Huna 101 - Intro to Huna

The term "Huna" refers to and Ancient Hawai'ian spiritual system, or philosophy that goes back at least as far as 1500 C.E. While the word itself simply means "secret" or "hidden", its use to describe the ancient teachings originated with a Western researcher by the name of Max Freedom Long.

He was among the first Westerners to study these teachings in earnest from his first stay on the Islands around 1917 until his death in 1971. Originally, "Huna" would in fact have been referred to as "Ho'omana" (Ho'o = to make, mana = energy, taken together something like "empowerment").

Long had called Huna a "psycho-religious structure", and he wasn't that far off, except that Huna as a spiritual philosophy could be seen as religiously neutral, with the focus being more on the psychology of things. In fact, the Hawai'ians had developed, many centuries before Freud and others, a sophisticated view of the Human Mind as composed of several distinct partitions including an Unconscious Mind (the "Unihipili" or "little creature", or as we would say in today's parlance "the inner child").

Some of the examples of the level of understanding include insights into psycho-somatic illness, as well as the formal "deprogramming" of warriors returning to normal life after battle.

For a brief glimpse of the historical background, it is instructive to read descriptions of the state of Hawai'ian society before the arrival of the Westerners: When Captain Cook and his men landed in 1778, and were soon followed by more white men and finally the missionaries (around 1810), the Islands contained a population much larger than what might be surmised from today's population patterns (estimates range from 250,000 to as high as 800,000).

And this large society, with a well developed system of political rule and agriculture, was virtually free of both physical disease as well as mental illness. Unfortunately, these populations were subsequently decimated to about 40,000 by the diseases that were brought in by Cook's men and their successors.

Huna has a large number of correspondences to other spiritual and philosophical systems, here are some of them:

• Monism - All is ultimately One: Buddhism, Taoism, Qabalah, some forms of Christian Mysticism


• Principles of Karma and Forgiveness: Eastern philosophies including the Upanishads, and Buddhism


• Guardian Spirit: Native American systems, Hermeticism, Christian Mysticism


• 4/5 Elements: Alchemy, Eastern Philosophies, etc.


• Dream Time: Native American systems, Maori, Aboriginals


• Herbalism: Western herbalism, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, etc.


• Energy Work: Reiki, Philippines, Qi Gong, Accupuncture, Yoga, etc.

Having only 7 consonants in addition to the 5 vowels, the Hawai'ian language has most words and root words convey a multitude of different meanings based on context alone. Therefore, most of the Hawai'ian writings and chants contain up to several layers of hidden meanings beyond the surface level.

To give an idea of this, a given chant might have a rather straightforward surface level meaning describing e.g. the legends of the Hawai'ian pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, or the pursuits of royalty (Ali'i).

The same chant will typically contain however one or more layers, e.g. one with a more political motivation, a further one with a spiritual context, asf.

Sometimes there is a so-called "Kaona" - a key - present that may provide guidance on this matter, but sometimes the layers of translation can only be arrived at by the most diligent translation work.

Here is a link to a useful on-line Hawai'ian dictionary. I also recommend Tad James' "Lost Secrets of Ancient Hawai'ian Huna, Vol. II - Chants", as a handy resource. It combines the texts of some of the most typical chants, along with a collated "dictionary of dictionaries" of most of the relevant terms used in those chants and all of their possible meanings.

One more item that should be said about the Hawai'ian language and it's forms of chanting: The language "has breath", that is it is spoken with vigorous aspiration from the center of the body, and as such has a certain energy or quality to its sounds, that can only be compared to things like original Gregorian chants and the like.

A useful anecdote in this regard is the formation of the term that the Hawai'ians first used for the newly arrived Westerners (now a slang term and used with derogatory connotation by some):

Ha-ole (pronounced "Haulee" in the slang), literally means, "without breath" or also "white, as if dead" or "ghost", and refers to the natives perception of English being a language without breath, wherefore they were concerned for the newcomers' health, fearing them sick and almost dead, which in their eyes explained the white complexion.

