String Theory and creative process

Many strings help me sort. Some strings dangle temptingly, I snap at them like a hungry Dragon Fly waiting for Termites in the fading light. Other strings have a magnetism for each other. I notice the attraction and tie the ends together. Still others rise from pools once filled with sweet fresh drinking water. Those had lain in the muck of the seemingly dead. A small rain plumps the string and fuzzy moss grows to see a new day.

There I am. Here I be. In the middle of many strings, the cords of connection are feeding new Dreaming. Makua o'o often find the most exciting discoveries when she is still, or stilled and silence. My body and my 'Aumakua collaborate to still me long enough to listen and look within. The ash and burn-filled sky, the domain of Lono, sets a stage for slowing down. One ear and then the other struggle to sort the invasions. One of my medicine woman looks down my ear canals and says, "No wax, but many a fungus infection?" Then asks "What do you do for fungus infection." I tell her "Garlic, turmeric in olive oil." She listened to my lungs, moving her instrument over many places on my back. "It sounds pretty darn good. No wheezing ..." a plastic clip meter is on my finger, "Cool way to measure oxygen saturation. 97. That's good." So there I am. Here I am, navigating through the effects of Old Growth Forests' burning, and my reaction to the loss. Last week I made this appointment with my Nurse Practitioner so she could use her instruments to tell me what was 'physical.' It helps to get a second informed and trustworthy opinion. "You're such an empath," my medicine woman said as I described the role my body plays in the processing of Grief. The suffering of the trees is so much bigger than my own. At the end of the appointment she suggested acupuncture and an acupuncturist who might serve me.

Then, as my dear husband witnesses again the suffering I experience he kicks into protect mode. I'm unprepared for his solution. It kicks my rib out. AWW. Not that solution. Not the one I try to hide as my fondest desire. I am guilt-stricken. Slowed down even more for a few days, more strings dangle, those old dried up ones wiggle tempting me to consider. I huli.

There. Here. These are the strings ... my mind, body and my creative souls notice and play with the process.

Ho'omoku one string

• What you teach, is what you need to learn
• An island grows slowly

Braiding Sweetgrass The book written by Robin Wall Kimmerer a second string

• The Three Sisters
• Thanksgiving Address
• Skywoman Falling

The Bowl of Light The Book written by Hank Wesselman about Hale Makua

• Change your mind about someone
• Expanding upon the meaning of  Precession 
• Expanding the meaning of The Bowl of Light and the action of huli

Saturn finishes his transit through Scorpio

• Retracing Saturn's path and my personal journey/path
• But this time, recognize the maturity of Saturn's place as teacher; Slow and steady (ho'omoku ... he puko'a kani 'aina)
• Move slow to go far ... take our time this time and 'get it right' 
• Jupiter is in Virgo for the next year, that may be the timeline to consider and apply as Saturn moves from Scorpio into Sagittarrius. I communicate and 'throw net' to let my family know what is happening. I think big. I check out delusions. 

More traffic on our local road

• It's time to huli

Trees are cut more often, and close-by

• It's time to huli

My dreaming

• It's time to huli

My writings

• Medicine stories are doses of string theory applied
• Characterization feeds the Dreaming; Dreaming feeds the characterization
• All the strings end up in the medicine.
• Songs come from all the sources.
• Shine's Sign Song is the latest sort, snap, tie, play and write it all together process for navigation. Playful child, meets curious grow(ing)n ups, and cosmology meets botany!

Huli many definitions

Pukui & Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary 1. to turn; to curl over, as a breaker, Fig., to change, as an opinion or manner of living ... 2. ho'ohuli To turn, change, overturn, convert, to look for, seek; search, investigate

Huli from the canoe

The canoe huli.

How do you relate to String Theory?

Teachability

 “Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.”
― Dr. Seuss

My astrologer, Elsa P. posed a seemingly simple question on her blog today: "How can a person reach you?"  As I wrote in a comment to her query I couldn't answer the question and that really puzzled me. I've learned over time to leave something (a question, a puzzle) alone, relax (that's not always easy, but there it is!) do something good for myself, and most of all go to sleep/rest/dream. As I wrote yesterday, these are the 'Ole Moon times; today is 'Ole Pau the last of the four rest and reflective phases prior to the Full Moon coming up in the sign of Cancer (January 15, 2014). Something sweet and sour about 'Ole Pau phases is the potential to be "without" ('ole) for a long time (pau). On the one hand you might not want to get married on this day if there's any hesitation in your gut if marriage in your culture is a forever no nevermind sort of value. Then again if this is THE one and you both know it, this one will be long lasting one "without end." Everywhere you look there is the duality of answers, an axis of opposites and ultimately and every time, both are true depending upon your point of view.

