[3] He attended Los Angeles State Normal School from September 1914 to June 1916, and graduated with an Associate of Arts (two-year) degree in general education.
In the mid-1930s, Long relocated to Orange County, California and began to focus on writing books inspired by his experiences in Hawaii.
[further explanation needed] Long decided to call his compilation of teachings Huna, because one meaning of the word is "hidden secret".
[6] He wrote that he derived it from the word kahuna, meaning "priests and master craftsmen who ranked near the top of the social scale".
Max Freedom Long wrote that he obtained many of his case studies and his ideas about what to look for in kahuna magic from the Director of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, William Brigham.
Even if they did, Brigham was not an expert on kahunas and did not document in his own writings any of the incidents Long ascribed to him, including walking on hot lava.