The Hawaiian Dream and How Fire Can Create Positive Change

I’ve always been aware of and attracted to contrasts. Light vs shadow. Bright vs dark. In my personal art practice, contrasts have been a theme, as they have in my personal experience of emotions. And in Hawaii, this awareness was heightened.

Going to visit Hawaii is a distant dream for many people – something we put on visionboards and wishlists, because Hawaii has the appeal of being like paradise.

It is a minimum 32-hour excursion to travel half way round the world to Hawaii from Johannesburg, but it is a trip worth making, and I am so grateful that I was able to go there, together with seven incredible Kahuna Massage therapists and two young ladies age 9 and 11.

Many parts of Hawaii are just like the tropical paradise we are shown when we Google images of Hawaii. Everything is bigger, brighter, bluer, crisper, more colourful and exquisite than we experience in our daily life in smoggy Johannesburg ( or any big city). In terms of beauty, it’s like Cape Town on steroids.

The plants are exquisitely exotic, with colours that appear too intense to be real, and the rainbows look like they were painted on top of the clouds, close enough to touch.

But Paradise also has its dark parts and challenges and bad weather.

It was the volcanoes that had the biggest impact on me. The black lava landscapes had me fascinated, and as we got closer to them, I was entranced by the ‘lava doodles’ created as the lava flowed and solidified into earth.  (you know how I love doodles! )

The Big Island (Hawaii) is an active volcano. As you drive, you see large parts of the landscape are made of pitch black lava.

One morning, we ventured out at 4am to walk nine kilometres to see where the live volcano’s lava tube entered the ocean. It was beyond exhilarating to be walking out in this dark landscape before the sun was up.

The energy of the volcanoes is powerful, tumultuous, and yet grounding.  The ocean is all around it and the bright turquoise sea moves in stark, exquisite contrast to the strange, solid, ominous beauty of the black lava landscape.

It is a natural habit of my mind to draw parallels between Mother Nature and our human existence – we are part of nature after all.

The stark contrast and beauty of the black and blue, the light and dark, brought to my mind the essence of how we often feel, living in our world of duality, a world where it’s all about right vs wrong, black vs white, Christian vs Muslim, Jews vs Palestinians, us vs them, rich vs poor etc. It’s also how we flow with our emotions – one day we can feel joyful, and the next, we can be in a deep dark pit of despair.

(pic ref: Cindy Lane Art)

For me, this adventure was the highlight of the whole trip – seeing new earth being formed in front of our eyes. It was a potent moment to witness all four elements present in one place like this –   fire and water creating earth, and letting off steam (air)

(watch a video from Cindy Lane Art here – we did not venture so close to the source)

The potency was in noticing that at the point where the two contrasting energies of fire and water meet in the ocean, an alchemy happens and there is magic. Something new is formed.  New land. New territory. New terra firma. It changes the shape of the existing island and creates more land.

The lava doesn’t have anywhere else to go, but into the ocean. The ocean doesn’t reject the lava. It absorbs it, reacts with it, creates explosions and lets off steam, and then something brand new is created. There is no other possible outcome, but for new earth to be formed.

Is this the way with all of nature? Alchemical reactions occur, and a predictable change and outcome is inevitable? (I’m not a scientist, but I do remember high school science experiments.)

The outcome of this chemical reaction between the lava and the sea can be likened to our definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  The same chemicals (or thoughts or actions in the case of the human experience) behaving in the same way over and over will always bring the same chemical (physical) or energetic result.

So, if we change the thoughts and actions, to create a new alchemical reaction, then a something new will be formed right?

Where am I going with this? It is something I’ve been grappling with since my return from Hawaii.

Since my return from Hawaii, I have felt like I am the lava. I am the hot red molten stuff flowing down the mountainside toward the ocean where I will be transformed into something new… but I don’t know what that is yet. But it is inevitable:  if my thoughts are changing and my energy is changing (because I am consciously working on them to create change, and travelling the world changes you), then the physical nature of my body and the outer reality of my life will change too.  It has to. It has in the past, and it is certain that it will in the future.

But in the meantime, I’ve been going through quite a journey down that mountainside towards the changing point. For a few weeks after Hawaii, the heat of the lava’s fire burned deep inside me, and showed up on the outside as rage, (road rage in particular – I often use my reactions to other drivers on the road as a barometer of what my emotions are really doing inside me), irritation, and hot fury.

Then the anger turned to hurt, sadness and disappointment. It was not aimed at anything or anyone, except perhaps politicians and the state of the world in general, and at myself. Now, I know better than to place the blame for my uncomfortable emotions onto anything outside myself, because the world is as it is, and I am responsible for my inner world and my emotions.  And I also know better than to be angry and blaming towards myself. But the emotions (and their associated thoughts) came along anyway.

All of these emotions came to the surface with force. My dear partner has been so loving in accepting them – but I have been so judgmental of them, trying to be the perfect partner and mother, the good girl, the pleasant daughter, friend and colleague. I wanted to see myself as perfect in all ways, and I didn’t want to accept these ‘ugly’ and uncomfortable emotions as part of me.

So I took steps to clear the confusion and move the energy. I’ve been dancing and art journalling, and intuitively writing and drawing (doodling) and meditating and ruminating and chanting and receiving Kahuna massage to shift them. I’ve been to see my homeopath and doctor, and got remedies for the physical signs of my anxiety and stress (like not being able to get enough breath in, and feeling totally fatigued).  I feel I am emerging from the deep dark pit, and seeing a bit of light again.

