Spring Equinox, Ka Piko o Wakea: Good Time to Re-open The Safety Pin Cafe

We were at the Muliwai yesterday at noon, at our favorite beach where fresh and salt water, sea birds and many two-legged ones like Pete and me love to be. It has been a harsh winter a time of darkness and a time of deeply reconsidering the gift of life and how to appreciate being where we are. The Safety Pin Cafe opens after reconsidering putting an end to this blog that began as story medicine. Instead I see it was a winter hiatus, refreshed am I with faith in Spring re-aligned as the sun and moon equalize.  The Spring Equinox or Ka Piko o Wakea in the Hawaiian culture is today, March 20, 2017, a good time to acknowledge our connectivity, do ceremony to ask for help from the 'aumakua, the family gods and the Elementals. Kalei Nuuhiwi wrote this on the Hui 'Aimalama FB page yesterday evening:

"... Today is the first day of about 4 or 5 days when observation of the sun's entry into the Kūwā, the in-between, occurs. In Hawaiʻi, it is a time when both Kanaloa and Kane rule over the sky equally along the apex of Wākeaʻs space. Sometimes the term Kāneloa is applied to this event.
Itʻs Spring equinox back home in Hawaiʻi and Fall equinox here in NZ. I guess itʻll be both sets of pule to cover both seasons.
Fun fact, if u leave an egg out till it's room temperature you can actually make the egg stand upright. If u understand heiau, u know y this is a big deal.
Anyway Gangeh....I wish u all a manaful day of realignments, access to mana and building a balanced heiau during the strong earthly polarity of this time."

 ~*~

Mahalo nui e Kalei. I feel blessed to be connected via this spider's web called the Internet. Another reason to keep The Safety Pin Cafe open!

In the short video above we look closely at the pohaku li'ili'i the small rocks and the limu 'ulahea the faded red seaweed. That's Pete talking about this water, keia wai.

I recorded and posted the chant "Pule Hou'ulu'ulu" or "Na 'Aumakua" on FB while I stood just inside our vardo front door. Holding my little camera as I faced East over the threshold of our tiny home welcoming the rising sun, I called to my 'aumakua my family gods, my ancestors from all directions.

The words and translation are here:

Na 'Aumakua

Na ‘Aumakua or Pule Ho'uluulu
*Adapted from Hawaiian Antiquities by David Malo

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
Ia ka’a ‘akau i ka lani
‘O kiha i ka lani
‘Owe i ka lani
Nunulu i ka lani
Kaholo i ka lani
Eia na pulapula a ‘oukou ‘o ka 'ohana Calizar ( insert your family name) 
E malama ‘oukou ia makou
E ulu i ka lani
E ulu i ka honua
*E ulu i ka pae’aina o Hawai’i a me ke'ia moku o Salish
E ho mai i ka ‘ike
E ho mai i ka ikaika
E ho mai i ke akamai
E ho mai i ka maopopo pono
E ho mai i ka ‘ike papalua
E ho mai i ka mana.
‘Amama ua noa.

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
A breathing in the heavens
An utterance in the heavens
A clear, ringing voice in the heavens
A voice reverberating in the heavens
Here are your descendants, the (name of your family)
Safeguard us
That we may flourish in the heavens
That we may flourish on earth
That we may flourish in the Hawaiian islands and in this Salish island
Grant us knowledge
Grant us strength
Grant us intelligence
Grant us understanding
Grant us insight
Grant us power
The prayer is lifted, it is free.