Speaker 1 (00:16):
Aloha. This is Rosa McAllister and this is the nNetworks' monthly Healing Circle Call. It is Monday, September 4th, 2023, at 2 o'clock here in Hawaii, where I live, and 8:00 PM Eastern time where, um ... on the East Coast, and I'm not sure what time it is where you might be. But for those of you who are attending tonight with me, welcome and aloha. For those of you who might be joining in at another time and date, because we're recording these, um, aloha to you too and thank you for joining. Mahalo for joining us. So yes, I live in the beautiful state of Hawaii, the 50th state of the United States of America, and I live in Maui, Hawaii, and I live abo- ... on the West side of Maui, above the Lāhainā town which, just four weeks ago tomorrow, burnt to the ground. Virtually the entire historic town burnt to the ground. Many lives were lost, there are still hundreds, something, maybe thousands who are still missing, and it's estimated that we probably will never know their fate.

(01:33):
The fire was voracious, to say the least. It was fierce, it was horrible. Um, the winds the day before were like nothing I've ever experienced. Sunny and bright, beautiful Maui day, but the winds were gale-force winds and they lasted for over 30 hours. The wind would blow in one direction, and then the other, and then the other, and then the other. It was constant. There were gusts that were stronger, but even the so-called regular wind was way more than we ever see with our wonderful trade winds, which are natural air conditioners here, as we like to call them. This wind was fueled by a hurricane that was just below our string of islands, and by I think it was a low pressure system that was above our islands, and it was a conversion for, some would say sacred energy, some would say fierce energy, some would say tumultuous energy, like nothing we've ever seen and experienced. There's conspiracy theories and all kinds of crap, frankly, that's circulating - lies, and judgements, and rumors that are circulating and getting people very, very upset, more upset than they already are.

(02:54):
We, um, have been experiencing many, many emotions. Um, in all honesty, this is the first that I'm really talking about it out loud to the public. Um, I've had many private conversations with my family, with a couple of friends, but honestly I haven't even talked with many people. It's still so raw, it's still so hurting, it's still so devastating, is the word that keeps getting used. And it's true, the fires were devastating. It devastated lives in so many ways. It's devastated the future of Lāhainā. It's devastated, um, issues that we have moving forward. It has caused family members and others to feel one thing should be done, no, another thing should be done, to be bickering and arguing, and lots of emotions. Lots and lots of emotions.

(03:58):
We've been helping out at our local little park just right up the road from me, Honokowai Park. Yesterday, I was there doing some healing physical sessions - Lomi Lomi massaage, Reiki - whatever I could to some of the workers there who had been working 24/7 since the fires happened.

(04:19):
Um, and then as more wellness, healing people arrived, Hawaiians mostly, I backed off because this is their island, this is their way. And while I've been here full time now for 14 years, living in this amazing community, and while I think that I'm welcomed by most and accepted by most, um, this is their island and I am a guest here. I am still a visitor even though I've lived here this long. Um, I try to be as respectful as I possibly can in what I do and what I offer. And we had been assisting the children, um, doing some art and some other things, at the park, and helping reaching out and helping people who need things, giving away musical instruments that I have that I no longer need, and lawn chairs, water, food, whatever we can do to help one another, as most people here are doing. The aloha spirit is beyond what any of us would have ever imagined and we, um, are extraordinarily thankful, and blessed, and overwhelmed by the gratitude, by the graciousness both of our neighbors and those nearby, as well as, um, friends, family, people all over the world.

(05:46):
And so I'm here today just to not talk any more about this, but just to offer my love, my aloha, to all of you who are out there who maybe have been asking about us, as well as to those who are going through your own struggles, maybe your own devastations in whatever way.

(06:06):
And so I thought that I would pull up a couple of ... to borrow some ... my borrowed heritage here, to borrow and offer some pule, or prayers, um, in our beautiful Hawaiian language, um, to all of you. So here's just a few that I'd like to offer as part of our meditation today, as part of our healing circle call. A few pule, Hawaiian pule or prayers, chants, to bless all of us and to help us all in whatever our emotions are, whatever our devastations are, whatever our angers, our fears, and joys are about, that we are together. As is the whole reason we started these healing circle calls almost 15 years or whatever ago, to help us all remember that we're not alone and that we've got each other's back.

(07:03):
So here's one of the first chants or prayers, pule, that I'd like to offer you.

(07:07):
E ala e e la e, ka la i ka hikina, i ka moana, ka moana hohonu, pi'i ka lewa, ka lewa nu'u i ka hikina, aia ka la, e ala e!

(07:30):
In English, it translates loosely to Arise, awaken, arise, the sun in the east, from the ocean, the deep ocean, climbing to heaven, the highest heaven, in the east, there is the sun, arise.

