LAST NIGHT: Our friend Prescott and Pete at the Tilth watch the Mahealani moon and the stars showed up in this photo because they
... just couldn't resist
THE NIGHT BEFORE: We went to the shore to watch the Hoku moon rising. Behind a hazy sky she rose above one of the sprawling mansions that fence the beach. We parked at the public access lot and stood to see our companion moon, Hina.
Well, some time since the computer software 'bug' came to occupy and today, the 'bug' is either in remission or gone away. I am able to load pictures from the Quonset ... so, here are a few. There are many more pictures at Count on the Moon, as I try notice and journal the observations of my place.
This is a new post from Count on the Moon the on-line workshop and blog my husband and I created four years ago on March 27, 2011. The new venture of teaching and learning from the Hawaiian Moon Calendar opened up deep and unexpected sources of connectivity with Mahina. We have re-opened that on-line space and blog and here is what motivates me:
"... Contemporary life has distracted us, most of us, from the values and practices that are foundational -- that is, some things are greater than ourselves, our believed entitlements. In 2007 those distractions and beliefs that were my world washed out with the tide. Homeless. Health bereft. Humbled. While we relearned what was sustainable, Mahina the Hawaiian Moon rose from the ocean over the horizon off the Eastern shore of O'ahu as we made our bed for the night. From our car which was our home for many months at that time, Pete and I literally began our journey of counting on the moon. We have rebuilt a life, and rooted ourselves in a new island-based community in South Whidbey Island in the Salish Sea (Pacific Northwest America/Washington state). Our practices as elders in training (Makua o'o) are magic made manifest like the braided cord..."
Count on the Moon is a public blog/and sharing space which we hope will expand peoples' awareness and relationship with moon-time; a tool to become more attuned to Nature, and specifically the changing climate on Earth. Wherever you are on the planet there are simple and valuable things you (and we) can notice, and record.
The following Lunar Observation Sheet was modified(expanded to include areas beyond Hawaii) from Kalei Nu'uhiwa's website. This woman has influenced my husband and me with her research and teaching of Kaulana Mahina The Hawaiian Moon Calendar. This sheet is available on her website as a free downloadable pdf.
Lunar Observation Sheet
Date: ______________________ Time of observation: _____________________________
Location of observation: Where were you when you saw the moon?
Where was the moon located in the sky at the time of the observation?
Weather observations: Is it windy? Is it hot? Is it cold? Is it raining? What kind of rain? What kind of wind? How hot? Record anything you noticed about that particular day or night.
Daily tidal report: There are two sets of tides that usually happen daily. Record both. Notice what time the moon rises and sets in conjunction with the high and low tides. Daily tide reports can be gotten from many resources. The newspaper gives daily tide reports. Online: United States Geological Service, NASA, or simply Google Tide chart for the area where you live.
Record blooming, fruiting or leaf growing stages of plants.
What plants are prevalent?
Note fish/marine species spawning, migration, aggregation or appearance. What types of fish/marine species are prevalent?
Record ocean activities. Is it rough? Is it calm? Are there swells? Do the waves barrel?
Record bird activities. Migration, nesting, flocking and other activities.
Record weather or climate season activities.
*Any other natural growth or parallel form activities.
Plants planted on his phase. Followed by noted growth patterns and activities.
Shape of the moon observed: Draw the shape of the moon you observed.
********
A Pacific wide lunar calendar conference is scheduled for September 24-27, 2015 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, on the island of O'ahu. Travel to O'ahu is not within my scope of doable at this stage of life. Pete and I fantasized about the possibility and then messages and messengers arrived telling me to imagine something different instead. That is what we're doing. If we are not able to board a plane and be in safe quarters in the islands, we can open the possibilities for being part of the process WHERE WE ARE. That's one reason I have decided to re-open the Count on the Moon blog. STAY TUNED FOR MORE AS IT UNFURLED.
Nä Mahina Mä‘ama‘ama Loa
Nä Mahina Mä‘ama‘ama Loa are the full moon phases, the brightest and largest moon phases in our mahina’s lunation. Hawaiians recognize four full moon phases in the lunar sequence.
