Lessons from the People of Old Hawaii

No matter what your relationship with the person who brought you into this world –be it good, bad or indifferent—it is always complicated. My Mother’s passing left me with my energies low, immune system weakened and spirits sagging. The Hawaiian Islands have always been a source of solace and sustenance for me. Memories of crescent white sand wrapping azure seas would not let me go. I had to go back to the Islands.

The Big Island of Hawai’i is known

to be a power place, a vortex where energy funnels up from the core of the earth. The Hawaiian Islands are still being born. New life flows down the flank of Kilaeau and pours into the sea with a hiss and steam rising for miles. Since the seventies there has been a resurgence of traditional Hawaiian healing techniques that went underground 200-hundred years ago when the missionaries arrived in the Islands to spread the “good news.” Today, the Big Island is the nexus of the plexus where new age and traditional Hawaiian healing and eastern and western methods converge.

Ho’oponopono, the Hawaiian way of talking things out is about forgiveness. You must come to the session with a clear heart actively throwing stones of anger, disappointment, jealousy, revenge, from your bowl so that they do not block the light, or pure energy that the Hawaiians call mana. You must also bring an attitude of forgiveness with you and a desire to achieve harmony with yourself and others.

In the end dealing with the death of a parent requires forgiveness. You must forgive yourself and them for not being perfect. Maybe they sent you in a wrong direction that took you many years to turn around. Perhaps, they were not demonstrative and you felt unloved. Forgiveness for their failings is required, but you must forgive yourself for not having been the perfect child that was always well-behaved. Ultimately, what you must achieve is acceptances for the frailties of the human condition. That, my friends, is what ho’oponopono is all about.

 Research for Wai-nani, A Voice from Old Hawai’i became a beautiful obsession that called for numerous trips to the Islands. I visited sacred sites, interviewed elders, spent nights in Waipio Valley where the bones of ancient chiefs are hidden in caves in steep walls framing the canyon. 

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