"Innocent" sunscreen

Powerful is the Sun! This is a summer of very hot sun, and for the first time my skin, and my lips are speaking to me about 'too much' of a good thing.

The three YouTube videos(one to identify; one to hear of St. Joan/St.John's Wort; another for how to make a tincture with the harvested wildflower) with herbalist and long-time Green Blessings Woman, Susun Weed are giving me options to sunscreen off the shelf. Last week I emailed our friends from the Seattle MCS community asking what if any commercial sunscreen they are using. A few friends replied with brands I had heard about, but not used. It's been more than a decade since I've used sunscreen off the shelf, and after reading the EWG (Environmental Working Group) Website I knew there is a better, different way. Even with the 'safer' levels of toxicity listed on the EWG site, the ingredients shouted to my gut: "hurt."

So, for now, I am exploring St. Joan/St. John's Wort or Hypericum perforatum. The traditional harvest for this perennial wildflower is after Summer Solstice when they have blossomed. That was last weekend. The Full Moon in Capricorn, coming July 1st, 2015 is just days away. Perhaps, my timing is good and the 'Green Blessings' will be part of my good luck as Jupiter and Venus are close in the sky.

Have you any experience with St.Joan/St.John's wort? As sunscreen?

"Aia no i ʻo" wahi o ka paina ... something to reflect on this 'Ole Pau Moon

"Aia no i ʻo" wahi o ka paina.

"Yet to come," say the pines - He Inoa Na Jots

 I'm having fun preparing the banner for HO'OMOKU. Treasure from the Good Cheer Thrift Shop in Langley have been washing and aired out on these hot summer days. The red-threads dangle with a swell single leaf ... on a safety pin, the symbols grow!

 Another string of treasure add shimmer with beads and wavy green ribbon.

There at the end of the banner is empty space ... "Aia no i'o" Yet to come!

Planning Food Love .. mea 'ai

I was standing in the soup aisle waiting for my friend, Paul, the deli chef. An idea has been simmering inside me for awhile. Paul and I had a great conversation about Chicken Adobo several months ago. We are both part-Filipino, and we both love Chicken Adobo. But, the one who really loves Chicken Adobo is Pete, my hubby. To hear him talk about the plate lunch of Chicken Adobo with extra tomatoes and sliced onions over rice is to know a Ukranian-Irish laborer's love of good food.

Anyway ... as I continue to step forward to the opening and blessing of HO'OMOKU, food is an important piece of making island. Every Friday of July and August, we will start with food, include the sharing of food.

When Paul was finished cooking what he was cooking in the deli, he found me in the soup aisle and we talked. "I'm starting a gathering place for Hawaiian practices."

"Cool."
"Every Friday starting July 10th we gather, and I bring something to eat. A crockpot of something. I was thinking. Remember when we talked about Chicken Adobo?"
"Yeah." Paul has a beautiful smile. It was spreading across his handsome face.
"What would it take for you to cater one of our gatherings with Chicken Adobo?"
He asked questions about the venue. How many people?
"I'm not sure how many people. But the Open House would probably be the time more people would be there."
"So ... maybe upwards of twenty people?" he offered.
"Don't know." I really have no idea how many people to count on. But, like I said it's Pete who loves this 'National Favorite' and what others don't eat, he will!
I gave Paul the details I do have, and he went back to the deli and left me with this, "I'll give it some thought."

The other food we will serve is the Hawaiian staple, and Ancestral Soul food poi. Pounded kalo (taro root) is the spiritual and physical mana for Hawaiians. We will have a poi bowl to share with all who come to our gatherings. Story and introductions will be shared over poi. A tradition continues with this food present.

I've been working with our produce guy, Eric, to get poi into our local market. Things are slowly coming together. Maybe sometime this summer, poi will come from Hawaii into our neighborhood and Pete and I will not need to drive into Seattle's Chinatown to buy our poi.

The small and large details for planning gatherings. It was an unexpected experience with food this noon-time connection. My astrologer, Satori wrote about today. "...Going after what you want feels more fluid now, even if the goals are also a bit fluid at the moment. Move forward on faith, in the direction that feels correct. Don’t fuss it so hard. Start where you are!" The stargazer knew! I like it.