AKUA is the first full pö mahina that Hawaiians recognize. Akua rises approximately 5:00 – 6:00 pm and sets about a half an hour before sunrise on the following morning. Akua is almost completely round and very bright. Akua is in the sky for almost the entire night.
HOKU is the second full pö mahina. Hoku rises in the east at the same time that Lä sets in the west. Hoku is directly overhead or zenith at midnight. Hoku sets on the western horizon the next day at the same time that Lä rises over the eastern horizon. Hoku is in the sky for the full night and it is recognized as the true full moon phase.
MÄHEALANI is the third full pö mahina. Mähealani rises approximately an hour after sunset. Mähealani is usually an orange or reddish color and is also known as Malani. When this pö mahina is about to set in the morning, it is called Hoku ‘Ili. Hoku ‘ili means “stranded star”.
KULU is the fourth full pö mahina. Kulu rises in our sky approximately two hours after sunset and sets on the western horizon approximately two hours after sunrise.
-from MAHINA the ebook
Last night we bundled up and took a ride out of the woods to watch the moon rise over the Cascade Mountain Range. From our encampment, the sentinels of Tall Ones hide Mahina until she has moved in her counter-clockwise path and is quite high in the night sky. Mahina was to rise minutes after the sun set, so if one is trying to be 'precise' about which of the four moons it was, it was probably a Hoku Moon. (See the description above) The drive to our moon sighting spot is also the highway that takes ferry traffic down to the landing. Most folks are on a mission to get that boat, so it's not uncommon to be tail-gated by the anxious driver. We, the anxious driver behind us, and Pete and I got to our destination in good enough time. The ferry was there, and the driver made the boarding. With a bit of re-positioning Pete got our little Scout car into a good angle facing the Cascades.
It's too easy to slip into that anxious driver role, even when I'm not the anxious driver wanting to make the boat. With multiple chemical sensitivities life without a spiritual program is life with the burner turned on HIGH all the time: one is sure to burn! There was a challenge to juggle before going to the moon rising ... an episode with toxic smells happened minutes before driving down. I was triggered. Without room for God, I was on my way onto that burner turned HIGH. Fortunately, the Moon is a companion to my Higher Power and in practice, she tames me when I 'think' it's not possible and floats me in the waters of transformation (full moon) when I wall myself off so I get a better perspective.
I donned my I Can Breathe Maskwith the red rose on it and surrendered to the episode: let go, let God and placed no blame while speaking up. I made room for letting the glory of the Hoku Full Moon be magical.There was too much wood smoke at the little park where we waited for Mahina to rise, so we sat and looked out the windshield at the zigzag of snowy peaks that trimmed the tops of the Cascades. The sky was hazy, but the mountains were visible. Our chances for spotting the moon were good. Behind that mask I breathed and relaxed. Letting go and feeling the goodness of being alive on Honua (Earth). The light of the sun was dimming but still present. A shade of apricots simmered in the heavens. And then, boing. There she was a golden globe of what I can only call moon yellow slipped from behind a crest trail snow cap.
We clapped, and I found a rhythm of celebration and drummed the dashboard. I pulled the mask from my face and breathed normally. The moment of a triggered exposure had passed. The company of the present was rewarding. We watched and chatted. We watched and breathed her in. If you missed the moon rise last night, there's another one tonight. My ancestors were keen and consistent observers of nature, and recorded their relationship with nature and the elemental forces of connection. Living on island worlds in the middle of the Pacific Ocean there vantage points were unobstructed ones with horizons and access to the heavens that etched in their na'au (gut) bodies like indelible tattoos. I am lucky to have been reminded of this in time to live the rest of my life on Honua with that spiritual connection.
