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