The Blue Candle
Its Color
The Flame
Why it is that we do what we do…
Sunday, 20 November 2016
Our dearest littlebig family,
Our littlebig family keeps getting more numerous, more confident and more playful. I see new younger girls and new grizzled boys with eyes reflecting the truth of their new pathways and new possibilities. The power of this Realization will always cause the oncoming vehicle of
Disappointment and Despair to defer and dip its headlight expecting you to follow suit. Remember beloved, It is we who have the Right of Way, We Will Continue Onward -Together! With our Light on Full Beam!
On a more personal note, reflecting back, being born in the very early 50’s into a family of two girls and eight boys, if you were one of the shorter kids, that was fine, in fact that was just perfect. But, if you were one of the taller and especially, one of the younger–taller boys, that wasn’t good at all. In fact, that was a really bad situation to be in. Why? Well, as all poor, younger-taller kids (especially boys know, or probably still have nightmares about) your first “brand new” pair of long (usually faded) hand-me-down-trousers, probably ended around your calf area, or, if you were lucky, a little bit lower. But, still miles away from your ankles.
My children and my grandchildren and probably most children and most grandchildren in economically sound countries today, have absolutely NO IDEA of what it is that I speak! How sad and yet how glad I am.
It’s your first ever date, in which you have the opportunity to wear your long trousers, to denote your status to the world that you have become a “Big Person,” so you spend the entire time in the company of Miss Teen Universe with your hands buried in your pockets. You’re trying inconspicuously to push your pant legs down towards another older brother’s sparkling shoes that you’ve borrowed (without his knowledge) trying to get every extra non-existent inch you can from your trousers to cover those parts of your bare skinny legs that should be covered, without showing to much of your arse at the top! (I know, it’s the exact opposite today)
At the same time this is going on our sweating, but trying to stay cool hero is trying to convince Miss Perfect, with his smart banter, that he’s her perfect match. He’s hoping upon hope, she hasn’t noticed his first ever pair of long trousers are really, in fact, short-long trousers and that he’s actually wearing odd socks as well!
Our littlebig family needn’t ever have to worry about where each of us fit, or measure-up in our own “short-long trousers.” This is simply because our metaphor of short-long, little-big, is merely a play on perception. An opportunity to reflect on how we view our own beliefs, and the much larger wider optic when we dare to cast our minds beyond the horizons of our own limited understandings and consider open heartedly, the opinions and traditional views, be it of, family, friends, colleagues, and, dare I even suggest, strangers.
My teachers believe, that the point of the matter is really, “What is it, that will bring about an end of our quest to find that compassionate and understanding haven that we will intrinsically know, at the deepest spiritual part of who we are as individuals, that we have arrived at that place that will sustain us as individuals, family and community?”
The answer, of course, lies within each of us – should we be courageous enough to look.
The Granny’s, Grandfathers and I send you all our love and blessings. There has been a chill in the air for most of the day but our hearts have denied its stinging effects because we are still carrying the burning embers of warmth from the glow of our incredible time within our Sacred Circle at Rockford Chapel on Saturday.
The shared dinner was the highlight of the day for me. As we progress further into our littlebig family relationship, the teachings will also become progressively extensive as well.
Nature’s Fern Frond, the Koru, that dynamic Spiral of releasing, renewing and regenerating was also incorporated into our Healing Circle on Saturday, as we released our heartfelt supplications into the spiraling energies of renewal and regeneration. Our littlebig family was walking our talk. Singing our songs, while drumming the Drum of heartbeat into a new state of awakened consciousness. We were taking care of one of our own.
Much sharing – trusting – listening – watching – understanding – growth – story-telling
Appreciation Ceremony:
Our Circle received an incredible gifting of a beautiful ceremonial quilt from Elder Sunk Pa Ska Uha (Has Whiteface Horse) Headsman of the Sunk Pa Ska Uha Tiyospaye…Deeply honored. What is gifted to Circle belongs in Circle.
At 8.47pm Saturday evening, our daughter Betsy rang to say that she and our son Hamid had arrived home safely in Cincinnati. Grandmother Peggy rang me and our Blue Travel Candle Flame was taken outside into our meadow, given a blessing of gratitude that all our littlebig family members had arrived to their dwellings safe and secure and with the chant completed, the Flame was extinguished until we are called to come Home to community and companionship again.
Beloved littlebig family, we give thanks to all your sacred stories, shared, sung, held for another time, or still ripening on the vine of a growing confidence. We thank you also for the giving of your time and effort, where, in a world, time and effort is sadly almost always inextricably wed to the loss of this, or to the cost of that.
Grandmothers and Grandfathers, Mothers and Fathers, Sisters and Brothers, Daughters and Sons, Granddaughters and Grandsons, Seen and Unseen, Ghost and Alien, Below and Above, Negative and Positive – Thank you, One and All.
Beloved littlebig family, in earlier ages, way, way back in the mists of Te Haa, the Earliest breaths of Time there were a branch of our Priests who were simply known as, The Blanket Carriers. These simple Women and Men had forsaken all worldly things and the only material possession they claimed was a fine flaxen blanket that they wore like a full-length shawl.
They interacted with everything and anyone who happened to pass their Way. They had extraordinary insights, they knew the healing properties of almost all the composite flowering plants, they befriended the four legged and winged creatures of the land and because we were a land surrounded by oceans and filled with river-ways, their diverse knowledge of the diversity within the world of marine biology was, at the time, without peer.
Our information summary show however, that their greatest contribution to our oral record and the recordings they left on cave wall and limestone overhangs was the knowledge they garnered and the relationship they enjoyed with our Whanaunga from Te Ao Whanui, our relatives from the Cosmos.
Needless to say, our people held these beloved women and men in awe.
These forerunners of our Priest class followed a Cosmic Object in the Sky the color of Lapis. Her name was Mumu Te Awha. She was a Blue Comet and was the child of Taki Uru Tahi and Taki Uru Rua, Sirius A and Sirius B.
Mumu Te Awha, the Blue Comet, was recognized in our stories as being the twin sister to Papatuanuku, Earth Mother the Blue Planet.
It was well known that our Priests were incredibly skilled at walking the most dangerous mountain passes in all seasons because they traveled under the brilliant guiding light of Taki Uru Tahi and Taki Uru Rua, the parents of Mumu te Awha. It was believed the light of the guiding stars were reflected off of the eyes of the nocturnal animals that had befriended the Priests and lit a pathway of safety for them as they walked at the darkest most dangerous of times.
When the Priest arrived safely at his or her destination, she or he would quietly bow before the sky, be it day or night, and sing a prayer of gratitude to Mumu Te Awha, The Blue Comet for his or her safe passage.
It is from this old story that we later day Priests, use the Flame of a Blue Candle as a “guiding-light” being reflected off of the eyes of our littlebig family members, to steer our travelers home safely from the mountainous passes and routes of the world after having been in service to something greater than themselves – the family.
It is the duty of the Waitaha Priest to insure that the last family member who arrived to the gathering will be given the responsibility of contacting the Priest to announce that they have arrived at their original place of departure requesting that the dangerous mountain passes and the routes of the world be put to rest with the Blue Candle Flame.
Its Color – Lapis Lazuli: Represents the Divine Feminine
The Flame – The guiding Light: Represents the light of Awakened Consciousness
Thank you to our sister, who wishes to remain anonymous, for the wonderful gifting of a Box full of very hard to find Blue Candles. Your presence is very much appreciated in our littlebig family. For the safety of your anonymity, in all future writings, you shall henceforth be called, Flame.
Raymond TeKorako Ruka.
Son of Waitaha