The beautiful illustration of "Kaulana Mahina" (the Hawaiian Moon Calendar) is done by Holly Camp found in an article in Maui No Ka 'Oi Magazine written by Paul Wood
These (yesterday, today, tomorrow and Thursday) are the 'Ole Moons if you keep track of time via Kaulana Mahina The Hawaiian Moon Calendar. The anahulu (10 nights/days of the week) leading up to the full moon includes 4 phases of 'Ole Moons. On the other end of the moon's near 30 days/nights of illumination, there are 3 phases of 'Ole Moons. Traditionally, our ancestors knew to keep these days/nights as times of weeding, repairing, resting, and resting the cultivation or harvesting of ka 'aina a me ke kai; leaving planting and harvesting from land and sea for other times of the month. The Kanaka Maoli are not the only culture which attunes to the inseparable nature of give and take between all-that-is. Most indigenous people lived and maintained life with that value.
As a life practice in today's reality the application of living, planting, fishing and being in sync with the moon is one that begins when the makua becomes aware. Solar time and the male domination of the sun-driven culture is addictive and subtle. We tell time and set our goals primarily by solar time. The shift into living by mahina came for me and my husband as a result of a major crisis in identity and lifestyle. From that loss we came to know the regularity of moon time and have not been quite the same since. I have written many articles about The Hawaiian Moon Calendar on this blog. And have facilitated on-line workshops focused on The Hawaiian Moon Calendar. You can link to those workshops here. They are open to the public now.
The 'Ole Moons are a time of pause, not just one day/night but several during the moon's monthly cycle. It's a rest and reflective time and though I love the sight and feel of all of mahina's 'faces' it is the 'ole that affects me with much appreciation. Surrender applies to 'ole moons. Being replaces doing. Yes, here I am writing and it makes me feel the appreciation for those Hawaiian roots that tether me when I feel lonely for the warmth of Hawaii ... reflective and weeping, I greet my roots through this writing and give thanks. New work can wait for other times. Awareness of Kaulana Mahina is the beginning, an idea that tickles at our minds and our gut. Integration of that perspective is the gentle and patient application into body knowing; that takes time.
Woken early this morning it was time to wash some of the heavy energy I'm feeling from Saturn in Scorpio. Today is 'Ole Ku Kolu, so these are good moons to reflect upon what needs weeding, washing and otherwise maintaining. I found something to help: transformative water energy of Neptune Pisces, a 7 body stellium coming soon.
"Turns out the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Chiron, Neptune will all be in
Pisces between February 26, 2013 – March 11, 2013. The Moon will join
the stellium on March 10th and 11th – this is something I’d mark on a
calendar."
To get some insight into the potential of this energy I went searching. The huge stellium of 7 heavenly bodies in the sign of Pisces (Neptune) falls mainly in my 2nd house, with spillage (my Sun and Mars) into the 3rd house. Dana Gerhardt from Astro.com writes this about the 2nd house:
...Your 2nd house ground must be worked. [You have to transform what
you find there.] As an infant, this house was a veritable Garden of
Eden. Everything you needed—toes, food, and teddy bears--was
magically supplied. Yet as you grew, you learned that gardens must
be maintained. Vines need pruning, fruit trees must be planted, flowers
have to be fertilized. Earth is a paradise, but it's also full
of reality. Pests can destroy your garden, predators can steal your
crops. If you don't learn how to increase your garden's
yield, your needs won't be met, your desires can't be
satisfied. If you wait for manna to drop from the heavens, you'll
starve. In other words, you have to get real in this house. You must learn
how to use, protect, and manage its resources, or you'll suffer
a fall from grace. Anyone who has a problem with money is just plain
naive about that... Read more
And, again from Dana Gerhardt I found this about the 3rd house and transits through this house:
... through the 3rd we collect a stream of information about the changing
contours of our environment. Nothing-not even our familiar
world-stands still. Lose interest in these changes and your
mind will lose its potency. When you cease to wonder about what's
strange in your day-to-day world, when you lose your willingness
to taste new words and imitate without self-consciousness, [when you
forego the thrill of acquiring new masteries, however small, you
will lose the vast richness of this house.] The issue here is not
what we learn so much ass that we learn. In the 3rd house we're
performing the good work of keeping our minds alive and, in Bob Dylan's
words, “forever young.”
