Huna Articles

Masterworks International 2006

MasterWorks International

Masterworks International 2006

INDEX Hawaiian Viewpoint Huna—Does it really exist Huna Today Man Gods and Nature The Problem of the Three Selves The Aumakua Connectedness The Unihipili Black Magic—White Magic Huna and Golf Hawaiian Temples Many Lives? Ho’oponopono Part 1 Ho’oponopono Part 2 The Legend of the KIHA Huna Article by Maka'ala Yates Mana Lady Kauai The Kukui Nut Madam Pele

3 6 8 9 11 13 14 16 18 20 21 22 24 26 28 29 32 36 37 38

All articles are copyright to their original authors © 2006 MasterWorks International 27 Old Gloucester Street London WC1N 3XX Tel: 011 353 (0)86 325 2645 (Ireland)

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Hawaiian Viewpoint When you hear of the Polynesian viewpoint on life you often hear talk of the three selves. These are still further referred to as the Upper, Middle and Lower selves where the Upper self relates to the higher conscious mind, the Middle self to the conscious mind and the Lower self to the unconscious mind. Whilst this is a common understanding of the Hawaiian perspective, it is, as you may have noticed, a model of Mind. In the true Hawaiian Huna tradition it was never a model of mind but rather of the three bodies of man; the physical body; the mind (or mental) body; and the soul body and their own unique intelligence. The physical body is central to the Hawaiian belief system. It is through the body, they believe, that the mind and soul are able to communicate. To this effect the body was a blessed thing and, through the body, offerings could be made to the gods. These offers were in the form of song; traditional chants, and dance; in the form of the hula kahiko, which is the old form of hula, unrelated to the modern dance performed for tourists. The songs, or more specifically, chants are a way of story telling and continuing the rich oral tradition of the Islands, whilst the hula kahiko often tells the story of everyday activities such fishing, canoeing or planting, and also contains more martial elements in some of the men's dances. The body is a thing to be cherished, fed good food, massaged and played with and most of all - enjoyed! To the ancient Hawaiians, everything that they did was an act of prayer to their ancestors and to their gods. As such they walked constantly in the presence of Love and in the Spirit of Aloha which, as well as being a greeting, means home. When they were happy in them selves and in their contact with their nature gods then they were indeed home and each one of us seeks that special feeling wherever we may live. The spirit of Aloha is not just limited to the Hawaiian Island chain. The mind body was seen as a shadowy body that was filled with 'mind stuff' and could be more associated with the energy body often spoken of today. In the realm of the mind could lurk thought forms and invading entities. The mind was something to be careful of and ancient Hawaiians preferred, whenever possible, to live in their bodies unlike today's modern humans where the mind tends to dominate. Then there was the soul body. Created first and being both finer and larger than the physical body, it was perceived as the source of your vital life force. In the Huna Mua tradition the connection to the soul can be facilitated with certain awareness techniques and hand placements on specific areas of the body. Awareness of all three bodies and also the constant presence of the ancestors, or personal Aumakuas, who watched over them and guided them and helped out when asked was at the heart of their everyday lives - a truly expanded state of being compared to the way in which Western man lives today. Not awareness alone but a profound level of communication between these three bodies was seen as crucial and gateways exist through which the passage of information between the bodies can flow. The Huna Mua tradition passes on specialised gateway clearing practices among other things to ensure that the communication between the bodies remained clear and also practices to aid the creation of a fourth body - an immortal spirit body.

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My introduction to Huna was not the generally accepted route. I did not attend courses or read books on the subject. Indeed until a series of bizarre events began to unfold I had never even heard of Huna and my knowledge of Polynesian life was limited to the pictures of Gaugin and Elvis Presley's 'Blue Hawaii'. My introduction to Huna can be described as nothing short of a major initiation. When a powerful Kahuna, a priest magician, made a promise to his dying apprentice eleven hundred years on the island of Kauai, it seemed he needed someone in this timeframe and life time to help him to fulfil that promise, and so myself and a man I barely knew, found ourselves drawn into a ancient world of divine practices and magic that was to change our lives forever. In order for him to keep his sacred promise, our personalities and belief systems; indeed everything that we held to be true about ourselves and our world, had to be cracked wide open to allow both these ancient beings to take over our lives. We were to be the vehicles through which the Kahuna could express the deep love for the woman that he took as his apprentice and who had died before he could ever express how he felt for her, in a culture where love, the spirit of Aloha, was everything. We were also to be the means whereby he could repair a great harm that he had perpetrated when he had broken a sacred oath he had taken before his ancestors. In the process of 'becoming' these two people we were able to allow them to express what they felt for each other in this realm - the realm of the physical body and emotion. It was not enough, it seemed, for these two to connect at the level of Spirit; they wanted to relive the feelings of having a body and all that that entails. For the ancient Hawaiians, the body and emotion were paramount. Through the building of the breath and strong emotion, personal power or 'mana', was enhanced. Strong mana was able to create magical workings and connect with the unseen worlds of the ancestors and to deepen prayer. For these two beings their own personal karma had to be played out in the realm of the body and that's where we came in. For weeks we were taken over by these two spirits. In enforced deep trance we became them. We had their memories, their feelings, their experiences, and as time went on, we too began to feel the power of the love that they had for each other and the work that they did. For several weeks our own lives were 'displaced' as we became these two Hawaiians. During this time we became privy to their healing and manifestation techniques; to their beliefs; and to their power. This was, as it turns out, to be our reward for the work we were doing and for the total destruction of our lives at that time. When the time came for these two great spirits to leave us our ordinary everyday lives were blown apart. We had no work, no friends, but we had been touched by the intense power of Divine Love and we knew that from that day on we were not the same people. I don't know how we kept body and soul together as the intensity of the connection between these Spirits was played out through us over the weeks, but keep them together we did. We were somehow cocooned from all but the essentials of everyday reality until their whole story had emerged, then suddenly it was over. We were both struck by the enormity of what had taken place and the privilege of playing our part in fulfilling of the promise. It was amazing to us to experience how love endures over a vast expanse of time and space. It felt to us as if we had in some way been instrumental in freeing these two souls. It was as if they could not move on until this promise had been fulfilled.

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We, on the other hand, had been emotionally and psychically opened up to an extreme degree and yet through it all, we had felt supported and sustained by these beings. We truly were taken to the edge on so many occasions and yet, in hindsight, we realised that we were never asked to do anything that we could not handle even though it did not always feel like it at the time. In fact, as the saying goes, 'that which does not kill you, makes you strong.' We had both found a tremendous strength and belief in true Love - Love that has nothing to do with personality or projection but which is at the very heart of each of us. Love that is the essential part of all of us. Love which is a true reflection of the Divine. We had been exposed to the many possibilities of energy. Our minds had been stretched to encompass the impossible. In fact, if we could allow ourselves to get out of the way, the most amazing things could, and in fact, did occur. Things that often bordered on the miraculous. It was also abundantly clear to us that throughout all of this we had been privy to the most amazing teaching. As much as this Kahuna wanted to fulfil his promise to his ancestors, he also wanted the ancient teaching, that was so much a part of him, shared. In this way he could once again find a state of balance, or 'pono,' after a vengeful act that he perpetrated all those years ago. It took us a while to get the word out that we were offering this work but gradually we began to teach it and we are always surprised and delighted at the power of it to make real changes in people's lives. We feel his presence and involvement whenever we come together with a group of people. We have come to realize that we exist through the grace and mercy of energies that we know little about at this moment in time. Energies that take us every which way and yet we both believe that, above all, we are loved and guided. To our entrenched and stubborn minds it often feels like an onslaught when Life deals you a curve ball and you find yourself wrong-footed and seemingly ill prepared. It is in those moments that something extraordinary can occur if we only have the courage to let it unfold. These two ancient Hawaiians have taught us many valuable lessons. Through their struggles, we learnt to recognize those same struggles in ourselves. As we let their story unfold through our lives, we too learnt many of their lessons and felt the same agony and ecstasy as them. To many with whom we have shared their story, it sounds extremely sad, and yet never to know suffering is never to know joy. Like the swing of a pendulum, the depths of despair can suddenly give rise to the most exulted experience of Love. The present day native Hawaiians that we have had the privilege to share this story and the teachings with have said they recognise the words of the ancestors in them and we are honoured. The detailed account of these miraculous events are told in 'A Promise Kept' by Morag Campbell. Click here to buy now The Huna Mua teachings are available on DVD audio 'The Huna Training' and in the book 'The Power of Love' by Phil Young and Morag Campbell. Click here to buy now

