Family of the Coconut

Niu 

I was born on a Hoaka Moon, a Ku Moon. Today, Mahina moves out of the 'Ole phases into the Kaloa phases. We are preparing for ceremony tomorrow: baking pineapple upside-down cakes just like Ma would. A pot of chicken marinates in ginger and apple cider vinegar with lots of garlic and coconut amino acids; I'll cook that up for sharing as a cool noon dish. The box of la'i fresh green ti leaves has arrived. I called Kaliko, "Mahalo! They arrived. Uncle Pete went in and got them. They arrived early." Pete is out at the TILTH checking out the site for tomorrow, and checking on equipment.

The young coconuts chill'n, a pot of chicken marinating

One cake down, the other readied for the oven

A box of green ti leaves from O'ahu arrived safely 'where goosberry bushes grow'

To put myself into the flow I heard the name "Ruby." Waking from my very informative dreams, I headed to the Quonset to get the eggs and butter for the cakes. Then I came here (to the keyboard) and pulled up the link to a 2008 evening with one of my first teachers when I was a young student at the University of Hawaii in Manoa on the island of O'ahu. That is the Ruby that my 'aumakua reminded me of this morning ... hear her again they said. So wise, so right on time, at the right time!

Rubellite Kawena Johnson "Ruby" is a treasure of knowledge applied. This morning as I melted butter, mixed cake batter and walked in and out of the Quonset, I listened and watched my beloved kumu ... The link to that two-part presentation is here.  Pete and I sat, listened and watched our favorite teacher together. Her presence was what we both needed. To focus. To be reassured of our place in this evolving Island Earth. We appreciate that the technology of advanced human curiosity allows us to re-connect with Kumu Ruby Kawena Johnson again, and again.

I met Kumu in 1967 when young and empty though I knew not how empty. In the almost fifty years since I first sat, listened and watched her in the large old classrooms of the University of Hawaii, there have been many turnings huli of the night sky. Change has come, and gone. Today we cool two cases of young coconut shipped across the oceans, just as my sea-faring survivor ancestors did long long ago. It took much effort to secure the babies of coconut trees that were once growing on some Thai plantation owners land. We mahalo them! The planters and the niuola.

We will share those babies -- the nuts filled with sustaining flesh and life-giving water. As I finished listening to Kumu's presentation I was rewarded with a story I had forgotten she tells at the very end of the two-part talk. It is about her experience as a young girl who was sure she could not climb a ten foot coconut tree, in a dress. If you are curious enough to listen to Kumu and her connection with coconuts (as I am connected) you will learn about a young girl's lesson from her Tutu (grandmother ... her four-foot tall one, and the ten-feet tall one). The presentation is here.

Mahalo Kumu. I love you.

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.