The rest of this ramble continues below the break. Take a breath and carry on if you have the time ...I think it will entertain you, watch out for the winding tail.
The days have begun to length. Longer by increments, the light of the sun gives us the brightness of day. Around here the low incidence of light can become difficult, the lack of Vitamin D and the endorphins seem to pack their bags and take a Lost Days vacation.
Around here where the island is surrounded by large bodies of water, the tides affect us often without consciousness. It doesn't take much effort to find a shoreline, but once in the woods for example, awareness of the tides is veiled. But, up in a treetop shrouded sky the large and constant presence of Mahina Earth's only moon and tidal mistress.
Today as I sit to write I note:
The 'Ole Moons are pau
Last night we had a clear and lovely view of Mahina high in the sky
Today begins the fattening of Mahina into full ; it is Huna when no horns to Hina appear
We gather in town with a few friends to play Konane this afternoon. I wondered what the tide would be like then. The image above is the tide chart showing the tides nearby. As well, the image shorts "Moonset" and "Moonrise". What made me smile was to notice Mahina will rise just about the time we gather to welcome friends to play and eat applesauce. It was a reason to smile, and appreciate moon time.
Around here I'm looking for small pleasures. Wishing all of you, some small pleasure during the moon times, Mokihana
The Hawaiian band Kupa'aina plays their brand of evolutionary revolutionary music. This video is not the greatest quality, but the sounds are. Linking to their website will give you much more about this band and its kuleana.
The heat of summer has come to the Pacific Northwest, a slight breeze tickles the tips of the trees. Their fingers are sensitive to the company of makani the wind and we who share this place need only notice the relationship to be part of it. My son is with us this summer and like the wind (he is Libra, the Cardinal Air sign) he often brings experiences we would otherwise miss. Yesterday we sat to have toasted cheese sandwiches in the shade of the Quonset and the Tall Ones that grow around us. On his ipod was the music of the band Kupa'aina his favorite Hawaiian band. Except for knowledge of one of the band's members, "Uncle Stan" (Stan Tibayan) I did not know about Kupa'aina.While I munched my slightly over-done cheese sandwich I listened to the song "Night Marchers" and before the four minute mele was done tears ran down my face salting the already salty raw cheddar lunch. The title of this post is a nod to the refrain that repeats and haunts the listener in the lyrics drawing from me the kaona, the hidden meanings which are the interwoven strands of memory ancient people embed in language. "History is no mystery to me" is both a revolutionary affirmation and a sad awareness that for some with the blood of Kanaka and those unaware of Kanaka knowing neither history (real or fabricated) mute the ability to attune or worse, history does not beckon for the calling for mystery to resolve is unimportant.
The band's trans-generational membership and the music that each member contributes to the whole is an empowering and sustaining sample of how an ancient people evolves. Two articles-blogposts entitled "Animal Stories" and "Animal Stories, continued" from writer Terri Windling have stimulated me to call on the winds to speak of language and history from the world of the Pacific's ancient people. In each of Terri Windling's posts extensive quotations from Writer in residence for the Chickasaw Nation Linda Hogan expand the readers world. The following quotes are from Linda Hogan's essay "First Peoples", the whole of Hogan's quotes are included on Windling's posts. They are beautifully assembled with photos and quotations from other writers as well as thoughtful comments from readers and writers who attune to the relationship with All. I've included my thoughts about Hogan's messages in this blog post and draw from my experiences as a maturing adult and elder with roots deep and widely influenced.
"I've found, too, that the ancient intellectual traditions are not
merely about belief, as some would say. Belief is not a strong enough
word. They are more than that: They are part of lived experience, the
on-going experience of people rooted in centuries-old knowledge that
is held deep and strong, knowledge about the natural laws of Earth,
from the beginning of creation, and the magnificent terrestrial
intelligence still at work, an intelligence now newly called ecology
by the Western science that tells us what our oldest tribal stories
maintain--the human animal is a relatively new creation here; animal
and plant presences were here before us; and we are truly the
younger sisters and brothers of the other animal species, not quite
as well developed as we thought we were..."
