True Names, A Few Stories Over and Over Again

There was hail falling just awhile ago. Pellets hard and white it seemed unlikely, but that didn't make it untrue. There was hail falling just awhile ago.

I hear the sound of rain now, softer presence, the Heavens open up none the less, and there are names for all those many forms of fallings. Our Ancestors tell us we Kanaka (Hawaiians) don't say, 'God' or 'Gods'. Those are Western words. Instead Hawaiians name each particular Elemental by their names. In the traditional 'oli (chant) Na 'Aumakua (the Ancestors) which begins:

Na ‘Aumakua mai ka la hiki a ka la kau!
Mai ka ho’oku’i a ka halawai
Na ‘Aumakua ia Kahinakua, ia Kahina’alo

 Ancestors from the rising to the setting sun
From the zenith to the horizon
Ancestors who stand at our back and front
You who stand at our right hand

Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele tells us this chant is really speaking about the air that is all around us. The specific location of the air around us, is particular. Location (place) and what grew there/happens where are indicators of how observant our Ancestors were. And, they (the Ancestors who paid very specific attention) knew it was necessary to put all that 'dense science' into stories, or chants so more of the people would remember.

Our Ancestors who paid very specific attention, and remembered the 'dense science(s)' are kahuna. When I was a girl growing up in post WWII O'ahu kahuna was a word that frightened us kids. It frightened my mother too. Kids are porous they feel without knowing why. Yet now I know Ma's fears came from knowing somethings she hoped she could protect us from. Those were times to be very frightened. Occupied Hawaii then covered so many of the true names/truth because? Because there were few places and spaces safe enough to tell the few stories of meaning over and over again.

In the 1950's Hawaii, my family could not live in the valley two over, toward town (Honolulu). "Restricted real estate covenants." Translation, Haoles (Whites) only.

  "Hawaiian was the primary language of all islanders until the late 19th century. In 1893, the last reigning Hawaiian monarch, Queen Lili`uokalani, was overthrown by American forces. Soon thereafter, Hawaiian was banned as the language of instruction in all schools. That prohibition was finally officially lifted in 1986."- Source

That reality of banning Mother Tongue until 1986 (I was born in 1947; my Ma in 1918) bred fears and dreams without meaning like low-grade fevers and collective PTSD. It's no wonder to me, at this stage of my journey, that my kuleana is to tell a few stories over and over again to make new truth.

There is also another reality timely as The Virus threatens not just the millions of humans who will die from it.  The threat comes from the latest inaccurate truth that could spill over, leak out into more low-grade fevers and collective PTSD. As we all learn to live in an Upside-down Time it is so easy to slip on the banana peel of other's truths.

Yesterday's post "Naming in an Upside-down Time" was written while a fever began rising in me. The heat still comes and goes. The thing is I've been feverish for a month, and last night as I wrote the fever built to a new height and delirium. And yet? And yet the clarity of meaning rained down. That fever was an entanglement of memory with the present. One symptom: fever, pointed to something going on again. A virus is not alive. But it can steal. My body is in wahine toa mode (warrior woman). What stole once comes with a 'scent' active with this new invasion. My body is fighting back; immune system still works.

If I listened and responded to 'conventional medical wisdom' I would reach for aspirin to bring my temperature down. I haven't been 'conventional' for a long, long time. And with the information and mentors to teach us otherwise, Pete and I learned STAY AWAY FROM ASPIRIN! Period.

My warrior nature has tempered more like silver to match my hair. This Upside-Down Time ought to incite more of us to pay more particular attention to what is true, for us, in particular and real ways. Yes, we are being inconvenienced. Yes, we are all learning to lay down new grooves in our set and once particular ways. Yes, those grooves are likely to be scratched more than once before the long playing record is done. But the nature of Nature is the True Name and she and her many, many Elemental Family Members have particular grooves. And they have long memories.

It's not all about warrior or wahine toa mode, but, it's important to know what yours feels like ... to act. And yes, there are many ways. It's the kuleana thing, again. 

The repetition of words here. The over and over again rhythm of telling. Is a technique. A story teller's technique to help humans (who have a tendency to forget) remember what is true. Story Medicine. Medicine Story. Mana papalua. Truth that stands in the shadows.

Are there true stories that you tell over and over again? There's room here for them,  how does one of yours begin?

RELATED LINKS & POST:
"Sacredness of Mauna Kea: Pua Kanahele YOUTUBE"
"Aurora Levins Morales on Patreon"
"Naming in an Upside-down Time"