(07:47):
There's another one, another pule or prayer in Hawaiian. Oli MahaloUhola ia ka makaloa la Pu`ai i ke aloha a Kuka`i ia ka ha loa la Pawehi mai na lehua Mai ka ho`oku`i a ka halawai la Mahalo e na Akua Mahalo e na kupuna la ea Mahalo me ke aloha la Mahalo me ke aloha la.

(07:53):
And in English, the translation is The makaloa mat has been unfolded. Food is shared in love. The great breath is exchanged. The Lehua honors and adores. From zenith to horizon, gratitude to God, gratitude to our ancestors, gratitude with love, gratitude with love.

(08:52):
In Hawaii, it's not unusual at all to open any gathering with a pule or a prayer to pull people together, to pull people to, um, be one with one another, to open the circle, if you will, as well as to close a circle. It's a very important ritual and it's not necessarily rooted in Christianity, or Buddhism, or anything else, but more a love of people and a way to bring people together, a shared community.

(09:22):
It's also a way to honor our kūpuna, which is our, our elders, our kahuna, our teachers, our keiki, our children, our one another, our brothers and our sisters, the Aina, the earth, the Kai, the ocean, the Wai, the waters, the river, et cetera. The fruits, the vegetables, the trees, the flowers, like Lehua, may they all bless us. It's not unusual that in chants, in pule, in Hawaii, that all of these are named and then some, as well as the gods, sometimes plural. I thought that I would offer this, a well-known prayer that we all know, the Lord's prayer, but let me offer this in Hawaiian to you.

(10:07):
E malama 'ia kou makemake ma ke honua nei E like me ia i malama 'ia ma ka lani la.

(10:07):
E ha'awi mai ia makou i keia la, i 'ai na makou no neia la. E kala mai ho'I ia makou i ka makou lawehala 'ana, Me makou e kala nei i ka po'e i lawehala i ka makou..

(11:39):
Mai ho'oku'u 'oe ia makou I ka ho'owalewale 'ia mai, E ho'opakele no na'e ia makou i ka 'ino; No ka mea, nou ke aupuni, A me ka mana, a me ka ho'onani 'ia a mau loa aku. 'Amene...

(11:39):
As many of you know, the Lord's prayer in English, loosely translated into Hawaiian as I did. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

(11:53):
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

(11:58):
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the, the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

(12:07):
And again, while that is thought of as a Christian prayer, and I guess it is, in many, many ways it's also one that is known, I think, in many religions. Maybe not always stated, but is known. And so I wanted to offer that here. And here's another,

(12:27):
Oli Aloha. Many of you know Olo Aloha means hello and goodbye, it means love, it means many, many things.

(12:37):
And here's a prayer or an Oli Aloha. Onaona I ka hala, Me ka Lehua, E hale lehua, No ia na ka noi, E ka'u no ia, E a no'e nei, E a li'a nei, Ho'i o Tahiti mai, A hiki mai no oe, A hiki pu no me ke aloha, Aloha e Aloha e Aloha e

(13:10):
Fragrant is the breath of Hala with the lehua, the halelehu", that is indeed our choice. I have long anticipated your being here. It matters not that you have come afar, it is right for you to come, and all will be right with me. Aloha e Aloha. It is love. It is love. It is love.

(13:33):
And the last of the Hawaiian pule or prayers that I would offer you is something that's become a little well known in other areas other that Hawaii, and some would say even bastardized quite a bit, it's the Hawaiian prayer for forgiveness, peace, and love, called Ho'oponopono.

(13:55):
Ho'oponopono, it's, it's an ancestral Hawaiian healing ritual, actually, it's not just a prayer. It teaches us to cleanse our consciousness of negative memories, unconscious fears, and disempowering programs, and to honor ourselves and others with forgiveness, peace, and love. The philosophy behind this practice is that we're all responsible for what shows up in our reality. It helps you to understand and heal the experiences in your life that you've attached to, or participated in, or been even affected by. And when we own ... as we all know, when we own our feelings and experiences, we're able to reconcile and release them.

(14:34):
So, the hono- ... Ho'oponopono prayer or ritual has four steps to it. The idea is that first, we have to recognize our own responsibility for any events that have occurred in our lives that we maybe have been a part of, maybe unconsciously or consciously, how maybe we have in some way dealt with them or not dealt with these issues or events in some ways that we feel that we are responsible or we have aided it in some way. Rep- ... we repeat the following statements out loud or silently to ourselves. We state these four steps, and sometimes it's done in a group, sometimes it's done alone, sometimes it's done in a very large group and a whole community. I've been a part of Ho'oponopono rituals where families or groups are disparate or there's uncomfortableness, or there's something about them that is separating them. And a Ho'oponopono ritual is usually led by an elder, by a, by a kūpuna, uh, kahuna teacher, an elder teacher, who will help the disparaging groups, the two groups come together in some way to see that there is common ground.

