`Aha Update #12: Aiming for the light New Moon and Solar Eclipse, August 21, 2017

"... Astrologically, the house where the eclipse lands will be highly energized.  Leo is a Fire sign, but you can also see Mars is nearby along with the n. node. I see creative drive in this chart. A desire to feel and to be vitally alive. (The solar eclipse happens on the New Moon, the dark moon is also a time when intentions for the coming lunar cycle of approximately 30 days can be set.)

Elsa continues, "I expect the lights to go out. I intend to be infused with light and energy when they come back on.  The emphasis is not on the darkness but on the brilliance!" - Elsa on the Solar Eclipse August 21, 2017 (read Elsa's entire post, which includes ideas for setting intentions based on where the eclipse is in your chart.)

The Leo solar eclipse takes place in my 8th House of legacy, heredity, death and rebirth; Pete will experience that eclipse in his 12th House of intuition, secrets, dreams. Taking clues from astrology, and Elsa Panizzon's point of view, that the emphasis is not on the darkness but on the brilliance after sun and moon separate I'm putting the astrology and kilo (paying attention Hawaiian/Pacific Island style) onto this 'aha update.

• Solar eclipse in the 8th house: Light up dark places, fearlessly.
• Solar eclipse in the 12th: Share your light and positive energy with others; particularly those who may be suffering.

It's too easy to live in fear when Environmental Illness is your reality. No, it's not something you 'get from me.' Just as a wall won't keep poverty on that side, not yours. A medical diagnosis (which I paid for ... how odd is that) set me and Pete onto the path of being Mauliauhonua a family intimate with where we live. Where do we live? For a pair like us, we live on the edge, on the border, and in between the micro and the macro. In this sort of life, we become very intimate with all the parts of Earth that other humans either don't see or won't see. We kilo, we observe everything because our survival depends on it. All indigenous (people intimate with their place) live this way.

As we clear out our self inflicting distractions as well as the wandering distraction of invading beliefs about who and what Environmental Illness is I like this bit of kilo:

One of my mother's favorite expression was "Piss on it." Other moms might have said, "Don't cast your pearls before swines." Here's what another astrologist, Rob Brezny is recommending for us Scorpio's.

" Some zoos sell the urine of lions and tigers to gardeners who sprinkle it in their gardens. Apparently the stuff scares off wandering house cats that might be tempted to relieve themselves in vegetable patches. I nominate this scenario to be a provocative metaphor for you in the coming weeks. Might you tap into the power of your inner wild animal so as to protect your inner crops? Could you build up your warrior energy so as to prevent run-ins with pesky irritants? Can you call on helpful spirits to ensure that what's growing in your life will continue to thrive? "

To end this update, here is a powerful song introduced to me by Terri Windling, writer, editor, muse and author of the blog on mythic life Myth & Moor. The song is  entitled "Why we build the Wall"
and is sung by Anais Mitchell. It was written a decade ago, but is as relevant today as ever. Even more important then to keep a light on and aim for enlightenment.

Here's a personal  INVITATION

Monday, August 21, 2017

10:00 A.M.

Join Pete and Me 

at 

"The Muliwai"

(This is Sunlight Beach Public Access on the West side of Whidbey Island. The public access is about half way down Sunlight Beach Road. Look to the water side of the road, and a smaller than the usual home there, brick-red in color with a white lettered sign "STOVERS" OR "STOWERS". The driveway is next to that red house.)

While the tide is going out and while the Moon moves into her eclipsing position of the Sun

Bring your Eclipse Glasses, and/or your Flash light if you have 'em :)

P.S. Please come as fragrance free as you can be.

If the wild fire smoke is still too debilitating for you as it is for me, 

I may be setting my intention from Vardo for Two. But perhaps the sky will have cleared. We'll kilo.

Hope to see you at The Muliwai.

xoxo

Mokihana and Pete

`Aha Update #10 Letting go, loosening up

"... This is a path correction. Joseph Campbell talked of finding your own path, blazing your own trail. He said if the path was clear, you were probably on someone else’s path. We have times like these to tear the blinders off and see where we’re getting off path..." - a snip from Satori's Weekend Love Forecast, Heading into the Eclipse(August 7, 2017)

When we lived in Hilo, we bought the Subaru. She was brand new. Around that same time our 'ohana, Kaliko and her friend were in Hilo for a workshop. They stayed over night with us, and brought us two brand new, bright yellow t-shirts. Those t-shirts are the same ones Pete used to clean Scout, our Subaru. Getting ready to let our first 'road home' go. It seems fitting to include both ends of that t-shirt's history here as the latest '``Aha Update. Kuleana in Hawaiian means your responsibility, your destiny.

If this weekend's astrology IS a path correction, that might allow for ambling back to Hilo. Pela, paha, perhaps.

Remember this Kaliko??

More very short videos. This time "Pete cleans Scout"

A lot of scrubbing (using baking soda diluted in water and a spray bottle of white vinegar diluted) and equal parts humor. We're having fun with these very short video. Are you?

`Aha Update #9: Becoming Mauliauhonua (family intimate with their place)

Red is the color of the sunset

(reflected too, in the skins of Fir and Hemlock)

So red hard to look at

Eyes not meant for

such red.

The forest fires smoke the air, sucking the oxygen from it making it difficult for breathing. I wonder as I write whether it is any less, or maybe, more difficult for the trees to breath. As they sense the burning of their relations, their kin, is there not grief there?

