Village Gate

Hunamail 2005

HUNA HAPPENINGS Jan. 2005
Around the World

updated on the first of January, March, May, July, September and November

Stefanie Doll, our first Certified Dynamind Teacher, is starting a Dynamind Technique Center in Bad Krozingen, Gemany, in the spa Vita Classica Therme at the end of February, and Serge will give a presentation at the center in May. Steffi will do Dynamind lectures, seminars and sessions and there is space for 800 people at the center. She can be contacted at :

Aloha International's 31st Annual Makahiki Festival and Makahiki Conference were during the same time this year as the Advanced Huna Healing Training, so it was a chance for double the fun and knowledge! Shamans came from every corner of the globe to take workshops and share experiences as they met others who are doing their best to make this world a better place. It was a great, diverse group of people, many of whom had brought their children with them. We really had some good fun this year.

The orientation was quite lively - 37 people and 1 dog in our museum space, lots of children, high energy and high spirits all around. The dog, Elliott, belonged to August Rueggeberg, one of our Alakai from Germany, who came with his wife Sabina, also an Alakai, and their 4-year-old daughter Alea. Elliott is a guide dog and a very special being, quite psychic.

Also present from Germany were Alakai Petra Sittel and Dominik Chudzinsky, who spent part of their time in Hawaii on Maui studying with their Kumu Hula Roselle Bailey.

The Healer Training students were up early and down at the beach each morning to join in raising the sun, so some of their days were really long by the time the evening workshop was done. So much to do and learn and see!

Monday night's workshop followed a long hula rehearsal at Lydgate Park. Susan Pa'iniu Floyd and Fern Merle-Jones taught "Me Ke Aloha Nona", a sweet and simple Christmas hula written and choreographed by Kumu Hula Kawaikapuokalani Hewett. It talks about weaving a lei for the Baby Jesus from all the different flowers of the island - and has an additional meaning of respect for all of the different spiritual traditions active in the islands. Everybody did so well at learning this dance, it was awesome to see them get up at the Festival and give it back as a gift of their aloha. (Peggy had the most fun at this one! And wanted to dance the night away...)

Following a hula dress rehearsal, Tuesday night we all made haku (head) leis or table decorations for the Festival, again down in the Big Pavilion at Lydgate Park, led by Fern and Susan. We had collected laua'e ferns and ti leaves the morning before and asked the hula dancers to bring flowers and leaves, too. When the students arrived, the tables were covered with leaves! It looked like we had many more than we needed, but it turned out to be almost the right amount - and the leftovers were taken home to make even more leis. The lei we chose to teach was not particularly easy, even for experienced lei-makers! Again, the students and beginning hula dancers were awesome in their determination and persistance to learn a difficult skill and stay at it. We were blessed to have Kalena, David, and DeWayne helping us and playing music for us. DeWayne taught a mini-class of his own on the stage, helping several people with their leis one-on-one. Kalena played ipu and asked us to show him all our hulas, which we were happy to do.

Wednesday evening's activity was Talk Story and it was lively, with questions coming quickly and Serge responding just as quickly. Makahiki is a special time! The energy builds and builds as more old friends and family come in.

Makahiki Festival is spirit-filled blessing, friends and family together, making ti-leaf leis, great luau food provided by our fabulous cater Sandy of Fresh from the Garden, hula, singing, games, and a great raffle. It is like the biggest family party you could imagine and maybe even more fun! We had such cooperation and help from the community - everyone was so giving of their energies and care.

Friday evening's Chanting Workshop was held on the beach in Waimea. Darkness fell early, making it difficult to read handouts, so we got a real Hawaiian-style introduction to chanting. Call and response is the traditional way of teaching chanting. The teacher chants a phrase and you chant it back and this goes on until they hear it (more or less!) correctly. It's a good training in listening, and staying focused. As we were chanting, a big full moon rose up above the hills to the east and gradually lit up the beach. Beautiful Kauai.

Saturday afternoon, Lois and Earl Stokes led a Reader's Theater Workshop using hei, Hawaiian String Figures.

Sunday morning's workshop was on Psychic Communication and was led by August and Sabine Rueggeberg. Participants brought a flower of their choice to the workshop, which was later used in a psychometry exercise. While holding the flower, one student would describe feelings or statements about the student who brought it, and then get feedback from that person.

The Conference ended Sunday afternoon with a lively interactive workshop with Serge presenting some of the Maui legends. Each legend illustrated one of the 7 Principles of Huna. and the audience participated by acting them out. Hilarious! Learning can be fun!

Following Makahiki, Susan taught a Kino Mana 5 Teacher Training to a large group of enthusiastic students, many of whom came from Germany. Alakai Jutta Hahr assisted and translated the training into German. It was fun to see people that we had thought were naturally quiet blossom out into their own language with each other.

Alakai Mariko Kamimura from Japan was also here for this training and Alakai Don and Mary Kelly were also here from Maui during the conference.

The Aloha Fellowship is a membership association whose purpose is to support the Aloha Project. There are no dues, no fees, and no expiration for membership. To become a member and receive a lifetime membership card, all you have to do is make the following pledge:

"I pledge to do my best to make the world a better place."

You can join by sending an email with your pledge to huna@huna.org or by writing to