Kaulana Mahina ... three anahulu (weeks) of ten phases

 

Mahealani Moon (March 5, 2015)

From our vardo in the woods it was easy to believe the hazy cloud cover would cloak Mahealani. We lingered, hesitant to leave the warm futon. According to the chart the moon would rise at around 6:20. The cellphone read 6:05. "Let's go," Pete finally said still holding his favorite deck of cards. He had quietly wanted, and waited all day long for this rising; "Mahealani is the most beautiful name."

Mahealani rises just after the sun sets. We couldn't see any sign of ka la's set from our wooden canopy of a home. But we climbed into the Subaru dressed for cool temperatures and hoped that the sky would be clear.

Mahealani rewarded us with this ...

Our friend Prescott and Pete. The temperature was cool, probably high 30's or 40 degrees. There was lots of kehau (moisture) in the grass, my sandaled and sock-covered feet were chilled before the watching was over. 

In the sky along with the Mahealani moon we spied the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Mars and Uranus in the sign of Aries. Orion's belt appeared quickly western sky as well. Makali'i (The Pleiades) was with us as well; I waved to my Ancestors there.

A great dark and open sky opens above the land here at The Tilth. This is our ma uka (upland) moon spot. The Sunlight Beach shore, our ma kai (at the beach) spot.

Through our farmer friend Jody Crane's farm stand the glazy halo of light around Mahealani framed the common magic of a moon rising ma uka (up mountain) at the South Whidbey Tilth grounds

 

Hoku (March 4, 2015) ... one of the full moons of The Hawaiian Moon Calendar

A chevron of geese flew above us as we prepared to leave the beach. Canadian Geese or Brants? We did not agree.

She is higher in the sky here, and my brilliant in this place

THERE SHE IS! From the hazy sky, and behind the fingers of that yet to leaf tree came Mahina

Hoku Moon is a time when Mahina the moon rises just as the sun is setting.

The evidence of many different kinds of feet is one of the favorite observations I find here at Sunlight Beach.

The inside cove of brackish water where many water fowl love to be year round appeared to have a 'bloom' suggesting that which is happening above (on land) is happening below (in ke kai, the water)

The sky is hazy. The temperature cool, in the mid to low thirties at night.

Scotch Broom ... my least favorite blossom, and inciter of difficult symptoms, is already blossoming. 'Aue.

Laukahi (Plantain) is freshly greening in the parking lot of the public access

We drove to Sunlight Beach not far from our home in the woods of Langley. A few friends joined us for Mahina's rise. Hoku is considered by some Hawaiian Lunar practitioners as the full moon. There are more than one arrangements of the Hawaiian calendar, and therefore, many ways to count the phases. According to the opening notes in Kealopiko's Moon Phase Project journal "At least 34 different historical arrangements of Hawaiian lunar months have been discovered." Our teachers have been very generous in their remembering and naming of the lunar phases. And, for Pete and me "Hoku" is pretty full though if you look very closely on a Hoku night there is a very slight missing light in her left-hand lower corner. But, hey, look at her for yourself and decide.

It was a wonderful evening of unexpected conversation, accidents, appreciations and observations. We met two new neighbors and joined old friends; observed the return of one of my favorite healing herbs; noted the very early arrival of my least favorite flowering 'invader'; and spent more time with the very brilliant Mahina.

If the skies are willing we will travel the short distance out of the woods and to the South Whidbey Tilth land to view the Mahealani Moon tonight. 

What are you seeing on these full moons?

Mele Helu PO (Hawaiian Moon Phase Names)

As we begin again journeying in the cyber wa'a (internet canoe) guided by the phases of the Hawaiian Moon, this YouTube is such a fun way to learn the thirty names.


NĀ PŌ (HAWAIIAN MOON CHANT)

Kamali’i ‘ike ‘ole I ka helu po
Little children who cannot count the nights
Muku Nei, muku, ka malama
Muku is here, Muku the dark moon
Hilo nei, kau ka Hoaka
Hilo, followed by Hoaka
‘Eha ku, ‘Eha ‘ole, eae
Four ku, four ‘ole
Huna, Mohalu, Hua, Akua
Huna, Mohalu, Hua, Akua
Hoku, Mahealani, eae
Hoku (“star”- full moon) Mahealani
Kulua
Kulua
Ekolu la’au, ekolu ‘ole, ekolu kaloa, eae
Three La’au, three ‘ole, three kaloa
Kane, lono, mauli eae
Kane, Lono, Mauli

Huna Moon (Monday, March 2, 2015)

The winds were blowing, and high in the sky I spotted soaring wings. Hawk or Eagle? At one point I saw the white head and knew it Eagle.

