Parenting

Raven chicks usually hatch and are raised within the nest for six weeks. Our chicks were far from usual. Once hatched their silver-hair lineage wore itself in a streak from beak top to tail feathers like the chemtrails in a normally blue sky. Switch that imagery! "Chemtrails are nothing to joke about, and to describe your children as wearing their lineage like toxic smoke... well, just think again, come up with something else." It was Fairy Lady peering over my shoulder as I write. That's the thing about being Border Witch there are limits to the way we use imagination and explanation. The Fairy wasn't having any of that kind of recipe. On the other hand, the larger picture and one that sometimes  tampers with what is good or evil has a voice like this: "You, and he, have without doubt tampered with the nature of usual. So, if the patterns of feather work appear like the things in the sky where they will spend half their lives perhaps that imagery will work. Like a Trojan Horse!" That voice would be the one I assign to Max.

Raven was unashamed to express his feelings when the streaks of silver threaded through the two children. "We will need to call for 'awa from your home islands. These are uncommon necessities even for me." That was a lot coming from my mate who was not long on human words. The ceremonial drink 'awa shared to clarify and relax humans would work with Raven when he took on human form. In his bird-form, his spirit soared beyond the complexities. Having half-spirit children challenged him. Loyalty to family runs deep in Raven clan. I would see that repeatedly in our lifetimes together. As new parents, any new parents that quality counts as commitment.

The silver bird was speaking across time to the essence of what he knew is Max. The two men understood their roles. I felt Max's reply in my fingertips. Tingling as sparks from a newly lit flame It was important for me to prepare the chant of asking, and call on the sources that would provide 'awa for this occasion.

I ka 'awa (in the drink) 2/9/2014

... this segment is being added after the first audience's reading. A suggestion was made, and with that suggestion the storyteller took it into the dreams. The 'Ole Moons came and neap tides happen during those cycles. No deep highs or lows, the tide did not bulge. But, there was something more to add once the moon absorbed a little more light. This is what came.

Raven's request for 'awa seemed fitting to me. Traditionally 'awa was kane: male. A male ritual involving male preparation and plants who are the embodiment of male. The Silver-haired bird needed to ask a favor of the Gods. He knew the protocol that crosses time and the culture of place. It was Max he called, but Max is not an akua, not a god. Max is however a very specific portal to the Gods who could answer the bird's request. With Max I might be softened of my reluctance to partake.

My kuleana, my soul's path-life of responsibility, had never included experience with 'awa. I remembered one night long, long ago when 'awa was being shared. My most trusted ancestor, a cousin who shared my life and my legacy was drinking the 'awa. She offered, but did not insist. Fear was still too thick an emotion in me and my knowledge of 'awa ill-informed. Still wound with whirls of 'shoulds' and 'don'ts'  I stayed clear. Perhaps fear can be a shawl, a pale, that one wears because somethings are not yet "to be" owned/experienced/eaten. I know there is a long road to understanding the meaning of names. Raven's request for Mauliola (good health and long life, or the state of well-being) put us, new parents, in the portal and more was to be revealed.

Now, I kept my distance from the drink though my most beloved prepared the ceremony. At his side, I said my prayers asking for what I needed to be shown. Max appeared, stood on my other side. From his tiny gourd that dangled across his chest, that same container from which he washed his hands as my midwife, Max pulled the stopper. Max's prayer over the 'awa was precise. He addressed the gods, including Hi'iaka, goddess of first growth. I noticed. He knew I would notice. Hi'iaka would is embodied in the first ohi'a, the tree that grows not from a dispersed seed. Hi'iaka who grows from primal root. that goddess. The specifics of 'awa were laid out seamlessly: variety, condition, location and reference to place, purification, petition or request, release of the kapu and the gods. A final closing. There was no holding back, no more excuses, it was time to drink. The tiny gourd contained salt water, the necessary step of purification needed for me (a female) to drink 'awa. Releasing any ill-intent or spirit of malevolence the 'awa was ready. Max, Raven and I drank.

In the drink was calm.
In the 'awa all attachment to one outcome released.
In the drink the feather and flesh we are equal.
In the 'awa the present was in focus.
In the drink the all connected.

I ka 'awa mai ka no'eau 
In the drink he knew.
In the drink I knew.

What was in the drink for Raven was something he would share over time.

"No rush to unwrap the bundle so long hidden. Savor the gift," it was a female voice. Hi'iaka. A small red blossom popped open behind my left ear. 

Resource Note: This segment, though not exclusively so, is very much influenced by the work of Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele's, Ka Honua Ola. I acknowledge her translation of traditional practices and makawalu (unfurl) from her strong shoulders of wisdom, with much aloha I mahalo her. This segment of The Joy Weed Journal about 'awa reflects 'elieli kau mai ... dig deep and make it meaningful. This medicine story weaves that message like a strong and flexible nest.
 

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