the death and the rebirth.

We’ve been talking about Mahuika (atua/personification of fire) lately and it honestly could not have come at a better time. Well, actually, the ideal time would have been to have grown up knowing her (and the other atua wahine) intimately and intuitively and being able to recognise her in me/me in her.. but now is the next best time for that remembering and reawakening, so here we are.

Then?!?!!!!!! I ascended to Tikitikiorangi (The Uppermost Heaven) after listening to kōrero from Pāpā Victor, talking about how we’ve stopped evolving with fire, how the land and trees over in Australia need fire as part of their growth cycle… e te whānau, the shift is already happening and I just hope our kōrero over the last moon cycle, contributed to it in some small way.

But new moon, new kaupapa (theme), so we must move on to our new muse for the next cycle and hey, why not continue to challenge our thinking by focusing on Hinenuitepō, atua of death. We’ll continue on our journey of reinterpreting pūrākau (stories), in order

to strip away colonial influences and reconnect with the essence of our tāonga and what they’re truly trying to communicate to us.

A quick intro: Hinenuitepō was once Hinetītama (Dawn Maiden), the daughter of Tāne (atua of the forest, light) and Hineahuone (Earth-formed maiden). Hinetītama became Hinenuitepō and descended to Rarohenga (The Underworld) after events that occurred with her father. The only other pūrākau I know, is Hinenuitepō’s role in Māui’s death — but more on that, later.

In both stories there’s a theme of light and dark, life and death, ao / pō, dawn and night.. Hinenuitepō could symbolise the balance or the transition between the two spaces and energies.. the death of the old and birth of something new.. the letting go of what no longer serves us to create space for new life to flow.. to reinterpret Hinenuitepō, her stories, her role in them and even how we recognise her within us,

requires a reinterpretation of birth and death,

— death and rebirth.

It’s happening in every second, in every moment, at a micro level.. and it’s happening over time, at a macro level. We’re shifting in and out of these spaces, (literally & conceptually) all the time, for example: Tamanui sets in the evening, he rises again in the morning — the death and rebirth of a new day. When we develop, change or take on new ideas, beliefs and perspectives, we’re letting go and putting the obsolete to rest, in order to go through our rebirth, with our new sense of purpose.

Is Hinenuitepō the atua we can engage with while we navigate this space? Heck, I dunno but she’s in there and I’m vibing with it, so we’re going to see how it goes.

You in?

Tēnā tātou,

Hana.