Grounding dreams, celebrating community, welcoming the New Lunar Year

Gung Hee Fat Choy, Happy New Lunar New Year of the Green Goat/Sheep/Ram.

"When the world was new the Jade Emperor created a calendar. Twelve animals were chosen for each of the twelve years...Ram was chosen for his courage." - from The Rooster's Antler's a tale of the Chinese Zodiac

Our computer is once again occupied by a bug that creates chaos with software; I cannot load photos using Blogger (it works this post). But, there are ways around that and in my primitive way I pin together methods on the border and offer you a way to see how Pete and I continue to ground our dreams, celebrate community and welcome the Year of the Goat/Sheep/Ram.


If you're curious LINK HERE to see our friends and community telling stories, making rattles, and dancing the Blessing Dance to feed the hungry ghosts and make space for joy, Grace and respect for place.

Dinner and a Movie

Pete and I have had a wonderful evening. Link here to link to Makua O'o and read what our New Year's Eve was like.

Hauoli Makahiki Hou every one. Healthy and Happy Times be yours in this new year. Thank you for visiting, thanks for your comments, your email, your support and the inspiration we get by continuing to show up for the another day on Mother Earth. Let's treat her well this year, how about that!

Blessings and Aloha,
Mokihana and Pete

Time with the sticks

I am spending time over at Makua O`o. I have a need to be 'home' with the o'o (the sticks) and have written a couple posts that might interest you kela (over there).

Click here to read a piece called "Sense your place."

Astrology from the Makua O`o ... Jupiter the planet of luck, champion of dreams

Jupiter planet of luck, champion of dreams

Last evening tide, just before the sun set Pete and I took a short drive to make a cellphone call. A roadside spot five miles from the ledge, where a single straight grown fir rising so too do the bar of cellphone service rise. We were calling some pals letting them know we are preparing to venture south and east. These same pals were one of the first stops along the route of friends who had our backs when MCS was disassembling our old whirls. The pals weren't at home when we call, so we left a message.

In place of chatting with those friends we were blessed with a sun set and a moon rise of Harvest Luck. Last night's Harvest Moon was fully present, though not yet in her full illumination because at the same time in the west the sun was electrifying the sky. A very busy and bristly common brown squirrel bounced on the branches of a wild huckleberry outside Scout's window. The squirrel was oblivious to us, with much more important things to do for sure. What Pete and I count as a lucky break is the dual kick of moon and sun as a celebration blessing for all the hard work we have invested in the journey to create a life from Kolea Nani.

Jupiter has been brilliant in the night sky for weeks. This is the planet of expansion, luck and also considered the champion of dreams. Our home on two wheels was born from dreams. Jupiter plays prominently in my natal astrology with the planet of dreams parked at birth in my 11th house, the house where hopes and dreams, visions and connection live... this is a double whammy of dreaming as a source of knowing for me. I posted the article about the difference between learning and knowing yesterday. It was a way for me to put thoughts on the wall that I know ... a faith-based activity. The gift of a sunset and moonrise simultaneously are Jupiter and sun and moon together an indicator of dreams coming true.

We are packing up Kolea Nani and heading for the pass. We are going to Oregon to join our MCS friends in the next stage of community building. It's been a process of back and forth, ups and downs just like that common brown squirrel, we have been preparing for winter!

It's a 9 out of 10 win-win situation:

1. It's sunny. (light is important for Island people!)
2. We're being welcomed. (thank you!)
3. Our friends 'get' what MCS is about. (one of them lives with MCS)
4. It's dry.
5. There's electrical hook-ups for both pairs.
6. The air is clean.
7. There's work for us to do there. (our friends build tiny safe homes!)
8. It's affordable. (we can share resources)
9. We help our friends build the shared kitchen and bathroom we both need for winter.

What's missing? Heat, so Pete will have to wear socks and maybe something more than shorts. The ocean. ( just three hours away).

We started this search in July, and we're new to this kind of search. It is kinda new because we know more than when we were trying to outrun the environment. We know MCS exists and we know what things/experiences/chemicals/actions cause it. That makes the search a conscious one. The astrology of our search does include the influences of ancient wisdom that goes beyond learning and that's the influence I like to call "Earth Sourcery and Cosmic Wisdom." This life of our from Kolea Nani is all about learning and knowing. My Hawaiian tradition led me to remember that the practice of such earth sourcery and cosmic wisdom was passed along with 9 life tools. I'll end this post with those tools and give thanks to my ancestors for passing them to me.

We have our friends here who have shared their ledge with us to thank for their willingness to and generosity. It has counted for much, and we hope we have shared equally in the process.

What are the basic life tools of Makua O`o?

1. Keep a keen sense of observation … NOTICE
2. Listen … with your whole body … LISTEN RESPECTFULLY
3. Do your best in all things … BELIEVE YOUR BEST IS ENOUGH.
4. Know that wisdom is found in many places … SOFTEN THE GROUND OF YOUR BEING
5. Question for clarity when making decisions … ASK
6. Practice patience and endurance … TIMING IS DIVINE
7. Engage in good health practices … CARE
8. Feel the heartbeat of the culture … SENSE YOUR PLACE
9. Believe in Ke Akua, for this higher power makes all life possible … WE ARE NEVER ALONE

Where is Jupiter in your chart? Do you count yourself lucky?

