Messages...

Our Ancestors had a cultural practice that involved communication and consult with the Spirit World. Mary Kawena Pukui wrote about her experiences, and this documented practice, in Kā'ū on Hawai'i Island. Her mo'opuna, La'akea, also wrote about it in an article in more recent times. It was the practice of being a Medium or Oracle.

A chosen family member would become the Haka upon which an ancestral Spirit would "noho" or "perch" upon their shoulders and speak through them. An ancestor on the Otherside of the Veil could communicate with the living 'ohana, sharing such advice such as an approaching famine, and instructing the 'ohana to grow extra 'uala, or sweet potatoes. It was the guidance of Love that never died with the physical body.

Not only could one serve as a channel or voice for ancestral family members, but some could also communicate with Divine Beings beyond our Planet and World, but in our Shared Universe, sometimes beyond our Human understanding and comprehension.

These practices continue to this day. I have been humbled to my core to bear witness to these teachings. Beautiful selfless Gifted Friends are sharing messages with all who will hear. They reaffirm my own experiences, and softly and gently fill in voids in my understandings of my own Journey and Purpose here.

There are also teachers right here on Earth. Not always of human form, but of Nature. Plants. Animals. Rocks. Flowing Water. Winds. The Elementals. And of course, Mother Earth, herself. Her Beautiful Life-Sustaining Precious Tender Self.

The other morning, during my shower, I was staring out my little window towards Diamond Head, overlooking the quiet streets. I entered my Prayer and was lost in thought, as flowing words filled with Humility and Gratitude, streamed forth in soft undertones, over the city.

Suddenly, a solitary pair of Manu o Kū, or White Fairy Terns, caught my eye. I noticed that where I usually would see anywhere from on average six to upwards of twenty of these white birds soaring in and around their nesting trees, during my morning shower, it was eerily quiet but for these two.

I paused my pious utterances.

I then noticed that the streets also seemed unusually empty. Whereas I would see a few cars here and there driving in my expansive view, from almost thirty-stories up, of the roads, apartments, houses and businesses towards Diamond Head, during these "Shelter in Place" times, I didn't notice any vehicles driving, nor any pedestrians walking around either in their usual sojourns. 

It was eerily still and abnormally quiet.

I watched the two love birds, soaring and swooping, way up into the sky, and then dive-bombing back down, hundreds of feet, always in unison. A few feet apart at the most and seemingly at times, touching briefly.

I was mesmerized and my prayer stopped for the time being, as I absorbed these two Beautiful creatures. It seemed that all Life below, Human life, was hunkered down and sequestered inside homes and apartments, some in obedience, others out of Fear. Society had momentarily stopped. Yet, these two Beautiful Birds, soared through the air with such Freedom. With such Grace. With such Dignity. With such Love. Seemingly without a care in the World...

After about a minute or two, enraptured by their Beauty and Grace, and lost in thought, they disappeared from sight around the corner of my building and I snapped out of my daze. I regained my thoughts and composure, and apologized for the break in my Prayer and continued on where I had left off, as the warm shower water continued covering my back.

No sooner had I finished my prayer, a few minutes later, I was startled to see the two birds emerge suddenly from around the corner of my building, back into my view, and I watched them continue their sky dance, until they both plummeted out of sight, only to emerge suddenly right in front of me and my little portal to the outside World.

They rose together with great speed, and only about fifteen-feet in front of me, as they both stalled in the air, with their wings outstretched and directed towards each other. Like an aerial embrace, that didn't touch. It was like slow motion, as they slowly rose, floating and then became almost completely still, suspended for a brief moment, in what seemed like an Eternity. 

Then just as quickly as they appeared, they both dropped in unison and soared off towards the distant tree canopy lining Kalākaua Avenue, disappearing into the tree tops.

My first thought, as my Heart pounded, was that I had just missed the most Beautiful photographic capture ever. The way the two birds were suspended momentarily, wings outstretched towards each other, almost embracing, but not touching, like a social distancing hug, and backlit by the rising mid-morning Sun, and with Diamond Head in the background, would have made the most incredible photograph ever. 

I lamented quickly how I didn't have my camera anywhere near me to have had any remote chance of capturing the incredible and sublime vision that presented itself right in front of me. Nor could I have imagined sitting at my little window for hours waiting for such a capture. The photo with this post is from another day and time years ago and is only to help invoke in the Mind's Eye a fraction of the Beauty that I was humbled to witness.

Then without warning, the tears came. Flooded and poured down. I was surprised at the reaction and the Presence of Spirit. It was a guttural visceral reaction, welled up from deep within, from a distant past. Tears that delivered recognition, and a Healing at the same time.

Then I began to process what I had just witnessed. It was Divine. It was a Lesson. It was Guidance. It was Love...

The Beautiful Manu o Kū. So Resilient. So Delicately Powerful. Their residential presence on O'ahu is believed to have started in the sixties with one breeding pair at Koko Head, which has now grown to several thousand birds on O'ahu. Mostly in the crowded urban setting.

Not only do they survive. They thrive. They are such loving, devoted and caring parents to their young and to each other. Mother and Father relentlessly flying great distances to bring back sustenance for their babies. Watching protectively. Sheltering in wind and storms. Bringing forth Beautiful Life. Sometimes even two or more chicks in a given year.

I would see solitary birds soaring to and from the ocean. Sometimes two birds soaring about. Sometime three together. Even four at times. Dedicated 'ohana. Caring for each other. 

Spending the limited time in this short Ephemeral Life with Love, and in Love...

It resonated so deeply, that it immediately brought me to unexpected tears as those images and lessons flashed before me, visions that quickly expanded my Heart. All from simply witnessing their suspended wing embrace.

It resonated with what gifted friends and others have been sharing too. 

This is a time-out for Humanity. It took one of the smallest of Life forms to bring Countries, Governments, Industries, Economies, Militaries, and all the modern Societal constructs that relentlessly move forward, in the artificial value of money and relentlessly driven by competition and ego, to a time-out.

We are destroying our only Home in the Universe. Mother Earth. 

She is finally given a chance to Heal. All Life is given a chance. Not just ego-centric Humans. 

The Messages from Gifted Friends. This is a time for self-reflection. What do we Truly value in this short physical Life...and what lessons and experiences will we carry forward into Eternity... The Fate of Humanity Depends upon it...

If you had a minute to live. As some sadly do. What would you do? What would you say? To whom? What would you regret? What would you change if you could turn back the clock of time? Back at least one minute?

What if you were given a day to Live. As some are. What would you do?

A week? A month? A year? Five years? Twenty?

We should all live each day like it may be our last. For some, it sadly will be.

The message from the Manu o Kū...

Live Life to the Fullest Each Day. Make each Beautiful Moment count. Soar to the highest Highs, with your Spirit, powered by Love. Care for family. Care for strangers. Care for each other...

There is no Separation. We are all One People. Humanity.

In my Heart I know this is True, for my tears often flow and mix with a seeming stranger on the other side of the World...

We are all one Spirit. All Life.

We have forgotten our Relationship with Precious Mother Earth...

We have forgotten our Relationship with Each Other. 

And we have forgotten our Relationship with Ourselves...

We have simply Forgotten who we Are...

To survive and emerge from this seeming Nightmare, we must simply Remember...

Who We All Are...

With Love, Humility and Gratitude...

Mālama kekahi i kekahi...

Kāko'o kekahi i kekahi...

Aloha kekahi i kekahi...

Care for, Help and Love One Another...

Eternity is Forever...

A Most Beautiful Joyous Soul-Fulfilling Forever...