"[The] ancient intellectual traditions are not merely about belief ... Belief is not a strong enough word...rooted in centuries-old knowledge ... the human animal is a relatively new creation here." My experience with ancient intelligence stems from my earthly connection as a daughter born to Pacific Islands, and the even more ancient links to China whose culture melted early into the voyages of both my Hawaiian-Chinese mother and her Filipino husband, my father. The thing that tweaks the practical and spiritual lives of someone like me born into a society and culture so heavily burdened by 'occupation' is the bridges that must be built to live with voices and roots that 'speak' in languages so covered with dust and illusion. Difficult to maintain that deep knowing with such layers of illusion? That is an understatement.
Here's an example of how dust and illusion and the influences of the universe do spiritual and psychic house-keeping. When I turned 60, I was living in my car with my beloved partner and husband. My physical health was at a lifetime low. We had no 'home' as most would define it; all semblance of connection with the people and values of Hawaii as I'd know it were steadily eroding. I could not live inside a house and could not be near most people. Sensitivities to chemicals of any kind enveloped me in a tight shell. The invisible, the unspeakables, the homeless, the traumatized. All of those tags could and did apply to us. Attachment to the recent past was an impossible reality. Hawaii 2008 wasn't working for us. I will be 65 this coming November, and we survived and dare to thrive. How did it happen?
The dust and illusion cleared when we began to count on the moon for wisdom and a more ancient reckoning of time. Parked inches from the beach on the southeastern shore of O'ahu at a place we just call The Tidepools, we parked my Subaru. Only after dark would be find a space to back our place of refuge for one night at a time. A newly printed Hawaiian Moon Calendar became our anchor to ancient and applicable wisdom that spoke the language of kuleana, responsibility. We had nothing more to lose, and had everything to rebuild. Night after night, the darkness and the progression of light from Mahina, the moon fed us hope one night at a time. Necessity began clear: a place to sleep in peace, food to eat, clean air to breath. At first most people would not understand what or why we were living from a car. Explanations didn't work for the most part. From November through March, we learned to live with the essentials of a being on the planet. A handful of people understood enough to shelter us and offer us what they could. Counting on the phases and influences of ancient Hawaiian wisdom about moon time, we let Mahina guide us. My dreams and my tap root of wisdom strengthened. I saw that there would be separation necessary for me to survive and hope to recovery. What had worked as a place of shelter and home would need to be released. The island home I was experiencing would not nurture me. But, it is the ancient voices and the dust-covered values of time keeping and tuning to the darkness that has led to the recovery and bridge-building today. It is my present, this present life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It seems we have always found our way across unknown lands, physical
and spiritual, with the assistance of the animals. Our cultures are
shaped around them and we are judged by the ways in which we treat them.
For us, the animals are understood to be our equals. They are still our
teachers. They are our helpers and healers. They have been our
guardians and we have been theirs. We have asked for, and sometimes been
given, if we've lived well enough, carefully enough, their
extraordinary powers of endurance and vision, which we have added to our
own knowledge, powers and gifts when we are not strong enough for the
tasks required of us. We have deep obligations to them. Without other
animals, we are made less."
Before we left O'ahu and while we slept near the ocean near the Tidepools, Honu and Palaoa, Turtle and Whale visited us often. Their ease with the tides both the shallow ones which offered Honu abundant feeding ground; and the depths of ocean needed for Palaoa to continue long and deep voyages planted seeds for our future, our present. Time is the keeper of progressions, while we learned and practiced making sense of our journey of loss, the culture that develops for us is filled with the assistance of the animals. Here in the woods thousands of miles from the O'ahu Tidepools the animals: squirrel, coyote, owl, chipmunk, frog, the Bird Ones cat, dog, all of them have something to teach. Our third solar cycle here in the woods and the hundreds of moon phases teach us patience and allowing. The mystery of history continues with a layer of something other than dust and illusion. In place of the illusion of 'loss' or 'homelessness' the mystery of living as human catapults us into place. "Oh, there are other ways to be." Into the root of our being, I believe the mystery is what goes beyond explanation and human life can become more equally extraordinary as Linda Hogan described in the second quotation above. We do have deep, and personal, obligation to animals. We are animals, though too often we separate ourselves and live with the illusion that we are not.
