"Making (an) island home where you find it" ... Peach for peace

And Now, An Ode to Peach

" Although Peaches are closely related to Cherries, Apples and Roses, each of the Rosaceae species has its own very unique feel and personality. Peach has a feeling of longing and wistfulness, of hot southern nostalgia that smells like perfume and whiskey and fairies masquerading as fireflies and glow-worms on a summer night.

I often use Peach tincture when I find my fists unconsciously clenched or notice that I have built up tension manifesting as feeling overheated, parch-mouthed and overtly irritated. It makes a soothing, cooling nervine is such cases and won't aggravate dryness. There's something deeply restorative about Peach that I can't perfectly describe, something that helps to heal hurt caused by grief or loss, or anger that stems from a deep wound. It works very well with it's cousin Rose for these uses, especially if there's any depression or sexual component involved. Where Hawthorn seems to work better for the raging grief caused by rejection or acute loss, Peach is often most specific where there's some level of obsession or chronic focus on something lost or long awaited for, and that obsession manifests as ongoing irritation, tension leading to burnout and consuming sadness. That's not say that Peach doesn't make a fabulous general nervine, it certainly does. Peach leaf tea is a traditional Southern/Appalachian remedy for hysteria, anxiousness and nervousness.  It's quite safe and is particularly helpful for children, pregnant women and those of sensitive or delicate constitutions. It's cooling, slightly moistening, relaxing and deeply restorative for burned out people still in the process of burning themselves out. This includes many peri or currently menopausal women with hot flashes, irritation, emotional lability and general hot-temperedness."
- Anima Center

We get a bumper crop of peaches only every few years. Since we have been here five summers, and have enjoyed two of these abundant fruit years there is our experience. Until this year (2015) I have picked and eaten her fruit, and feel glad of that. Grateful. And, this year the abundance is being sliced and soaked awhile in lemon juice before freezing so we can enjoy the fruit in another season.

But this season, the journey of 'making island' begun when I listened to the voice that said "Ho'omoku" ... I wonder? Is that Ancestral, MY ANCESTOR, or ... perhaps it is the ancestor of beings that are not human, and instead the
Ancestor Allies of the Plant Beings.
Thanks to an email "Prevention of and Herbal Therapeutics ... " from our lovely Kaliko back on O'ahu who sent me something she thought would be helpful for the smoke inhalation happening this summer,
I have followed 'the bread crumbs' and found information about making Peach 'or Persica medicine.'

Under the heading Respiratory Relaxant, the link Kaliko emailed included this about "Peach – Prunus persica – Cool, sweet and moistening, Peach leaf is broadly applicable for all sorts of respiratory tension and heat as well as the immune hyperfunction that can occur in response to wildfire smoke. The tincture, elixir or even just the tea made with the dried leaves all serve admirably." Combining both this recommendation and snippet of  "An Ode to Peach" which begins this post, I welcome to healing Plant Herbs and Plants as well as the helpful Human People who offer love and support to me. It is truly an active act of aloha, to recognize, that I am often resistant to help; and that is not something to be proud of. But, perhaps, this kind of experience, on this Hoku Full Moon is one of the ways I can remedy that character trait. 

Peach fruit and Leaf sit on our Quonset table 

An infusion of that pot filled with Peach leaves in a half-gallon glass canning jar steeps. I let it steep for an hour for my first batch of Peach Tea. I'm sipping it now. It's bitter, but not unpleasant. I added a squeeze of fresh ginger. I'm sweating as I type. 

E Ho Mai: Peach for peace. I slow down, introduce myself to the Beings, the Plant and Fruit Beings who have been here long before me, and ask how they sustain themselves on this island making it their home. And, perhaps, I learn to apply their wisdom to my life as Human Woman. And, so I don't forget the connectivity of the technological wave, "Thanks for the keyboard, wires, an waves that get me from a thought or a need to answers otherwise untapped." Mahalo all. I have lots to learn. Grateful to have this new day to experience living. Wheww...