So, on an 'Ole Moon the reflection with Elsa's query is on the value of being teachable. To teach well and truly, the teacher must remain ever teachable; that in a nutshell is the reason Makua o'o is a lifetime journey and practice. "There is so much to learn," as Pua Kanakaole Kanahele exclaims in this YouTube presentation.

Astrology and genealogy are long-term teaching experiences that serve me well and differently as I grow and age. Both tools have given me the long-sighted view of being human that I suppose would not require so much time, if I were an astronaut. The chance for that to happen in this lifetime is scant, but the lesson of being human and appreciating Earth as the Mother-she-is could not be better served than to see and feel what space-travelers see when they are on their way back home after being on the moon. What happens for me when I see the photo of Earth from space, and read the quotes from astronauts is inspiration-insight-infusion from the Gods. Astrologically, Neptune transforms any doubt in me that we are all connected. Genealogy. Long-view perspective integrates and I feel the heartbeat of my culture as woman with blood of the kanaka maoli. I am reached and know why "malama 'aina" means love the land and the land is Earth. I have a heavy signature of Capricorn and Saturn (long term work). If I'm not teachable the hard becomes brittle, and brittle break. Flexibility comes from Jupiter and Venus. Astrology teaches me how to appreciate those angles, not all at once, but with practice. So I practice.

Seated here in front of the computer screen in a tiny hut that just barely separates me from hundreds of tall and rooted trees I am awake and aware to the presents: those trees root me and us to the ground and to Earth; without them it would be a very different place/home; all that green the astronauts saw from space? Trees. A pot of chicken stew steams on the burner, I hear the water simmer making lunch for us. The simple and ordinary process of cutting up carrots, Kabocha, onions and collards involves in what we'll eat in an hour. Pete my husband is resting deeply, worn from the weather, the doing of a very action-oriented Cancerian man. His body senses the need for the rest and these 'Ole Moons take on a very sensual reality for him, for us. There are many steps, many processes involved in living this life from tiny rooms built in the woods. Work is involved. Someone needs to do things, even as the reflections are important the dishes, the stew, the composting toilet, the feeding of chickens and the feeding of the cat: things that must be done.

Gently now than perhaps at other times the role of doer and being flips and for now I do more, while also being grounded like the Tall Ones (the trees), or the wakame (the seaweed, the kelp) that is held fast to sea stones and moves with the push of wind or tides. The wind and water influence me, the trees remind me they cannot dance unless they are firmly rooted. I remain teachable and give thanks that I can be reached. You?

Solar Return Chart for Makua o'o (a blog born in the year of the ox!)

This is the solar return chart for this blog. Yesterday was Makua o'o's solar return, it's the start her 5th year. I see the Capricorn stellium in mutual reception to Saturn (in the 7th House) in Scorpio (in the 9th House) in a trine. Giving many opportunities to relate (7th House) to other forms of publication-philosophies (9th House) through consistent commitment in relationships. That same Capricorn stellium is in trine with the Pisces Moon giving the energy of transformation to what is valued (Venus), in forms of communication (Mercury) and how this blog can shine in the world (Sun). The Pisces Moon is sweet in aspect with Saturn in Scorpio, aiding the deep and murky with a comforting place for emotional retreat. There is the challenge of Mars in Libra in the 6th House to balance the exuberance of the Year of the Horse energy. Makua o'o was born in 2009, the Year of the Horse   Ox, so slow, steady effort is what characterizes this blog. (I caught myself and corrected my thinking ... good thinking:) Uranus in Aries squares the Capricorn stellium. Unexpected and sudden changes will be part of the Year of the Horse energy of this year. And finally, Jupiter in Cancer opposes that same Capricorn stellium. I think, it's all that cardinal t-square stuff that will be with us through July, 2014.

I ordered a Solar Return Chart Report for Elsa P. last week to consider the new year here at Makua o'o. I'm glad I did, and excited by the energy, opportunity and challenges here. What do you see in the chart?

Astrology by hand

Thanks to CJ Wright of Auntie Moon for this free Vintage chart.  Click here for the download.

I was flipping back and forth between websites and astrology charts yesterday reading a new solar return report for my blog Makua o'o (it will celebrate 5 years on January 5, 2014). My husband walked in and stood behind me, "Wow imagine doing all that by-hand!" Yeah, I thought about that. Astrologers (some) can and still do that. But not so much any longer with all the tools available on-line. I depend on astrologer to navigate my life with Sun in Scorpio, Moon in Capricorn, Mars and Saturn conjunct with Pluto all in Leo, with Uranus in Gemini for quick turns and Jupiter conjunct Venus for luck and expansion. Many of my readers on this blog come for the astrology posts, I am surprised by that, but glad to see how the charts, angles and insights of astrology pros must have something that continues to feed you. I am far from being a astro pro. What I love is the depth of study possible with a committed interest to the art; there's always more to discover and new insight on an old issue.