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HUNA – does it really exist ? By Kihonua In this article I want to address the ongoing controversy that seems to exist in the Huna community and that is the question as to whether Huna actually existed as a distinct teaching or understanding in Hawaii in the form in which it is taught today. The answer to that question in my experience is YES. What Huna is, or what a Kahuna was really, was somebody who was able to take the invisible in the culture (or indeed in any culture) and make it visible and to then use it practically and pragmatically in his or her own field of endeavour. What I mean by that is that Huna is in a cultural sense “what you learned at your grandmother’s knee” its all the fundamental beliefs and assumptions about reality that pervade ANY culture. The reason why this process was perhaps more useful in Hawaii than in the modern western world is that in Hawaii (and Polynesia in general) there existed a natural culture that in large part consisted of people who lived close to nature and who worked with the cycles and seasons of the earth and oceans. There is a Huna in western culture. It’s predominately a scientific understanding of reality but it has all sorts of other aspects also. Mostly, we simply live it. We don’t think about it or question it. How many of you who live in a western culture when you spill salt, take a pinch of it and throw it over your shoulder? How many of you know the hidden significance of that or was it just what your parents and grandparents did and so you unhesitatingly do the same. Few people do know the answers and even fewer seek them out. Such occurrences are invisible, its just part of the culture. These behaviours can look VERY strange to someone from another culture with its own but different Huna. Our Western Huna includes all the superstitions, the various and multi-layered beliefs that we have, as well as the scientific understandings that we accept and much more besides. We don’t necessarily know how a television or a telephone works, we simply use them. The Kahunas in any culture are the people who make the invisible visible, the people who look at the underlying beliefs and assumptions and take them out of the culture, and then study how they function and their relevance and of course, occasional irrelevance. They then use that knowledge in a new way in their own field so that they can achieve a higher level of excellence. So in Hawaii when someone became a Kahuna they took all of the underlying assumptions in the society; the things that were invisible that people just accepted, the gods, spirits, aumakua, the cycles and seasons of nature, kapu laws, how the religion functioned, and made all those invisible cultural structures visible. They then began to interact using these understandings in a conscious way so that their communication with the gods and spirits could reach a different level that would support them in a more profound way in any particular field, be it the making of canoes, catching fish, wood carving, sailing or navigation, fore telling the future or in prayer, or agriculture. In a sense a Kahuna reads the unconscious mind of a whole race or culture and embodies that in their life. They then became true masters of their craft. They became an acknowledged keeper of the secret. They literally kept the secret of that which was hidden or woven into the fabric of the culture. Hence the old phrase “let that which is unknown be known” has a far different meaning than is generally taught or understood. It didn’t mean to teach to all and everyone openly but was a training motto or maxim used in the various Halau. Here in the West we have a somewhat different way of thinking about this in that we do have

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people who step outside of the culture and who study it, we call them philosophers and sociologists. The difference between the west and ancient Hawaii is that they don’t then necessarily use that knowledge to better themselves or to make them more effective in life, in fact in our modern Halau or Universities, the knowledge that they have discovered often stays in that rarefied atmosphere without those discoveries being used for the benefit of modern society in some way. Occasionally of course it does happen that some of this knowledge does filter into everyday life and change it in some way. Would that we had more modern Kahunas in the West !!

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HUNA TODAY by Kihonua Much of what is taught as Hawaiian Huna can hardly be considered as a genuine reflection of the true teachings. Even a cursory reading of the current books available on Huna will show the extent to which other spiritual teachings from different cultures have influenced the present day understanding of what Huna is exactly. The influence of the Theosophical version of the ancient Indian spiritual teachings is very clearly evident. It is interesting to note that the Theosophists had a large teaching centre located at what is now Kauai's Hindu temple ( The Temple of San Marga, 107 Kaholalele Road, Wailua Homesteads ). Even the western magical traditions based to a great degree on the Kabbalistic mystical teachings have had their effect on Huna teaching today. It is understandable that any teacher of Huna in this day and age will draw upon their full experience of spiritual and mystical teachings to hopefully clarify some of the Huna teachings but the danger is that these other teachings become identifiable as Huna. This is an insult to the real Huna teaching and to the origins of these other teachings. Huna is unique and distinct from any other spiritual teaching. Sadly, I notice that even some native Hawaiian teachers are also teaching a westernized version of Huna. Any oral tradition, as Huna was, is incredibly vulnerable to distortion and loss over years of teaching. However, much of the original teaching can be rediscovered through a detailed study of such chants as the Kumilipo and others that were transcribed during the last century. Even here though there is a problem as once again your own background of spiritual teaching is going to make you find the specific version of Huna that you want to. The degree to which our preexisting attitudes and beliefs influence any such investigation of the ancient chants must be born carefully in mind. One of the other difficulties of translation is the same problem that faces translators of western alchemical treatises written in the middle ages and that is one of understanding accurately the specific intent of the word symbols used to cloak the real truth from the spiritually unprepared. The Hawaiian language is incredibly rich in words that have two or more meanings and the Hawaiians loved plays on words, puns and the use of poetic metaphor and allegory. In our own teaching of Huna these are issues that we constantly bear in mind and we seek to avoid undue contamination of the original teachings. So the message is "student beware!" The Huna teaching you are getting may simply be NLP, Polarity, New Thought, The Seth teachings, general New Age philosophy, Theosophical and Western Magical teachings disguised as Hawaiian Huna. The real Huna teaching has a bitter, piquant flavour that some find hard to swallow let alone digest. PAU!

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MAN, GODS AND NATURE By Michael Kioni Dudley

published by Na Kane O Ka Malo Press

Reviewed by Michael Pratt In the introduction to a book called 'On Attention' by Christopher Freemantle I was struck by this extract For some of us, Freemantle's most frustrating and incomprehensible assertion was that conscious forces were trying to assist us, and indeed anyone who made efforts. He steadfastly refused to elaborate and though we could not understand, we could not forget. Once, as he was walking East on 78th Street, one of his pupils described a serious problem. "People don't realise that when they work, conscious forces come to their aid." The pupil heard an undeniable inner agreement and also a great protest. What conscious forces? How can they possibly help me? Turning towards his pupil, he continued: "conscious forces are trying to help you. You are not alone." There is a lot in this for me. Firstly, there is the factor of incomprehensibility. Our Western world-view might allow us to accept the idea of God coming to our aid. We have been prepared for that possibility, one way or another, even if only in theory. But 'conscious forces' ? Surely not! Indeed, what 'conscious forces' are there that could help outside the living human form ? A second factor affects me more personally. For all my studies, I realise that I am still very much concentrating on working on myself. I am working on one side of the equation while on the other side something is trying to help. That very word, 'trying', moves me because it reminds me that there is something I could be doing to allow it to help. How can we approach this from the Hawaiian perspective? There are diverse sources that we could go to but there is a book that brings these together. It is called Man, Gods and Nature by Michael Kioni Dudley. This reconstructs the Hawaiian world view, ostensibly to provide roots for the Hawaiian sovereignty movement but in so doing it equally well provides roots for the realisation that we are not alone. Would the Hawaiians find Freemantle's assertion incomprehensible? Certainly not. To quote Michael Dudley: The Hawaiian words akua and 'aumakua are often translated as 'god' because they designate the kind of beings in a spirit world who assist man in his needs. and it was not just the 'gods' the Hawaiians could turn to, as they: ....saw themselves as reflecting nature, and viewed all nature, including the cosmos itself, as reflecting them. If a man could think and act, then the material universe should do likewise. The Hawaiians' world view was filled with conscious beings which formed an interrelating community with them. They depended upon, cared for, and communicated with the surrounding world of nature, and it depended on, provided for, protected and communicated with them. Then there is the implication that assistance is available if efforts are made. What kind of efforts would these be for the Hawaiian? There is the need for reciprocation: Recognised consciousness makes demands on the perceiver, demands for correct behaviour and correct relationship.... Confronting the world about him, he experiences conscious beings at every turn, and along with this their interpersonal demands Demands, which can be intensified when these conscious beings are seen to be part of one's