P.S. I'm learning it doesn't take many peach leaves to make a healing medicine. That's a good lesson for humans.

A Salmon of Love for Loretta

BROTHER SALMON'S INSPIRATION & BLESSING

'E Aloha nui loa a pau Loretta. We love you enduringly, never ending ...
Your Garden People  
Mahalo Loretta.

Making the most of an 'Ole Pau: Phone-to-phone classroom

Hina wore her 'Ole Pau Light, early in the morning Friday, August 7, 2015

One of the decisions I made during the week was to arrange for a phone-to-phone class time with our haumana. I needed to adapt to the weather conditions and my own health. This arrangement seemed to be a flexible and wise choice that kept our commitment to each other pono in harmony. She lives up the Island from us overlooking Penn Cove in Coopeville. She and I had talked about meeting at sunrise for the first August class of Ho'omoku. My request was based on wanting to welcome the sun with the 'oli E Ala E as we watched the sun rise over the Cascade Mountain Range, a view very clearly present from our haumana's Coopeville home. This was several weeks prior to the start date of July 10th. July has been our month of experimentation and course corrections. We are learning plenty!

Pete and I woke early (5:30 AM). I set up our Quonset hut preparing for ceremony and the content of our first phone-to-phone class.

 Kaulana Mahina The Hawaiian Moon Calendar is a major focus for HO'OMOKU. The Hawaiian Moon Calendar created by the folks at The Moon Phase Project is one of our teaching aides. It helps to re-orient, and shake up our Western Calendar brainwaves; to count in 10's instead of 7's and notice the shape of the Moon instead of the brightness of the Sun; while recording what we see/what is growing/birthing/fruiting/dying in our place. 

We strung our HO'OMOKU banner in our Quonset, very home-style classroom; very much in our comfort zone.

Pete was willing(but barely awake) to try this version of teaching/sharing/chanting/learning.

Early next week I'll check in with our haumana and ask how our phone-to-phone experience was for her. This is the Year of the Green Goat by my Chinese Ancestors' reckoning. The year of strength and flexibility like 'ohe the bamboo. So we make like 'ohe and flex. Good practice:)

E ALA E

We did indeed chant and welcome Ka La The Sun from our respective places on the same island; two of us from our Southern woods and the third in her hale up North overlooking Ke Kai and the mountains of the Cascades. Over the phone I spoke the words to get our student familiar with the sounds. She repeated. I continued. We chanted the verse three times, the final time chanting in unison. 

The THANKSGIVING ADDRESS or The Words Before All Else

Whenever we gather for Ho'omoku, and often as a daily practice, we recite the words of gratitude from the Onandaga Nation. Each of us read a gratitude in turn. 

NA 'AUMAKUA

The pule or prayer welcoming and addressing our Ancestors is also part of the ceremony of respect to begin each Ho'omoku gathering. I chanted, and invited Pete and our haumana to name their family, and be included as we acknowledged all the Ancestors.

KAULANA MAHINA

The Hawaiian Moon Calendar, including the phases and names of the moon (29 or 30 of them) is a focus for Ho'omoku. Daily Lunar Calendar recordings written into a personal journal is the primary learning and noticing practice. We shared what we have noticed. Questions were asked, and answered.

E HO MAI

I was asked for clarification and protocol related to the chant E HO MAI. Our haumana wanted to know:

1. Could this chant be used for various purposes?
2. Is there a certain way to chant the words/a cadence?

I answered this way:

1. Yes, this chant was written by Edith Kanaka'ole as a chant to be used in her halau hula her hula school. This chant was intended to be used to gain understanding and insight into the meaning and the mana of the words in mele/'oli to be manifested in hula. Since its origin this chant has been shared across the Earth for many reasons. The answer to this 'oli of asking will be different for every one who asks/chants it.
2. I said, "I learned to chant this 'oli by listening and imitating the style of Kumu John Keola Lake. The following YouTube was one I trained myself to 'oli." I use this cadence and style when I chant E Ho Mai.