An elder in training is a lifetime journey, some believe it is lifetime after lifetime of labor, and not work.  I love what Lew Hyde writes when he distinguishes between "work" and "labor" in his book fittingly titled The Gift. This excerpt comes from the chapter The Labor of Gratitude.

..."Work is what we do by the hour. It begins and ends at a specific time and, if possible, we do it for money...Labor, on the other hand, sets its own pace. We may get paid for it, but it's harder to quantify." Hyde goes on to make the connection between labor and being in A.A. " "Getting the program" in AA is a labor...Writing a poem, raising a child, developing new calculus, resolving a neurosis, invention all forms--these are labors. When I speak of a labor I intend to refer to something dictated by the course of life rather than by society, something that is often urgent but that nevertheless has its own interior rhythm, something more bound up with feeling, more interior, than work...A gift that has the power to change us awakens a part of the soul. But we cannot receive the gift until we can meet it as an equal." Hyde's discussion includes his analysis of the fairy tale-fable of The Shoemaker and the Elves, an analysis that both recalls a story from a long ago familiar setting (as a girl reading the tale) and now at 66, an artist and elder in training who appreciates the labor of life, and art. I highly recommend reading the book and reading Hyde's artful way of using tale/fable to highlight his point of view. Hyde says, "We therefore submit ourselves to the labor of becoming like the gift. Giving a return gift is the final act in the labor of gratitude, and it is also, therefore, the true acceptance of the original gift."

"We can't predict the fruits of our labor; we can't even know if we'll really go through with it." Like astrology, the gift juggling and considering potential in your genetics or your natal chart point to the labor involved in our decision to become a human, on Earth. The gift, the labor persists in the daily and cyclical navigations and crossings of a life; seeing how the challenge of a secretive Scorpio might soften without dissolution; or, affirming the best use of a Capricorn moon is to feed it in solitude. A blank chart is beautiful to look at, but it is in the living that turns something beautiful into a gift.  

E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa. Try it and rid yourself of illusions. - 'Olelo No'eau

Making the most of it, seeing the story between the jagged edges

We've had our first snow. Early in the morning when I woke and walked the short distance between the vardo steps and the Quonset door the first of the white and frosty snow had topped the iron table and dressed the Huckleberry branches. Spider webs dangled and blew in a gentle breeze, like filigreed  earrings fragile in appearance tougher than they look. The year is coming close to an end, Winter Solstice is close; the promise of more light and longer days. In the meantime the daylight ends around four o'clock. Snow is as foreign to our chickens as it was to me at twenty-five years. This is the chickens' first snow and they found it too foreign for their pronged feet, and took flight from their coop steps thinking their wings would take them to familiar ground. Not today, or at least not yet.

I'm in the middle of writing the third of what I'm called my medicine stories. Hatched from the need to make sense of life and the twists and switch backs that occur -- the ones that show me how attached to one sort of journey, and not the possibilities of lots others, I am finding great joy and the efficient magic of common things. A few choices and my consistent and insistent habit of writing have led me along the way of an artful life:

• Learn from example. My mother was an artful being. She was fun and she was generous. She was also very good at making do with what she had. Safety Pins. Bake my own birthday cake. "Don't dwell on the past." "people come to visit me, not my things." The first medicine story "The Safety Pin Cafe" is my mythic memoir with my mother's memory at the core of things.
• Notice the big and small things. I've always been observant, and secretive. For most of my early years I observed silently, being called shy. I continue to be observant, and not so much secretive as selective or discerning. The condition I live with makes it necessary to be alone a lot. In a very real way I suppose, my condition has come from my astrology: I have a Capricorn Moon. To nurture and nourish a Capricorn Moon time alone is essential.
• Magic and tale telling is good. Before there was Disney, there were stories. Before there was television there was radio. Before radio there was talkstory, the everyday and common magic of stories told Island style, Hawaii kine. I was born to story tellers, and through my father's and mother's examples I listened to many tales. In the years since those story were first told, and the subsequent years of forgetting the details, I have not forgotten how I felt when I heard the story. Maya Angelo said “At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” That's what I hope to leave people with when I write; and especially hope that is true when they read the medicine stories. I hope I leave people feeling the magic.
• Practice, practice, practice.  When I retired from the corporate whirl and the community classrooms I thought my career could morph from those structured years of working for the man. I held to that belief far too long. Trying to replicate old habits, I simply created old habits. Life, Akua, and the Spirits of Life have taken me (sometimes kicking and screaming) to this new practice. Makua O'o and the blogging practice that has unfurled from the practice of training to be an elder is a funny life. All and everything before counts, and, it makes no never mind. Both and everything, all and nothing matters. Mostly, I just show up and write. Practice. Write. Mend. Practice. Write. Mend ...

