HULIAU - THE RETURN VOYAGE

A NATIVE HAWAIIAN WISDOM CIRCLE

FROM THE BOOK, NEARING COMPLETION:

GRANDMOTHERS WHISPER: Bringing Two Worlds Together ©

By Inette Miller

December 25, 1997 - Meeting ‘Iokepa

The first time I set eyes on ‘Iokepa and heard him speak, it was just after sunrise, Christmas morning, on Kaua‘i.

As the sun broke the horizon, I joined a group of strangers for a simple daybreak service on the outside rim of an ancient Hawaiian temple—a heiau—on a precipice above the Wailua River. ‘Iokepa, too, was surrounded by strangers—arriving by whim at the invitation of a lone acquaintance.

At the conclusion, we were asked to touch the remains of the stone walls, and close our prayers silently.

I turned, shut my eyes, and reached out both palms to a smooth, foot-wide rock at waist level. I felt a peculiar surge of energy, not unlike the electricity that passed through me when I one-time touched a plugged-in toaster standing in a puddle of water. I couldn’t let go. Finally, I didn’t want to. I was conducting some incredible surge from sky to Earth. I was the lightning rod and it felt powerful.

I have no idea how long I stood, connected from Earth to sky by some unseen current. But I heard conversation behind me, and I knew the service had ended.

I ignored the sounds for a minute, then wrenched my hands from the rock with a jolt and turned around. My eyes fastened onto ‘Iokepa, talking to the woman who’d led our service, eight feet away.

The first words I heard from ‘Iokepa weren’t directed at me. I overheard them from behind. He was facing away from me and I heard only a scattering of phrases, “Wānana,” I heard, “means prophecy.

“The prophecy,” I heard, “Given by the spirits, my ancestors.” I’d turned from the magical stones, locked onto ‘Iokepa’s shock of silver hair, heard that sprinkling of disconnected words, and saw as clearly as I saw the mountain in front of me, the word TRUTH spelled out over his head. Literally.

Because I have no prior history of picturing letters displayed over human heads, I could not easily ignore the blazing sign.

‘Iokepa and I hadn’t yet exchanged a word when we were climbing, all of us, back into the five or six cars we’d come in. The leader, standing in front of my rental car, was including ‘Iokepa in a general invitation to turkey dinner that afternoon. I studied the two of them in profile and I saw him waver. I had one foot planted in the car; my hands were on the open door.

Abruptly, he turned his head and looked up at me. He says, he remembers, first of all, my smile. I remember looking him straight in the eye and saying only, “Come.” Maybe then I smiled.