 Slowly we ho'omoku. Mahalo ke Akua e Na 'Aumakua.

Course adjustments

Our first month of Ho'omoku is pau. We have experienced the reality of spawning new territory. It is a slow and deliberate process. Magic has its place, but, every magician knows the illusion is only as good as breath; you must be able to take the next one.

I am making changes and adjustments to how I teach from this place named Ho'omoku. Here is a bit of what goes on for me. This is a post from my (other) blog Makua O'o

"When I awoke to the journey as Navigator and Translator, it was the limitation and reality of living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities that opened my eyes, eyes and heart to precisely what Wall describes: "We are inevitably shaped by (our stories) no matter how distant they may be from our consciousness." Again and again I have acknowledged the deep and sustaining value of living in our car, setting up our nighttime home in her small enclosure, while being at the edge of the Ocean at a place I had known since a tiny girl. The Moon, Grandmother Moon, rose from our Ocean to light our way. She was indeed showing us the way home. From those 2007 engagements my life has been timed by Mahina, the Moon..."

The changes that I make now come from recognizing teaching people in person must start with being able to teach one person at a time what it means to be fragrance free enough to be close to me, and Pete. That's the starting point. We Ho'omoku ... actively make a place, an island, with one student.

The one to one exchange of energy means we engage when it is best for us. Given the current air quality brought on by very real climate chaos (the forests are burning), we plan for earlier meeting times. Our first August gathering will be at Sunrise.  6 AM. We will meet on a beach near our student's home. We will greet the sun and I will teach the words to E ALA E. And, if I'm not able to make the drive to the beach, we'll connect via the phone waves, and chant the sun that way. Navigating, always making adjustments:)

The remaining weeks of August will be a customized gathering at a time yet to be determined. We are hoping to celebrate the arrival of WIFI to the South Whidbey Tilth. That will allow Ho'omoku to be a place where on-line Hawaiian Language classes initiate a cyber ocean of connectedness. The on-line 'Olelo Hawaii Hawaiian Language program NIUOLAHIKI will be the next step in our island making.

Niuolahiki refers to an old family of coconut ... literally I hear the niu (coconut) saying, "Yes, we can!"

Course adjustments are a life-long skill, I pray for guidance from those Ancestors, my sea-faring surviving family who made their way on MOANA NUI, planting in me the genetic memory ... navigate ho'i!

If you are interested in Ho'omoku it is best to contact me directly, either by phone or email. Start with email at mokihanacalizarATgmailDOTcom.

Mahalo.

He puko'a kani 'aina ... lesson for an 'Ole Po Friday, July 24, 2105

HE PUKO'A KANI 'AINA

A coral reef that grows into an island.

A person beginning in a small way gains steadily until he/she becomes firmly established.

We brought young coconut meat to share

with the two Calyx hens

Then Pete and I walked to the Vet's Garden 

We said Pule Ho'ulu'ulu together in the garden with the plants, introducing ourselves and giving thanks in Hawaiian

Laukahi Plantain or White Man's Footstep thrive in the dry and loamy grounds of The Prairie Front. We came to ask if they would permit the company of other plants we have in mind. We wait for their answer.

Back in the Subaru, my traveling companion, the La'i enjoyed a drink of rain the night before. We're heading to the 'classroom' space for our noon gathering.

We set the table with soup and fruit and read the Thanksgiving Address to each other and for all plant, bird, tree, sky, company who were there at The Prairie Front

"Standing around us we see all the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who each have their own instructions and uses. Some provide shelter and shade, others fruit and beauty and many useful gifts. The Maple is the leader of the trees, to recognize its gift of sugar when the People need it most. Many peoples of the world recognize a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind we greet and thank the Tree life. Now our minds are one." The Words That Come Before All Else Onandaga Nation "Thanksgiving Address"

We played a game of HULO! to build our Hawaiian vocabulary. These are the words I made using the wooden alphabet tiles.