By the way, the word "Hawai'i" itself comes from the roots of Ha - "breath", Wai - "water" / "life force", and 'i' - "supreme", taken together: "The Supreme Life Force that rides on the breath". Incidentally, since only the Big Island is formally named "Hawai'i", the naming of all of the Islands by that term indicates the shared understanding of the great principle behind the name.

Besides the outer order of the Hawai'ian Royalty (Ali'i) and its manifestations such as the Kapu ("forbidden / tabu") System, politically motivated warfare, and some forms of human sacrifice - collectively termed "The Order of Ku" and thought to have arrived to the islands from other Polynesian islands at least several hundred year's before Cook - there had existed an inner order since at least 1200 C.E. (and likely even earlier than that), that of the "Kahuna".

Since the meaning of the term Kahuna is a combination of the root words for keeper (kahu) and secret (huna), as well as the adjunct roots for light (ka) and calm/balanced (na), in the most basic sense a Kahuna was then an expert in his field of purview, similar to our modern day concept of a Ph.D.

The great number of the different types of Kahuna listed by e.g. Yardley gives further credence to this view: There were besides the more spiritually and mentally oriented Kahuna some as straight-forwardly concerned as the "Kahuna Kali Wa'a" (canoe makers), or those of the intricate lava rock masonry used for everything from homes and walls to the famous Hawai'ian temples (heiau).

This is also how many people have heard the term first used in popular culture in relation to the "Kahuna of Surf" and "Big Kahuna" (from 1950's and 60's film and television).

As for the former class, major examples include the Kahuna La'au Lapa'au (medicinal healers and doctors), Kahuna La'au Kahea (psychologists), Kahuna Po'i Uhane (spirit catchers), Kahuna Kilokilo (priests concerned with divination and omens), and Kahuna Na'au Ao (mystics of the science of mind), each typically with several sub-designations too long to reproduce here.

While most of these pursuits would have been considered on the side of the positive and healing for the greater good of society, there were clearly also those that might be considered under the mantle of Black Magic/Sorcery, collective known as Kahuna Ana'ana (again with a number of subspecies), which were later unduly focused on by the Western missionaries.

The mutual suspicion led to a state of affairs where the native keepers of these bodies of knowledge very strictly kept things to themselves. Most Kahuna practices were formally outlawed since the early days of the missionaries, with several of the prohibitions (on things including the performance of the Hula, the Hawai'ian ritual dancing, chanting, and drumming performances) carried forward all the way into the 1960s.

A Ohe Pau Ko Ike I Kou Halau - "Think not that all wisdom is in your school" - Ancient Hawai'ian Saying

A brief discussion of "Huna" lineages is very much in need of the caveat contained in the saying above: Rather than engage in useless infighting over who's version of Huna is "more pure" or "more right", realize that things of value can be learned from all of them, and that some people may naturally resonate more with one than another.

One of the foremost principles of the ancient teachings is to see the illusion inherent in all duality, of which "separate schools" would make an excellent example... E Kala Mai I Au.

• The studies of Max Freedom Long, the first known Western researcher into the ancient Hawai'ian teachings who coined the term "Huna" for what he uncovered over the span of many decades under very adverse conditions.
  
  Long studied Huna since 1917 or so, at a time when the native Hawai'ians would not speak to Westerners about these matters, in part out of fear of legal penalties in place since the arrival of the Western missionaries after Cook until in some cases the 1960's. Any errors or omissions can easily be forgiven in light of this context.
  
  He founded Huna Research Associates in 1945, Rev. James Vinson Wingo, DD. is the organization's current President. There is a Yahoo group for this organization among other things.


• The lineage of Morrnah Simeona, currently carried forward by Dr. Hew Len among others (http://hooponopono.org/)


• The lineage of Tanneo Sands Kumalae


• The lineage of the Bray family (David "Daddy" Bray 1889-1968, and his son, David "Papa" Bray Jr.), has been carried forward by both Laura Kealoha Yardley and Tad James' family.
  
  Tad's son Matt currently teaches with the blessing of the Hawai'ian elders in Kona, Hawai'i (Big Island), among them: Uncle George Naope, Master Kumu Hula (Kumu = "teacher"), founder of the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival, and designated by Congress a "Living National Treasure".
  
