Unlocking the Metaphors, Awakening Ancestral attachment to nature

"Metaphors are like fragrance orchids in your garden or it is like special spice in your food." - Pua Kanahele 'Living the myth, Unlocking the metaphor'

At Noon I started up our tiny toaster oven. A layer of parchment lined the small baking tray. Long slices of rough skin yams with orange flesh filled the tray. Good olive oil and a hearty sprinkle of dried Italian herbs topped the root vegetable. I made sure the timer was set on the oven, locked the wagon door, climbed down the steps to the rug-door of our kitchen. With my big straw hat, iphone, walking stick and mask I set off for a short walk. Across the campground I was drawn to the deep purple cone spears coming through the wire fence.  Foxgloves.

Digitalis purpura, common foxglove

The day is warm, the clouds thick overhead. As I write and recall my venture it is almost humid. While I hiked the gentle but definitely rising slope the Giant La'au (Cedar and Fir) cool the way; it felt good to be walking, grateful I can. There were more Foxgloves and tall grass. My eyes hunted for stars of color other than green. There! A few bright spots. Salmon. Newly red-orange. Salmon Berries. 

I was wearing my black rubber slippers. Slippas. My toes and feet have body memory that remembers how good it is to be nearly free of complete containment. My whole body loves how the connecting of my gripping toes are enough. I pa'a (cling) to the ground, the layer of black rubber keeps me from the defending kukus (thorns) of Blackberry.

 "Listen...with your whole body... LISTEN RESPECTFULLY." - Makua o'o

With due diligence -- stepping gingerly, respectfully, with my o'o - walking stick for extra -- I found a way to climb the hillside along the paved road for my season's first berry. One red-orange Salmon Berry. A nice treat. Mahalo! 

Before cutting sweet orange yams and venturing in my neighborhood, I sat with my earphones for a ZOOM webinar "Mo'olelo o Haumea, 'The Story of Haumea, Part 1' ." I'd been thinking about the kumu who was presenting. Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa, Senior Professor of Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies has long been a leader and teacher in the Hawaiian community. It has been many years since being in her presence; I was missing her.

"The H-3 freeway is a terrible, terrible mistake. It's terrible to have a freeway running over the sacred sites of Hawaii," said Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, a protestor with the University of Hawaii Center for Hawaiian Studies in 1997."

Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa's presentation "Mo'olelo o Haumea" is the story of the Mo'owahine Haumea and her kane (husband) Wakea. Part 1 of a two-part story identifies land-based sacred sites of the Ko'olau Mountain Range on the island of O'ahu. The same land-based wahi pana (sacred sites) Kame'eleihiwa and many others marched in protest to protect in 1997.

Early in her presentation Lilikala speaks about the weekly teaching time she has with her mo'opuna (grandchildren). "I want them to learn what my kumu has taught me. Her kumu Pualani Kanahele has said, "Don't translate 'Akua' as 'God', translate 'Akua' as 'Element...So I teach (my mo'opuna) all about the elements of our ancestors: the clouds, the stars ... bringing the ancestral knowledge to us, to them...They love all that stuff!"

I listened and watched the face of a ripened wahine toa (warrior woman).Soon I will have mo'opuna, too. In good company, my sense of place is pa'a (sticks), I feel the way forward. The metaphor of everyday life far from the source of my nature unlock.

"Feel the heartbeat of the culture … SENSE YOUR PLACE, KNOW YOUR ROOTS" - Makua o'o

This lei of words continues as Robin's morning song and the smell of breakfast cooking invite me into this new day. In the soft and powerful place between moe (sleep) and waking I paused and cared for the transition. Tending to the energy within, I placed my hands on the 'energy locks' to 'jumper cable' them. I hear pueo (the owl) waking my na'au (guts). At first? At first I freaked. Then laughed at the Elemental form of waking up. Pueo was both inside (my na'au) and on our roof.

With words and faces brought to me via a contemporary platform of time travel -- spreading information and connecting -- I cross borders. Instinctual ancestral remembrance awakens. Here, at the virtual page, I ask for the mana (divine inspiration) to translate as I navigate.

  Question for clarity when making decisions … ASK - Makua o'o

Before the ZOOM session ended, kumu addressed protesting in the time of The Virus. "Please, be careful. Please, wear your masks... Don't get sick...and if you're in a protest march, I understand I used to lead 'em all the time. Stay kinda far apart, and wear that mask. We have some big issues to cover with the rising of the ocean, climate change. We need to learn the wisdom of the ancestors, in all our areas."

 "Entering the world of ancestral memory requires a certain mindset. Take time to enjoy and understand each phrase or line before going on. Remember this gift took many lifetimes to wrap. Don't be in a hurry to unwrap it and become frustrated in doing so. The meaning and force of the ancestral knowledge will unfold precept upon precept, and each has a code to inspire you on to the next level." -Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele, Preface, Ka Honua Ola

 When I began this mo'olelo li'i (small tale) I prepared with:

my large straw hat ... i don't sunscreen

iphone ... this allows me to share my kilo(observations) with my son

walking stick ... sometimes I need an extra leg to pa'a (be stable)

mask ... like kumu reminded me, I need to stick around if can

slippa ... my toes spread like that of the mo'owahine 

(Haumea whose story was shared via ZOOM... Earth Mother, is mo'owahine when she need be; climbing the steep cliffs and balancing the ridges of Ko'olau with ease.)

In the everyday, there is room and there are reasons to be awake to our ancestral attachment to nature. In this time of The Virus and Huli (upheaval) being prepared is a personal thing and since the world (for you/me/us) is upside down those tools of preparedness? They might need changing. 

The connections between our elemental natures are pieced and peaced together with due diligence. The metaphor and personal myths that are my life are coming apart. How I stitch them together may result in a new pattern.

I lay out the story, triangulating as I go grateful for the rain falling now, aware of my small and precious place, conscious that I am part of a whole picture.

  Practice patience and endurance … TIMING IS DIVINE - Makua o'o

 Our 'ohana from Kaneohe (where so much of "Mo'olelo o Haumea" took place) sent mea 'ai ono (good things to eat) grown where they live. Ancestral attachment 😘 Mahalo nui Kawika and Maleka

Mahalo nui e kumu Lilikala, Malia Nobrega-Olivera and the teams of people behind-the-scenes making social media and cultural navigation a rich happening for us.  

What are the metaphors in your life? Are they locked/unlocked?


RELATED POSTS & LINKS

"Stick Together: Unfastening, Riting Anger, Continuing to Write"
"The Myth of Masks ..."
Aunty Pua Kanahele at the 5th Ka Aha Hula (identifying Ka poula kina'u: 'Instinctual, Ancestral Attachment to Nature')
Lei Anuenue 
Myth & Moor: The secular sacred