understanding the atua hierarchy: what that means for improving health and wellness

New moon, new kaupapa (topic) to guide our thinking for the next few weeks.

In previous atua blog series pieces, we cover a specific atua (elemental force, god, tupuna) over the cycle and Urutengangana (atua of light) was the last one I wrote about the two moon cycles before last and to be honest, that wānanga on the bro took me on a journey inward to a place I hadn’t been to in a loooong time. It took me to a place I thought I wouldn’t visit again because I had ‘healed’ that mamae (hurt, trauma*). Ha, yeah right. put that on a Tui billboard..

I’m pretty sure that’s what triggered the storm I refer to in this post, but I tell you what, even still.. sitting through the raging thoughts and feels, acknowledging them, letting them haka and letting them go on their way,

I feel better and more connected to myself than I did before the storm..

Maybe even better than how I’ve felt the last 16 months.. all the way back until before my fascination for Urutengangana first went into overdrive, after my stint at Vipassana…

Amongst other insights this 10 days of silence provided me with, it got me stuck on how we can engage with tupuna/atua (ancestors, gods) for optimal health and wellness.

For instance, we can go weeks without food, days without water and minutes without air before our bodies call a time out. That’s common knowledge, right? Now think of the atua associated to those activities, including but not limited to..

food/nourishment

Tūmātauenga (atua of war, origins of eating), Rongomātāne (atua of peace, cultivated foods), Haumietiketike (atua of uncultivated foods)

WATER/hydration

Tangaroa (atua of the sea), Hinemoana (atua of the seas), Parawhenuamea (atua of fresh water), Maru (atua of fresh water)

AIR/Breathing

Tāwhirimātea (atua of the winds), I guess we could chuck Tāne (atua of the forest) in here too, seeing as trees produce oxygen that allow us to breathe and also him breathing life into Hineahuone (earth-formed Maiden, first woman)

We could interpret this information a few ways but here’s the basics of how I ran with this kōrero…

For starters, this could mean the quality and effectiveness our breathing or anything breath/air related is super important, even more important than water and food when it comes to improving our hauora… What really got me though, was the hierarchy of this sequence in terms of atua seniority or status or something along those lines..

Each iwi (tribe) has their own order of who’s older or younger than who, but it’s widely agreed that Urutengangana is the eldest born of Ranginui and Papatuanuku (heaven and earth).

Cool, what does that mean though?

How can that apply to my life, let alone my health and wellness?

Well, we’ve got a few thought streams converging right now, so let’s see if we can combine them all and have something coherent at the end of it!

One is seniority amongst te ira atua (oldest to youngest), another is our relationship with atua and how we engage with them (food, water, air, natural environment).. and another is how we know Urutengangana is the eldest so how do we engage with him for optimal health and wellness?!

What comes before the breath? Or what would kill us immediately if it were to disappear?

light.

On Earth, we’re the exact perfect distance from Tamanuiterā (the sun) for life to be sustained here. Any closer or further away and we’d be over. Guess what? Tamanuiterā is one of Urutengangana’s tamariki. As is Hina (the moon), te whānau marama (the heavenly/celestial bodies) all forms of light as we know them, today.

But expressions of Urutengangana aren’t just limited to literal light either, there’s enlightenment, māramatanga, understanding, hope, faith, joy, happiness, gratitude, compassion, kindness, aspirations, dreams, vision..

What that means for our hauora? Tērā pea ko te hiringa i te mahara, maybe it’s looking into the power of the mind.. the thought, the intention, entering into the subconscious mind and harnessing that limitless, boundless energy source available to us always if only we’d get out of our own way….

E aua, but we’ll be unpacking this hierarchy of atua over the next few weeks and seeing how it affects our health and wellness. I’m sure it’ll provide some good discussion and reflection, what do you reckon?

Tēnā tātou,

Hana.

*in this context. kupu Māori often have multiple meanings, definitions.