This newest medicine story is about a magician and a juggler, brothers. And is tentatively being called "Mend, meddle, magic." These brothers are given a responsibility, with instructions from the characters Pale (the border witch) and the Silver-haired Raven the principle characters from The Safety Pin Cafe. The question is: how practiced are these brothers with instructions? I'll end this pre-solstice ramble by telling you that the two photos above, taken while I was on one of my Artist's Dates, was inspiration enough to put something down for the new story. I have to give many thanks to my on-line writers' group Prime the Pump for the space and the artistic mirrors (my writing friends) who encourage me to keep at it week after week. THANKS, you know who you are!!!

Here's a tiny bit to read from the medicine story in progress "Mend, meddle, magic." See how those two pieces of pencil inspired some magic.

"It might have been a spell or perhaps the gap that happens quickly, like the snap of a pencil broken in two. Jagged where the once whole instrument colored bright yellow allowed a thought to etch itself onto paper, the pencil shorter now. Yet one has a point, an original purpose. The other?

"Have we been that bright yellow pencil, snapped in two?" Alex wondered to himself, wishing there was an answer he might have over looked.

The Magician held the spinning egg only so long as his brother allowed it. It was always that way. Magic worked, really worked, when it was allowed. Once upon a time, a long, long, long time ago the two brothers were one pencil. They worked as one they may as well have been the same. Waiting for the egg to stop moving Alexander Santiago remembered the beginning. Time waited..."

Happy Solstice,
Mokihana

The second part of the journey and medicine story begun with "The Safety Pin Cafe", will be ready for readers on January 1st, 2014. Link here to find out about it, and buy it.

Practicing the art of living (be flexible)

"This is a week of weather: all sorts of weather. On Friday a handful of friends came out to the South Whidbey Tilth to practice. What a day it was. BLUSTERY! The wind made itself present, and made some decisions about where and how to set the tents for The Safety Pin Cafe. Fiber Artist Pam Winstanley has helped with designs and support for this project since I first dreamed up the possibility of 'an event.' Jo Stevens, South Whidbey Tilth's Land Steward and Farmers' Market Manager was with us to choose a location for the setup and hold the tent down when the wind became bombastic. Pete made sure the chicken stew was hot and slices of whole wheat bread and butter were ready when we were too wind-blown to keep practicing. I cooked up the stew, made a batch of cinnamon toast and chanted a prayer of permission to be in this place...

Click here to read more about setting the table for The Safety Pin Cafe.

Pete in the Orchard ... practicing

Astrologically, Elsa P. my favorite astrologer said this about this week:

Her newsletter described the week as: "Why It's Not A Good Idea To Get Whipped Into A Frenzy This Week"

"We've got a potent week on tap. I know a lot of people are afraid of the new moon on Friday. I don't think this makes a lot of sense so I want to come in with another perspective. The week is dominated by a cardinal T-square involving the Sun, Uranus and Pluto... Is is hard-core?  Yes. 

 

But we are going to be dealing with a cardinal t-square well into 2014.  See Year-long Cardinal T-Square)

 

Considering this, a person would be well-advised to learn all they can about this energy, embrace it and learn to work with it. This week provides an excellent opportunity to do this, because there are so few distractions.

 

As an example of what I mean, my husband speaks a lot of languages. He says they are easy to learn if you're immersed in the culture where the particular language is spoken.  So this is like that. We're all going to be wrapped up with energy. Why not make it pay?

Practicing the art of living is all about (for me) learning to be flexible. The weather? I cannot do much about it, but I can attend to it, have Plan B, and immerse myself in the culture of where we live now. That place is the Pacific Northwest and the season is the beginning of the wet time. One of the many things living with MCS teaches us is to see life as art and make the best art possible. Rain or shine.

And your art of living?

Cooks, goals, dreams and service ... a ramble!

" The very best of cooks are sorcerers, wizards, shamans and tricksters. They must be, for they are capable of powerful acts of transformation. All manner of life, mammal, aquatic, vegetable, seeds and nuts pass through their hands and are transformed by spells — some secret, some written in books annotated with splashes of grease and broth."-Midori Synder from "In Praise of the Cooks"

"Self-criticism is a dream-killer — as is isolation, even of the mental variety. Neptune in Pisces opposite the Virgo Sun urges more fluidity in creative contact with others; it’s the collective dream (the human condition) that we’re all ultimately serving, after all."

– written by Amanda Painter

 "Declaring my intentions publicly seems to fortify my ability to complete them…or maybe it’s just the embarrassment of wimping out on my promises!" - Donna Cunningham

"Time and experiences stretch the makua o'o to see how resilient and adaptable she or he has become. As I age I am still challenged to make sense of reality and frame my experiences differently because I have changed and my understand of my culture has changed as well." - from "What is Makua O'o?"

