Sunday, January 30, 2011

Ho'oponopono and the Kane Moon

Ho'oponopono is the ancient Hawaiian practice of setting things right.  Literally the word could be looked at as "ho'o" to make or the act of "ponopono" setting right or regaining harmony (pono).  The link included in this paragraph will take the reader to one kumu (teacher) of Hawiian healing practices, Maka'ala Yates.

I was talking with my son on the cellphone yesterday as JOTS and I went for a walk through the woods.  I coaxed the kitty of the Quonset from her warm nook.  She was reluctant at first, parking herself on the piles of gravel and I waited.  In the while, I chatted with my son and we caught up on things as we routinely do once a week.

He is back on the Islands, living where Pete and I did, in the beautiful valley of Manoa, Oahu.  In a month he will fly to Europe to do some teaching of Hawaiian healing arts and play music wherever he is able to book a gig.  It's Renassaince Man stuff of the finest making, in my mind.  So as I waited for JOTS to catch up with me we talked about the preparation he is going through:  gathering makana (gifts) to take along for all his hosts, his students and those he does not know, yet. 

We talk during many of these weekly chats about the changing priorities that show up.  He is a man in transition, with decisions to make about his next steps and Pete and I hope the possibility of being closer to my son plays into that transition.  We talk about that.  He knows what our life here is like, and we get to know what his is.

Talk of Maka'ala Yates came up.  Neither of us have met the kumu, yet  we have know of him.  From my son's vantage point as a new teacher of Hawaiian healing arts he appreciates how skilled Maka'ala Yates is at spreading his mana'o (thoughts, teachings).  I have known the man through reputation without personal experience.

The subject of Ho'oponopono came up before we said our farewells. 

I said, "It feels like I do ho'oponopono all the time these days.  I try to use the 'Ole Cycles to set things right.  And, lately, if I don't do it Akua steps in and points out what needs cleaning up."

"Yah," he said.

"Thanks to you, with that first Kaulana Mahini (the Hawaiian Moon Calendar) I know how to keep track of the 'Ole times."

"Me, too," he said.
Today and tonight is the night of Kane in the Hawaiian Moon Calendar

Kane


(Twenty-seventh night)

This is the night that the moon rises at dawn. This and the following night of Lono are sacred to the akua Kane. It is a period devoted to prayer for health and food to the akua Kane and Lono. The Kane kapu is a strict kapu. Early in the morning while the sky was still deep dark, I remembered this was the start of Kane and began my Sunday with prayers for health and food for my family here and back on the Island.  We are distant yet close in spirit. 

When I attend to Mahina (the moon) I am more inclined to become more naturally a woman and a mother being human here on Earth.  I was reminded of the difference between seeking to be spiritually right and a mother and simply more and more a natural mother.  The 'Ole cycles have passed, but today is a time to begin with prayers and ho'oponopono always begins and ends with prayer.

Click here for a beautiful vid and chanting from InPono.  Mahalo ke Akua, Akua Kane, Akua Lono.

Making time for prayers?

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