Pele and Me

I will talk more about my trip to Oahu later. But for now, I'd like to talk about my experiences on Kilauea.

We went up near the top of the volcano last Monday afternoon. That evening, we had a welcoming ceremony to the place and then the next morning (Tuesday), a sunrise ceremony where we offer ava juice to the crater and other people (i.e., plants and rocks) that we found there. Before the ceremony itself, we went through steam from a steam vent (maybe as a way to purify ourselves).

The steam is considered to be a manifestation of the female energy of the place, so I imagined the steam replenishing my yin energy (according to Chinese medicine, yin is a female energy). I am such a Yang personality (very active, hates to sit still) that I have depleted my yin so many of my acupuncture treatments revolve around gaining my yin energy back. I mention this because I think this was the start of my connection to the volcano - and to the fire, Pele.

On Wednesday, I couldn't get warm all day (our meeting room was chilly) and since I only had one pair of pants and didn't want to wear them four days in a row, I wore capris and sandals. By the afternoon, I started to feel chills. After we ended our afternoon session, I went back to the cabin, put on several layers of clothes, and tried to get warm. Then we went to dinner, but I only stayed long enough to eat. I was too chilled.

I kept on all my layers and huddled under a blanket on the coach. We had the heat way up in the cabin. I sat there for two hours trying to get warm enough. My hands and feet took the longest to feel normal. IN the meantime, I felt feverish. My brother noticed my face was really red. This was after he came back inside the cabin where he also noted the "plume" or a bright red glow off in the direction of the crater. I decided I had a fever then.

I got ready for bed - changed my dressing and took my herbs and Ibuprofen. One herb is for colds and flu; I take the Ibuprofen for the inflammation and swelling in my armpit.

I slept fairly well, although I woke up in the middle of the night perspiring a little bit - my fever broke. The next morning, I found out that the plume had died down again. As I changed my dressing, I noted a rash on my chest, radiating out from the tumor on my breast bone.

That evening, after the hula performances, some of us went to the crater to see it one last time. It was dark out. When we got the crater, we turned off the flashlights and we really couldn't see much out there except for vog (volcano fog). Maybe a bit of a glow out in the crater. Then it began to grow - the plume appeared again. Each time it grew, one of my friends, would say, "wow, look at that!". As it grew, I felt warm again - and then it seemed as if heat was radiating from the rash on my chest.

So, I think I had a connection with Pele, with the fire of the volcano. I responded to her heat or she was responding to my heat. I find myself thinking of my local volcanoes. My niece had a henna party on Saturday and I decided to put a volcano henna design on my wrist and forearm.

I'm looking forward to going back.

Hawaii Pictures

Finally, I have posted some pictures from Hawaii. The first picture is of me and Eddie overlooking steam vents at Volcano National Park (is it Kilauea, Renee?).



The next picture if of me and Eddie at the entrance to the lava tube at Volcano National Park.



The next picture if of Eddie in the lava tube.



Eddie is sitting in the lava field - we were on our way to walk as far as we could so we could see the steam rising from the lava entering the ocean.



Here we are - see the steam in the background where the lava is entering the ocean.



Here is Eddie near the pond where the sea turtles are hanging out.




And, Eddie is on the right - we are at Kailua Beach on O'ahu. This is where he said, "I'm having the time of my life."



Here's a picture of Renee and Eddie overlooking Waimea Valley, where the Hawaiian royalty lived. I guess taro grew very well here.



Renee and Arna are helping Eddie on the boogie board at Richardson (? I think) Beach in Hilo.



Eddie is on a rock bridge at a park in Hilo - they were having a celebration for Queen Lily (actually, it's a longer name, but I have forgotten it) who was responsible (with her husband) for building the first hospitals for Native Hawaiians. The celebration also had a bouncy castle for kids as well as a water slide which Eddie slid down over and over. We didn't get a picture of that - only movies!



A banyan tree at the park with the water slide . . . I love banyan trees. They are so unusual with the roots hanging off the branches. They are also soooo big! I wonder how old they are . . .


Hope you've enjoyed the pictures!