My Amish Blood
So, the title is a bit of a misnomer, but it serves the purpose of an easily identifiable label that most people can attach meaning to. My ancestors weren't technically Amish, or even Mennonite, but a different Christian sect that had quite a similar theological perspective and lifestyle as the Amish. Known to others as the German Baptists, referred to often as the Dunkards, my ancestors had a very similar lifestyle as the Amish...So, I'm coming out of the closet here, and revealing a big part of the undertow of my subconscious self and my programmed, patterned self here. In many ways, as an adult, I have gone incredibly far in the opposite direction of everything I was raised to model my lifestyle behavior after. Studying Massage and Reiki, Exploration with erotic bodywork, exploration with Indigenous shamanism, exploration with psychedelics, ecstatic dancing, huge hippie festivals, drinking and smoking - all these things fly madly in the face of everything I was encouraged to live my life as, as a child.
Farewell to Hawaii
Today I left the Big Island and spent the day in airports and on planes, flying back to Portland, Oregon. I sit here now, back in Portland, the city of Roses... Immediately I notice a lack of natural sounds in the atmosphere; the wind rustling, coqui frogs, the rustling of leaves and branches, the pitter patter of a drizzle... I miss the Coqui frogs like mad. I notice a lack of twinkling stars in the sky; they are lost here by the grey clouds blanketing the city. I wonder, where is the nearest beach? How do I get back to the magic? It's official, my heart has fallen madly in love with Hawaii. Like falling madly in love with a lover or beloved, only this time it's with the way my entire being and body feels, when in the sunshine, on the sand, in the water, absorbing the steam from the steam vents. I am in love with Hawaii the way one feels when they have finally found home after a lifetime of searching and waiting for that feeling of home
Aina and the Mana
Last year I met up with Dreaming Bear, and we went for a journey out to the Applegate River area in Southern Oregon for an afternoon spent by the river. There he told me about the word 'Aina'. He explained to me that 'Aina' is the Hawaiian word for the Land, and for the spirit of the Land and Nature. It was so lovely to finally have a word for something that I've always felt, but never had a name for in our American linguistics. I love the word Aina, as it gives a name for the energy of the land, and by giving it a name - it is as though consciousness is breathed into it. I spent that afternoon by the river, meditating upon boulders, bathing in the cold, clear waters and contemplating the nature of Aina; the great web of life interconnecting reality in what we know as ecosystems, small and large.