transition phases and rites of passage
Whiro (new moon) or other phases Te Marama goes through, birthdays, seasonal changes and new blog themes are some of those transitions we’re experiencing right now, just to name a few.
It was my birthday earlier this week on Tuesday, and we’re also in the Whiro phases of the maramataka, so naturally, we’re reflecting (coz that never happens lol) and transitioning into a new space. Big surprise number two, even with the same values or belief-system — the journey still reveals different learnings, opportunities, experiences, connections and challenges every day.
Part of that reflection has been reading back on previous birthday posts… Here’s a piece from the blog post I wrote last year:
“The path I’m carving isn’t really that at all. It’s more like water flowing and coursing through the channel made possible by the structures put in place by those who’ve come before me.
Those who’ve made opportunities possible, those who made sacrifices that allowed for even just a drop of water, of mauri, of life to nourish and hydrate and hold that space for more water to trickle down and flow more and more, stream by stream, adding to the flow.
Definitely one of the posts I reflect back on with pride haha and still vibing, doing my best to live by this type of whakaaro and allow for more flow to feed into the puna (pool).
Here’s one from my birthday post four years ago,
“We may not understand or even see the vision people have for themselves,
but as their friend, parent, sister, brother, uncle, nan, koro or whoever...
we can make sure they feel safe enough to even dare pursue their vision
and become who they're meant to be.”
Again, backing this one and trying to embody this every day.
‘Rites of passage’ have been on my mind a bit, perhaps a way of trying to make sense of my situations from a different perspective, a reframing exercise if you will. There’s a big ceremonial aspect to formal rites of passage as I understand them, but this shouldn’t dismiss how some of our experiences act as a catalyst for growth, significant insights and other māramatanga (enlightenment, understandings) to take place or effect.
So, do birthdays count as a rite of passage? I’ll claim it haha I’m not too sure but let’s shift the focus from the exact day to the time that marks significant milestones or progressions; such as a young girl experiencing her first īkura; graduating from various levels of schooling institutions; a māmā birthing herself and her first pēpi; the launch of a kaupapa (initiative) and so on.
We’ll be going into more depth and detail about these rites over the next cycle but I just wanted to start us off by sowing the seed and asking the question, if you were to reflect on past experiences in your life to date and reframe the significant ones as ‘rites of passage’ you’ve endured and accomplished to get to here,
how differently would your relationship be with how they’ve contributed to who, where and what you are today?
Kia pai te wānanga. Tēnā tātou,
Hana.