July 17, 2015 Papa kuhikuhi (Content for Gathering)

Papa kuhikuhi

Friday, July 17, 2015

Noon until 1:30 PM

at The Prairie Front(South Whidbey TITLH), Whidbey Island

Purple plums coming ripe on a Muku po (link here to see what else we counted on this po)

PULE HO'ULU'ULU
Welcome 

E HO MAI
Questions and clarification

MEA 'AI
We eat lunch while we gather. How does that sound for everybody? Other options ... 

THE NINETY-MINUTE NOON
- What we do while together *
-  What we practice/research/apply between gathering times +

FOCUS for all of JULY

We build or make island a little at a time ... He puko'a kani 'aina
We braid (metaphorically and literally) ... the here*, and the there+

* What we do while together
1. MALAMA and MALAMA
-The Hawaiian Moon Calendar KAULANA MAHINA
-Hawaiian Moon Phase game
-Introduce the practice of keeping track of the moon NA HELU PO


2. 'OLELO
-The Hawaiian vocabulary
-practice with the sounds of the Hawaiian alphabet
- Play with the game HULO! and use the Hawaiian Dictionary

3. MAKUA O'O
-Introduce the 9 Basic Tools of the practice of elder-in-training

+ What we do between gathering times
1. Spend time with the kumu (teachers) Kalei Tsuha(Nu'uhiwa); watch and listen to the Puana Ka 'Ike Webcasts between gathering times; reinforce the concepts of a Hawaiian form of counting and time
2. The Hawaiian Dictionary ... open it up once a day and eli eli kau mai (dig in)
3. Make notes in your personal Moon Journals (using the "Lunar Observation Sheet")
4. Optional offering and exploration: Robin Kimmerer "The Teaching of Grass"

PIHA PAU (Enough for now)
Mahalo, Thanksgiving and reciprocity (payment) Clean-up

Bending, but not bending the truth

An example of Kilo (observation) Kuleana (personal responsibility)

My Ancestors were keen observers. Kilo practitioner and ethno-scientist Kalei Nu'uhiwa answers Three Common Questions About Kaulana Mahina on her website. She answers the question, "Where does the term Kaulana Mahina comes from?" by citing three scholars' definitions, including Pukui and Elbert (Hawaiian Dictionary),Zepelino Keauokamalie and Joseph M. Poepoe. Her conclusion:

"Therefore Kaulana Mahina is a traditional Hawaiian science that employed the methodology of keen observation, hypothesis, and trial and error, noting conclusions and then organizing time by the traditional environmental experts called kahuna."

Hawaiian Star Chart for Makali'i

According to Kaulana Mahina, the moon is in Akua,  A good time for fishing and planting the staple crops (kala, 'uala, mai'a). Akua is one of the phases of the moon's cycle when many Kanaka, including myself, take time to give thanks to the Akua, the elemental forces of Nature, the parts of the mystery that I have no control over ... but, am part of. The wealth and abundance corner in our vardo dangles with an old and favorite pillow case that I have re-used, stitched into a 'Penny Pouch' to catch a penny a day, in a dance of thanksgiving and staying in the flow. This morning soon after waking I pulled a penny and did my simple ritual. Recalling it now, I think to add my appreciation to the Akua. Mahalo! Mahina is fattening, coming into her fullness in the sky occupied by the constellation Scorpio. Over the years of maturing my practice with observation, an apprenticeship in astrology is important in my hypothesizing. I learn from a skilled and more practiced teacher. Come Sunday she will be in Scorpio. My astrologer says, "The tension is so thick, you can cut it with a knife.. We have a full moon in Scorpio...it's intense! When I see people snapping like twigs, it reminds me what? to BEND! Bend so I don't brak. And when I see people holding on till their dying breath, to something obviously dead, rotting and poisonous to them, it reminds me to let go."

She also prepares her readers for the long-stay of the planet Mercury in the sign of Gemini. The planet assigned the characteristics of communications (swift messenger) will retrograde May 19th through June 12th, and then STAY in Gemini until the middle of July. I left a comment on that post:

"For me: 5th House for the long Mercury stay. The play house, creative projects and babies. Elizabeth Rose Campbell in her book Intuitive Astrology says of the 5th House, "Be it and, therefore, birth it." This advice you[Elsa] give: "This should be mostly positive, since planets function well in their home sign. However, minds and mouths will move swiftly. Some will figure it's more important that conversation be interesting, then it be true." 

 I feel the tension of the Scorpio Full Moon, it adds to the tension of managing and accepting the limitations of life with pollen, restrictions that are real yet not impossible (unless I break from the pressures). Astrology gives me the keen observations of my place in relation to the bigness of the multi-verse. The energy of planets, asteriods, sun and moon play or battle with my will. My kuleana is different from will-power. When I remember "kuleana" defined as my Ancestors lay meaning, it means, "right, title, property, portion, responsibility, jurisdiction, authority, interest, claim, ownership; reason, cause, function, justification; small piece of property, as within an ahupua'a; blood relative through whom a relationship to less close relatives is traced." - Pukui & Elbert

The process is often so much longer than the immediate solution or quick fix. I engage in process, and ask for help when I get wound up in my journey, forgetting there is more to life than getting it right. There is a lot of trial and error. Bend, let go. Bend, but not the truth. It all adds up to drawing down the knowledge from above, and making it a living practice. Integrated. Internalized. Lived. Okay. Break time.