Medicine Stories: The Safety Pin Cafe Series

"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 unstamped 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." - from the "Introduction" to The Safety Pin Cafe

I am a navigator and translator; a storyteller. I was born to Helen Mokihana Amona and David Calizar, my Hawaiian-Chinese mother and Filipino father. Raised in an island culture overlaid with  American values that systematically confused or usurped the culture of the Kanaka Maoli the indigenous people so much of my early years was lived out of balance and infused with conflict and drama. Sorting out the lessons I hid from the magic that was always there, and found many clues in my dreams. Those clues led me on a lifetime of voyaging, seeking out the secrets, digging into my internal worlds and sniffing for pono (harmony) but more often getting caught in the chaos of potential. From that voyaging I have found talismans, metaphor and art to safely pin together stories that transformed. Experience truly is the only teacher who by-passes logic as well as emotional theatrics, how lucky I am to have a life to navigate. How fortunate to know I have ancestors who serve as guides, muses, and tricksters. As my birthday approaches it's a fitting time to celebrate the gift of story, the gift of my kuleana -- my life's path. Story is one human kinds oldest and universal salves.

The first medicine story was a birthday gift. One story eventually led to a second, and then a third; and finally, a fourth. These Medicine Stories tell of journeys. The routes are common and simple; crossing borders of real and fantasy. The characters shift, they are called by many names, and within the listener/reader vision changes, inviting scents to flavor time. Some will be discomforted by the medicine. But the stories will do no harm, if you but keep your heart peeled and not let your head ride off with your imagination a window will become a door. Open it like you would a gate, step through and in, or out, you go!

Sip at the stories.
Slurp them if they make you.
Savor each bit if you are a soup maker and know how the marrow is pulled from bones.

And, when you have finished and the medicine works itself within your life pass the story along.

Aloha,
Mokihana


THE SERIES

The Safety Pin Cafe
It all started on a day a duck could love. Winter in the Pacific Northwest. No longer young, my resistance nature was being tested again as the wet and cold made tiny home living one more winter of challenge. Illness calls for its own internal healer, and often the homeo-practical approach is the one that works best. A brass safety pin lying on the floor of our little post office was the dose of medicine with my name on it. The medicine stories from The Safety Pin Cafe began.

The Joy Weed Journal 
The following winter, a second story began to write itself. This one deepens the connection of culture and timelessness as Pale Wawae, the Border Witch births an unexpected legacy.  

Mend, Meddle, Magic
The third story in what looks to be a trilogy began while The Joy Weed Journal was being read by a small group and interactive audience. This one might be my favorite. With old characters continuing to grow, and age, new characters and a younger generation offers hope for an incredibly buoyant  future.

Pale in Purple
When it was time for Pale Wawae aka Joy Weed to step into the flood of time she wore a purple hibiscus, instead of red. This concluding chapter is a net thrown wide to catch ancient pasts and potential futures. Try to its original intent, the series of stories born from a safety pin attach one thing to another and hold both in place with a guarded pin to keep (most) injury from the characters and the reader.