The value of song, the meaning of aloha

 "These folks are not used to accepting that others have power to recognize and help perfect what is valuable in them."  - more from North Node in Taurus

This weekend was sparked by the good fortunate of a Moon-Jupiter-Venus conjunction in Leo. Yesterday we drove to our friends' home in the Maxwelton Valley with a case of young Thai coconuts, and my beautiful ukulele rode along excited to be part of the celebration. We were delivering a thank you gift. There was also the promise of a freshly-baked pie to share. While the waves of grief and loss still roll over us, the power of friendships and genuine appreciation balances the strong emotions. Kumu Hula Olana A'i's definition of Aloha, "Aloha is the intelligence with which we meet life," fits the experience of this weekend. Generosity and Aloha are same-same.

This vintage menu cover depicts the feeling I had this weekend, and except for the phase of the moon and coconuts instead of hibiscus and bananas it was an Aloha time. Our friend Jude gifted us unbidden with financial backing that will bring Internet and connectivity to the South Whidbey Tilth, the place where we will gather for HO'OMOKU. The original offer was to pay for our airfare to and from the September 'AIMALAMA Pacific Peoples' Lunar Conference on Climate Change on O'ahu. Rather than board a plane to participate, we asked if her gift could be redirected to creating a HUB or webinar site on Whidbey Island. She said, "Yes."

So ... yesterday we spent a sweet couple of hours with our friends. I played my ukulele and sang old-style, old school chalangalang the music that soothes my heart and soul. Stringing bits of lyrics from here 'a song of white sandy beaches, gentle breeze'and there, including English and 'Olelo Hawaii "auhea 'oe"; throwing in a riff of "Shoo-fly don't bother me" because I wait all year long to shoo those flies. Pete demonstrated his technique for getting 'at the eyes' of the young coconut with a serrated knife, on the way to the sweet coconut water and amazing electrolytes within Niu Ola. "Amazing!" was the verdict, faces of satisfaction spread as one more canned coconut water drinker discovered the real McCoy! We talked and had delicious conversation about the moon, Hawaiian culture, and the Power of Ten plus so much else. And then, we ate home-made strawberry and rhubarb pie with our choice of coconut ice cream or ice cream from the moo (cow). ONO (that means delicious!)

Somewhere in the struggle to right wrongs and meddle in the business of corrections and battling for power in all the wrong places, I lost track of the aloha present in all the right places ... every place if I left safe enough within. The process and the journey is a life's journey. I wish I had made it here before ... but, it matters that I'm getting closer. On Solstice Eve, Saturday this weekend we spent another beautiful and joyful time with friends.

Playing at the beach, making rocky mud pies and generally just mess'n around what was important just showed up between handfuls of playfulness. Solstice joined in as we grounded ourselves on the wet shore. My ukulele and I were there, too. One of my newly made friends asked me, "Tell me more about aloha?" It was difficult to answer in words. Later, I emailed her, "The answer to your question? It was in that song I sang as the ukulele made its sounds. Playing chalangalang I got how aloha is a rigorous verb ... active, loving intelligence with which to meet life!

HAUMANA

 Haumana

... "If you take the word ... hau means to chew; and mana is the spiritual force. So, in a way, you chew on it, what I give you, you masticate it. What does masticate mean, when you're chewing on it? It means that the juices are running, yeah? And you digesting it, taking it down over here [stomach] and the mana is what you're chewing. Now, if you're not true haumana you're not going to do that, you see what I mean? So are you open to learn? I'd like to know ... are they open for that? If they're not then no matter what I say, they not going to take it in." - Likeke Paglinawan

Before meeting for lunch, I went to Libby Beach, the west-facing beach my family and I love. Facing west, I look toward Hawaii.

We walked the 'aina, the land where Linda lives, and has lived for more than twenty-five years. 

Many plants grow on the 'aina. This one is Woman's Wood. 

From the grassy space we shared a prayer, good food, story, laughs, and called on Lono ... the wind, the god of sound.
Ho'olono ... invoking the spirit of the god Lono. 

Today and tonight is the Mauli Moon, the last phase before a new cycle of moons begins. This is the month preceding the blessing and opening of the small gathering place called Ho'omoku. With my heart still raw from the passing of our dear old friend Jots, I packed myself up and as promised drove to set the intention for a joyful and pono connection with haumana, a student.

This student pursued me a couple years ago, asking to know about the Hawaiian language. I told her I was not a fluent speaker, and was not teaching. But, I offered her the writing and work I was (and am) doing. Over time this woman explored my blog Makua o'o and came to the storytelling events I began presenting.

She was curious, and she was willing to invest her curiosity.

When I felt the push to teach what I know, now, as Makua o'o it was this woman I called first. She was excited, and ready. Today it was to her house and the land she cares for, overlooking beautiful Penn Cove that I went.

