A Hawaiian Exploring the Divine Feminine
Hawaiians. They were a voyaging culture. Like the Vikings before them, warriors and explorers. They listened to the natural elements to gain knowledge of conditions. Internalized what the earth, sky, moon, stars, and sea were whispering to them. Calling on their ancestors for guidance. Practicing the intuitive way of hearing what Akua, or God, was communicating to them. These are the old ways, the ways we in this modern world have forgotten. To look at the signs around us and within us. Signs that will only present themselves when you have quieted enough to hear them. To hear the language of God.
These old ways of listening were known at some point in every culture on earth. And some cultures still practice these ways with meditation, yoga, prayer, and being one with nature. When the white people arrived on the Hawaiian Islands they thought to educate the Hawaiians, thinking them primitive. Little did they know that when they were not speaking, they were listening. When they walked in the taro patches, and swam in the sea, or fished or hunted they were receiving messages from nature i.e. the divine. But the whites were no longer familiar with the language of nonverbal communication with nature, God, and the ancestors. They had forgotten this knowledge. And misinterpreted the Hawaiian’s simple ways as uneducated.
Now, over 200 years later, a fraction of time measured in the history of other cultures, we can take a look at what we have "accomplished" since stepping foot on the Hawaiian islands. After walking the path that the whites lead to the modern world, we know now that we have lost precious ways of being. We are currently experiencing what I call, the Hawaiian renaissance. A reemergence of Hawaiian traditions. Lei making, hat weaving, taro farming, hula, the Hawaiian language, star navigation, and so much more. Of course, the Hawaiians always knew what they lost and have tried to hold onto this knowledge. But as the renaissance takes place, people on the islands, of all breeds, and those not living on these islands are yearning for this knowledge. This is because we realize now what we lost, and are desperately wanting it back. The indigenous Polynesian culture’s ways are precious and we all recognize now what we lost. Throughout 1st world cultures, we have become angry, money-hungry, depressed, and lost. We now recognize that the only way to go forward is to go back. To try and recover this ancient knowledge. This God-language.
I am both a white person and a Hawaiian. Like many here, we have mixed backgrounds. The Hawaiian bloodline is angry by what has been lost to them. But most are mixed with caucasian in their line as well. And so in that bloodline, we must beg for forgiveness for the wrongs our ancestors have made. My mentioning the effect of the whites on the Hawaiians is not intended to insult anyone, just simply to reflect on history so we know how we came to our current state. And what we can learn from the path we have walked. What we have done right and what we have done wrong. There are many at odds with each other in the world today. Many disagreements. I feel I want to bypass the arguments and go straight to learning a better way of being human. Learn from the mistakes of the past, for we have made many, and get to a better future right away. For our keiki, for our 'aina, and for our future. I see the answers in the divine. In the peace that the quiet brings to our heart and soul. In the knowledge that faith and surrender bring. In that quiet relationship with God where we can hear the whispers of land and sea, stars and sky, Spirit and Ancestors, and of course my favorite Goddess Hina.
To do so we need to seek knowledge from cultures or people that still remember this way to communicate and learn. This quest has brought me to studying the divine feminine and Hawaiian Goddess Hina, the epitome of the sacred feminine. Hina is not just a Polynesian Goddess but is also known in Japanese culture, Buddhist, and Hindu cultures. In Old Norse, they called her Mani. The Egyptians worshiped Isis, the goddess of love, healing, fertility, magic, and the moon. In all cultures, the moon seems to be associated with a feminine energy.
Goddess spirituality isn’t a new concept. It’s been around since the beginning of time. Worship of the Divine Feminine fizzled out after the rise of the Church in the Dark Ages. Although Christians had a divine feminine in Mother Mary as divine mother. Since ancient times there has been the yin and the yang which to me is equal counterparts like the man and the woman. Honoring the sacred feminine in the spiritual sense means valuing the feminine principle, along with the masculine principle, as equal and fundamental aspects of the Divine.
And so we begin the exploration through this blog of Awakening the Divine Feminine within us. Through the study and exploration of femininity, of the ancient teachings of the Sacred Feminine and the Hawaiian Goddess Hina.
- Nicci