Passing the bowl: traditions and values

I've spent time over at Makua O`o today ... read what was in my heart today about traditions and value.

Click here

STARRY NIGHT ... over on Makua O'o

I have written an article about the starry, starry night ... if you're interested go there by clicking on the link below.

http://makuaoo.blogspot.com/2009/08/starry-starry-night-know-that-wisdom-is.html

Today I'm using the o'o

Facing West ... Makua O`o

I've gone to Makua O`o to share a blog post. Come visit if you'd like.

Malama e MAKUA O`o

There must be a million different names for the rains that come through the glen and The Ledge. Today the winds have been still, then gentle and next steady and filled with misty rain. The Pond fills and empties a little and like today ... signs of the muddy bank are visible from the vardo.

Caring for my own changeable self I have enough energy to eat a tasty breakfast and then crumble back onto the bed ... it's nearly one in the afternoon and I've made the short crossing to The Big House to enter a bit of news. "Malama e Makua O`o" means care for the elder in training a new weekly post I hope to do on Mondays.

Our life here on The Ledge is deeply filled with nature's pace. It is not so much constantly any one way. The short-term observation after five weeks here on the Olympic high country is more like the notice of how rains and wind change in a stretch of sixty 'contrived' minutes. No doubt the elements were no watches to time themselves.

I care for the part of me that knows without reading it.
I care that that part will join in when needed.

Malama e makua o`o
Mokihana

Need a Pat on the Back?

Today that's just what I needed. Click here to visit our twin blog, Makua O`o where I wrote about finding some new friends, one of them was there to say, "You're going to be okay." Boy, did I need that!!!!

First Post of 2009; HOPE and MAKUA O`O

Wow, what a difference a calendar year makes! It feels like a long time. The `Ole Days were very restoring and since they began with the first calendar day of 2009 it might have been just the thing we needed, slow down before being caught up in the whatevehs of busyness. Among the things that we did during the past four days was to REMEMBER how important it is to give the gift of hope. Very dear friends of ours, friends who shared everything they have, are having a tough time right now. It's not a forever sort of tough time, it's just a for now tough time. I read an article written by The Urban Monk during the 'ole days that informed me and fueled me to share something very dear with our friends: Hope.

Our journey of building VARDOFORTWO is sometimes tough, and honestly, we sometimes question from where the courage and resources to move forward will come. The `Ole Days, are days of caring for the grand reserve of appreciation, hope and inspiration/innovation. It is our commitment to a regular spiritual practice that is the foundation of it all.

Not only is this our first post of the new year to VARDOFORTWO, it is also the day for posting on our newest blog MAKUA O`O. Literally translated from Hawaiian Makua O`o means "adult with digging stick", and is a spiritual journey an adult practices daily, learning to name and use basic life tools that can be used to weed, dig, plant or move heavy obstacles from the path/garden/journey. Learning to live with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities challenges us to use the tools -- the `o`o-- in tried and try ways, and new ways we might never have imagined. I hope you will visit the pages of MAKUA O`O. See how inter-connected the progress with VARDFORTWO and the tale of Sam and Sally are with a foundation of a spiritual practice.

IF YOU LINK TO MAKUA O`o before I finish my first post to the new blog, please come back to it in a little while ... I'm working on it (big smiles).

It's nice to be back on the page. Happy New Year,

Mokihana

MAKUA O`O ... Elder in Training

Photo Credit: Chris Kawika Brown

Basic Life Tools
of a Makua o`o

(Elder in training)

Makua is the Hawaiian word for adult. O`o refers to the digging tool used to loosen unwanted weeds, move heavy objects or make holes for planting. Together the words makua and o`o combine to describe the man or woman who consciously uses the basic life tools (listed below)digging through life, loosening weeds, and hardened beliefs, moving back into the flow and making room for new growth in tutelage with a kupuna or elder skilled with these life tools herself/himself. The life of a makua o`o is a commitment to life in harmony with the philosophy and practice of care that is the essence of “malama `aina” -- to care for that which nourishes you. This commitment is spiritual at its core, and practical in application. It is a life of faith and daily practice. I am grateful to Aunty Betty Kawohiokalani Jenkins for opening the door to my apprentice as makua o`o. I am not sure this apprecticeship ever ends. I share this post with all our visitors, regular readers, family and friends with thanks to all of you for joining us in our journey to build VARDOFORTWO. We wish you all a new year of love, support, caring and authenticity. We are all elders in training, look around ... so many digging sticks, so many spirits being human.

HAUOLI MAKAHIKI HOU!

Mokihana and Pete

1. Keep a keen sense of observation … NOTICE

2. Listen … with your whole body … LISTEN RESPECTFULLY

3. Do your best in all things … BELIEVE YOUR BEST IS ENOUGH.

4. Know that wisdom is found in many places … SOFTEN THE GROUND OF YOUR BEING

5. Question for clarity when making decisions … ASK

6. Practice patience and endurance … TIMING IS DIVINE

7. Engage in good health practices … CARE

8. Feel the heartbeat of the culture … MAKE TIME FOR LOVE

9. Believe in Ke Akua, for this higher power makes all life possible … WE ARE NEVER ALONE