Huna Article

Huna International

My Journey With Huna
by Maria Waldock

I live at Maroochydore on the beautiful Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia. When I go for my morning exercise, I either spend time with the ocean toward Mooloolaba or I walk beside Maroochydore River toward Bli Bli. There is no real pattern, no method for choosing which direction I take, but the choice is made when I allow my Aumakua to direct me. This morning I was directed to the ocean, so I set off to Mooloolaba. I felt strongly this was the way I needed to go.

As I neared the top of Alexandra Headland I saw a plumeria flower, upside down in the middle of the path. I stopped and picked it up and placed it right side in the grass beside the path with the purpose of allowing others to see and enjoy its beauty as they passed it. Further on, close to the esplanade at Mooloolaba, I came upon another one. Considering there were no plumeria trees in the immediate vicinity of either flower, I felt they were more precious signs showing me the Power of Huna.

As I passed the second flower I heard a bird calling behind me. I don't know what type of bird it was but it was continually making short loud calls as it flew and the calls got louder. I felt the bird was simply communicating exactly what it needed to in that moment. I looked to my left and this small bird was chasing three Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. The Yellow-tails continued on their way, their beautiful bodies moving effortlessly with slow deep wing beats. They did not make any calls, they simply continued on their way.

I felt a strong pull within me as I have on many occasions since January this year, when Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo began visiting me the day after I arrived on the Sunshine Coast. Shortly after this appearance, all the birds were out of sight and as I walked past Mooloolaba shops I thought how beautiful, amazing and majestic the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is. How wonderful it would be to connect with them everyday through a tail feather. If only I had one at home. I then felt a pang of guilt that I would even want to take one of their feathers. I then thought: I don't need a tail feather to connect with them. I can connect with Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo through The Four Levels of Reality, anytime and anywhere I choose.

As I got to the end of the esplanade, I crossed the road and started to make my way back home. As I walked, I began connecting with Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo and asked what was the message I needed to open up to through their visit this morning. There were three messages that came:

The first was from the perspective of the Yellow-tails themselves who were heading in the direction they felt instinctively they needed to go. As they travelled, a challenge crossed their path, but they were not in the least bit fazed by this challenge that was continually attempting to make them change their course. They simply maintained their steady beat with the rhythm of life.

The second message, much to my surprise, came from the perspective of the small bird, which instinctively went after its challenge in the form of three Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos 10 times its size!! (Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos range in size from 58-65cm). I felt this small bird didn't face its challenge with a truck-load of aggression, but instead with its inner strength and instinct and it faced that huge challenge until the challenge disappeared. I remembered as I had heard the small bird's calls, I had felt that it was simply communicating what it needed to. Something we can all do when we connect to our heart space. We can all communicate what it is we need to do, without the need for aggression.

The third message was about perspective. We all see life from different perspectives. I've often heard people say that and yes I feel it's true. I realised I can change and embrace many more perspectives at once by connecting with the four levels of reality in order to be able to connect with my source which I feel occurs through my open heart. People embrace the perspective from their own journey that they create. They see themselves and everyone else from that perspective. But we can change our perspective whenever we choose.

This third message came to me almost like a bonus! As I certainly had not been expecting to receive a message from the small bird even though, it was totally part of that moment and was experiencing every second of it with the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, myself and every other thing in the area. Receiving these messages touched a knowing, a remembering in my body and put a huge smile on my face, which was returned by many of the early morning walkers as I continued my journey home.

The next gift I received was a beautiful woman walking toward me covered in plumeria blossoms. Not clothing, with plumeria flowers printed on them, real flowers!! She was plucking them from a branch and was busy placing them behind her ears, in her curly hair, even in her cleavage, anywhere she could find a spot for one to sit. My smile just got bigger and bigger! About 50 meters after passing this beautiful woman, I came upon another plumeria flower in the middle of the path.

Instead of placing this one beside the path for others to admire its beauty I picked it up and continued on my journey home twirling it between my fingers as I walked. I breathed in its exquisite fragrance and was so struck with its simplicity and the captivating beauty it expressed. Quite amazing!!!! As I walked I thought about the messages received through the birds, the challenges I have been gifted with on my journey and the gifted challenges I am working with presently.

My Self Esteem or lack thereof, came to mind. My whole life I have found it a challenge to love ME. Much of that time, I wasn't even sure who ME was. Every now and then I'd start to get a glimpse of my inner beauty, strength and power but would quite rapidly turn away from it and concentrate on the outer shell trying to be someone I thought others wanted me to be. I was too afraid to truly connect with that amazing woman inside me.

She has wanted to show herself for a long time, just as the inner woman in my mother, grandmother and many woman before me have wanted to do, but have not. Instead, choosing to remain in the background because it was easier, less challenging which was perceived as less painful. I remembered my own thoughts over the years and the perspective I had chosen to take and how I had created things in my life to appear, from the outside, what I perceived to be an unattractive woman. Thoughts like: No-one could love me, why would they, I can't stand myself, I am unlovable. These old thought patterns continually validated my misguided need to ignore The Gift That I Am!!