Our gifts come over bridges that are build from investments much like Spider invests in her web-building. All around me here in the woods, evidence of her intricate work dangles between Huckleberry arms, off of a porch ceiling. She invests in web-building because its in her nature to do so. We have that nature as well, and after explanations and words such as 'loss' cycle through, there is the present and it is then history. Tonight Mahina closes into the final phase of Ku, a new cycle of light and dark progresses. Ku phases are times of upright growth; and then there will be rest and reconciliation. The elegance of time increases when you can feel the effect of the heavens when she shouts. The mystery is in learning to hear the many languages, and the kaona the many meanings.
"I have told this story, many times, but as all storytellers know most good stories are told with minor variation and still maintain the value and the lesson. This one is about readiness and trust.
Aunty Betty
Pete and I were a very new couple, tentative but willing to venture into a relationship in the later years, we began with letters. Lots of them. I was not yet divorced from a marriage of more than twenty years, my bowl was cracked and through the dreaming Pete floated in. It was unexpected, sweet and unpredictable. Letters, words are powerful commitments and especially so with people like Pete and me. We come from different angles on words, but the composite is ... many unexpected outcomes.
We joined each other in this couple-making in the valley I had called 'homestead' for two brief days and nights, and then packed our ukana (stuff) and moved to Maui where I had a job waiting. I was to teach-train in a large Maui resort. Within days, Pete would be hired as a carpenter at the same resort. It was a special and precious time, our Maui time. Among the people we met was a kupuna who was leading a workshop focused on Hawaiian Values. She was introduced to me by my cousin as someone who was doing what I had done (teaching the value of Poi Bowl). My cousin said, "Find her." Aunty Betty Kawohiokalani Jenkins found me, at that resort. We began to talk and I pursued her as my mentor. She included me in her journey as teacher and inspiration and shared her mother's teachings of Makua O'o.
Makua O'o has been my foundation. Kawohiokalani and I have gone on to teach and learn, grow and age, makawalu, makawalu. While preparing for the last of the posts for this "Unfurling" Wa'a I found this video of Aunty, and share it with you now. A perfect gift and prayer for Lono Po ... "
I've just published the post above in my workshop-blog "Unfurling" with a prayer of thanks specific for the wa'a kaulua (canoe) that has taken me, Pete and a small and powerful group of women through a voyage of discovery. We are truly blessed with the adventure and more is yet to come. The study and practice of life with the Kaulana Mahina (time with Mahina) always include po of prayer, and appreciation. Tonight/today is one of those, the final recognition of a month living with connection to all-there-is seen and unseen. Lono, god of health and harvest this is your time.
This video is of Aunty Betty Kawohiokalani Jenkins is fine tribute to the many manifestations of health and harvest, trust and timing. It was she and her Mama who opened the doors to my life as Makua O'o. You who read here, this is one of my points of reckoning: still up there on stage, dressed and styling (check out the sandals!) and walking her talk.
Mahalo Aunty Betty Kawohiokalani,
Mokihana
To keep track of the Kaulana Mahina consider signing up for my new monthly Mahina Newsletter for $10.00 you receive three weekly messages created specifically for the Anahulu (week) of the month. Click here.
Ethnoscience Educator Kalei Tsuha teaches the ancient and contemporary value of Kaulana Mahina, The Hawaiian Moon Calendar. This 60 minute video presentation is precious wisdom wrapped into contemporary storytelling and education. Kalei Tsuha's study and current-time knowledge of the Hawaiian's astute observation of time as a means of survival and sustaining life offers practical application for us on the Planet Earth today.
Click here to view this 2008 video Kaulana Mahina. *
This presentation will be part of our month-long on-line workshop 'OLE MAHALO ... Counting on The Moon. beginning Sunday, April 3, 2011. Click here to read about the workshop, and register.