  His student, Master Kumu Hula Etua Lopez, who trains Matt's workshop participants in the principles of Hula. Also, Kumu Hula John Ka'imikaua who carried a lineage of the Hawai'ian Island of Moloka'i (1957-2006), who taught at the workshop about Hawai'ian cultural issues and Hula until his passing in June of 2006, which has since been take up by his wife Ka'oi.
  
  Find out more at huna.com
  
  Tad James also incorporated elements from several other lineages that he was fortunate enough to come into contact with.


• The lineage of Serge Kahili King, who was adopted into the Kahili family, following its Huna traditions. He also studied a variety of other forms of shamanism in his world-wide travels, and thus likely uses a blended approach. His organization is called Aloha International, and he purportedly was also a member of Long's organization for a while.
  
  Find out more at huna.org


• Dr. Rima Morrell maintains an organization called hunalight.com


• Wikipedia entry on Huna contains some lineage information.


• More lineages to be added soon.

Most important among Huna's principles is its understanding of the human mind and human consciousness:

It assumes a 3 part partition of the mind/self into a Conscious Mind, an Unconscious Mind, and - crucially - a Higher Self.

Alongside these 3 selves, the Kahuna were specifically concerned with the flows of unseen (electrical, etc.) energies ("mana") in the body similar to the conceptions of Hinduist, Buddhist, and Taoist philosophies, today most exemplified by such practices as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Accupuncture, as well as various forms of Yoga and related energy cultivation practices.

In fact, as was mentioned already, before becoming known as the secret "Huna", these practices had collectively been referred to as "Ho'omana", "to make/create [life force] energy".

The Kahuna held the view that there were actually 4 such progressively more subtle bodies, similar to other Eastern views on auric bodies. From the bottom up these are the physical, the emotional, the mental, and the spiritual body, with each following a precise logic of control by the 3 Selves.

For example, the Unconscious Mind equates mostly to the emotional body, but it crucially also controls the body below it, the physical body.

Western psychology has given more and more credence to these views in recent times with its recognition of psycho-somatic illness factors, so-called "somatoform" disorders, and a host of other examples of strong unconscious control such as phobias.

Despite this formal segmentation of the psyche, the underlying philosophy of Huna holds that all of creation including the human mind is ultimately one. This represents a form of pantheism and monism similar to e.g. the Hinduist views expressed in the Upanishads, those inherent in Buddhism, etc.

The Higher Self, the so-called Aumakua, is conceptualized as the direct connection to the higher planes, the Highest Being inside the human being.

Aumakua translates to "totally trustworthy parental spirit", which gives an indication of its role similar to that of the "Holy Spirit" or the "Holy Guardian Angel" in Christian and Hermetic schools of thought. It is the seat of the godhead in man, and for the purposes of spiritual evolution a somewhat separate spiritual being assigned to the 2 other selves.

In many traditions across the world it is literally "drawn in" in pictures as the halo, or sometimes as a ball above the head (yin-yang "Tao" symbol in Ancient Eastern depictions) when present in the event.

Despite the appearance of separation, the Kahuna thought that in fact the ultimate goal of all practices was the integration of the Selves and Bodies to work in perfect harmony and health (somewhat similar to C.G. Jung's concept of the individuation process), and that the "growing up" and evolution of the separate selves was indeed the meaning of life itself.

Huna also contains the concept of Karma, and it was thought that "Karma" was in fact stored in the Unconscious Mind, the "Unihipili" (the little creature or animal self). Therefore, the path to he any condition would have to include the cleaning up of such unconscious contents and programs that would get in the way of the desired results.

By the principles of correspondence ("as above, so below" and "as inside, so outside"), the Kahuna thought that the outer circumstances of one's life would closely resemble the inner world (sometimes people refer to these ideas as "the law" of attraction).

Therefore, cleaning up the almost "magnetic" Karma would be a first step to all other positive developments (E pii ana o lalo - "take from darkness into the light that which is below"), such as the seeking of specific guidance from one's Higher Self (E iho an o luna - "bring down that which is above by means of the light").

Find a list of further Huna principleshere, or with more detail here.

