1. Establish the first collection of accounts of transitioning experiences from Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. Death-related phenomena occur in Māori and have been recorded in narrative, waiata, and studies on near-death experiences (NDEs). No repositories of transitioning experiences of contemporary Māori exist. Partnering with Living by the Stars, our study will be the first of its kind to collect such accounts and interpret the meaning they have for Māori.

2. Map the transitioning experiences of Māori onto Kōkōrangi Māori. While people die all year round, for Māori, heightened attention to or recollection of death-related phenomena might occur during a period when the dead are intentionally elevated into collective consciousness, such as during Matariki and Puanga celebrations, as well as during periods of interest, such as the equinox and solstices, and aurorae, among others. Using our collective expertise, our study will map the transitioning experiences that we collect onto events of significance in Kōkōrangi Māori.

3. Produce materials that empower audiences to re-connect to the night sky and re-define the dying process in ways that are meaningful and relevant to them. We will produce a short documentary about the findings from our research that focusses on the meaning made between transitioning experiences and Kōkōrangi Māori. Tailoring our documentary to serve the needs of a diverse audience is important, not only for the revitalisation of traditional understandings related to Kōkōrangi Māori, but for also providing a platform that extends that knowledge, enabling contemporary Māori and non-Māori alike, to give meaning to the relevance and application of Indigenous astronomy to their lives in the 21st century.

To ensure alignment with the goal of rekindling our ancient connection to the celestial sphere, Kōkōrangi Māori will be employed to guide the design and phases of the study. Using its cyclic nature as a marker of time, our study began at the heliacal rising of Matariki in 2024, and will run for three of its cycles, and end as Matariki temporarily sets beyond the horizon in 2027. In doing so, our study not only advances understandings about the practical application of Māori astronomy in contemporary times, but is also an exemplar of how this can be authentically achieved within the context of Western scholarship.