Pele

I first stepped foot on Hawaii in 2001. One of my oldest friends, Thomas, was living on the Big Island and encouraged me to come and visit. There was a Korean healer, Mr. Park, who he thought I would benefit from seeing. My traveling companion and I landed in Kona and planned on a few days of exploring before we met up with Thomas to see this Mr. Park. Before we arrived, Thomas warned me about the powers of Pele, the powerful Hawaiian goddess of volcano and fire, who created the Hawaiian islands. He let me know that she ruled Hawaii, her fire energy vibrating with the lower chakras. He made it clear that respect must be paid to her upon entry to her home.

I had never really felt that drawn to travel to Hawaii. I had been a Caribbean gal for well over decade. Whenever friends told me about the land of Aloha I would judgmentally dismiss the paradise they described. Sure Hawaii might be beautiful but it was not the majestic Caribbean. Over time, something shifted. My heart opened in a different way and one day I knew it was time to get to know the aloha spirit. Thomas had been living on several islands over the course of several years and finally I accepted his invitation to come and visit the intriguing Mr. Park. But he told me, the mana was strong on Hawaii and to be prepared.

I believed Thomas but took it with a grain of salt. I am always mindful and respectful when I travel. What could go wrong? Ha! Ms. Madam Pele let me know that very first night in Kona. In the middle of the night, I awoke with deep, almost unbearable belly pains. that lasted throughout the night An intuitive healer myself, I knew immediately the cause of was not physical. I knew that something in my core was being shook up by Ms. Pele. I knew that on the emotional, mental and spiritual levels there would be some shake up and healing to come, triggered by the volcano goddess and her connection to those energy centers within.

    When I met up with Thomas, one of the first things we did was go to Pele's home, the active volcano site, to offer her gifts. He informed me that greeting her was imperative to ensuring a positive visit to Hawaii. She liked flowers, he told me, so we picked some lovely Hawaiian flowers and gathered them together and left them for her, along with a prayer of gratitude for her immense strength and powers. Subsequently, my time with Mr. Park, the thermal pools, the ocean did lead to deep healing. Our time on the Big Island was so powerful that I returned just a short time later. Hawaii by then had planted herself in my heart and even though it would be too many years before I saw Pele in person again, I went on a dozen visits to the other islands that she created eons ago.

As part of the preparation to return to the Big Island after twenty years, this time with my daughters, I told the girls the story of Pele and the absolutely imperative ritual of bring her gifts upon our arrival or we might warrant her wrath. We talked about how we would do that. Amara decided to bring some acorns she found on the mainland. Havana would help in making a bouquet to lay at her feet. We would arrive at night, say a prayer to her, rest and recoup the following day but the day after, we had to make the two hour journey to see her. We could not delay much more than that. And that is what we did. The day of our trip across the island, Amara put her acorns in the car and Havana gathered flowers (thanking them for their contribution to our bouquet for Madame Pele).

Our visit to Pele, inside the National Park, was quite something. Sparsely visited due to Covid, the vast space with lava and then ocean and of course the enormous hole in the earth, where Pele lived, felt isolated and remote. Which in reality it was. We saw countless

plumes of smokes across the land and vents in the air that allowed for the steam from the volcano to be released into the air. The girls got a kick out of how warm it was and were thrilled to up close and personal to the very active volcano. We all were delighted by the multiple Nene sightings (the endangered, sacred national bird of Hawaii).  For all our travels to Hawaii, this one the first time we ever saw the Nene. Pele created a wonderous landscape, where nothing initially grew upon her birth but over the eons she has flourished with life in miracles and magnificent ways.

It was a long drive and a long day to see Madame Pele but we were all relieved to have been able to grace her with her gifts and to know that she knew we honored and respected her greatness. In return, we were blessed with a wonderful visit and were filled to our core with aloha vibration.