'Aumakua ~ Eye of Kanaloa ~ Makena Maui Hawai'i

'Aumakua ~ Eye of Kanaloa ~ Makena Maui Hawai'i

Aloha Maui ~ Makena Sunset
From my collection:
Perception is Reality

Copyright © Sharon Mau 2009
All Rights Reserved
My images do not belong to the public domain

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi

A beautiful golden sunset on Maui’s gold coast. Silhouette of the branches of a Keawi tree with a lovely view of Kanaloa, the sacred Kaho’olawe Island.

Aumakua
AU ~ I, in the first person. A period of time, epoc, era, cycle, current, flow, eddy, movement, channel, canal, conduit
MA ~ In, on or at.
ex: “He kamailio ma ke kelepone”
A conversation on the telephone.
KUA ~ Back, rear, burden, or to carry on the back, To hew, chop, form or shape. Variation of Akua or God/goddess. Generations back, two or more, ridge, rib as in the spline of a palm frond or the ridge of a mountain range, To turn into, transform and/or assume the appearance of.

“Eons before the missionaries introduced their concept of one God to Hawai’i in 1820, Polynesians had an intricate nature-oriented belief system. A host of deities called Aumakua are called upon for protection, comfort and spiritual support. The first ‘Aumakua were thought to be the offspring of mortals who had mated with the Akua (primary gods). Among the most important of the primary gods were Ku, Kane, Lono and Kanaloa, but it was the ‘Aumakua that commoners could call on in an easy, less ritualistic way.

‘Aumakua were often ancestors whose bones had been specially stripped of flesh upon death, wrapped in kapa and ceremonially prepared before the bones were placed in the custody of another descendant.

When an individual died, it was thought the spirit of that person jumped from a rocky precipice, a leina or soul’s leap, designated on each island, to begin its journey to the ancestral homeland. In a shadowy place called Po, the ancestor spirits lived with the supreme gods and were transfigured into god-spirits, whose mana, or power, was almost as awesome as that of the Akua.

The spirit of a deceased ancestor first might serve as an ‘Unihipili, a deity who granted requests for mercy and gave warnings of pending disasters or destruction. The earthly individual who safeguarded the bones of the ‘unihipili could summon him for guidance. If the ‘unihipili was especially deserving, he became an ‘aumakua, an ancestral god honored by his descendants and easily approachable in times of need.
Aumakua

Kanaloa is one of the four great gods of Hawaiian mythology, along with Kane, Ku, and Lono. He is the local form of a Polynesian deity generally connected with the sea.

Roughly equivalent deities are known as Tangaroa in Aotearoa, Tagaloa in Samoa, Tangaloa in Tonga, and Ta’aroa in Tahiti.

In the traditions of ancient Hawai’i, Kanaloa is symbolized by the squid or by the octopus, and is typically associated with Kane in legends and chants where they are portrayed as complementary powers.

For example: Kane was called upon during the building of a canoe, Kanaloa during the sailing of it; Kane (pronounced Ka – ney) governed the northern edge of the ecliptic, Kanaloa the southern; Kanaloa points to hidden springs, and Kane then taps them out.

In this way, they represent a divine duality of wild and taming forces like those observed in Indo-European chief god-pairs like Odin-Tyr and Mitra-Varuna, and like the popular yin-yang of Chinese Taoism.

Kanaloa is also considered to be the god of the Underworld and a teacher of magic. Legends state that he became the leader of the first group of spirits “spit out” by the gods. In time, he led them in a rebellion in which the spirits were defeated by the gods and as punishment were thrown in the Underworld.

The Eye of Kanaloa is an esoteric symbol associated with the god, consisting of a seven-pointed star surrounded by concentric circles that are regularly divided by eight lines radiating from the inner-most circle to the outer-most circle. ~

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