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family, because of the: ....difference between coming upon someone recognised as a relative and meeting someone who is not. In perceiving one who is kin, a person experiences not only an added awareness of relationship, but also an emotional feeling of belongingness. The Hawaiian has to give in order to receive. Offerings have to be made. Then there is the need to maintain the balance of existence by formal observance of one's own part in it, by supporting the social order, and most importantly, supporting the high chief whose removal " would decapitate the whole of nature". Leaving aside the comparison with my opening extract, there is much in Michael Kioni's book to savour. Many questions are answered. Who are the gods thought to be, for instance? Quite simply "the souls of the deceased who either are earlier direct ancestors of the individuals they help, or are leaders or 'holy men' honoured by the whole people". Where did these gods come from? The Hawaiians created them themselves! In a ritual that was unique to Hawaii, corpses were given spiritual power that deified them where they lay. What of the human form? It is composed of matter and spirit, the physical body and the spirits or the spirit consciousnesses of the soul and the mind. The book also has chapters on the Hawaiian view of the Universe, Polynesian evolutionary theory, environmental ethics and the state motto of Hawaii. The latter providing a springboard to a second book by Michael Kioni, A Call for Hawaiian Sovereignty. What are my final words from Man, Gods and Nature? They are aloha 'aina, love of the land, and pono, the goodness or well being that comes with the balance of existence, because they allow me to finish with another extract, this time from Encounters on the Native Path by June Huang In Gnosis magazine, Spring 1995: It would be impossible to outline on comprehensive Native belief system here, simply because of the number of tribes, cultures, histories and languages. There does seem to be one underlying sensibility that could be called "Native," though. This is informed by the spirit of the land itself. The primary perception seems to be that all things in Nature have a spirit and occupy their proper places in the universe in relation to everything else. Each aspect of nature - elements, plants, animals, people, directions, wind, thunder - has a quality of energy, a force or gift that can be called upon for help. Everything should move in harmony and balance with everything else.

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The Problem of the Three Selves There is a something of an on-going debate among Huna devotees that there is nothing in the original Hawaiian teaching that indicates that they believed in man having three selves. Max Freedom Long clearly believed in three selves, yet many people even some Hawaiians seem to feel this is wrong. In reality the situation is a little more complex than it appears at first glance. There are three selves in the Hawaiian teaching, the difficulty arises in the particular conceptualisation of SELF that we believe in as westerners. If you look in the old Lorrin Andrews dictionary you see that man is considered to have two 'souls'. The Uhane and the Unihipili. Obviously then Man must be a trinity in that he is self and 2 souls. Its only the semantics of the issue that prevent us from thinking of this as meaning man has three selves. In Hawaii the concept of a self as a mental ego was unknown. What we as westerners think of as the ego the Hawaiians conceptualised as a soul or indwelling entity. The Hawaiian concept of self was simply that it is who you are and was clearly identified as the body. When I consider the difference between the Western position and that of the ancient Hawaiians I am reminded of the question sometimes posed by Western trained psychologists, "Would you say that you have a body or that you are a body?". The answer of any Hawaiian from the era preceding Western influence pervading their culture would have always and consistently been 'I am a body' where as a typical westerners response is most likely to be 'I have a body'. Clearly the Western response indicates a separation from the body and a shift from identification with the body as self to the mind or ego as self. When thinking of the Hawaiian identification of body as self I am reminded that they believed that thought took place in the na'au (the intestines) a telling concept in relation to this issue of the fundamental importance of the physical body. I would describe the body as pivotal in the ancient Huna teaching because the body was the basic self. How many of you reading this could conceive of thought taking place in your abdomen and not your head. What difference would that make to the nature of your thoughts and your self-perception. Would you find a better sense of connection with the world that you live in and the people you associate with ? Perhaps so, it is certainly worth considering. If the mans two souls are uhane and unihipili then what is the Hawaiian term for the self. It is au or wau, often preceded by 'o. Na'au - intestines - thought. au self or I. na'u - mine belonging to me, interesting isn't it! In an early Western study by E. Claperede (Notes sur la localisation du Moi, Archives de Psychologie, XIX, 1924, p.172) he noted that we generally localise the ego at the base of the forehead, between the eyes (note the synchronicity of this finding with the eastern concept of the third eye). It is interesting to consider that in certain eastern practices notably the oriental martial arts of Tai Chi Chuan, Aikido and Judo the cultivation of self awareness within the lower abdomen is essential for the skilled performance of the movements of the particular art in question. To move well in the context of these arts requires a practitioner to free themselves from the dominance of head orientated mental ego. When this state is achieved the movements exhibited have a power, grace and fluidity that is awesome to behold. This same movement quality is notable in that it is naturally inherent in the movements of the Hawaiian people in particular it can be seen in the performance of the Hula and the Hawaiian martial art 'Lua'. In the Max Freedom Long version of Huna it is clear that the idea of the three selves as higher,

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middle and lower is borrowed from the Theosophical, New Thought and popular psychology teachings of the 1890's through the 1940's. It is well to remember just how influential these teachings were to the seekers of this era. Max Freedom Long among them. This is not a criticism of his teaching simply an observation on the derivation of his terminology. To make a teaching relevant and accessible in any era requires the use of the current understandings of that period. As a teacher of oriental martial arts, alternative medicine and Huna I am well aware of the need to make ancient and obscure teaching from foreign cultures accessible and comprehensible to my western students. The danger lies in subtly altering the original meanings. Would that we all had direct access to the source teachings to keep ourselves from damaging the arts and understandings we love so much. I hope you now have some sense of the real basis of the teaching of the three selves. Finally if man is a self (au) and has 2 souls (uhane and unihipili/uhinipili) where does the aumakua fit in? The aumakua is in fact a fourth self.... a created self, an immortal self (see article on the aumakua). Next months article will focus on the nature of the unihipili and which ladies and gentlemen is not your lower self nor your unconscious mind........another challenge to accepted teachings? I doubt it! On a personal note wouldn't it be great if we could put aside all our head stuff and like the Hawaiians of old shift our self perception to our lower abdomen and then dialogue in an open and friendly fashion on all aspects of the Huna teaching. More likely I suspect it would end up as a kind of friendly combat to the death over opinions, ideology and belief.....as the ego begins to assert its power.... If you don't agree with my understanding of Huna well ..... as one Huna teacher said "give up judgement and if you can't do that you had better get yourself a very good lawyer". ....... Human beings are so perverse! Particularly when the uhane dominates instead of the bodyself and unihipili.

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The Aumakua By Kihonua Much confusion reigns around the exact meaning in the Hawaiian Huna teaching concerning the precise nature of the Aumakua. This problem seems to have become greater since the publication of Max Freedom Longs books and various other authors since his time. The Aumakua seems to be perceived in most of the modern huna teaching as being your higher self. This is a totally inaccurate understanding of the term. In actual fact the Aumakua is the spirit of a deceased person who stays in contact with the physical earth plane of existence as a guide, protector and teacher. In ancient Hawaii they would work almost exclusively with descendents within their own particular Ohana (family clan). Their was no automatic transformation of a person into an Aumakua at death. There are records of extensive prayer rituals used at and before death to ensure that someone would in fact transform into an Aumakua. This is the exoteric or overt layer of the Huna teaching known to everyone in Ancient Hawaii sometimes referred to as a lower jaw teaching. The upper jaw or esoteric layer of the teaching concerning the Aumakua was that it was your work on yourself and the integration between your own body, mind and soul achieved during your life time that actually determined whether or not you would become an Aumakua. Prayer and ritual alone were not enough. From this it should be obvious that the Hawaiians believed in something that we as modern man call the higher self (or soul) but that this phenomena was not the Aumakua. I will not go into the exact name and teaching concerning the higher self in this article suffice to say it is not synonymous with the concept of the Aumakua. In Huna the real meaning of spiritual development was the literally creation and growth of a fourth body as a part of your total human beingness, the other three being the physical body, mental body and soul body. This fourth body was called the Aumakua after death however before death it was generally referred to as the "Kino Kupanaha" meaning the strange or wondrous body. Initially, it was not thought of as having wondrous powers or insight because it is born and must undergo a growth and maturation process. It would ultimately evolve into an extraordinary being but as all growth and evolution is fraught with difficulties much care and guidance was needed to ensure its growth into a fully fledged Aumakua. That said the process is a natural one, we all have the possibility to become an Aumakua. This process was far easier for the people of ancient Hawaii than it is for modern man. In olden times the Hawaiian islands were a virtual paradise and the Hawaiians themselves lived to a great extent in harmony with nature and within their own society. Our challenges are greater but the reward is the same true immortality because the body of an Aumakua is not composed of ordinary matter but an indestructible alloy of human consciousness and love.

