Stoking the Spiritual Fires : Laguna Beach: ‘Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving’ at Main Beach is effort to invoke some healing following the disastrous blaze.

An American Indian with long black hair blessed the four corners of Main Beach with incense and an eagle feather on Saturday. A group of Hare Krishnas played drums and chanted a song.

And the Supreme Master Ching Hai, a spiritual leader from Taiwan, distributed candy to children, gave discourses on life to anyone willing to listen and served vegetarian Vietnamese meals to a crowd of about 500 people.

“It hasn’t felt this relaxing here since the fire,” said Holly Shulman, a three-year resident. “Things are finally back to normal in Laguna.”

That was the idea behind “A Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving,” a gathering of religious leaders, city officials and residents at the beach. The event was aimed at beginning the healing process after the recent fire that destroyed hundreds of homes here.

“We wanted to stand in support of those who lost their homes to show that the community has love and will help them,” said Gene Stone, one of the organizers of the event sponsored by West Eagle, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting spiritual unity. “It’s time for us to stand up together to work for the good of ourselves and the planet.”

That theme was repeated by most of the morning’s 19 speakers, who ranged from mainstream and conservative to New Age and ethnic. In addition to remarks by Laguna Beach Mayor Lida Lenney and Fire Captain Bob Scruggs, the crowd heard spiritual leaders of numerous mainstream Christian churches.

A leader of the local Jewish community sent a letter expressing support for the event, but could not attend because of the Jewish Sabbath.

Rounding out the spectrum were Thomas One Wolf, a Sequamish Indian from New Mexico; Greg Smith, a local Buddhist; Bada Haridas, president of the Laguna Beach Hare Krishna Temple, and Ching Hai, whose followers had come from as far away as San Francisco to bask in her presence.

“I look strange to you, but I am no stranger,” said Ching Hai, who was clad in a loose-fitting white tunic. “Our organization has shared with you all the pain of the last days. It makes me shed tears; I can understand how you feel when some of you have lived all your lives in these beautiful mansions.”

She said she had pledged $200,000 to the Laguna Beach relief fund although a spokesman for the organization administering that fund could not confirm the pledge on Saturday.

“I came just to be with you,” the spiritual leader said, “although I am helpless.”

A number of speakers led the audience in exercises they said were designed to cleanse their souls and begin the healing process. Tari Lennon, minister of the Neighborhood Congregational Church, summoned forth a group of children to chant “Choose Life,” while she exhorted residents to resist negativism and make their city great again.

Smith, a member of the Buddhist Order of Inner Being, urged those gathered to join him in practicing “conscious breathing” in order to “keep our minds from the winds and waves of emotion.”

And Thomas One Wolf led an exercise in which people pointed their right arms northward in an effort “to send the love I witness here to the people of Malibu,” which on Saturday was beginning to recover from an equally devastating fire.

“We pray for each of you that you become one with the Mother, the Great Spirit,” he told the crowd. “It is a good way that you come together when you are hurting.”

The only moment of tension during the two-hour gathering came toward the end when a fire engine with siren blaring screeched past Main Beach, rushing northward on Coast Highway.

As necks craned nervously, a long plume of black smoke loomed into view above the hills on the horizon. Fire Department officials later described the blaze as a minor vehicle fire that was contained within minutes.

Other than that, the day seemed filled with the sort of feeling traditionally associated with Laguna Beach, but in short supply during the fire and its aftermath.

“This is about pulling the collective together as one,” longtime resident Loy Geddes said. While her home had been untouched by the fire, Geddes said six homes on her block were burned to the ground.

“I think this helped most people,” she said of the gathering. “Its importance is in the unification of pulling spirits together. I feel bonded to my community.”