Time is passing, summer, seemingly long and blissfully warm and dry, is changing to the damp and muting light of autumn. Harvest time. Our orchard has been abundant this year: beans, mache, tomatoes, a few peas and bags filled with tart Gravenstein apples. Pots of tart applesauce with sprinkles of cinnamon are now stored up in our freezer. Plump tiny green grapes are ripening on the vines that tangle themselves against the garage wall. And, our Welsummer chicks are now officially laying hens leaving us their first beautiful dark brown eggs in the straw. Gardens all over our neighborhood are providing feasts of good food to eat, and to cook up. I love to cook!

Cooks

In the space of the tiny rooms that we call home, the steam of cooking regular meals turns the Quonset from writing space to cooking things for the belly space. The border between cooking up words and images and making applesauce a thin if not invisible divide. That thin separation can sometimes become a hurdle too large to jump when either my attitude or my inventory of spoons is low. "I'm jugglin' a lot of balls here!" I declare into the space. Pete has seen me juggle many, many balls and seen me too when the balls have turned me into mush. "It's what you do, honey." He replied. "It's what you have always done." He's right. The Leo (drama) genes of me love a drama, but it's also the tight relationship of Saturn (restraints and delays) in my personality (natal chart) that continually challenges me to accept the internal struggles are part of the 'assignment.'

Is that dense material to digest? Someone told me the other day that what I write is 'dense' ... Oh. Well, metaphorically that would account for some of the recipes I've experimented with. But, on other days, the cook will come up with delightful conjurings. It's a balance of things and what's what happens when you have cowlicks.

Goals

This summer began our fourth year of living in the woods; living in one place. We have invested in the belief that we can feel safe enough to stay. That is a big investment that happens incrementally. The history of trauma and diaspora eases with practice, faith, and choices that support a new kind of conversation. The belief that life and the dynamics involved with being with others could be different than traumatic asks a person to start from scratch on the one hand, but keep in mind the things that are working. Sticking with this summer, in this space, the goals I set have to do with pushing at the limits of my capacity. Like I said, "I am jugglin' a lot of balls." Here in the Quonset I'm writing the Medicine Cards crafted from the story "The Safety Pin Cafe." Stretching my brain cells and priming the pump of creative juices that project is progressing beautifully. There are challenges and I deal with them as they surface: oh my god! Right, I am still sensitive to inks ... how to manage that while believing the cards are still a great way to be of service to the Goddess of Creativity? What about the issue of collaborators who wear clothing laundered with chemicals? Conversations. They need to be different. Soften the ground of my being. And rest.

Dreams
They are always there to give me something else, or someone else (my subconscious self) to play out a scene I might be too afraid to experience while 'awake.' I get messages and clues and fold them into the mix of things. Juggling becomes easier. I don't worry that I might drop a ball. Grace steps in. An email from my friend, fiber artist Pam Winstanley, who has taken the challenge to translate the symbols and metaphors for The Safety Pin Cafe came with the subject "magic." She is working on an art piece to depict the journey of Pale Wawae, the border witch. Her work began just as the lightning and thunder storm struck us here a couple days ago. She wrote to ask for my input on her work so far.

Hanging from the ceiling behind me is a print done by Rima Staines. The calligraphy was a gift from another friend given to me when I needed most to believe ... in magic. Rima's artistic hand wrote this (available on Rima's Etsy shop):

And ABOVE ALL WATCH WITH GLITTERING EYES
tHE WHOLE WORLD AROUND YOU
Because the greatest secrets
are always hidden
in the most unlikely
PLACES
Those who don't believe in MAGIC
will never find it

 Service

[I]t’s the collective dream (the human condition) that we’re all ultimately serving, after all."– written by Amanda Painter

Saturn's role in the journey for makua o'o

"With Saturn in Scorpio, energy is limited and I just don’t have it to waste."-Elsa P.

Saturn in Scorpio is moving through my 10th House (public reputation). With each new day I am made very aware of the limited energy I do have. The upside of that is, I do have some energy. Yesterday my husband and I packed up our Subaru and braved the pre-solstice downpour to celebrate my good friend's graduation. Packing up your car in these contemporary times might seem oddly out of date for a trip an hour and a half away. But, to us, in our form of living it takes packing and preparation. We did successfully drive north on Highway 20, Pete steady at the wheel at 50MPH with very little traffic to impede us. We made a choice to see this good friend whose journey inspires me as she uses the energy available to her to become a force with which to reckon. I have listened to her sort what's good, what's no longer nourishing, what beliefs can sustain her now.

Our drive to celebrate her success required packing up, and when we arrived it was obvious we could not stay long. We found her among the red gowns and embraced with the energy of friendship solid. It was important to be there; not a waste of energy. I had my blue waterproof boots on, and had the Toy Story umbrella poised above me to shed the rain. Pete found our friend in that crowd of graduate, and when we had to leave said, "Moki really just wanted to show off her boots!" He's a Cancer with care at his core and mischief in all his limbs. "Those are boots worth showing," my friend said appreciatively. I glowed.

