❤️ Maui

In Hawaiian lore Maui is a character that exemplifies the archtype of the joker. The joker archetype comes through many cultural lenses. In the Norse myths the joker is Loki. My daughter is learning the Norse myths this year – in Waldorf schools the 4th grader is developmentally thought to be in need of these mythologies, they can identify and are aligned with the joker archetype in a way at this age of 10 that allows them to take up the stories and lessons deeply.

When considering the joker it is interesting to note that this character historically is the one who is able to entertain the reigning or dominant leadership, the King or Queen. And by using humor they are able to introduce ideas and influence decision making in ways that others could not. They are disrupters in a way – and through disruption and ridiculousness they can ferret extreme shifts and change. Think about modern day comedians and the way they can get our society to talk about taboo subjects and bring things to the surface that normally we wouldn’t be comfortable talking about.

In Sunday School at the Unitarian Universalist church where I teach a small group of children age 6 to 11, the myth of Maui and how he tricked the sun into making the days longer in the summer is a favorite tale. And similarly we find joker tales in stories of other world cultures.

I’m personally not a huge fan of the joker archetypes. I had a boss once who channeled this archetype – what a crazy work environment that was. And the disruption and shift are still being felt there years later. It’s a powerful energy that can cause great upheaval. Our current president may also be channeling this archetype.

When I visit the island of Maui I don’t sense the Maui jokster archetype so much – for me I feel the presence of the mermaid realm in the waters surrounding the island and the great goddess Pele. The Pele archetype of mother, Creatrix is very strong there. The big island’s volcanic activity is creating new land. On the island if Maui you can feel the energy from deep in the earth and sense both it’s creative power and it’s strong and wild destructive power. As the lava flows to create new land it melts everything old in its path. Other cultures have goddesses that similary channel the divine mother archetype of creator and at the same time destroyer. Kali is the Hindu goddess of life and death, both divine mother of the universe and liberator of souls.

In one of my favorite recent reads, God as Mother – I enjoyed the wisdom shared of the universe, before god – there was only love, pure love energy that yearned to love and it describes this first yearning love energy as the poet behind the Big Bang – in that moment the yin feminine energy of love filling the space of the universe twisted itself, using time time as a space holder, into form. In creating form it absorbed and in a way died into that form, exploding into the Big Bang of creation. This original Creatrix then formed the God or a trinity of beings know as God of this universe — a male yang energy as the story goes. And so many religions today start with this male God idea but when I read, God as Mother the feminine pre-God Creatrix resonated deeply within me. Pele. She dwells in the Hawaiian islands. That is her home, the heart center of earth where her love energy feels aligned. Where she creates through her own destruction over and over, retelling the cosmic story of the origin of life. And from her creation comes perpetual life. The life forces on the island are abundant and green – activating my heart chakra like no other place on earth. I replenish my soul there.

We will be returning to Maui in June, I’ll share my experiences and visits at sacred sites on Instagram @modern_mystical_mamma. I hope you’ll share the journey with us as we look for Maui, Pele, the beings of the Mermaid realm-and bathe in the heart space of Mother Earth. This trip is a planning trip for our 2020 retreat and our move to the island by 2021 – were still looking for our perfect next home. It’s all about the journey.

Preview the upcoming podcast series under links on this site – were going live on podcast apps in June!