The Salmon Berries are blossoming in the woods.

Wild huckleberries are blossoming also

The Asian Pear is blossoming, too

Hawthorne bush ... the light green sprouts are out

Behind the Elderberry sprouts the Plum Tree is in full bloom

Raspberry canes are sprouting

Eagle again, seemingly a long way away from our orchard, it was a day of strong wings and the kind of wind for feathered hunters. One of our chickens was hunted. A hawk ate one of our red hens. Spring is a time for newbird ... babies in nests, parents hunt.

Hilo 'Ia a Pa'a ... braiding a tight cord of knowledge ... A New Year of Counting on the Moon

Aloha and Welina kakou,

Welcome (back) to the on-line workshop wa'a where we began to explore the practical, personal and collective journey of using the Hawaiian Moon Calendar to notice our relationship with Mahina, the Moon. Back in 2011 my husband Pete and I created this blog and this virtual space to share our practice of living with the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. We were newly excited and informed (in the early years of practice) by the renewed value that my kupuna my ancestors knew to be 'sustainable practices' of being Earth and Heaven influenced beings. My kupuna related to the whole of creation as surely as they understood that water and air are necessary for life.

Contemporary life has distracted us, most of us, from the values and practices that are foundational -- that is, some things are greater than ourselves, our believed entitlements. In 2007 those distractions and beliefs that were my world washed out with the tide. Homeless. Health bereft. Humbled. While we relearned what was sustainable, Mahina the Hawaiian Moon rose from the ocean over the horizon off the Eastern shore of O'ahu as we made our bed for the night. From our car which was our home for many months at that time, Pete and I literally began our journey of counting on the moon. We have rebuilt a life, and rooted ourselves in a new island-based community in South Whidbey Island in the Salish Sea (Pacific Northwest America/Washington state). Our practices as elders in training (Makua o'o) are magic made manifest like the braided cord.

Hilo 'Ia a Pa'a ... the phase comes from the Moon Phase Project. I'm using it here to describe the noticing and journaling process we wish to encourage as the Lunar New Year of the Green Goat (Chinese New Year) is freshly beginning. We will be braiding the knowledge of noticing what happens where we (you, me, all you gathering here) live while Mahina, the Moon, is in the thirty phases of light and darkness.


For the next twelve months, beginning with March, 2015 we will:

Notice
Share
Record
and then

Compare and consider the implications of climatic conditions/changes for us as Indigenous Peoples. We are all Indigenous to the place we call home. If we will notice what Nature is doing where we live we will braid a tight cord of knowledge that can become wisdom if we apply what we have observed.


On September 23-27, 2015, a Pacific wide lunar conference called "Aimalama" will be held at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on the island of O'ahu. Kalei Nuuhiwa's website describes the upcoming conference here.


What we would like to do here with this Count on the Moon blog/on-line workshop is involve people in the process of making connections between moon phases and growing/Nature's 'output' to prepare us for inclusion (in a meaningful fashion) with other practitioners throughout the Pacific.


From our community in South Whidbey Island in the Pacific Northwest we invite you to join us. Please come back often, and interact with us from wherever on the Planet you are.



How exciting it is to work hard at something that will sustain and feed you.


Aloha,
Mokihana and Pete

Begin again ... A NEW YEAR, 2012 ... The Year of the Dragon

Hauoli Makahiki Hou,

We prepare for the coming new year, a cycle of time marked by the journey of Papa Honua, our Earth around Ka La, the sun and the simultaneous journey of Mahina the moon around Papa Honua.  This blog began in 2011 as a venture into exploring the observational, first-hand experiences of 'counting on the moon' and tuning into the subtle and powerful cycles that are lunar or moon-tuned.  The stories, and storytellers included in the workshops focused on Mahina opened the way for us.  A small wa'a boarded by a few curious paddlers began the voyage that lasted six months.  All of us have grown in some measure as a result.  There is always more, but, the lessons of each present, each experience hones our destiny, shores up our connections with All, and provide us with questions we have yet to pose.


Aloha,
Mokihana and Pete

http://www.wpcouncil.org/indigenous/Indigenous_Display-1.pdf