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CONNECTEDNESS by Michael Kaha'i When I spent some time with Kihonua in Devon, England towards the end of 1994, he asked me to describe my Soul Body. As I became aware of it in order to answer the question I realised that I was used to sensing it as if it had a boundary. The boundary between me and the rest of the world. In framing an answer I had a greater sense of my Soul Body as a concentration of life energy in a universe of life energy that contained other concentrations. We covered other topics in discussion and I thought no more about this. Then we had a break for lunch. I went to eat in Honiton and on my return I stopped on a traffic island in the middle of the High Street. Waiting for a second to cross the road I emerged into awareness of my Soul Body and without stopping at the boundary of my self I flooded out into the whole scene before me or it flooded in to me. Then the traffic cleared, I crossed the road and the experience was a memory. It is strange and exciting how themes for personal study arise and develop. The theme of connectedness grew in importance for me when I returned to everyday life. Kihonua had lent me some reading material. In an article about Abraham Kawai'i I read the following: "Attune yourself to everything in existence and life becomes harmonious. Everything comes to you. The basic principle of Kahuna is an encompassing one - the spiritual understanding that everything is related to everything. Once you get into this principle of Family, everything is willing to communicate - everything extends itself to communicate with you." 1 I had come across the idea many times in reading about Huna but this was the first time that I had a feeling for its significance. The phrase "everything is related to everything" interested me but it was less potent than the principle of "Family". Here was something I could understand and extend. The days passed and I realised that I was starting to attract experiences and references that related to the theme. One morning I drove to work, parked my car and stepped out to take a brief walk towards the office block. It was a bright morning. Ah! Suddenly the sun woke me up. Its warmth caressed me and I emerged into an awareness of me and the sun. We were connected for a second. Life energy moved within me and I had a profound sense of gratitude. Then I saw someone I knew and I was back in the ordinary world. Continuing my reading I came across another relevant passage: "The world is alive, conscious and able to be communicated with, and it has to be dealt with in that way." 2 It seemed very important that I should realise this. It is not simply a matter of me becoming aware, emerging into spirit from the confines of my various selves and then me extending outwards. I emerge in order to be able to make contact with a world that is waiting to communicate. Abraham Kawai'i said it, "Everything comes to you." But at first I had missed its significance. On another occasion, I had just finished work. The routine of the day had loosed its hold on me. As I walked out into the evening I raised my gaze up. With a deep intake of breathe I saw that I was not alone. There were no people about but that did not matter. The world was alive and, although only for a second, I was a part of it. Did I do something or was I called, I wondered?

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In support of this last experience, I came across something from a book with no obvious Hawaiian or Huna connection: "In my own effort towards concentration, help is also offered by nature itself, life itself - whenever I can remain permeable to the deeply revealing impressions that it never ceases to provide. Therefore, my only concern should be to try and stay attentive to the wordless call from that which is always there, waiting for recognition." 3 So, at this moment in time I can only describe the gathering together of the pieces of this jigsaw. It is a process that will continue. It is helped by having to express some of it here although I know that as soon as I have the last full stop in place I will have more questions left than answers. But there is no better way to be! References: 1 Abraham Kawai'i is an Hawaiian-born Kahuna. The quote comes from an article called Keeper of the Secrets 2 Man, Gods and Nature by Michael Kioni Dudley, published by Na Kane O Ka Malo Press 3 The Taste For Things That Are True by Henri Tracol, published by Element Books

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The Unihipili By Kihonua Max Freedom Long defined the Unihipili as the lower self or sub-conscious mind. In "The Secret Science Behind Miracles" he describes the Unihipili as a spirit which can grieve but may not be able to talk, something that covers up something else and hides it, is itself hidden as by a cover or veil, a spirit which accompanies another, is sticky, acts as a servant to another, a spirit which does things secretly, silently and very carefully, but does not do certain things because it is afraid of offending the gods. It desires certain things most earnestly, it is stubborn and unwilling, disposed to refuse to do as told. All this information was derived from an analysis of the meanings of the various root words within Unihipili; u, nihi, pili, uhi and so forth. I have no disagreement with the meanings of the various root words however the description in no way relates to the modern understanding of the nature of the sub-conscious mind. At the time of Max Freedom Long's writing the sub-conscious was very much viewed as a kind of dumb slave mind that was in some way responsible for many of our day to day problems in life. This perception of the sub-conscious was very much derived from the popularisation of Freudian psychoanalytic theories. In the last forty years this concept of the sub-conscious has been modified enormously to the point where the sub-conscious must be viewed as a wise and caring friend who has access to enormous resources. This shift in perception stems in great part from the influence of the father of modern hypnotherapy ( and I stress the word modern ) Dr. Milton Erikson MD. As I have said elsewhere we have to be so very careful in not allowing our current prejudices and understanding to distort the work and teachings that we care for so much and wish to share as widely as possible. Nor do I wish to single out Max Freedom Long for criticism in this respect other Huna teachers such as Serge King are also guilty of their own distortions. I too must no doubt shoulder some blame in this area also. What is crucial is the willingness to refine our own understandings as new discoveries and insights evolve. One of the definitions of Unihipili/Uhinipili is "a grasshopper". Another definition is "spirit of a dead person, sometimes believed present in the bones or hair of the deceased and kept lovingly". Another definition is that the word refers to "the flexed position in which Hawaiians were often buried". It is interesting to realise when considering the real meaning of the term that the flexed burial position is reminiscent of the shape of a grasshopper. In my understanding the term Unihipili relates to what most Westerners understand as the Soul. If you consider what part of a human being most people feel is related to their most essential being, the part that survives death and was perhaps even present before physical life began then the answer is the soul. It is also probably true that for most people the soul as our deepest essential self is hidden as if by a cover or veil. It is attached to us , it does function silently and carefully, it definitely does nothing to offend the gods and any perceived stubbornness within your experience of your own soul is quite likely related to its unwillingness to gratify some of your more peculiar egoic needs! In the Christian Mystical tradition the soul is often spoken of as being the still, small quiet voice within, a voice that is often drowned out by the noise of the mind with its multitude of hopes, fears, dreams and desires. A voice perhaps that sounds like the chirping of a grasshopper? A sound that can easily be drowned out by the sound of the mind. A voice that is nonetheless stubborn in its persistence in trying to attract attention and yet as soon as you come close will often go silent? Hmmmm.

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My understanding of the teaching of the three selves is that a human being is composed of soul, body and mind. The ancient Hawaiians perceived the soul as an indwelling entity or spirit and the mind also with all its levels ( sub-conscious, conscious, super-conscious or any other classification you prefer) as another indwelling spirit, the body was the ordinary everyday self. In one way it is a rather strange thing to analyse the Hawaiian concept of the anatomy of man and his potential for spiritual development from within a culture dominated by the mind. We must remember that the ancient Hawaiians lived in and through the body in a way that is almost impossible for us as Westerners to understand let alone experience. This not to say that they had no understanding of the mind or levels within it but that it did not in any way dominate their experience of themselves or life in general. To make Huna a teaching of Higher, Middle and Lower self or super-conscious, conscious and sub-conscious mind is playing the Western mind game of hierarchical structures which for centuries had led us further and further from the reality and wonder of our own physical being to a place where the body is the basest part of our being, the most corrupt, the farthest from our spiritual source. Why else do you think the Christian missionaries suppressed the extraordinary ancient dance form of Hawaii known as the Hula (Kahiko). Pau!