Above everything else Saturn does for all of us, the planet of time-keeping brings the lesson of slowing down to learn lessons deeply. For me, the 10th House transit has to do with being an elder, a writer and friend who is worthy of self-love and love of those who really know me.  Donna Cunningham, astrologer and blogger; and friend who joined me on my on-line writers group for a time, has a fascinating and vigorous post on Saturn. The comments and dialogue are healthy and thoughtful. Here is the link for you to read yourself. At 70+ Donna's elderhood still glows with humor and grace. I love her for that light. I seek that out and blend it into my own recipe for metamorphosis. Right, if there's not a lot of energy to waste, choose wisely or wiser than before. Saturn is all about that.

What's your relationship with Saturn like?

He puko 'a kani 'aina

He puko 'a kani `aina 
A coral reef that grows into an island
A person beginning in a small way gains steadily until he becomes firmly established.
-'Olelo No'eau

The astrology for the next few days can be described in this way according to my astrologer, Elsa Panizzon, “With the Moon,Venus and Mercury in Cancer today, many will be drawn towards their families, their hometowns, their clan, their roots, etc. They’ll want the comfort that comes from familiarity.Uranus and Pluto aspect the stellium in Cancer. This combination is all about disruption and separation, so unfortunately, few will be able to find the security or nurturing they want (Venus) and feel they need (Moon)."   I've been feeling this longing for home even more strongly than usual and can usually find comfort in astrology as I ride the next wave of emotions or tumble within it as the undertow shakes me.

Being rooted to something long lasting to endure the tidal pulls and the dry spells I'll often go to my stack of 'Olelo No'eau cards for Hawaiian poetry and insight. The small deck of cards the size of business cards were printed years ago (and I believe no longer available) by my old friend Elo(ise) Nakama Hiura and her twin sister whose name I cannot retrieve from memory. When I am looking for something to which I can tether or conversely something from which I can makawalu (unfurl from) I thumb through the cards. He puko 'a kani 'aina reminds me that time is relative, growth can be measured by so many different rulers, and makua o'o is life's work.

Yesterday afternoon I was restless. My self-imposed isolation from the pollens of the dreaded Scotch Broom. The brilliant but difficult blossoms and pollen have been proliferating this year and besides its invasive physical nature The Broom is a real challenge for those who have pollen allergies (that would include me). Here in the woods I dig in the dirt, plant my beans and mache seeds, feed the chickens and go about my life but don't leave home. Yesterday I needed to have a little stretch. Just as I was heading for my car a gentle breeze blew through the high tree tops. In its wake I saw the fine yellow rain of pollen being shaken from the tips of our pine tree. There is no escaping new life, spawning and growth. It's a lesson I am given over and over again. Laughter helps (and so too does a little ride, close to home, with a hot cup of something over chitchat).

Sometimes the limits of life can create the illusion that life is only about the limitations. But. Life is not only about that. While the pollens scatter on breezes, coral spawns. While coral spawns children leave the nest. These things happen not once. These things happen over and again. See what I mean when I say the journey of a makua o'o is life work?

Is it so for you as well?

Photograph Credits: CKB and Laulau in Brussels, Coral spawning in WA

Hua ka'i, 'Eli'eli Kau Mai

 

Definitions 

Huaka'i

Trip, voyage, mission; procession; to travel, parade.

'Eli'eli Kau Mai

"Whatever you dig deep ... and find ... is yours."- from an Interview with Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele about her book Ka Honua Ola

Nature in her many forms

Spiders hatching

All around us in the woods where we live spiders are hatching. The picture above is one that is similar to what Pete and I watched the other day. It was a breezy afternoon, makani olu a very pleasant breeze was present moving from left to right as we stood at the fence post leading into the orchard and my garden where a row of bean seeds are just warm enough to push their way out of the lepo and reach for the sun. We stood enjoying the succulent breeze. In front of us, so close one could have missed it a pod the color of baby poop started to move. Tiny movements. Many movements. One by one the tiny moving being broke from the pod of baby poop and with makani olu's help strands of spider web launched baby spiders out into the sky.

Fern unfurling 

We begin our fourth year of living on this land, this moku. Slowly and gratefully we make ourselves known to this island and this place surrounded by the Salish Sea and all the elements, gods, and protocols for life, here. The ferns that have grown up around us are nearly at their full and luscious height. They have unfurled. They are making their journey, they have sprung from roots planted deep in these forest floors. They show me through their example hua ka'i ... new beginnings, adventures just as the baby spiders journey into the unknown.

