(Re)creating Sacred Space

"One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it."       

-Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés

 



Makali'i (The Pleiades)

Yesterday we spent most of the day, and part of the evening cleaning up the original Safety Pin Café: our Quonset. We live in tiny spaces, and perhaps, you'd think no problem, easy breezy cleaning time. After hours on the vacuum cleaner I heard the Master Elf say, "It takes as much time to clean an 8 x 12 as it does to clean a 'whole house.' " From the tops of the curved roof, down the fabric covered insulated mylar packets of shredded denim, into the dust-mite corners mingling with seasons of cat hair, and across the tiled floor the Master Elf cleaned. When MCS came the deep cleaning duties shifted; Mr. Master Elf carries most of those chores. I am his back-up and Mrs. Cooking Elf. I know. I am a lucky woman.

Our Quonset Hut is tucked under the Tall Trees, including the dear guardians the White Pine who are challenged by blister rot; their branches are turning rusty brown. I pray for them, hoping the larger of them can survive. We live with the Tall Trees and know that what happens to them affects us. We prepare for winter when the winds will come. We prepare for winter when it will be more damp and cold. Cleaning the original Safety Pin Café means we bring back the rugs and the layers of warmth to keep the small cooking-office-kitty bedroom-hanging out for eating and chatting space. We prepare for the winter and make time to (re)create sacred space for the new season, and new year.

 

Between the two blogs I write the internal and external art of being human spreads itself with words, images and practices pin together the journey.

 

From Here

From There

Across the Bridge

Into that Cave

With help from this voice

And a trip over that stick

 

From Here

From There

Across the Bridge

Into that Cave

With help from that keystroke

And that voice

 

........ this voice
(click to hear it)

We, Pete and I, have just listened to one of our favorite teachers, Kalei Nu'uhiwa speak about Kaulana Mahina, the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. The audio-broadcast we listened to was recorded in April, 2014 and was an updated version of information we first heard several years ago. What happens when one is open to noticing is ... the messages come!

When my husband and I began to count on the moon (Mahina) we were made receptive to recreating a life based on the need to survive. Not unlike the motivation our ancestors our kupuna had to be attentive and responsive to the Natural World to eat and procreate, the onset of a life-threatening illness cleared the way for counting on the Element(als). As we learned how, and when, to build a life that would sustain a healthy body and soul, we began by noticing the thirty phases of the moon and the wisdom of my Hawaiian ancestors who lived with the moon.

 



(click for a larger image)

 

We have practiced observation, and noted how we feel during the different phases of the moon. We have noticed how we (a Moon-rule Man, and a Saturn-ruled Woman) inter-relate during the different phases of the moon. We have shared what we learned through on-line workshops. All of these experiences have been trial-and-error journeys pinning information and personal observations while reaching out through the web of the cyber-world ... who else might want to know this stuff! We continue to practice. We continue to observe. We continue apply the knowledge. We grow.

 

The week-end cleaning and clearing of our Quonset, the original Safety Pin Café, was blessed with the shared experience of hearing Kalei Nu'uhiwa's mana'o (thoughts and philosophy) about Mahina the Moon. This space needed to hear the words, filling with the courage, humor, wishes and trust we need to keep on keepin' on. We needed the chant she shared. It a chant we can study together. It is one more of the one hundred songs, stories, or chants I need to learn to be a storyteller worth her salt. I am thrilled to be given the answers, the data, the chants.

...... this message
(click on it to see it and read the post I wrote on Makua O'o)

The rituals involved in becoming Makua O'o an elder in training took a significantly elevated left-turn when I met and began learning from Aunty Betty Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins. I was in need of a broader path, Aunty Betty offered me the practice of Makua O'o. Since then, my path has been a web of chaotic connections, perfected suited for my personal evolution. Could she or I have imagined the Quonset Hut, Vardo For Two, or the shared life with a former nun and a retired anthrologist? Not I. Aunty? I don't know for sure.

What is true for me, and my husband Pete, today is we live a full and grateful life. We live a life where Nature helps us, and often forces us, to notice what is important, and how to call for the data (chants) that will serve the greater good. My teachers today reveal the language and the protocol that have been tested over eons: the chants, the observation and the consequences are all there if I notice and apply the knowledge.

 

Akua willing Pete and I will pitch the tents of The Safety Pin Café one more time in October and share more stories. This time I will add a story about Makali'i (The Pleiades) and Makahiki (The Season of Peace, and time of Lono). With permission, and the support of the ancestors I will tell those who come a story about I'ole (the rat) and his experience with Makali'i. We will prepare for the season of peace, give thanks by asking what is needed, and invite the ancestors to be with us. We will ask our neighbors to come join us under the tent. We will ask the neighbors to create sacred space.

 

Stay tuned to be kept abreast of the details for
"Hana Hou Story Sunday" One More Time Story, 
one Sunday in October.