endings are part of creation too, it’s in our whakapapa.

Whiro, new moon, new theme.

But this one will be a little different to previous themes and cycles. If you’re subscribed to the newsletter aaand you opened it lol it won’t be news to you that

THIS WILL BE THE LAST CYCLE OF THE BLOG.

As we transition with Hina through her phases during the maramataka and come back around to Whiro in early December to finish up.

The end of the first baby I’ve grown and nurtured and tended to on a consistent basis — for almost five years!? If you’ve been here since the early days you honestly deserve a medal haha and if you didn’t know, I’ve published a blog post every Thursday since February 2017.

That’s over 240 pieces to date.

When I first started writing, it was a way to share tupuna mātauranga as well as help with my business venture at the time*, not long into it, I realised how the blog was my therapy, my outlet to unpack and work through mamae while also highlighting the value of knowing your whakapapa and leaning into it to make sense of self, the world and your place in it.

The books, the podcast, the radio show, public speaking engagements, the vlogs, my online programmes and courses and pretty much all the mahi I do now wouldn’t exist had I not had the blog to help me pull myself apart, assess all the pieces to see what contributed to the new me I was creating and what did not.

Then slowly but deliberately putting myself together again.

Thennnn unravelling some pieces because they weren't as good of a fit as I first thought and trying again haha I feel like this will be an ongoing process though and I’m good with that because the foundation is solid.

That foundation? Is whakapapa.

Which has saved my life in more ways than I care to count and I’m talking the salvation of the spirit more than anything. Something I didn’t even realise needed nourishing and tending to. Or perhaps not to the degree it required like I didn’t realise how deep the fractures were.

That version of me needed the blog, or needed a consistent type of outlet to unpack, to heal, to discover that she had what she needed, what she was searching for within her already.

After five years, I know this and I believe it and nothing or nobody can tell me otherwise — this runs true for all of us! ‘He kai kei aku ringa’ there’s abundance within me, Hineahuone: the prime example of built for purpose, being given everything she needed and nothing she didn’t during her formation at Kurawaka. We’re the culmination of everyone and everything who has come before us, we’re whakapapa in action, baby! Realising our potential is pre-ordained.

Like I said, the foundation is solid.

But this version of me now?

She needs space. To slow down, to take a beat, to reassess, to reprioritise, to replenish and to realign. So putting an end to the blog and other kaupapa feels like the right decision to allow for that space to open up. Bittersweet, I’m not gonna lie haha but it sits right, I feel tau and at peace with it now.

Because I’m reminded constantly that destruction, kaupapa coming to a close or versions of us phasing out or ending.. it’s all part of creation. It’s in our whakapapa. It’s natural and normal. The whole basic format of this blog is based on the maramataka!!? A direct cue of natural beginnings and endings.

The last pūrākau or tupuna mātauranga example I’ll fit into this first piece is my main man, Urutengangana. The eldest of te ira atua, atua of light and father to the celestial bodies (moons, stars, cosmic energies etc.); Uru - te - ngangana: the entering into the light.

Just going off his name here, it’s symbolic of leading the transition from old to new, dark to light, unknown or confusion to enlightenment. So we could look to Urutengangana as another example to help us as we contemplate where we’re at on our journey and the decisions to be made to advance further along our path.

So the blog posts of this cycle will be my ōhāki, my ode and mihi to the blog for all it’s given me and also to you, for sharing in this journey with me of reconnecting to self and becoming (more) self aware through whakapapa.

Nōku te whiwhi, it’s been my privilege to share this space and share kōrero with you.

Tēnā tātou,

Hana.

*blogs are a neat tool to connect with people online, share more about what/how/why you do what you do, relevant info about your kaupapa, help with SEO etc. if you want to learn more or have any questions, please send me a message.

°the photo for this post is one of the very first ones I took when I decided to start the blog.