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Black Magic - White Magic By Kihonua There is a lot of confusion over the role of the ana ana or black magician in the Hawaiian culture. Typified in recent times as a truly dark character who dealt in the sending of death prayers it is well to remember that even in the late 1860's when Samuel Kamakua (Ka Poe Kahiko - The people of Old, Bishop Museum Press) was writing about the Hawaiian culture he remarked that if you were really ill you did not visit a kahuna lapa'au but you went instead to a kahuna ana ana as they were more adept at dealing with illness and disease. This hardly tallies with their dark reputation. In even earlier times the role of the ana ana was vitally important in the ho'oponopono process as a kahuna ana ana or "eater of filth" would be the one who if required exorcised any possessing spirits or who literally scavenged the thought forms within the family consciousness that had crystallised into separate entities. These entities would attach themselves to various family members and even move from one to another causing a great deal of emotional pain and distress. In the modern stories the ana ana is supposed to capture the spirits of the dead and then to send them to do his evil bidding and in olden times this was very much his role in part, the first part only that is! that of capturing any ghosts and helping them to return to Po. Thereby preventing them from harming the living. In modern times Magick has been defined by the Aleister Crowley as "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will. ANY required Change may be effected by the application of the proper kind and degree of force in the proper manner through the proper medium to the proper object". In this definition every intentional act is a Magical Act, by which criterion we are all magicians to one degree or another. The problem arises with the question "what is your will?" Many people are so consumed by their passions that they will stop at nothing to achieve them. They desire power, fame, money, sex etc and they will let nothing stand in their way even to the point at which other people are harmed (even killed) just so they can have their way. What few people understand is that even our simple desires if fulfilled by the intelligent application of will can have unwelcome consequences, perhaps not for us but for others. The dilemma in this is that it is our conscious will that guides us in our efforts to create the life we want and in magical terms to be most effective we must align our conscious will with our 'true will'. Crowley said that "the most common cause of failure in life is ignorance of one's own True Will, or of the means by which to fulfil that Will. A man may fancy himself a painter, and waste his life trying to become one; or he may be really a painter, and yet fail to understand and to measure the difficulties peculiar to that career" and "A man who is doing this True Will has the inertia of the Universe to assist him". That is not to say that you cannot manifest your conscious will but that in exerting your power over conditions you may cause great harm to others which will be instantly painful to any good magical practitioner in that they will ''feel' that harm deeply and immediately. Can you still continue along that path? Of course! because you do have free will. To obtain an understanding of one's true will required to use Crowley's words once more "obtaining of the Knowledge and Conversation of your Holy Guardian Angel", for guardian angel please feel free to substitute any other term you wish e.g. Higher Self, Soul, Buddha Nature or Superconscious mind. Cont...

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disease was no mystery to them. Did some fail in their attempts to discover their true will, yes! It is inevitable! Did they use their powers indiscriminately yes! Did they ultimately suffer great penalties, absolutely! that too is a law! Yet that was only a small minority of the black magicians of old Hawaii The rest sought a much higher calling. Pau!

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Huna and Golf? by Kihonua. "True gravity is a universal force, an ethical imperative and an overwhelming spiritual experience. True gravity is intentional that is once you enter these realms you can not will any result arbitrarily: you must learn to join your will to the emerging will of God, or to put it another way, you must place your self in ecological harmony with the awakening world, not the "old-staticdying-world" but to "the next manifesting plane " as it develops in and around you. Modern science is a kind of black magic that tries to lord it over nature from a limited and inadequate consciousness, like all black magic it produces an "occult backlash" that will bring the world down unless it is tempered and eventually subsumed by the kind of consciousness Shivas was aspiring for. God intends the fullness of His being in the world, not just a thin slice, so "He will bring down the modern mind like a fallen species and clear the way for His greater life". …" The above quote comes from the book Golf in the Kingdom written by Michael Murphy the founder of Esalen Institute in California and whilst the book is not a book about Huna the above paragraph is certainly in keeping with the Huna teaching about Power and its potential within human consciousness for creating harm. The idea of science as black magic is certainly apposite and it is also true that many people in trying to manifest a new and better life which most likely includes greater material wealth at the very least often stems from a limited and inadequate consciousness of the full picture of the past, present and future that is your life. The occult backlash that occurs explains why very often when working to manifest more money that even if your income does increase your bills and other outgoings also increase. One rather interesting way of working with the energy of an occult backlash is to try and manifest greater debt in your life rather than greater wealth. The only question would be do you have the courage to willingly and wilfully work with your manifestation techniques to make your life even more difficult? It's an interesting challenge - care to try?

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Hawaiian Temples - Heiau By Kihonua Hawaiian Heiau or temples are, to the visiting Westerner used to images of great Egyptian or Central American temples, at first glance unimpressive. Simply a low stone wall around a rectangular space. However, it is just the quality of that space which is so important. These are sacred sites and have been worshipped in for hundreds of years and even today prayer offerings are still left in the temple walls in the form of stones wrapped in the sacred ti plant leaf or sometimes in the form of a small precariously balanced pile of stones. It is worth studying the painting below to see just how the temple looked when the Hawaiian civilisation was still only marginally affected by Western culture and religious beliefs. A fact that escapes most casual visitors and indeed scholars is that the Polynesians were a great seafaring people and that the migratory journeys from Tahiti to the Hawaiian islands took months. Crucially, you have to take your gods and temples with you!

You do not stop worshipping just because you are in a double hulled canoe a thousand miles from land. The Hawaiian temples very simply and clearly reflect the shape of the vessels that was both home and temple to these great early voyagers. It was through the help of the Gods that the people were able to find and settle new lands in the vast expanse of the Pacific ocean. To a Hawaiian their temples were both places of worship and also a constant reminder of the reality of those early voyages.

In terms of their construction look at the tower as related to the mast of the ship, the small thatched huts as the shelter and the overall rectangular shape as resembling the outline of the canoe. The heiau acted as a profound link to both the Gods themselves and your own ancestors from the dim past and those who perhaps died during the long journeys. What would it mean to you to be able to have that sense of connection with where you come from both spiritually and physically every time you entered the temple of your faith?

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MANY LIVES? By Kihonua In the original Huna teaching that part of man and woman which was considered to be immortal was referred to as the Aumakua. This Hawaiian term has been misinterpreted in many different teachings, it is not your higher self nor your soul but it is a created self. What in English I often refer to as your immortal spirit self and its related body; the immortal spirit body. This body and self is created during your physical lifetime by the work you do to integrate your soul, body and mind. The Aumakua is composed not of energy, nor of physical matter but of the basic fabric of the universe by which I mean pure spirit or to give it a more modern terminology the quantum space of existence. The spirit is the background of all existence it into penetrates every existing universe or dimension. In Hawaii it was referred to by the term aka. During your earthly experience it is possible through the expression of your soul nature into the physical realm and the integration of your mind in harmony with that experience that you begin to radiate and generate an energy of such intensity that you can truly begin to warp the pristine fabric of space-time. If you like, you could think of imprinting or etching a design in the mirror of the universe. Alternatively, you could think of aka or spirit as being an all pervasive universal watery substance within which the impact of your exquisite personal energies creates a moving vortex or shape. A shape that is capable of volitional movement but not just a shape, an actual being with thoughts feelings and emotion, an immortal spirit being that embodies all of your earthly experience in its highest form. To use the Hawaiian term an Aumakua, an ancestral spirit, immortal and indestructible. Indeed as this aumakua does embody your highest principles it is easy to see how some interpreters have thought of it as the super conscious mind or higher self. In ancient Hawaii the creation of the immortal spirit body was seen as a natural process. It is a measure of how far we in the modern world have departed from the ways of nature that for Western man the creation of the aumakua is something that has to be worked at for years. The modern world does not encourage soul expression nor is the body venerated, respected and loved in the way it was in ancient Hawaii. Then there is the problem of the mind, our thoughts have become too powerful, the inner voices and beliefs drown out the subtle messages from both body and soul. So we must work, work to integrate and make congruent all the different aspects of our being so that we too can achieve that unique birthright that we all possess as human being's that of becoming an immortal spirit being. An Aumakua. In times gone by in Hawaii the ancestral spirit's were often believed to manifest themselves in the form of an animal. In fact, the ancestors were often believed to speak to their descendants through rocks, trees, the animals, fish or indeed other people. This phenomenon was referred to as “kino lau” or many bodies and referred to the belief that an aumakua as a being a pure spirit could enter into anything, animate or inanimate and then by attracting a person's attention communicate with them. Within every Hawaiian family there was often a person whose specific role was to communicate with the aumakua but not in the normal way that we in the West might think of that, not as a spiritualist medium but as someone who would allow an ancestor to take total possession of their body. This is not necessarily a pleasant process as I can attest to from personal experience, unless you like the feeling that every single cell in your body

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is being shaken apart! The other ways the Aumakua speak to us are much less dramatic. When they enter a rock or an animal, it is so much easier because unlike humans these do not resist. There is much talk within various new age philosophies and spiritual practices on becoming more evolved or being more spiritual. You often hear people talking about spiritual development yet in Hawaiian Huna there is a literal meaning to this phrase, to talk of spiritual development is to be referring to the actual creation of your immortal spirit body. Through working on your self to conceive it, to nourish it through its gestation, to give birth to it and then to nurture it until it reaches full stature. So an understanding of reincarnation does exist in Hawaiian Huna yet unlike the Asian teachings it is never you who lived before but that you can have an Aumakua attach them self to you in a symbiotic link before birth and stay with you through much of your life. In this way you can experience their memories and help them to perfect themselves. Unlike normal spiritual possession there is a subtle alignment that goes on during pregnancy which allows the communication to be so easy as to be unnoticed. In return you benefit from the wisdom, love and experience of an immortal being. This companion spirit is closer to you than your own skin, your own soul. Furthermore unlike the Asian teachings it is not a common phenomenon. There is much more that could be said about this process but enough for now. Pau!

