Monday, April 29, 2013

"Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself"

I continue to write from the nest, here.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The instinct to fly

I'm writing from the nest, for any who would like to ... read some here.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Nest builders

We were out late in the afternoon after the sun finally warmed the clouds and cleared a space for the bright light. We spotted a pair of osprey tending their brood in a snag of a tree near the water, then Pete pointed out the nest another family of osprey built onto the microwave tower on the high point not far from where we live. I worry about how close those microwaves are. Seems osprey do not. It takes courage to be a nest builders. Read more here ...

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Friday, April 19, 2013

Playing for change: Shelter

Seated at the window rain drips off the rain fly, makes a rhythm on the edges where the fly is not big enough. Inside, I am sheltered, warm enough and glad enough to recognize I have all I need. What I want? Somewhere at the edge there is a rhythm of rain ... what it say? "Playing for change," maybe that's what it say.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Sunday, April 7, 2013

What is myth(ic)?

"These are mythic times...The challenge is to not see [the] trilogy of body, mind and spirit/ manaoio, manaolana, and aloha as a linear sequence, rather as an event
happening simultaneously and holographically"
-Manulani Aluli Meyer

A myth is a guide; it tells us what we must do to live more intensely. If we do not apply it to our own situation and make the myth a reality in our lives it will remain as incomprehensible as a board game which often seem confusing and boring until we start to play
-Karen Anderson

 "Myth in Hawaiian is defined as  "Mo'olelo ... story, tale, tradition, legend, journal record, article succession"
-Hawaiian Dictionary, Pukui and Ebert

 "As our storytellers continue to draw upon past knowledge, including looking to the animal world and to tribal storytellers for guidance, we grow in strength. We reshape our ancestors' stories for our children, so that these tales will, like our people, our spirits, endure."
- Carolyn Dunn



The water of Kane -- wai -- wealth and precious of all resources falls thick and abundant. The rain fills our rain barrel, and at the sink the last of our water bottles is filled with drinking water filtered and ready for a new day. I sit to write this morning, as Hina moves into the phases of thanksgiving. Tonight will be Kane Moon. One of the two nights especially important to give thanks to the gods, our guardians our 'aumakua  who give us life.

Hahai no ka ua i ka ulula'au
Rains always follow the forest.
The rains are attracted to forest trees
Knowing this, Hawaiians hewed only the trees that were needed
-'Olelo No'eau Hawaiian Proverbs

Can you smell rain coming? Link here for some beautiful photos and description of The Smell of Rain 

I'm preparing and gathering content for the workshop "These are Mythic Times" that starts in two weeks. Several different sources contribute to the process of this myth makers workshop and as teacher and epidemiologist Manu Meyer has suggested in the quote that opens this post, it does me well to see the process holographically.  Holographic is a fancy word for what Hawaiians would say is kaona ... "hidden meaning in Hawaiian poetry; concealed reference; hidden meaning." The process and the method for teaching this workshop start with appreciating the means of myth. To my way of thinking, myth is a recipe whose time has never gone out of fashion but might have become a recipe that has been taken for idle and impractical delusion. "Fairy tales" implying flights of fancy with no place in the real world. In all enduring cultures across time the proverbs, poetry, stories teach us through images and words that layer meanings so a child can understand and be given hope; and later a teen can see her heroic nature through a morphing pubescent hall of mirrors; later, a striving adult reads the same story and seeing the mirror cracked or a faceless woman seeking something 'else'; and even later still when time has worn lines in mango fresh flesh still the heart of a child feels the joy in breasts that sag like yesterday's water ballons.

The stories that began with The Safety Pin Cafe and continue now with The Joy Weed Journal are a holographic journey of people, culture and opportunities. These characters were born from my imagination but are I believe, a collective mirror and at the same time a familiar place where other stories -- your stories -- can grow or morph or become personally mythic.
  • For one month, the pages of an internet "cafe and cottage" will open to you taste and see myth in the making. 
  • We will read and eat the story and fill our bowls with those things of value to you; things you crave and things you know have sustained you over time. 
  • You will come and recognize your Guardians your 'aumakua; naming them will give you what is best for you now.
  • The myth and the private journal writings of The Joy Weed Journal will engage you in thinking, seeing, and rigorously exploring how a Border Witch -- one who criss-crosses cultures, ages, and places can be a real and approachable companion in your mythic life.
  • Above all the process and the activity of myth-making is a verb that leads to respecting yourself.

Here's a class act that is timeless to me. A bit choppy video but the message comes right on through, "Respect Yourself" by the Staples Singers, 1972


THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

The Workshop "These are mythic times" starts Monday, April 22, 2013
Cost: $45
Interested? email me at mokihanacalizarATgmailDOTcom for details or to pay with a personal check.

CLICK HERE to buy using PayPal, at The Hedge Shop ... my newly opened on-line store.

Thank you so much, hope to see you in the workshop!
Mokihana



Friday, April 5, 2013

NEW : "These are mythic times" ... a myth maker workshop

"It is no measure of health to adjust to a profoundly sick society"
-Kristnamuti


Quirky photo credit

I've been doing a lot of deep thinking and diving into the muck of life as I find it. Sometimes the discoveries overwhelm me and there aren't enough covers on the futon to hide well enough. My astrologer put it to me straight “Pluto Retrograde: April 12th, 2013 – Don’t Bother Hiding Under The Bed.” Elsa P. my astrologer and the internet's first astrology blogger (she started in 2001) has just published her first novel Heaven, I Mean Circle K. It's a compilation of stories rolled into a 300+ book of her real life. It's not fiction, it's unembellished real life. I've just sampled the first page of the e-book and it promises to be a hoot! Why start this post about my new workshop with bits about my astrologer? Because the workshop is all about taking what you know is real to create stories that affirm: THESE ARE mythic times.

Last month I started writing about piecing this workshop together, " My intention for the New Moon made this morning is to make use of the life I have as Makua O'o and re-translate the definition. Re-define Makua O'o for modernity as Meyer's would say, taking it deeper and spreading it for these mythic times in which we live. I've started to conceive a new workshop called "These Mythic Times" ... coming in April to celebrate Earth Day, 2013. Interested? Stay tuned for more information."

If you are ready to buckle up and dive into the mythic world of story as medicine we will begin Monday, April 22, 2013.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Chicks

These three babies are growing in a big box Pete built. They grow a lot every day, love to stand in their food and practice the 'kick-and-scratch'. Their feathers are changing and filling with color. Small and growing. It's a nice thing to see.