Michael Gottlieb recorded his hour long talks and played them while sitting with his students and devotees. This was not just because he needed to read from his reference material, but also to induce a trance-like meditative state. Some of the pilgrims became so relaxed that they would fall asleep and start to snore! Their nearest neighbor would usually nudge them awake. One devotee that I will call Antoinette kept chocolate covered coffee beans with her to help her stay awake. Maggi encouraged pilgrims to thank Michael at the end of each tape for sharing his wisdom.

Although he taught that advanced souls needed more time before burial and should not be cremated because their complex connection to God, he was indeed cremated and a burial ritual was performed within a week at the “Cave Of Forgiveness.” It is a massive structure with three tiers of rock walls and landings, surrounding an obelisk at the bottom center. His ashes were lowered into a chute created inside and underneath the obelisk, 20 feet or so into the hillside. It took 3 years for students and devotees to build the structure, using only rock found along the ridges and peaks of Lucerne Valley.