Picture on right: Pu'uhonua O Honaunau - "City of Refuge" along the coastline south of Kona. ---->

While the different lineages and schools of thought may differ on some of the finer details and feature some of their very own techniques, there are a number of techniques that may be regarded as near universal:

• Ho'oponopono - "Two Way" forgiveness process ("to make right two times/both ways") that could be performed either externally with actual discussion and forgiveness ceremonies between the involved parties, or internally in the individual's own mind.
  
  In the latter case, the "kala" (cleansing) aspect of this Hawai'ian code of forgiveness was deemed essential by the Kahuna: To achieve complete forgiveness within a client for both infractions committed by or against them is in Huna considered the only way to fully heal the negative energy otherwise held in the consciousness.
  
  Since these issues could range from the minor to the extreme, a wonderful side-effect of frequent Ho'oponopono is a form of "mental decluttering".


• "Higher Self Transformation" - a process by which the individual is asking for their Higher Self (their "Aumakua") to come in and resolve long-standing problems, issues or fixations.
  
  Dr. Hew Len of the Morrnah Simeona lineage refers to this process as "Self-Identity Ho'oponopono" (as described by Joe Vitale in "Zero Limits" among other places). There is in principle nothing wrong with this terminology, except that it may cause confusion between this and the other, more relationship-centered form of Ho'oponopono described above.


• "Higher Self Connection" - a meditation process by which the individual's connection to their own Higher Self (in some systems this is referred to as the "Holy Guardian Angel") is strengthened in meditation, and specific guidance and other messages may be sought.
  
  In general, the integration of the Three Selves is one of the highest aims of Huna psychology.

The Hawai'ian Island Chain - notice the connection between the islands. When you zoom out far enough to see the entire Pacific Rim, you can tell that Hawai'i is located more or less right at the center of the so-called "Ring of Fire", the volcanic and seismic activity that runs from Japan to Alaska to the U.S. West Coast (St. Andreas fault, etc.).

The "Big Island" of Hawai'i - you can see the lava flow patterns from past eruptions of Mouna Loa, Mouna Kea, and Kilauea. The green areas south of "Captain Cook" towards South Point, and from there back up toward the Kilauea Volcano, contain many of the Macadamia Nut farms of the Island. That's where your Mac Nuts (chocolate covered or not :) are coming from! Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, standing both near 13,800 feet, sometimes have snow caps at the top!

The Kilauea Volcano caldera and Halem'auma'u pit crater - standing inside of the caldera is an awe-inspiring sight to behold in the truest sense of the word. If you take the time to hike from the Volcano House at the top of the rim down through the caldera to the Halema'uma'u pit crater (thought to be the home of the Hawai'ian Goddess Pele), you will see a wide variety of lava formations and colors. All throughout there are steam and sulfur vents, the sulfur becoming most intense near Halema'uma'u.

South Point, the southernmost point in any U.S. State! - the bars, restaurants, etc. in the nearby towns and hamlets love to lay claim to their very own "Southernmost [xyz] in the U.S." fame.

Pu'uhonua O Honaunau - City of Refuge - the satellite image shows the layout of these sacred grounds, which are now a National Park. In the center, you can see the large lava rock platform built behind the Kane stone, a large, oblong lava boulder (similar to Stonehenge type rocks). You can see the outline of the massive lava rock wall to the east and south.

Almost directly due east you can make out a small white "break" in the wall which is actually a ceremonial entrance. At the northernmost tip of the wall you can make out another black square, which is a smaller platform with a traditional grass hut for offerings and other ceremonial uses, surrounded by a wood fence and a good number of exquisite Tikis (wood sculpture totems). See an interactive map of the layout here.

Keauhou, Hawai'i - "Spiritual shelter persisting though time" - The "Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort" hotel - built around and among sacred and historical grounds, among them King Kalākaua's Vacation Home and Bathing Pond, the Fish God lava rock monument, the Ali'i (Royalty) Birthing Pond, and several Heiau (Temple) ruins toward the ocean shoreline. The adjoining property to the South has a number of Heiau as well, which are currently being restored and made part of a cultural center and public park.

Feel free to tell me about further locations in the comment section below, I will do my best to add them to this list.

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