 

Tina Turner 

I've been listening to her since she was singing with Ike on vinyl records. She has sustained and she journeys from her Nut Bush City beginnings. Her music and her fame has launched her into the world as a celebrity the world knows. I will never know her to watch and become familiar with like I watch and become familiar with baby spiders or a neighborhood fern. But she is one of my species, and a woman and for that I can celebrate the possibility and the example. The interview with her was enjoyable and the conclusion very human. I connected on many levels and appreciated once more the awesomeness of YouTube.

Pualani Kanakaole Kanahele

Pua Kanahele is a contemporary of Tina Turner, they are probably the same age (78). Like Tina Turner Pualani Kanakaole Kanahele is a celebrity with a powerful voice. The title for this post and the inspiration to use these photos to enhance this post come from Pua. I have been studying her work, and appreciating the depth of her knowledge as I pursue my own practice as makua o'o elder in training. I learn something every time I listen to her, and look forward to reading her book Ka Honua Ola. 

Those baby spiders, the unfurled ferns,Tina Turner and Pualani Kanahele are inspirations for living passionately today. So glad to have another day to be surprised by the journey, and the discoveries. I am refreshed with these example. 

Dig deep, but don't plant today. It's Kane Moon.

Aloha,

Mokihana

Making space for voice

This spring in the woods I am wearing electric blue boots (waterproof, winter boots) with fuzzy orange lining and trim of that same vibrant color. My feet are short and wide and my ankles need extra support so shoes are a challenge. When I find a style and brand that works I go for it! The first winter in the woods I found a pair in a size and width that suit me; I've worn them 24/7 for three years. The backs of the boots are frayed from the many ins and outs as I put the boots on, take the boots off. We don't wear shoes or boots inside and to get from one room to another in our world one must go out into the woods.

Those electric blue boots are getting their initiation during the first days of June. Strange time for initiating a pair of winter boots, but they work just fine for me and I say, "thank you." Back inside with my feet bare and my toes freed up I'm happy to be blogging again. The break has done me good and the little gray cells and my navigational tools for crossing borders of the imagination are ripe like the salmon berries. I gobble the ideas like hungry Robin Woman and pin the energy of salmon berry magic to the page to remember them, and pass them along here.

When I was little one of the toys I relished as a girl was the phonograph. We didn't own one but my cousins did. My cousins would visit and sometimes spend the night while their mother worked. She worked at a record store, Thayer's Music in Honolulu. Along with a phonograph my cousins brought records, story records. Records, music and story easily transported me into worlds not yet known. I imagined and though it would be years before I found my own, I would learn that I had a voice. Those early records, and the time spent listening, really listening was priming me.

Writer Terry Tempest Williams said this about receiving her first voice lesson. In a talk given in Bellingham, Washington, Williams spoke about her parents and their influence on her (and her brother's) life. Williams was addressing the audience and speaking about her book When Women Were Birds. The link below takes you to the presentation. She says about her mother's influence as voice teacher "Mother had her own intensity but it was contained." Williams then describes how she and her brother sat in front of the phonograph and listened to the orchestra and narration of Peter and the Wolf. "We were introduced to the distinctive voice of each character...Within those 30 minutes I receized my first tutorial on voice. All of us has one, and each voice is distinct."

In a serendipitous connection with Terry Tempest Williams (whose books I admit to not yet reading) I inhaled the common influence of music ... making space for voice. Knowing how music can feed us the oxygen of inspiration. The mana necessary to grow where we are planted at the time to make use of space and transcend it, and time as well. Reopening my blog feels like freedom to me. Freedom opens up space in my lungs and fuels my heart to feed me 'ea ... sovereignty. The voices of fiction that tinker with my imagination love the feel of my feel in fuzzy orange lined electric boots. In those boots, my feet are ageless and agile. "Reality is what it is, but perception is King," my astrologer Satori wrote that the other day and I love repeating it. "However you frame reality creates your experience and the mind and senses are key."

And the electric blue and orange boots ... What you think?

Terry Tempest Williams http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suPndViGWko

Back from hiatus

From time to time I will shut down this blog and reassess the journey taken thus far. Re-defining myself, my relationships with myself, my family, my kuleana (my responsibilities). Hawaiians say we must check to see if all is pono in harmony with the whole. Periodic doses of drawing within and asking for guidance. Those who have visited or stayed to read Makua O'o over the years know that I do this. Perhaps they wonder why I do it? One of the 9 tools of a makua o'o is 'practice good health practices'. Shutting down, cleaning up and drawing in are examples of that practice.

My most recent hiatus from blogging has given me a chance to pay attention to my physical health. I am grateful to my husband and my Ancestors for their love and care as I make necessary changes and listen to the dreams that come with directions.

There are several changes to what Makua o'o looks at this point:

The Homepage image is that of Pacific Northwest ferns. They surround us and this year especially are bombastic in their reach nearly shoulder height and oh so beautiful. It's significant, I feel, to use an image of the place where I am today. The fern is of this place. I am here I live with these fern and they teach me the protocol, the Nature of this space.

