The other night I took a trip down to the Keauhou Beach Resort, to the Verandah Lounge, which overlooks a lagoon on the Pacific to watch the sunset and have a beer. As I was sitting there enjoying a Red Ale from Kona Brewing Company, bathed in the gentle salty ocean breeze and the warm glow of the sunset, I could feel the spirits of the island calling. I took a deep breath and as I let it flow out, I let my focus soften and let myself slip into a light trance as I watched the waves break on the rocks at the edge of the lagoon. As the noise of the lounge became a whisper, I noticed a fiery red dancing on the crest of the waves and realize it was Pele. Pele, the goddess of the volcanoes here on the big island, and her sister, Namakaokaha’i, goddess of the water, are said to not be on the best of terms and so it was a real treat to watch Pele dancing on the crest of the waves. Although they are not on the best of terms, I could see them playfully dancing together in celebration of the beautiful sunset, there differences put aside for this evening.

Sorry I don’t have a picture to put of with this, but I didn’t have my camera with me, and it simply would not have captured the magic anyway. Sometimes you just have to be there.

Well, it has been quite a while since I posted here, but for about a year after moving to the island of Hawai’i, the island sets the agenda for you – if you let it. If you don’t let it, the first year can be rough. There have been some ups and downs, but for the most part, things have gone pretty well so far. A lot of it is a matter of trust. Trying to plan things to rigidly will not typically make for smooth sailing.

Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of the volcanoes here in Hawai’i, and the other day we made a trip down to pay our respects. Pele in ancient Hawaiian chants is described as “she who shapes the sacred land.” I had made a brief stop to see her right after I arrived, but she let me know that she expected me to return soon. Well, she has been patient with me, but she set a constant reminder that would pop up every week or so to make sure I didn’t forget. Luckily Pele didn’t think four months was too long.

The day was forecast to be rainy that day, but Pele held the weather until we had gotten down there and spent some time with her and then when our meeting was done, the weather moved in and we knew it was time to leave. Heidi wrote a letter and read it to Pele and then her son Ryan folded it into a paper airplane and we sailed it off and into the Kilauea caldera.

On the trip down, Ryan had made a drawing for Pele and again folded it into a paper airplane. When he stepped over to the rim of the caldera and gently let it go, it started to circle gently and climb. We watched it climb and float around for several minutes until it was completely out of sight. When it stared to circle around, I got a vision of Pele riding around on the airplane and she was well pleased to have flight.

While Heidi was reading her letter, I closed my eyes and greeted Pele and was immediately surrounded by her warmth on that chilly day. The day was overcast, and my field of vision through my closed eyelids turned to a bright lava red-orange. I actually expected that the sun had came out, but when I opened my eyes a little, there was just the grey cloudy skies.

It’s difficult after encounters like this to explain them in words, but as always it was magical.

I had wanted to get an update posted earlier, but things have been quite busy. Had several things to get done within a certain time frame and wanted them out of the way. One thing left to do tomorrow and then I hope things will settle down.

We are looking for another place since this one is just too noisy. It is a really nice place, but being so close to the major north-south road on the west side means a lot of traffic noise. We have one good possibility, but it won’t be available till March 1st. We would really like to make a move before then, but it would mean finding a place for a month and then making another move. I just don’t think we want to do that.

The kitty’s are settling in nicely and for the most part have become friends. Clia, one of the females hasn’t quite made up with Sidney, but they are working on it. Sidney is being such a good boy about it and giving Clia the space she needs. Sidney and Horus, the other male, are getting along very well. That is a welcome development.

Things here on the island are very dry. This has been one of the driest years in ten years, and there are some areas that have been asked to conserve water. Fingers crossed that it will not last too much longer. We’ve had several fires so far.

More soon hopefully.

Sidney is in Kona and I’m on my way to see the little rascal. They say he is doing fine and the woman I talked with called him a sweetheart – which he is.

First off, the happiest of holidays to everyone.

I’ve got some images I wanted to post, but I seem to have packed my camera cable in another box or something. I’ll have to see if I can pick one up this weekend.

I did some more searching for cars and found a Porsche for $600 per day. Way too rich for my liking. The happy ending (which looked like it might not be) was that my cars got in a week ahead of schedule. I looked into plane flights, but they couldn’t get me there till after the 4th of January. You have to fly to Honolulu on the island of Oahu and then fly back to Hilo. There is a free bus that goes around the island, but with so many stops, it takes a 5 to 6 hours to get to Hilo and since I had to be there before 11:30am on the 24th, that wasn’t an option. Welcome to living in Hawai’i. I told my friends Hank and Jill about it, and Hank came to the rescue and picked me up at 7am the morning of the 24th and we had a wonderful drive over via the Saddle Road which goes right between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. At one point I realized that it was like being between two breasts (not in a sexual way) but more like being wrapped in a mother’s arms.

I’m now fully mobile. I took my Prius and will pick the truck up some time after my friends get here on the 4th.

The website for my shamanic teachers is now updated and it looks terrific (no I didn’t do this one). Drop by and check it out. I’m very impressed with it.

Christmas day I might head down to one of my favorite beaches, or possibly just hang around here in Kona. I’ll just have to wait and see what hits me. This weekend I’ll start looking at housing for us. I have three I want to look at, and saw signs for several others as well on the drive back through Captain Cook and up to Kona, so I have a good selection.

More to come in the days ahead, and thanks for all the nice comments. I’ll get responses up this weekend.

Aloha nui loa