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HO'OPONOPONO HAWAIIAN FAMILY THERAPY. Part 1 by Kuoha We in the West tend to think of Therapy as a fairly modern phenomenon and yet for as long as man has been around on the planet people have come together to talk about their problems in the hope of finding solutions. However the old saying of 'not airing your dirty linen in public' tends to keep the discussion of family problems limited; so limited sometimes that even the other members of the family are often not involved in process. It seems it is often easier to talk to someone outside the immediate family rather than those whom we share our lives and our living space with. Generally speaking therapy today consists of two people meeting together. They are alone. No one but them is privy to the hours of soul searching discussion, powerful emotionality and quiet despair that takes place weekly in an environment that is often somewhere between the sanctity and safety of the confessional box and the homely comfort of the front room of a dear friend. Most therapists will tell you that often the hardest part of the whole process is not the confronting of and coming to terms with one's deepest fears and darkest secrets; people will come to face these when they are able to deal with them appropriately if no force is applied on the part of the therapist; but the biggest hurdle is the integrating of the new 'you' into an old and familiar family set-up that has remained stoically unchanged throughout the whole painful personal process. As most peoples problems arise within the family unit it seems only common sense that this is the arena where to the problems should be played out and where a resolution must be sought. Of course family therapy does exist but it is not as readily embraced as the more solitary pursuit of dealing with one's 'own stuff '. Family therapy can be a minefield however where, if not guided by a very skilled therapist, one may exit more maimed then when one entered ! What is it that makes working with other family members so fraught with danger and how can this process be made as painless as possible ? Well the answer may well lie several thousand miles from here on a group of tiny islands in the middle of the Pacific ocean and it roots are buried in a culture that was practising family therapy long before anyone had even coined the word ' psychoanalysis ' and the concept of the disfunctional family would have been inconceivable. To the ancient people of the Hawaiian islands the concept of the Ohana - the extended family was one that was very real to them. Family meant not only those related by blood but every living thing and even the gods themselves. Each family had its own Aumakua, or ancestral god who watched over the family like a great parental spirit - all loving and all seeing. Cont…..

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These strong family links had obvious benefits to all and kept family together in a strong knit band through all the generations. Ancestor worship was a significant part of their religious upbringing. Like all families however trouble did occur from time to time. Maybe there was a falling out between two members or a sickness in the family that did not respond to treatment; in cases such as this a family elder would consult a Kahuna Lapa'au or healer/priest and he or she would call a Ho'oponopono or family therapy session. Everyone had to agree to attend such a gathering and come along willingly as the true desire to resolve the problem was a pre-requisite for all concerned. The Ho'oponopono differs from modern therapy in three important ways - the use of prayer and the involvement of the gods in the process - the act of forgiveness - and where appropriate, restitution.

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HO'OPONOPONO HAWAIIAN FAMILY THERAPY. Part 2 by Kuoha A typical Ho'oponopono session would begin with the Kahuna offering up a prayer, or Pule, to the family Aumakua for help and guidance with the problem and insight into its resolution. The involvement of the deity assured everyone of the seriousness of the task and helped to keep everyone focused and committed to the process. After the prayer the Kukula Kumuhana, which is the identifying and naming of the problem, took place. The Hala, or transgression, thus identified was the problem to which a solution had to be found. Then everyone was given a chance to speak about how they perceived what was going on and to state their feelings about it. Everyone was given a voice and each person instructed to direct his or her statement to the Kahuna and not to other family members. Once everyone had had a say the Kahuna would ask questions of the various family members in order to clarify certain points or to encourage a member who may be resisting the process to participate more fully. If at any time things began to get out of hand and strong emotions were expressed the Kahuna would order Ho'omalu , a call for silence. All discussion would cease but the participants were still required to stay present. This cooling off time could last several minutes or much longer. The Hawaiians believed that emotional outbursts clouded the issue and could lead to further harm and in a emotionally free and expressive people, ensured that no further damage was done either to family members or the situation. After a full discussion it would became apparent who was the perpetrator and who the wronged person in the situation. Maybe something had been taken from another member without permission or some unkind or untrue statement made about them. To the Hawaiians, both parties were bound together in a web of negative entanglement which meant that the initial problem had many added dimensions as the initial hurt was followed by many reactions ensnaring the two and holding them fast. If the problem was not resolved they would be held in this impasse indefinitely. Whatever the cause, the instigator of the problem was then required to fully confess the wrong doing and ask for forgiveness. The act of asking for forgiveness, Mihi, had to carried out with honesty and in an open hearted way and once asked for, had to be granted. Not to do so would be an affront to the Aumakua who of course was always forgiving. The Kahuna would look for genuine signs of forgiveness from the participants such as spontaneous hugging and weeping. Once forgiveness had been granted, the business of restitution had to be discussed and the nature and terms of this agreed upon. After this came Kala which was the loosening of all negative entanglements. Both the person who had confessed and the person who had forgiven agreed to release the conflicts and hurts and then, in keeping with the image of the web or net, the hurts were cut away and the problem released. It was never to be spoken of again unless it was in positive terms to convey how they had resolved the problem confronting the family. At this stage if there were further problems to be resolved then the Kahuna would call for a Ho'omalu to give everyone a chance to rest before focussing on a new problem and then going through the same process. At the end of the session which could last all day or even several days the whole thing would be closed with the Kahuna giving a summary of what had taken place

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and a re-affirming of the family's strengths and mutual bonds. Then came the Pule Ho'opau, the closing prayer of gratitude to the gods for their help and guidance and the asking of a blessing on the family and house. Traditionally it was asked that the problem be taken away and buried, never to be brought up again ( the depths of the ocean was a common resting place - the sun being asked to take the problem and drop it into the sea into which it sank at the end of each day .) The whole affair was then concluded with a celebratory feast or luau in which all the family members and the Kahuna took part. This simple routine is one that we could all follow in the resolution of interpersonal problems. The invoking of a higher power and the acts of forgiveness and restitution are great omissions from many modern therapy rooms. So often the insights gained in the therapeutic process are used as excuses for present conditions or as great sticks with which to beat up others. The act of confession and the owning of our wrongdoings coupled with total forgiveness is not new as we have seen and indeed has always been stated in the Christian Church but as we grow more and more sophisticated and disregard organised religion we often come to believe that these teachings are no longer relevant in our lives. Forgiveness is not a religious commodity but a universal doctrine and whilst to "err may be human and to forgive divine" let us not forget that god is within us all.

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The legend of the "Kiha" (Shooting Breath) by Brenda Turville

Many, many years ago, there lived upon these islands, the islands of the Kanaka Maoli, the dreaded and fierce "Kiha." The Kiha were huge reptiles, (nothing like todays geckos, or Mo'o). They were known to communicate with the humans. Some were good, but others were maneaters! Why, it is said that one Kiha could eat a single hale and all who were in it, in just one bite! You could hear them coming because of the tremendous noise that they make when they breathe. The Kiha would sleep during the day, and then during the night, they would come and prey upon the villages for their dinner. In Moloka'i, there once lived a terrible Kiha that everyone feared. He had eaten plenty of their people and no one was safe at night. The people hunted and hunted during the day to try to find this Kiha, because the only way that they could destroy him would be to kill him while he was sleeping. Finally, one day the people found him buried in a hillside sleeping. They got all the things that they could find that would burn and placed them upon the the mountain and lit it on fire and killed the mighty Kiha! To this day, the Kanaka believe that plenty Kiha still exist within these islands. Moloka'i has 12 that have remained to guard the island. Kaua'i has two. They say to be careful of climbing the mounds in the woods. If you go to a pond, throw a ti leaf in first. If it sinks, the Kiha is in the pond. If it floats, you can swim. Dark caves are also favourite places of the Kiha. When people end up missing in the woods and never return, one can almost be sure that they met their fate by a hungry Kiha!

