The past two weeks have been a wondrous stream of ceremonial activity. I feel I have deeply shifted from one level of creating Ceremony to a whole new and wondrous place of deep trust, connectedness and immense feminine power. A very real power that is inherently united with love and wisdom, a trio of themes that interconnect all aspects of Life. As my co-teacher and I led our womyn students through a path of Power, Love, Wisdom and Integration we found these qualities reverberating through our own lives…

This past month, the month of Wisdom, I created much Ceremony. The turning point, though, was no doubt the Seven Directions Mystic Alchemy journey on March 1st. Seven gorgeous, loving, divine womyn and I began our voyage on the eastern side of the Big Island in Kaimu.  We ventured into the dawn where Shaella Noella called in the East and we were met with a full rainbow arching in the rising sun, the promise of a sublime day. We made our first synergetic essence, my first making of a flower essence ever, and it felt so natural and lovely to pluck fresh flowers in new day’s light and cast them into the shimmering water of a crystal bowl. Blessed by the rainbow, our prayers, songs and intentions to create a series of essences in each direction, we then bottled the essence and carried on to our next destination.

We worked our way around the island, traipsing from place to place in our wild gypsy clothes, aboard the comfortable Tsunami blue van resting, singing, chanting and loving…as only a group of womyn can do. We made our way to the steam vents where we called in the depth of Below guided by Angela and the passion of Pele breathing her way into our bodies shining in the new morning. We filled the crystal bowl with the surrounding flowers and rocks, creating an essence of strength and beauty. After the steam vents came Kilauea Crater where our group sat in silence, honoring the center, quietly celebrating Pele and her power, her magic; creating an essence from the peculiar plants that grow alongside the crater of Hale Ma’u Ma’u.

Priestess Amy called in the South with brilliance, fire and power at South Point, overlooking the endless Pacific blue.  As we drove around the island to the West, our journey was accompanied by the vibrations of the shruti, chanting, escaping nipples and raucous womyn laughter. At Kua Bay I called in the West and drummed over our glass bowl of coral, sand, beach plants and flowers, the essence of Kanaloa and Yemaya. We completed our journey on Mauna Kea where Suzanne Breeze called the North, after plucking geranium blossoms from a bush on the mountain. As the scent of the flowers filled the van, she told us it was her Grandmother’s favorite flower, a  connection to her ancestors and the wisdom of the Grandmothers. At last, TreeStar called the above, using the sacred skullcap bowl, inviting in the Sky beings and crystalline airs. In the night, the foggy air swirled around us, casting an enchanting mystical resonance through our bones and blood as we completed our incredible journey of creating essences.

Returning home, I slept soundly then awoke and spent the next four days teaching Reiki. I made my own first synergy flower essence with my Reiki class, blessed by the attunements. Steeped in wisdom I have since created a lot of ceremony since: Reiki One and Two attunements, walking the Labyrinth with our Sacred Feminine Intensive class, visiting the Yoni cave and recently, performing a handfasting for  friends.

I have certainly been filling my role as Priestess! My ceremony work has become increasingly more magical, more spontaneous and so wondrously blessed by this incredible island. In the Yoni cave I met an intense medicine, a powerful imprint of Pele and am slowly beginning to integrate the full meanings of such Power, Love and Wisdom.

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Yesterday was our annual Winter Solstice Celebration, to honor the return of light from dark. Since we are still living in the tropics, we do a daytime ritual to celebrate the light of the New Year. This year we were blessed with an incredible group of people who were enthused to participate and play the roles of: High Priestess, Goddesses of the Elements and Directions, a lively Sun King and Leon and I as Earth Mother and Sky Father.

After we called in the sacred space, awoke the High Priestess as Goddess and summoned our Sun King with songs and music, we each took a turn through the ritual process of cleansing and rebirth. One by one, each person took a turn at the fire with the Goddess of the South to write down what we wanted to let go of. Then we walked through the passage of flowers to the palm frond cave where we chose a seed and set our intention for the new year, honored by the Goddess of the North. Finally, each person returned to the circle to be washed anew by by the Goddess of the West and her attending Water Fairies, reentered the circle, embraced by the High Priestess and given as small token of power.

>In Hawai’i, I am finding that we are exposed to a variety of teachers and masters who come through to give offerings to Pele of Hawai’i and share their wisdom with locals and guests alike. This past weekend I received a wonderful healing and blessing from two Inkan Master Healers in the south district of Ka’u on the Big Island, Hawai’i.

I drove down with a friend and Yoko, leaving the lush, humid Puna coast, climbing up Kilauea mountain where the active volcano is continuously pouring lava out onto the mountain, down the slopes into the sea. This island is famous for its micro climates and it really is stunning how you can flow from wet to dry, lush to desolate, ocean to mountaintop in a matter of minutes.

We stopped at Punalu’u beach where sea turtles, or Honu, make their home munching endlessly on the tasty seaweed that grows on black lava rocks. The black sand is hot and clings to your skin here, shining in the sun as the locals swim in the freezing cold Pacific indigo water, counting turles. Yoko hopped around amongst yellow sea butterflies, digging trails in the sand. Seeing the massive turtles pull themselves up onto the beach is amazing to me, even if it is commonplace for Hawai’i!

Anyway, we arrived in at the orchards where the ceremony was held, a despacho or offering, made to Mother Earth known as Panchamama by these extraordinary Master Healers. They came from the Andes mountains in Peru, brought by their faithful student who resides in Hawai’i, to share their knowledge with others and co-mingle spiritual energy with Hawai’i. The couple, who have been together for over fifty years, practicing healing and spiritual work, hail from the Q’ero Nation of Peru, some of the last pure descendants of the Inkan people. Their village is only 400 people and we were told that these two, who must be in their 70s, are of the last of the elders still living!

Indeed, I felt very blessed to be a part of the ceremony. We were given cocoa leaves while the couple built a beautiful mandala-like offering with flowers, candles, seeds, leaves, grain and candies, blowing their spirit breath continously into the offerings. Several pairs of red and white objects were laid into the despacho, the red symbolizing Mother Earth, Panchamama and her Spirit and the white symbolizing the Masculine, male spirits of the Mountains. They were assisted by two Hawai’ians, one woman and one man, effectively weaving the traditional flowers of this place and the colors of the two countries flags together. This was moving, to say the least. After we blew our own dedication to Mother Earth into the cocoa leaves, we gave them to the Healers to put in the offering. We were then given maize to blow our desires or wishes and put them ourselves into the despacho, alongside two crisp hundred dollar bills. Practical wishes of business going well, along with the spiritual, amused me and seemed just right!

Finally, after an hour or more of this, with lots of breath and connectedness, the despacho was filled. Yoko had fallen completely asleep and I carried her to the fire that was made to receive the offering. As it was thrown in and burning, our circle of people, mostly from Ka’u, I suppose, and the Peruvian couple hugged one another other in joy. He played the flute and the Hawai’ian man played the conch shell as we let our offering sing itself back to Mother Earth.

I am so thankful to be living in this incredibly rich, interesting place, a place abundant with beautiful nature and wondrous people drifting onto and off this magical island. If you want to know more about these lovely Peruvians and their work, please visit
http://www.inka-online.com/

Aloha…