Linda took me across the road, Karl her companion (a large old four-legged canine) was ready for a swim. Using a sweet and hidden beach trail we arrived on the beach and walked the shore. Beautiful. Wela. Hot. As the summer moves it will be warmer. Our haumana showed me where there is shade: the large, first willow on this island shore, the puka in the roots of another kupuna la'au (elder tree) which has stood in the sand for many many seasons -- shrinking in size the trunk, over time and weather, and tide.

To begin the malama (month) leading up to the teaching place. I give thanks for the opportunity, the puka, the opening where mana can be chewed. I prepare myself, I clean, I clear, I give thanks.

This is what haumana is. This is who I wish to teach.

Watch, practice, repeat, mahalo

Making ti- leaf ( la'i) lei

"It's all in the practice."

 The hardest part is adding on

 Inside the Quonset, Tutu Kaweka's Dictionary holds things in place!

I ask, "Ma, can you help me with this?" My Ma the lei maker. 'Ai. She did. Thank you, Ma! And this day of Kane, I remember to give thanks to Kane-o-ka-wai-ola Kane the giver of the waters of life.
Mahalo o Kane.

'Aia ko'u Mama e!

Muliwai ... a threshold

"River, river mouth; pool near mouth of a stream, as behind a sand bar, enlarge by ocean water left there by high tide; estuary." - Hawaiian Dictionary, Pukui & Elbert

"Ke welina mai nei. I wanted to spend a few moments with you before you dip into the muliwai--where sea water meets fresh; where theory meets practice. There is life there. As with the ideas you are about to read. They serve as threshold into which I am now entering--a new seeing of the world that is wider than ever imagined. It began by listening to our people." Foreword Ho'oulu: Our Time of Awakening, Manulani Aluli Meyer

The first time I heard the word muli was when a father was introducing his three children. He began with his eldest, a girl; then named his son who sat next to his sister on the stage; and last was "The muli" his youngest. He said it with such affection and joy spreading it like honey over his daughter who lit up with love in front of the many behind her and with the audience who watched from their seats at the Waikiki Shell on O'ahu. Thanks to the ever-present availability of YOUTUBE I have access to knowledge like this; knowledge that might otherwise been lost to me still.

Oh yes, the messages come from all sources: powerful yet gauzy in my dreams; riding the wind my brother is always actively informing; the colors and small insights stimulate the 'ike. I am grateful they are always there. But. They are also courageous and inventive, so the use of technology affords me fruitful research. I mahalo the many ways to get through the trails of my evolving life.

Separated now by an ocean of miles, the island where I live today must be fed anew. Like a last born, the muli, I learn from the past (my siblings, my parents, my elders, my land, my everything else). With the present of today though, I have the newness of teachers and technology and they challenge me to climb the trail. I am an old woman still eager to climb, yet, the mind and body? They need the stick to not only dig for meaning, but, to support me as I attempt new territory.

Ke welina mai nei. Welcome, come. Our time of awakening, can be a kakou thing -- an inclusive we experience. As we get to the threshold and open the space called HO'OMOKU picture the multi-faceted possibilities of being brand new, and awake, and making an island where that which feeds us starts with kakou (all us guys!). 

'Ole kukahi morning

Ka la a ka mahina

E pili kakou

Ka la a ka mahina

E pili kakou

Ka la a ka mahina

E pili kakou

The sun and moon

We are together

The sun and moon

We are together

The sun and moon

We are together

"Living the myth, unlocking the metaphor"

The title of this post comes from Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele's TEDX Talk of the same name. Over and over again I have listened, and watched; hearing and seeing the messages in Pualani's mana'o. Live the myth. Unlock the poetry.

Time has moved and myth and metaphor remain a powerful combination of navigational tools. The process of juggling, muddling through, and managing the complexity of choices and will. That original TEDX Talk is here. For those who come to HO'OMOKU with a deep commitment to making an island that will endure, the story of Pele and Lono shared in that presentation is powerful medicine. It's story.

To move Pualani's message, and the metaphor of Pele's initiation from an idea, a one-dimensional notion time and life must happen to the audience. For years I have been active in the translation for my life. I have dig into it; eaten the mana of the story; and, finally unlocked the metaphors to feed another story.

As part of the exploration of a life as Makua o'o please link here to read a segment of myth (The whole medicine story is available for the curious), and metaphors that will become appetizers for discussion and conversation. It make take you a short time -- meaning could send you over the moon in an instant. Or, the story might sail you to uncharted wandering. Anything, or nothing, is possible.

We will talk about this over lunch, at the tables in HO'OMOKU.