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Huna Article by Maka'ala Yates Aloha Everyone, Because there was a break in the school for the Thanksgiving holiday I decided to write about my personal involvement on the subject of Hawaiian healing. A young Hawaiian girl doing some research on lomilomi asked if she could interview me via the e-mail system so in response to her questions and to share the info with you all this week's newsletter will hopefully bring a deeper insight to the work I have dedicated my life to. By the way her name is Kara H. who is from Hana, Maui and is attending BYU in Utah. Lomilomi has been in my life since the age of 6. As a youngster I was first introduced to this ancient body work technique by my auntie Phoebe from Nanakuli, HI who coached me with the hands on techniques much to my dislike. Later in life some of my other family elders presented other aspects of lomilomi such as ho'oponopono and la'au lapa'au (herbal therapy). It wasn't until I was 29 years old, however, before I was formally trained by various teachers with more detailed aspects of Hawaiian healing. All of my teachers where obviously Hawaiian but most of them were female elders including Auntie Phoebe, Margaret Machado, Morrnah Simeona, Edith Kanakaole and Iolani Luahine all of whom have since died except for Auntie Margaret. I guess because most of my teachers were females I bring into my work and teachings a balance of masculinity and femininity or a gentleness yet firmness approach. I was glad for this because the women elders made it easier for me to learn where the male elders, although as wise, made it somewhat difficult for me, not on purpose I'm sure, but due largely in part to their warrior attitude type of demeanor. It has been about 25 years since my formal training in lomilomi started but it has never ended as I continue to expand from the ancient's wisdom. When studying lomilomi, typically the student is shown some basic procedures that could be labeled as a "system" of techniques when in reality it is the first of many aspects of true lomilomi therapy. For example, advance lomilomi teaching encourages the practitioner to be as specific as possible based on what the patient's needs are. Therefore, as an apprentice I was shown simple generic procedural techniques to use as a "reference point" until I was able to progress onto the more specific advanced techniques for advanced pathologies. As an apprentice in the old days the student couldn't touch a patient until he/she understood the healing process and was approved by the teacher. Knowing the inner self was just as important so meditation, chants and effective prayer techniques were also given to assist in the process. It took me about three years to be able to clearly understand and overcome some of my challenges required to further study in the ancient arts but having mentors that was sympathetic and compassionate was really helpful and made the transitions in my life more tolerable. In the old ways, the more you knew who you were the clearer you were able to be successful in the Hawaiian healing arts as well as in life itself. It was the responsibility of the teacher, however, to assist the apprentice and guide them throughout the educational and evolutionary process. Similarly, it was the responsibility of the student to maintain the standards of practice laid out by the teacher and to honor the legacy of Hawaiian medicine and those that have passed it on.

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Today in Hawaii and abroad there appears to be many diversified approaches to lomilomi. That is, there seems to be variations or styles used with different lomilomi practitioners. Admittedly there are some looters that have exploited this revered form of Hawaiian body work therapy but in truth, there are different perceptions of an ancient art that has been handed down for generations. For years I wanted to know were there really any differences and/or was there any common similarities? My break came in 1976 when I was selected along with 25 others to sail on a double hull canoe from Hawaii to Tahiti and back. The name of the canoe was called "Hokule'a," which means "star of gladness" in English and it was a project filmed and documented by the National Geographic Society. After the successful completion of the voyage John Kruse and I was asked to take Hokule'a to all the Hawaiian islands to share with the people the experiences and outcome of this historic voyage. Sort of like a floating classroom for literally thousands of people. On this year long trek we met with many Kupunas (Hawaiian elders) who readily and freely shared their mana'o (thoughts) on lomilomi, something unheard of in my lifetime growing up. Usually, when asked about the old ways and in this case on the subject of lomilomi, the response would always be "its a family secret" but because of Hokule'a they openly answered all my questions. What followed after a year of research and curiosity was an incredible exchange of reality as to what lomilomi was really about from an ancient perspective. Imagine if you will a village concept of living where everyone's actions and thoughts contributed positively (or negatively) toward the success of surviving within that community. In this conceptual village there is a lomilomi Kahuna (a lomilomi practitioner that has achieved mastery status) that was available to handle the more serious physical problems that family members or friends were not able to resolve. Now take two unrelated villagers both presenting with similar physical issues that was treated by the same Kahuna who subscribed or administered treatments entirely different for each patient because the fact that there were (are) different dynamics involved with each individual person be it male/female, small frame/big frame, job description, etc. These two villagers then shares their experiences with family members and friends and even reproduces some of the treatment techniques which were eventually passed down through the generations. We now move to present day Hawaii and find the decendants of these two villagers sharing lomilomi techniques that appears to be different from each other yet both ideas originated from the same Kahuna. In many cases I have found this to be true in my research and realized the perception that we have concluded as to what lomilomi is, which is only part of the whole. Once we realize that the ancients had no limitations using lomilomi and the expansiveness this technique has we ourselves will overcome our own limitations especially pertaining to the healing process necessary for each individual. Lomilomi from my perspective describes a motion or movement that is both physical or energetic. The hidden meaning (the old Hawaiians spoke in riddles to conceal the information from infiltrators) of lomilomi is "the ability of the practitioner to communicate deep into the bones of the individual (without imposing himself/herself), therefore the soul of the person." There are many elements that a lomilomi practitioner relies upon when treating a patient besides his/her hands. For example, ho'oponopono concepts were used to deal with the alignment of the mind and emotions of the person, a "hale pulo'ulo'u" (Hawaiian sweat lodge) was used to cleanse the body of impurities as well as to allow heat to penetrate through the muscles down to

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the bones and internal cleansing was used to prevent or eliminate an organ reflex to muscles (irritated nerves affecting muscles). As a teacher of lomilomi it is my objective to bring a broader perspective of this ancient art yet show how to integrate the concepts into modern day healthcare systems and how this work can be as specific as possible for specific conditions. Mahalo. Maka'ala

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MANA By Kristin Zambucka Never seek anything truth will seek you when you are ready... Such is the paradox and as you listen to the secret language of nature you will become a partner in some deep mystery of life and you will live totally in the moment rejoicing in the precious here and now for there is no need to hurry anything learn from nature.... She knows no time limits but waits without anxiety while everything unfolds in its own time and in its own way without the pressures of time or worry or age and knows that when times stops... You stand in the place of God and you will hear the hidden dimensions rustling electric in the atmosphere for you will have touched the infinite then when you return to the material world... You will find a completely different place for as you are reborn into the world... The world will be reborn in you all will change because you observed the simple faith of flowers Sense the rare treasure locked away on hidden levels for it waits to be tapped only by those who can truly see with the inner eyes of the soul it flows as the legendary "water of life" that spirals and channels in varying rhythms through all things for there is nothing that isn't alive... Mountains and plants and rainbows and sun and soil and sea... All vibrate with its mystical force and even silent rocks may be charged with its healing presence by holy hands and carry it for aeons... and water in all its changing moods is the ancient symbol for this power cold mana it roars in Wailele, the waterfall and dances in Ua; the rain and floats in Uhiwai; the mist and plays in Kahawai; the gentle stream and speaks in Moana; the brooding ocean develop a keen awareness of this supernatural force read signs and omens in elemental phenomena watch stars burning in the velvet heavens by night read the positions of those far beacons for the races of Man are their children and by day look for shapes in clouds and the behavior of plants and the moods of the sea and garlands of rainbows that circle the talking skies for all are messengers and all can speak... If you listen and know that having attained the highest state of life in human consciousness you are given the

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greatest privilege of all... To gather the power called mana and offer it in prayer... Back to its source; the higher power called God for the mysterious mana holds the key to answered prayers drink it in with each breath... for it hums all around you... pulsing under the green mantle of nature and watching in the eyes of flowers And gradually a new flowering will take place within you... if you begin to pray frequently for you will be encouraged by the ancient urge, long buried... know that everything should be preceded by prayer.... Then the way is cleared for progress and answers long sougtht will come to you even though the alter at which you place your hands may be weatherbeaten rock and not polished marble... Still the same God will respond to you Then look to the world of people for other fountains... give love and compassion and hospitality and trust to all that you meet... for mana will be returned to you on the river of life breath your words into God visualize your desires and offer the picture along with your gift of mana and see it rising like gilded vapor and soon the rain of blessings will fall in response for in a magic moment... The mana flows two ways... to the source and back again pray constantly to keep your levels of mana high take your share of the Wai Ola; fabulous food of the spirit for it is the gift of the creator to his child you are not forgotten.....

