Spring Into Spring

Today, standing near where our home was

This week celestial events gave us the drama of a SUPER MOON and the first day of SPRING. Also this week we were invited to do a TV interview about the devastating experience of losing our home last year, the trauma of evacuation, the anxiety of dealing with the insurance claim, the stress of living in four places in less than nine months, and our focus on recovery and starting over -- from scratch.

Given this conjunction of events, we decided to mark our "spring" as a personal "new beginning" by visiting Fissure #8, now a prominent and permanent 200 foot landmark in Leilani Estates.. Of the many lessons we have learned throughout this past year perhaps the most important is to look fear directly in the face, or as Pema Chodron reminds us -- to invite in what scares us.

Lunel placing our offering

Art by Jessica Taruni
Originally created for The Volcano Inn 1999

Standing at the base of the cone, we offered ho'okupu (offering) with a flower lei Lunel had made with orchids from our home. She sang an oli (chant) of gratitude for all we have learned and received. It was our first time visiting the place where our home stood, but we both felt ready.

After the loss of our home, many people asked whether we were going to leave Hawaii -- but honestly that thought never occurred to us as we both feel deeply connected to the 'aina - a Hawaiian word that means not only "the land" itself, but a relationship with the whole island-environment, itself a symbol of destruction and creation. Recently we even bought a beautiful, large stained glass window to place in our new home.

Please listen to this talk by Auntie Pua. It is short but packed with power -- about the changing of seasons, a celebration of the SUN, and our place in this world of reciprocal cycles.

 Auntie Pua --

 The Intense Breath of  the Sun