said they housed name plates of past members.
We were about to leave when I asked if I could go back and look closer. She obliged.
They were in alphabetic order and quickly moved to the K’s. And to my surprise, there were my grandmother's and my grandfather’s names with their birthdate, birthplace, and date of death.
I was stunned!
Nearly a year to the day (June 1, 2022 - May 31, 2023,) through a “chance” meeting with a medium, I began a journey that has deepened my connection to a grandmother I barely remember and, guided by her, to her church that six months prior, I had never heard of.
As I left Sacramento, I felt a deep sense of gratitude that I have this experience to rediscover my grandmother in spirit and her spiritual lineage. It has deepened me in many ways and I continue my journey in life.
Epilogue…
In August 2023, I had another reading with Tiffany. While I thought my dragon quest was complete, I was encouraged to perhaps continue the story in a trip to Japan… so more to come!