New Pages run across the Homepage and give you a different view of who and what I do here. The 'oli E HO MAI written by Aunty Edith Kanakaole lays the foundation for this blog wherein it asks for the wisdom to know what is important ... to you, to me, to us individually. From that 'oli the pages unfold my writing, both old favorites and new work in the making expanding storytelling to include myth-making and writing fiction. Link to them and I hope there's something fun or inspiring for you to discover.

Sidebar content has been edited and cleaned up without getting too clean in the process. I still have things to do on the sidebar, but these things will happen without affecting the site.

Mahalo niu loa kakou thanks to all of you for coming to read. We are all elders in training. So many ways to get there from here. This blog evolves as I evolve. I share it because it brings me joy. When it stops being joyful I reassess.

 "Joy is What We're After: Joy is the jackpot in life, and if you still believe jack is the jackpot, you don't know jack about joy!"
  - Swami Beyondananda

Enjoy the journey and thank you for coming to my blog Makua O'o!

Mokihana

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.

Clarify... Question for clarity when making decisions … ASK

http://mrsvierkant.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/at-a-crossroads/

It's been a bit of the while since posting here, life has been full and my focus has been on mending and writing over at VardoForTwo.  Earlier this month I fell and broke bone in my arm.  The chronicle of my mending and tending to the care of this old makua is over there at VardoForTwo, if you care to follow the tale.  As with near everything that happens I find the lesson in the experience and hope positive tomorrows grow from the learning. 

Sometimes though, the learning is not positive exactly, the learning might be illusion masquerading as truth for a very long time or in astrological terms, Neptune may be fogging the scene.  I've come out of years of Neptune-fogging and for all its angst and loss, I am healing up my fractured elbow and right arm with a new way of using the facts.  What I'm saying is, thank god it was a fracture I am recovering from and thank the gods for the fractures to my faulty thinking/stinking thinking that could lead me down those dead-ends or patterns of delusion if I don't make use of my mind and the signs.

Elsa from ElsaElsa.com has a terrific article/post describing the astrological energy available to me and the collective to 'use your mind ... clarify when making decisions would be the o'o for na makua (us adults).  The months of Saturn (planet of structure and systematic approach) is in retrograde into Virgo and Elsa tells one of her inimitable stories to flick switches in old/faulty thinking or not thinking to make decisions.  Here's a snip of Elsa's story about revolutionizing your thinking.  It's a good whole ramble, so link to its totality by clicking here:

... Once it hits you how important it is to ave your info straight, you can see how disabling it is to not have your info straight. Draw just one wrong conclusion and from there on out, you are acting blind and foolish whether you know it or not.


Since this is exactly what most people do, when you opt to do otherwise it provides clear advantage. Nothing against Neptune but when your life is as stake you really don’t want to be acting in a fog if you can help it.


I wrote this out because it has wide application and Saturn’s transit though Virgo opposing Uranus provides an excellent opportunity to revolutionize your thinking or your thought process so you no longer draw stupid conclusions ...

Do you clarify and use good information in your life decisions?

Practice patience and endurance … TIMING IS DIVINE

Photo Credit link

Almost ten years ago I published a small booklet "Makua O`o ~the art and practice of becoming kupuna (elder)" Using my desk top publisher I assembled a master and took it to the local print shop and made hmmm... maybe fifty copies printed. Out of my own pocket I paid for my time and the expense of printing these little books. At the time I was a freelance writer and community organizer working with groups interested in exploring the link between traditional cultural values and present-day work settings. How would the ideas of consciously developing life skills find its way into the corporate and non-profit worlds? In my bones I knew the nine life skills had unmistakable application. I took my little books into workshops and board rooms, and told my stories. Without apology I wove the stories and listened for directions from the voice within me. In small increments I shared the teachings of Makua O`o with those who were interested. I think it entertained some people, entranced others who were not sure what or how Makua O`o would 'fit' into their lives. As with the kupuna who shared the teachings with me more than ten years ago, few at the time embraced the practice.

Time has passed. And then I received a call. Out of that past life a former co-worker called to ask permission to continue referencing my little book in her work. My old friend and co-worker, now retired as a diabetes health nurse and community educator, introduces herself as Makua O`o as she works in the Island communities restoring stone walls around the hei`au (traditional Hawaiian temples and observatories), cleaning lo`o kalo (taro patches). Through time, the practice has found a place ripe for growing. Timing is divine.

"The makua (adult) comes to the shoreline and looks out to sea watching and waiting for the ship bringing canned salmon, canned tuna and SPAM. The makua o`o comes to the shoreline and looks out to sea, and remembers how to fish."

-from the booklet Makua O`o~the art & practice of becoming kupuna
Copyright, 1999
Yvonne Mokihana Calizar