(16:03):
That they, while maybe having different opinions, or different feelings, or nagativities, that there is common ground and that they are connected in some way. So the first step is to recognize, as I mentioned, our own responsibility, conscious or unconscious, whatever it may be, and to say a simple I'm sorry, but to say it with real responsibility, to say it with real truth and real feeling, not just I'm sorry that this happened, but I'm sorry that I had a part in it, I'm sorry that I may have had a part in it. I'm sorry that I may have furthered the discomfort, or the anger, or the feelings of misgiving, or whatever. I am truly sorry for my part.

(16:50):
The second part of the Ho'oponopono prayer or ritual is to look to the others, in their eyes, sometimes looking to ourselves in a mirror, and to say please, forgive me. After owning that maybe we had a part in something, asking for forgiveness, to recognize that we are human, to recognize that we have foibles, and we have issues. We ask ourselves and we ask those around us to please, forgive me.

(17:22):
The third part of this prayer or this ritual of Ho'oponopono is to say thank you or, as we say here in Hawaii, mahalo. Mahalo for listening to me, mahalo for seeing me, mahalo for forgiving me or being open to maybe forgiving part of me, or at least hearing me. Mahalo for seeing that I am not too evil, and that I am sorry, and that I recognize that I've had a part in some way in this discomfort.

(17:58):
And the last part of the Ho'oponopono ritual is to say I love you, which is aloha. Um, there's other ways to say it too, but aloha is probably the best and the easiest. I love you. I love you even though we may disagree, I love you even though I may have anger or other feelings towards you, or you towards me. I love you because we are connected, because we care enough, because we have feelings enough that maybe we have argued, that we have seen things differently.

(18:32):
And in whatever way, I love you because you're a human soul, and I believe that all human souls are, first and foremost, beautiful, and that evil creeps in in all of us, and anger creeps in on all of us, but I love you still.

(18:54):
It's very normal to feel resistance or uneasiness at first when saying the Ho'oponopono prayer. It's not unusual for the initial round for someone to say or to kind of show on their faces or body like are they really sorry or are they just going through this because they have to? But when we repeat this prayer and this ritual 7 times, 8 times, 10 times, going around - or when we say it ourselves 7, or 8, or 10 times, maybe talking to ourselves in the mirror about how we've been treating ourselves or how we've been feeling - t's interesting to take notice of how the negativity is suddenly replaced by inner peace, love, harmony, and some real introspection about the fact that maybe we have had a part in this.

(19:48):
And maybe we are human, and maybe we are foibled, and marred, and troubled, but we still can say please forgive me, thank you, I love you. You can apply this prayer, this pule, this Ho'oponopono ritual to any event - to past traumatic events that you've experienced, to disruptive thought patterns, to family dynamics, to daily annoyances and crap, or any other things that have been negative in your life, whether it's just you, whether it's you talking to a picture, a memory of somebody, or whether, like today, I'm offering this as part of my prayer to Maui and our healing, and to the world for the fires, and the floods, and the destruction, and the devastation that seems to be happening all too often. For the anger, for the distrust and mistrust. For all that's going on in our world that we can't control and that we see as painful, and harmful, and problematic. Maybe we don't see that we have a part in it, but maybe we do.

(21:07):
I'm gonna repeat the four steps of the Ho'oponopono ritual and prayer, pule, once again. First step, stating out loud I'm sorry for whatever part I may have played in whatever this negativity is.

(21:25):
Second role, please forgive me. Please forgive me for being human, please forgive me for my feelings, please forgive me for whatever I may have done that has added to these issues, this consternation, this pain.

(21:41):
Step number three, thank you. Thank you for allowing me the space, thank you for allowing me to be selfish and to think of myself, and offer this Ho'oponopono. Thank you for seeing me for who I am. Thank you for allowing me to be human and to acknowledge my, my mistakes, my issues.

(22:06):
And lastly, the fa- ... last step, aloha. I love you. "I love you, Rosa," I say to myself in the mirror. I love you to all of you listening in. I love you to all of those that are feeling a need to spread conspiracy theories or blaming others about these horrible fires here, or the floods at Burning Man, or the floods and tornadoes, and everything else that's happening elsewhere in the world.

(22:33):
I love you all. I'm sorry if I've played any part, or my negativity, or my anger, or my fear have in any way fueled any of these issues. Please forgive me for any part that I may have played. Please forgive me for my foibles, for my humanness. Thank you for hearing and seeing me, and I love you. I will try harder. And we will all try harder, I hope, to believe and to see the good in one another, to offer one another these prayers, these beauties, these things that we can offer one another. A flower, a breath, a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on, whatever it might be. Mahalo for joining me today and allowing me to ramble a bit, to spill my heart a wee bit.

(23:33):
Thank you for the love, thank you for joining us, and join us again for Healing Circle Calls first Monday of the month at 8:00 PM Eastern time. Mahalo.