Hawaii

I went to Hawaii to wwoof on a farm (if you don’t know what that is, check out www.wwoof.org) with the intention of connecting more with the earth, learning to farm, getting my hands dirty and working to align my soul with that of the lands. Unfortunately that is not exactly what happened – the farm that I was on was a kava farm that had been fallow for years, and so rather than learning to farm I was mostly tearing up elephant grass by hand, cleaning out the hothouse and using the weedeater to destroy anything in my path. I worked enough to tire myself, had some great conversations with my hosts about Hawaii and had plenty of time to do whatever I chose. Here are a few things I accomplished during that time, some of them enhancing my spiritual mission, others much more earth based, or even hellish –

*I read the book “Little, Big” – faeries do exist! Thank you Ana – Coffee soon?

*Painted and created some gifts for friends

*Watched every season of “the Office”

*hiked, contemplated the ocean, allowed the moon and stars to fill my being

*Read my tarot every day, explored my new deck and was surprised at how many times I pulled the moon

There were two experiences, though, that stand out, and I would like to share.

The first was when we went to Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is one of the volcanoes on the big island of Hawaii and has a unique status in the world – because of its height and the fact that its in the middle of the ocean, the most remote island chain in the world if you believe the locals, it is one of the best observatories in the world. The top is filled with astronomy students and the giant telescopes they operate and treasure. Louie, Mel, Slade and I ventured up there in the truck, and it was epic! Here are the notes that I took atop the mountain -

Serpentine spiralling layers of two colored rockers – as if we were winding our way up a sleeping dragon, the jutting slate color its spine, spiraling up, as a cosmic stairway

To dr seuss landscapes filed with giant anthills – volcano sized with gorgeous rolling plains cloud layer upon cloud layer

Feel the magic of the mountaintop the home of pele I come to thank you goddess for allowing me to arrive at this moment

Like the sun is blowing smoke rings at me, the perfect platinum disk sinking beneath the spirit mountains, ghost of the fallen, Hawaiin valkyries sail past on wings of mist

The tao te ching dragons in the clouds a gold flying away from me and a silver passing by

Cotton candy colored sunset

The other was when I went scuba diving. The dives themselves were great, although not revolutionary. I saw a few octopi (uuuggghhh!), almost touched a manta ray, some nudibranch and a lionfish, but the site that touched me the most was the sunset. It was the first time I saw a sunset from underwater. I don’t have a picture to share with you, but imagine this –

Amber colored lights breaking apart into blues and greens, swirling back and forth, around and into each other. The golden colors tended to wander in the center of my vision, the rays of white light and the darker blues and purples towards the periphery, though at any moment they could choose to abandon their fellows and take a journey of their own. Occasionally pinks and peach colors would join the party, but all of it was transitory, shades and hues being born and dying, ecstatically, as the sun itself died that night. It was one of those moments in which I was truly alive, felt connected to the earth, to the water, to myself and to every living being in the cosmos.