How to not plunge over the cliff ... applying the medicine of ceremony

A year ago with my back against Cedar and JOTS still in the flesh ... there! The messages of NATURE's songs

This weekend Pete and I gathered and created practical ceremony to integrate flexibility and strength into our lives, weaving Feng Shui's wisdom to slow the in and out without dams ... cedar's fingers reach from her slow growing core, 'ohe the bamboo maintains its strength and its gifts. Harvested cedar made into panels are our teachers.

There's a welcoming cool breeze coming from the South. Yesterday ws one of the hottest days of the Summer at 95 degrees while driving on the freeway, the morning is cool and the sky overcast. The wind is present the mutable energy tempering all the heat and contentiousness of the collective.

Saturn is still in Scorpio through September 18, Astrologer Lynn Koiner writes as if she were writing to me personally, "What I am telling my clients is that early 2015 will be a sense of something new about to happen, a new vision and a new direction, but the timing is not right for bolting out of the starting gate. From June through September 2015, Saturn retreats back into Scorpio in the late degrees. Many will be drawn to go back and finish up issues and projects from the past. We cannot move forward with a lot of loose ends from the past cycle holding us back.When Saturn is in the late degrees[as it is now], it is always an ending cycle, a time to end what no longer works in our lives. Once it returns to Sagittarius, according to Jeanne, it will lift the delusions created by Neptune in Pisces. The lessons of Sagittarius are connected with freedom, open-mindedness and truth. Of course, there is a big difference between the Facts and the Truth! " 

How does that apply to HO'OMOKU? The first small group (two new students) gathered for the first class on Friday just passed. Both students were not fragrance-free. I thought I was prepared, and thought I was clear about what fragrance-free means. But, it is a process not a one stop shop of a definition. Another astrologer, Satori, advises " If you try to permanently fill the leaky well? It feels lousy. If you enjoy the process of carrying water and dumping it, that it builds up your strength and feels good in the doing? You make the most of the energy. The process is the goal today." HO'OMOKU means 'make island.' It's a process, it doesn't happen over night. 

Stepping into the flow of the collective (public) meeting space, I had a witness who observed what happened to me when the first whiff of fragrance triggered my adrenal system. "Loss of control" and red lights of fight, flight, fear. But I thought this was a person I could trust to be with ... within minutes of being with my first student the 'big difference between the Facts and the Truth' challenged my desire to belong. I'm a teaching wanting to teach. But, I am a teacher who also must teach my boundaries. The process is difficult because to teach, talk, and offer solutions depletes me as I do it.

I persisted, and managed to get through but I functioned but did not flourish. Recovery and recouping took two days. Applying the medicine of ceremony, and process rather than immediate results there is ... the wind from the south bringing the potential, bringing change. Pete and I made a joyful and easy road trip off island and south to Seattle. We headed for a wedding between one of our Seattle-MCS Group friends and her new love. When we were newly returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2008 this group, and this new bride was our pocket of support. We had to rebuild our safety net, we had to relearn the lesson of safety pins. 

So. While we recovered our balance after Friday's experience with fragranced students, we looked forward to being with people who live with the many-faceted illness of MCS. We came to celebrate marriage for two people in the second-half of life. We embraced what was good about our lives. We had a great time! 

The process of communicating and setting boundaries is a 'chop wood and carry water' experience. A zen koan. A do it and know you do it again sort of thing. Saturn in Scorpio for the last time in my life (probably!) is giving me the opportunity to let go of what no longer works in my life. Unless my decision is to let go of my life and plunge over the cliff, today might be is a time to embrace the good, celebrate pockets of good and carry water. There are adjustments I need to make here at HO'OMOKU.

Can you relate?