La Posada: The Welcoming Inn at the Side of the Road
A prayer from Clarissa Pinkola Estes, in her book Untie the Strong Woman
"Since time out of mind,
forces rise up from the dark
spewing black sand everywhere
trying to douse The Light of the World ...
try to destroy the sons
and the daughters of the Light.
Sometimes, begging from door to door
is the only way
to find shelter for the Holy.
Even when doors slam shut,
one will open eventually,
And the firelight inside
Will jump through the dark,
So that light meets Light.
Like steel sharpens Steel.
Yet, even if no one comes,
Even if no one opens the door,
no one human, that is ...
Hold tight, for
angels will come then...
and using the key of Love,
all doors will fall open
or else be locked securely
protecting all within ...
All this for you.
rather than against you.
for you who persisted,
you yourself now, and every day
being born as the i
at the beginning of the word
miracle ...
In this way, you yourself,
in your own human and soulful ways,
are forever Mary's miracle child."
The Moon, Mahina, hides behind the shadows of the Alders as I chant to her, a chant that asks for the understanding hidden in the mele of the chant. With an intent to understand and give thanks to the home and the life she gives us, I called across the ravine and into the heavens.
In 2008 Pete and I lived in a kitchen. The basement of a friend's home was our launch pad. Pete built the home we know today in the backyard in a White Center, Washington (U.S.) neighborhood.
We were sick from environmental illness triggered by other peoples' use of pesticides, and chemicals used every day. From those times in that kitchen we would commit to building a home that would be gentle and caring of us which would also ask little from Honua; she has been extracted far too much already. There were few examples or plans to do that, so between us we imagined (dreamed), researched, prayed and found allies to create a small home and a world where we could live and thrive.
On April Fool's Day, 2009 Pete hitched up our home on wheels for the first time. Attached to a rented truck we headed for Tahuya on the Olympic Peninsula. We had friends willing and welcoming this very new life. It was a dream come true (with lots of hard work, and much more of that to come).
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We have lived, learned and moved to many places on this Honua since that first night on a ledge over looking a pond filled with frogs in the springtime. The efforts to be who we are, different than many, and misunderstood or judged by most, continue to challenge us. That does not stop us. And it is sweetly fitting that on this April Fool's Day, twelve years later, we are preparing to move to a pond again.
We are old, weathered by the work of believing we have a place, just as we are, and grateful to be enjoying life concentrated within the small space of this loving and giving home. She is plenty enough space to find who we really are: both individually and as a pair of very unlikely lovers.
The network of stories that have grown from my discovery of 'the blog' are all over the Internet mycellium underground, overground, safety pinned as moveable and common. What a journey it has been! Myth or memoir the two entwine and I share it for that is my work: storyteller.
We began our day with a big bowl (two apiece) of oatmeal, seaweed, astragalus root and butter. And listened to the roots of Hawaii that sustain us with that special SWEET AND POWERFUL taste of honey, called ALOHA.
If you're interested in catching up with our most recent storytelling? It's over here. Once there, you could explore the newsletter blog and discover more.
Big aloha to you who have come to this blog over the years. Below? That's just the other day:)
"Carta Lanakila and Company" in the video means Pete and me are Tutus now ... the greatest adventure yet, we are grandparents.
Mokihana and Pete