Pete drove me out to The Tilth this morning to gather a few more Mullein Blossoms from our friend Kristen's lovely garden. I am making ear soothing oil from the simple, and gently sedating golden blossoms. A few drops of this oil, though best after 6 weeks, is a comfort to the ears even after a week or two. I am finding the oil a helpful remedy for the smoke's effect on my very generously built ears:)

And, if you would like to read how the oil is also slipping into the making of myth you might enjoy going here. (This myth will become a comic book that I am writing and illustrating, and a Reward for donors when we finally launch our crowdfunding campaign.)

Enjoy a few very short videos of "Mullein Blossom Oil Making"

The process of creating safe passage for Vardo for Two is truly a long-term experience. It is the process of makawalu, analysis. Not quick, and very mindful. We keep open to the clues, and become Mauliauhonua. 

What is Mauliauhonua?

Our kumu teacher Kalei Nu'uhiwa defined Mauliauhonua this way:

1. Learning and utilizing the Kaulana Mahina to note monthly, seasonal and cyclical occurrences. 

Whenever possible our decisions and timing for activity is focused on the Kaulana Mahina.   As an example, we gathered for our first Front Porch `Aha on one of the Full Moons. Then, gathered again to set our intention to ask for Safe Passage for Vardo for Two on the New Moon. We are conscious about not doing new projects, or taking on major enterprise during the po 'ole.

2. Kilo - Making observations. Paying attention and noting what is happening around you.

Kilo is our tap root of daily practice. We kilo everything! This can be overwhelming if you shove all that you observe into yourself all at once, and all the time. That's where the po 'ole comes in very very handy. Smart, our kupuna. They lived wise timing.

3.Collecting your observations and correlating them with the Kaulana Mahina establishes your own foundational understanding of your surroundings. Over time you will be able to see the normal or abnormal trends that are occurring to which you can make adjustments to your practice.

This blog, is one of the major ways I collect and record what I/we are observing. We began when we were living in 'Scout' our Subaru ... house-less yet in preparation for a much different life; a life as mauliauhonua was beginning.

4. Collecting your own data in your own way. Examples of tools available out there to start your data collection would be to begin keeping observations sheets, logs, journals, composing ʻōlelo noʻeau (proverbs), writing moʻolelo (stories), or composing mele (chant, song).

You can also choose to write ʻōlelo noʻeau to continue the practice of creating traditional databases to transfer your observations on to the next generation.

Collecting data in my own way includes tying many angles into a net(work) that appeals to my environmentally sensitive self; being 'Environmentally Ill' takes on a whole new definition and perspective. 

I compose blog posts, and create mythic versions of the mundane and call them medicine stories. That way the multiple reality is given due respect. My kupuna the elders who came before me did this when they composed proverbs, stories, chant and song. I am perpetuating the practice. 

5. Become Mauliauhonua - "Be the App"
The final component is to work towards becoming the expert in your neighborhood or community. 

This is our aim: "Be the App." While we research what it will take for us to experience 'Safe Passage' with our golden wagon built as a refuge, we remind ourselves that it is a process. A lifelong journey of becoming.  

Hope you enjoy the videos. We do a little, or a lot each day, to make our way toward continuing safe passage with Vardo for Two. Dates and specifics are yet to come, but, we are here and connect with you keeping on this spiral path.

Peace and Love,

Moki and Pete

'Olekukahi

The first (of three) po 'ole moon phases finds the Pacific Northwest doused with big rain. The 'ole phases of the Kaulana Mahina the Hawaiian Moon Calendar* are days for rest, reconsidering, weeding, and making adjustments to projects underway. The forecast says it's the rain's last hurray for a few days. We'll see. Wet and cold in the woods makes cooking a challenge, something we both seem to thrive on. Life is always filled with challenges, and I love to cook!

So between the squalls I made oatmeal pancakes for breakfast. For our mid-day meal while the rain held off I baked chicken sprinkled with sesame seeds, generous doses of dried Italian herbs and furikake baked in a shallow lake of rice vinegar and sliced garlic. A pot of brown basmati rice steamed (while the chicken baked) with grated daikon (Japanese radish) and sliced crimini mushrooms and beets.

Outside, our neighbors the Wild Huckleberries, Salal, Hemlock, Pine, Cedar, Fir and Brackens are looking amazing after the hours of heavy rain. The Salmon Berries are unseasonably late with just the start of hard green berries.

Hover on the photos for descriptions.

* Kaulana Mahina The Hawaiian Moon Calendar is a not a one-calendar-fits-all-places kind of time piece; it is specific to the place and the observers. There are many calendars available this link will take you to one online version of the calendar. 

Times of reflection, the 'ole phases. Not a good time to start anything new yet. We are well fed, and the rain has stopped. Maybe a nice walk now. 

La'aukukahi

 Sun, clear skies in mid-afternoon

 Shadows around the Quonset

 Brackens makawalu to their fully extended selves

A perfect day for drying clothes and feeling the gentle breeze and smelling the sweet freshness of a La'aukukahi * day after early morning rains are pau.

*This link takes you to an exceptionally delightful and informing early days interview with Kalei Nu'uhiwa (Tsuha) the woman most respected for her work in re-invigorating the study and practice of Kaulana Mahina the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. I recommend reading the entire article written by Paul Wood.