Village Gate

Library Hut

Article

Catching The Kahuna Wave
by Wayne Kealohi Powell

For centuries, the Hawaiian esoteric knowledge called Huna has been cloaked in secrecy because authorities in power both before and after Western contact sought to suppress it. Kahuna Harry Uhane Jim, co-author of a new book called Wise Secrets of Aloha, is a Native Hawaiian who wants to make these sacred traditions available to students before they die out entirely and the practices disappear forever. Kahuna Jim is also a master of "Temple Lomilomi" a traditional form of energetic massage passed down from many Hawaiian kahunas.

The People Of The Stars
In his book, Jim says that according to oral tradition the Hawaiians originally came from the Pleiades. "They came to live in the land we call Mu, which evolved into a nation we know of as Hawaii. They lived gracefully there with aloha (the living breath of God in and around us) that permeated all life. For eons, kahunas have travelled the seas, navigated by the stars, irrigated the fields with water, and lived by the oral tradition. Eventually, for some people the connection was lost; others however - the kahunas - remember because of the secret teachings passed from healer to healer."

Empowering The God Within
Lomilomi comes from the 'aina, the land, and there are many meanings and styles of Hawaiian healing called lomilomi. All of them are a form of prayer, connecting to a higher source for healing. Uncle Harry teaches that "Temple Lomilomi" is traditional Hawaiian medicine or bodywork, raised to the level of spiritual healing.

In today's world, lomilomi from all lineages and traditions is a fundamental tool for serving the spirit of aloha. Temple Lomilomi offers the receiver the empowerment of being a temple, and taking on the responsibility of committing to the spiritual practice of loving one's self as a path to enlightenment. In practice, it has less to do with massage, and everything to do with embarking on a journey that regenerates your wholeness from within. Assisted by guardian spirits, the Temple Lomilomi practitioner uncovers your innate innocence that arises from the memory and experience of being one with God.

Becoming A Kahuna
Kahunas were trained in nature, without paper and pen. Harry was trained in a family setting, and taught how to carefully observe nature, watching the wind dance with the waving palms, watching the sun and the ocean interacting with the wind to form waves, surf and clouds, watching the hawk fly high above the volcanoes.

Young kahunas learned the principles governing physical reality and the mystical ways of nature through kayaking and surfing, and just being attentive, watching and listening carefully. "Be quiet and watch" was the old Hawaiian way of teaching. They had a profound respect for, and love affair with, nature; it was their teacher, their friend and their sustainer.

There were very few words in the training of a kahuna, and keen observation and awareness of oneีs self, one's feelings, one's beliefs, and one's patterns were the entire focus of the instruction. A kahuna was trained solely in how to handle their self in their own universe, at all times, under all circumstances.

Uncle Harry teaches that the Hawaiian ancestors were the ones who never left paradise: "They brought it with them to the islands from interstellar space." Although there were many differences between traditional Hawaiian beliefs and those brought by the missionaries in the early 1800s, when Hawaiians heard them speak of Jesus' message they understood it, because they could sense that his heart was filled with warm aloha, the living breath of God. The Hawaiians had the same relationship to spirit that Jesus spoke about in his connection with his Heavenly Father. They knew well how this divine Light 'within' produces health, wealth and happiness 'without.'

Deep listening, keen observance and attentiveness with God, and merging with the elements, the kingdoms of plants, animals and humans, and the helper spirits, assists us in our healing and awakening. The dramatic land and seascapes of the Hawaiian islands are a perfect place for the for learning about the natural world.

Aligning With Grace
Uncle Harry says, "To Hawaiians, God is a verb, an action - not a noun or a name. Emotions, too, are actions. God's motive for creation was so that we can experience life more fully and get to know ourselves better. God was motivated to create so that we might find and achieve the ultimate expression of emotional maturity."

For a traditional Hawaiian, God was outside the thought categories of good-bad, right-wrong, and heaven-hell. They knew that the experience of revelation, truth, or inner knowing could only be accessed with the inclusion of the emotional body, the body of feeling and desire, through alignment using aloha, sharing the breath of Akua (God).

As human emotions evolve and mature, a person becomes a witness to grace and gratitude. Uncle Harry says, "Grace is the inalienable right of all beings to receive the light of God, the inalienable source of all healing. From the power of God comes this completely unconditional love, which heals and propels support. Grace is absolutely free. You don't have to do anything to get it. Grace is not something that can be taken away from you in the Hawaiian point of view.

You do have to acknowledge that you are human and humans have grace inalienable. It's really a re-membering that you have grace and thus going back to your authenticity of who you are. When grace appears in the consciousness, the natural response is gratitude.

When feeling through the present moment a person taps into the source of their being. In the open space of "vertical time," or "no- time," they are connected with the "cause" or "origin of life," and are able to merge and direct the very energy that holds reality in place. Through attentive study and diligent practice, one becomes aware of this energy; and as a lomilomi practitioner acquires the skills of physically shape shifting energy in the body, and moving it out of the body; the giver's comfort zone of everyday reality expands considerably and begins to radiate healing.

All of creation rejoices as the kahuna waves of love and peace spill over into their community. Huna, lomilomi, and the Hawaiian secrets of aloha are potent seeds of love, enlightenment, and peace for a world full of problems. A path of acceptance, forgiveness, and joy can eliminate much suffering from the world and our lives.

For more information on the Huna and Lomilomi teachings of Wayne Kealohi Powell and his wife, Patti, visit their website.