`Aha Update #17: On the way to Elsewhere

O na hoku no na kui o ka lani. 

The stars are the spies of heaven.

The stars look down on everyone and everything. - 'Olelo No'eau

 "Mercury, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto will all be retrograde from August 12th until August 25th, when Saturn turns direct.  This doesn’t bode well if you’re wanting fast resolution to some problem in your life..." Elsa P.

While I sit at the keys, I hear Pete at the wringer; he's washing our bed sheet. A few minutes ago we were both outside walking between the vardo and the hale (this building). We had just taken down Mama Sing's quilt that has shielded the sun-side of the vardo. Pete was behind me and let out a loud 'whoa'! Raven flew within a few feet above me on his way to somewhere. I'd caught a glimpse of Raven slipping into the trees before we started quilt removal but it was Pete who got the 'spotting'.

"I am in the Grieving Place for a time. When the Moon was last New I believed it was possible to return to the Home Place. It is less than an Anahulu -- ten moon phases away, in travel. But, my youthful self, is not the one must make that crossing ... and instead it is to ELSEWHERE I go as Kupuna the elder. From my small home on wheels, like a land turtle, my mate and I must tuck all those language lessons in a safe place within and exchange a give-and-take with the places we do meet a rightful, respectful 'How do you do?" My teacher Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele left me with a story, "Live the myth, unlock the metaphor." I'll keep doing that where I find myself." -  a comment left on Terri Windling's blog post "The Mnemonics of Words" "

I think perhaps the ongoing relationship we have grown with the big black bird has something to do with how Raven and those who have a long intimacy with this place feed us experience. As a writer of myth and a woman hybrid -- a Hawaiian not living on the Hawaiian Islands, but connected in every other sense of being Hawaiian the lesson so often comes from the truly indigenous. Raven has been that indigenous. He showed up when medicine stories were freshly grounding me to this Salish Island. While I pulled down the messages the stars could see the tap root that is my genetic earth connection bubbled up. Trickster and teacher, the big black bird knows his place and the places in between. Some would name that place Elsewhere. In the writing of words that cross borders with protocol built-in, Raven fed me the language to travel to Elsewhere.

Just moments ago Pete and I hosted a special Front Porch `Aha. We drank warm Stinging Nettle Infusions and ate warm berry and oat bars while talking about the revised version of Vardo for Two heading home. "This makes sense," said our friend giving us the reassurance we need to continue heading south for warmth. We shared the story of Raven's latest in flight message. Between them our friend and Raven were the 'aha, the strong rope to measure the corner posts for home; not the destination, but the sense of being (home). Thank you both.

Raven reminded me:

"We cross borders without regard, ignorant or arrogant of the protocol native to the transitional spaces that take us from this place to that place. Traditions remembered and practiced would maintain and pass along the right things to do, at the right time, and in the right frame of mind. Have we all become wanderers with passports un-stamped with the memory of teachings from the Ancestors and Nature? There are rituals to remember and common magic to induce respect for the beings and places that share this planet."  - The Introduction to  "The Safety Pin Cafe"

On Monday, August 21, 2017 we will go to the water's edge, at 10 in the morning, to The Muliwai and remember the rituals at the borders respectfully going from one place to another.

xoxo
Moki and Pete