* This post is one of Makua o'o's most popular essays. This link has been updated (12/26/14) and will truly take you to the video "Kaulana Mahina" from the Kohala Center Puana Ka 'Ike Series.
Pete and I have been on a crisp, invigorating walk not far from the Mill Town and yet far enough to be a part of the wild. Along the wide-spreading Snohomish River, the asphalt walkway is rising in places, rising like miniature volcanoes where the roots of maples and trees whose names we don't know expand as they do in nature course. Though the sound of traffic from a nearby freeway is a din for company, the whole of the Snohomish Valley command our attention and I feel the wild. It's a wet New Year's Eve here in the Pacific Northwest.
Our plan for the end of 2009 include a pan of homemade blueberry and cornmeal pan bread, pot roasted chicken with carrots and the movie Julie and Julia with Merle(yupps, sorry Meryl) Streep. We love Julia Child and Merle Streep, so dinner with that movie promises a well-fed and entertaining conclusion to a very full year.Tonight is Mahealani Moon, the full moon and a Blue Moon. The tides will be full, the river was at full flood as we walked alongside. It seemed to be in no rush to go any way as we walked a good clip the river was just present. Pete and I shared stories while we walked, and more stories as we sat earlier in our favorite bakery restaurant. The subject of memories of the old men in our lives ... the old men who were old when we were very young. Elsa Pwrote a wonderfully rich post with pictures of the old men who came to the bar where she tended bar at 19. I read the post and followed the link to a story of a precious man who in so many ways tended that young Elsa, preparing her well for the life she would live decades later. Elsa's story tapped the memories in me of old men who were part of the small kid times of my Hawaii. My Dad and his drinking buddies, Mr. Pung the neighborhood Fuller Brush Man/Insurance Man/WearEver Cookwear/Cutlery Man/Never-a-silent moment Man, Uncle Bob the first and old black man in the valley/our new door neighbor/Ebony Magazine subscriber, Tata Pacheco fishnet maker, cigar smoking prophet and teller of tales that made my father laugh and cry at the same time. Pete remembers the old men who taught him to keep that shovel moving, never standing still on the job-site, setting standards he has maintained on his way to becoming that old man himself.
We are becoming that old man, that old woman. This year has filled with ventures and adventures neither of us could have imagined and surely they were not the stories we heard when we were surrounded by the old men (and old women). The old man Father Time will wrap up one more year in a few hours. The year has been filled with time noticed and time invisible to us because we were so busy with time.We are grateful for the enduring nature of our journey sometimes such a struggle it has felt like our undoing. And yet, we have walked along the river together and enjoyed the time today noticing, remembering, appreciating just how far we have come.We send you prayers and wishes for a good year ending, and hope the new one is filled with many times of noticing how wild this life really is.
If you're wondering what the Moon is like tonight ...
From the The Native Hawaiian Moon Calendar Mahealani (Sixteenth night)
Mahealaniis the second night in which the moon does not set until after sunsrise. It is the last of the four full moons and is also considered the 'calendar' full moon. Mahea means 'hazy, as moonlight' and the plants are prolific and large on this night. This time is good for all kinds of work. Currents run strong at this time but fishing is good.
Kulu (Seventeenth night) On this night the moon's rising is delayed until after darkness sets in. Kulu means 'to flow, as tears'. The banana's sheath drops off on this day, not unlike falling tears, exposing its new bunch. It is a good time for potatoes and melons. This is the time for offering the seasons first fruits to akua. Currents are strong, but it is a good time for fishing.
Hauoli Makahiki Hou Kakou (happy new year to you all)
The four days and nights of the 'OLE DAYS starts Sunday, March 1st. See you back here on Thursday of next week. To learn more about our practice of refraining from new posts and new decisions during 'Ole (pronounced OH-lay) Days, please check out thelink to the right (a great interview with kumu Kalei Tsuha of Maui, Hawai`i) for a beautiful description of living in sync with the universe by attending to the moon.