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Huna By Kihonua Sometimes the challenges facing the seeker upon the path, be it Huna or any other, are oftimes better expressed in fiction than any didactic factual statements... read on... "But about my heart at this magic hour stirred the dawn-winds of a thousand ancient sun rises, and I felt the haunting atmosphere of other days in other places steal up through the mists of immemorial existences. I thought of the whole great series, each life arising and setting like a little day, each with it's own dawn and noon and sunset, each with its harvest of failure and success, of joy and sorrow, of friendships formed and enemies forgiven, of ideals realized or abandoned - pouring out of the womb of time and slowly bringing the soul through the discipline of all possible experience towards that perfection which proclaims it one with the entire universe - the Deity And a profound weariness fell about my spirit as I went. I became aware of my meagre enthusiasm. I welcomed the conception of some saviour who should do it all for me. I knew myself unequal to the gigantic task. In that moment the heroic figure of Julius seemed remote from reality, a towering outline in the sky, an austere embodiment of legendary myth. The former passionate certainty that he was right dwindled amid wavering doubts. The perplexities of life came back upon me with tormenting power. I lost the coherent vision of consistent and logical beauty that he inspired. It was all too vast for me. This reaction was natural enough, though for a long time mood chased mood across my troubled mind, each battling for supremacy. The materialism of the day, proudly strutting with its boundless assurance and its cock-sure knowledge, regained possession of my thoughts. The emptiness of scholastic theology no longer seemed so hideously apparent. It was pain to let the other go, but go it did-though never, perhaps, so completely as I then believed. By insignificant details the change revealed itself. I recalled that I was due that very afternoon at a luncheon where "intellectual" folk would explain away the soul with a single of scientific formula, and where learned heads would wag condescendingly as they murmured "But there is no evidence to prove that you know…" and Julius rose before me in another light at once Pagan, dreamer, monster of exploded superstitions, those very hills where he evoked the sylvan deities, a momentary hallucination... Then again, quite suddenly, it was the chatterers at the luncheon party who seemed unreal, and all their clever patter about the "movements" of the day mere shallow verbiage. The hoardings of the town were blue and yellow with gaudy election posters, but the sky was aflame with the grand old message of the Sun God, written into eternal hieroglyphics of gold and red upon the clouds that brushed the hills. The elemental deities stormed thundering by. And, instead of scholars laying down the letter of their little law, I heard the tones of Concerighé calling across the centuries the names of great belief, of greater beauty. And the older pageantry stole back across the world. Cont…….

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Almost it was in me to turn and seek...with him...that soul-knowledge which ran through all the "sections."... Yet the younger fear oppressed me, the renunciation and suffering involved, the incessant, tireless striving, with none to help to but one's own unconquerable will - this, and a host of other feelings that lay beyond expression, bore down upon me with their cold, glacier power. I thought of Julius with something of reverence akin to terror.... I despised myself. I also understood why the majority need priests and creeds and formula to help them….The will, divorced from nature, was so small a thing!"

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Lady Kauai by Kuoha 'Even the Gods are born of woman. And red was the clay and gentle the hands that first shaped her. And she gives us life, and in life there is death, and she waits for us at the end, as she was with us in the beginning.' I was reminded of this again during our visit to Kauai as we flew in with the Island flanking our right side. The energy of the Island is so feminine, so healing and sacred. The red earth, rich in iron, just like blood. I was told a wonderful story this time of how a great waka set sail from New Zealand. Seated on one side of the boat were the women and on the other side, the men. Some way out from land a huge storm blew up and the they were all afraid. Suddenly the waka spilt in two. The men decided that they would return to their homeland but the women decided to continue on and eventually found the island of Kauai, imbuing it with their soft, gentle energy. I am reminded too, that the whole Island chain is created by the fire goddess Madame Pele. Powerful and seductive she represents another face of the feminine. The fullness of the moon released great energy that enabled the people to plant and build, hunt and fish and accomplish many things. The waning moon encouraged more introspection and quiet planning of things to accomplish in the moon's returning light. The seed power of both men and women alike surged to the power of the moon, and like the moon herself, the female reproductive cycle waxed and waned to the same rhythm. ' Know that women hold the land for they are of the red earth, Understand women count the generations and tie them to the beginning and the end. And always remember they flow with the Tides of Life.'

From the Song of Waitaha

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THE KUKUI NUT by Kuoha

Aleurites moluccana The Kukui nut tree is the State tree of Hawaii and when you consider the amount of diverse uses this nut is put to you can understand why. The Kukui nut or candlenut tree is related to the walnut. The nut itself is high in fatty acids and can be eaten but only when cooked as the raw nut has a slightly toxic effect. The oil from the nut is used medicinally as a purgative rather like castor oil, and has a highly beneficial effect on the skin especially in cases of acne and eczema and burns. It can even be rubbed into the scalp where it is said to aid in preventing and maybe curing hair loss. When the shell of the nut is burned it produces a permanent black pigment which is used in tattooing and this same rich dye can be used to colour tapa cloth. Perhaps the most obvious use of the Kukui nut is as a traditional lei, where the polished nut are strung together into a long necklace. The nuts are traditionally either a deep rich brown or black. Unlike the flower leis these leis are long lasting. Long ago it was recognised that the oil of the nut burned well and so a primitive, but effective, lamp could be made by stringing several nuts together and then lighting the bottom one. The oil in the nut would burn with a bright light for, I believe, about 11 minutes and then it would ignite the next nut and so on to give several hours of light in the dark Pacific nights. The ability of these nuts to bring light into the dark places is why Kukui nuts are associated with 'enlightenment' and were the traditional leis of the Hawaiian Royal family.

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Madam Pele by Kuoha

Hawaiians believe that the volcano at Kilauea is inhabited by a family of fire gods, but the most powerful and most revered of them all is the goddess Pele. It is Pele, they believe, who governs the activity of the flows of lava. She also has associations with the hula dance and with the practice of sorcery. There are many Pele myths and legends but the most common tells of the expulsion of Pele from her distant homeland (some say she was close to the god fire god, Loo-makua and was for ever causing fires and some say she made love to her sister's husband) but for whatever reason she was forced to leave her family and seek a home elsewhere. She was accompanied on her search for a new home by her many brothers and one sister who is believed to be her favourite. Her name was Hi'iaka. After trying several of the islands she finally settles on Hawaii at the crater Moku-a-weoweo (Land of burning). Here, we are told, she dug down exceedingly deep and did not hit water which was a testament to her fiery nature. Pele, when she takes human form, is believed to be extremely beautiful and captivating but also extremely dangerous. Even today young men travelling the islands are advised against picking up beautiful women at the side of the road for fear that they might be seduced, and eventually destroyed by Madam Pele. The legends tell that whilst on the big island she catches the sound of music coming from the island of Kauai. She decided to follow the sound and visits the lush island of Kauai where she finds herself in the middle of a hula festival. Whilst there for a few days she falls in love with the young chief of the island, Lohiau, whom she is determined to take as her husband. On leaving the island she tells him to await the arrival of her messenger who will accompany him to her home which she is preparing for him. However the young Lohiau has been totally captivated by the glamour of Pele and is devastated at the disappearance of the beautiful woman that he has fallen in love with. Shortly after her departure he dies of grief. However, Pele's young sister Hi'iaka, who has been given the task of bringing the man to Pele when he is summoned, catches the man's spirit and recites the necessary chants to bring the spirit back into his body thus restoring him to life. She then sets about bringing him to Pele on the island of Hawaii. The gods are angry at the choice that Pele, who is after all a goddess, has made in choosing a mere mortal as her mate and send storms and gigantic waves to prevent the two meeting up, thus delaying the journey immensely.

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During the journey to Pele, Hi'aka and Lohiau's affection for each other grows. This of course enrages the goddess and, being of a jealous and vengeful disposition, she encircles the two with flames. Hi'aka has a divine body but Lohiau, being human, is consumed. In some legends Hi'aka restores the man to life yet again and they are reunited. In the old days many heiaus were erected to the goddess Pele beside lava streams and at the edge of craters and bodies were offered to the goddess in the hope that their spirits would live with Pele in her beautiful home beneath the burning pit which is the goddess's physical form. The spirits of the dead would, thus consumed, go forth as her messengers in the form of bodies of flame to avenge any infringement of her tapus. Local legends still abound about the swift retribution visited by Pele on those mortals who dare to offend her. Many lava formations are seen as evidence of the goddess’s power to overwhelm people and places with molten lava, providing physical manifestations of her wrath.

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