By this stage I was close to Maroochydore and the entrance to the street I would take to get back home. As I walked under the trees along Alexandra Parade, I noticed a feather on the path about three meters ahead. It was curved slightly, which caused it to be raised off the path making it very noticeable. It reminded me of the curved wing feather of a Brush Turkey (another beautiful Australian native), similar in colour, shape and length.

I walked up to within about half a meter of it, stopped and stared at it for a moment. Then, I noticed right at my feet was another feather. A tail feather of a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo!! As my skin began looking more and more like a chicken, I felt a few things drop on my head and shoulders and at first didn't think anything of it until it continued. I looked up into the eye of a female Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (female Yellow Tails have a grey ring around their eye, males have a red ring).

"Pick them up," she said. I did this and stood, plumeria and feathers in hand, transfixed with my eyes skyward feeling like I was completely in a dream. "Is it up there?" one man asked. "Yes, I replied, "and isn't she beautiful?" The man and his two companions didn't answer or even look any further, but continued on their way. I couldn't move. All I wanted to do was lay on the ground gazing up at her forever. The next best thing was to sit in the gutter, that way I wouldn't block the path and I could still be directly under her.

It just seemed so surreal and a few tears escaped making their way down my cheeks. I gave up trying to hide my tears a long time ago and didn't bother wiping them away. So, here I was crying, sitting in the gutter on Alexandra Parade at 5:30 in the morning. Many people walked past, (there's a lot of people out walking at that time) and all but the first man and another couple walked right on by. Most didn't even look up to see what I was looking at. I was reminded, "Everyone is on their own journey."

All the while the bird continued eating the Banksia pods and I continued to be rained upon on my head by the discards. She reminded me to "get out of your head, connect with your heart." To the left I saw movement in the tree and to the right I heard more pods falling to the ground. I changed my perspective slightly and saw two more Yellow-tails. I stood up again at this point realising there were three birds not just one and I was instantly reminded of My Three Selves, Ku, Lono and Aumakua.

A couple walked up to me and the man said "Is it an Eagle? We just saw an Eagle down there," pointing to where he and his female companion had come from. "No, it's a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo," I answered, "and there are three of them." He spoke about the food they eat and the couple stood and watched with me a few moments more. The woman looked at my teary face and said, "Wow, you were lucky to get feathers." "Yes," I replied with a shaky voice, "they were right at my feet. Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo has been sending me messages since I arrived on the coast in January, so I'm a little overwhelmed right now." With that I really started to cry and the couple's feet started to shuffle. "Have a wonderful day," I choked out and they were on their way again.

I sat back down in the gutter, tears streaming down my face. The pedestrian traffic continued to file past but I thought, "So what." I was in my dream. I finally became more aware of cars driving past, I thought time was moving on and I felt it was time to go as much as my head wanted to stay. I crossed the main road still crying and continued on my way home passing an exquisite orange plumeria tree.

Once home, I started about my day still in awe every time I looked at the feathers. About one hour after I arrived back home I was in the front garden and was wondering were the Yellow-tails journey had taken them. I looked at the large cotton tree that hangs across my front fence and shades the yard and thought why don't they ever come and land in this tree? And I heard: "Because that is not where we need to go Maria, be aware of where YOU need to go." I thanked them for their messages and continued to create an absolutely fantastic day.!!!! And so this is the power of HUNA.

Even now, days after this experience, it is still filtering down within me, allowing further realisations to come to the surface. I thought about the position of the feathers and realised that I had been looking ahead only seeing the feather that was obvious and very noticeable and had not seen the tail feather until I stopped and was almost standing on it. So often we ask for something and when we don't see it or choose not to see it, we think our request was not answered and we lessen our trust in the process. In my instance, when I have created this in the past it gave me permission to believe my lack of self worth. But, I have come to realise everything we need is right in front of us, sometimes right at our feet!! I am reminded of the power of being in the moment, Manawa. When we are not here we cannot clearly see the gifts right in front of us.

I also realised that my pang of guilt at wanting to connect through a tail feather was really my self-sabotage as I didn't believe I was worthy of receiving and caretaking with honour such a beautiful sacred gift. I was not lucky, I am very deserving of these beautiful feathers. The gift of this experience is a reflection of the gift that I am and the power I have within to continue my journey embracing The 7 Principles of Huna: "'Ike, Kala, Makia, Manawa, Aloha, Mana, Pono." What we ask for is what the universe gifts us with. That is how special we all are. Each one of us, a sacred gift, able to create a journey without limitations that we can offer as our gift. Be mindful of what it is you are asking for. Energy goes were attention flows.

Copyright Huna International 2005