[PS. Since I first wrote this three days ago, I’ve realised that moving and shifting these emotions is not always the answer. We need to BE with them. Sit WITH them. And wait for them to transmute into something else. THIS is the alchemy. This is where the magic happens and we start to love ourselves wholly – love the whole spectrum of emotions and feelings that we experience, AND all the behaviours and quirks that show up as part of us. These ‘ugly’, ‘bad’ parts are not something separate from us, things that need to be ‘got rid of’. No.  When we can gently be with them like we would be with a small child who is having a tantrum, and love them fully, then we can love everyone else more fully too – especially those people or groups of people that we view as ‘different, separate, other’.  Perhaps this is the healing that we all need to do so that our planet can heal too.)

I can now see the contrast – the ‘darker’ feelings of rage – contrasting with the lighter emotions associated with seeing possibilities, having new creative energy and ideas, and even experiencing some laughter! (I’m so grateful I have tools and people in my life to help pull me out of these spirals.)

I could view this experience in two ways:  one cannot have the light without experiencing the darkness of the shadow. Also, there is the shadow part inside us which we have been told by psychologists, must be acknowledged and loved, brought into the light with love and acceptance, otherwise it will be expressed through not-so-acceptable behaviours that hurt and upset yourself and others. All this is true.

And there there is another perspective. Instead of the duality of light vs dark, which makes us carry on believing that life is about either/ or,  we could see it as all acceptable. Perhaps we can view life’s “ups and downs” as “round and rounds”, see the light and dark parts as shades of grey.  See the parts in between the light and dark as a place where we can experience all these emotions, just as energy and chemical patterns, and allow them to in turn, create something new inside us – a new way of being in the world that is more creative, more self-accepting, and more authentic than we were before.

In one of my posts on Facebook, after Hawaii, I said ‘ there are no rainbows without the rain”.  True.  What I did not say, is that the rainbows are only visible when there is sunlight and clouds and water present in the air.  All of these elements, light, shade and the in-between grey of the clouds need to be present to create the awesome colours of the rainbow.

(In the photo below, we are standing on top of Pele’s Volcano looking down into the crater. We had just experienced the sky get darker, strong, freezing cold wind and rain that hit us from the side. As we walked up to this point, the double rainbow appeared in front of us. We were standing at the top of the rainbow, and when we looked into the crater, we could see the end of the rainbow down below. A breathtaking moment in time.)

Getting back to the volcano and the hot red lava: it is the heat of the lava (fire) that causes the reaction with the ocean water, and without it, the new earth would not be created. Fire and therefore, the energy of fire in our bodies, is necessary in order to bring forth new creations, create change and be effective in our lives. Fire energy is associated with hot emotions like anger, rage and fury.  These can be damaging emotions if we turn them towards ourselves or others, but if we allow them to move through us consciously, then they can be alchemically transmuted into emotions of desire, love and passion. They can evoke a desire for change. Using fire energy for positive change is a powerful force – whether you use it to change your own way of being in the world, or create something that helps others – it can be used for good.

I had another experience with fire in Knysna in September, where I  facilitated a Level 1 Kahuna Massage Training Retreat.  I saw the aftermath of the devastating June fires that spread through the Garden Route. The extent of the destruction and loss that occurred cannot be glossed over, but the renewal and newness must be noted too.  The pine forests that were burnt down have given residents of Rheenendal a new view of the lagoon that they never had before, and a blanket of new indigenous tree ferns now covers what was the forest floor. One of the participants who lives there said that the sense of community and support that has come out of the experience has been incredibly moving to be a part of.

Fire has the ability to destroy, but is also has the ability to create something new, to hone and perfect and bring forth an exquisite new, solid creation. And this is what I was reminded of that day at Kupapa‘u Point on Kīlauea Volcano.

And it is what I need to remember now, as I am settling back into my life in Jozi, trying to find a new and different groove with my own emotional and creative inner world.

No matter what you experience on your travels, there is no doubt that when you travel, you come back changed. Even paradise has its challenges – and its gifts.

“ALOHA” has many meanings. One of them is: ‘to love is to be happy with, be happy, be loving’.  Be happy with all that is you.  Be more loving towards yourself, first.

May all your rainbows be bright, and the passion of your inner fire fuel your desires to not only make your dreams come true, but to take that action that will make a positive change in yourself, and so make a positive difference in the world.

Aloha blessings,

Learn to love yourself more deeply with Kahuna Massage – the dance of breath and life from the heart.

 

If you enjoyed reading this blog, I’d love to hear how fire energy has played out in your own life.  Feel free to comment below.

23/10/17 – A Client sent this response via email:  “My immediate reaction is that I can relate to so much of what you write. I’m wondering if hot flushes and menopause is of the same source… fire energy and the idea is to focus on the alchemy… it’s all about being reminded to work with all the parts of ourselves we would rather reject, yet they just need to transmute or be subject to alchemy maybe?”

My reply:  Yes, I agree, I am in the throes of peri-menopause myself, and it’s definitely part of this transition into the next phase of life, just as it was when we were 13 and dealing with puberty. Hormones are very potent.

Kahuna bodywork was traditionally used in Hawaii to help support people going through transition and rites of passage into the next phase of life. It has helped me, and many of my clients in the same way.

Book a Kahuna Bodywork session to support you through life changes and transitions – contact me.