when you're good to mama...

the sole glitch in our travel plans (other than my father's health, of course)occurred yesterday when ten minutes before our scheduled boarding time, we were informed our flight to honolulu had been delayed due to “maintenance issues.” the trouble was that the plane was going to be delayed so long we were in danger of missing our connection to kona. Beloved and i stared at each other in horror.

but it all worked out serendipitously well because in the blink of an eye, a few taps on a keyboard, and a sprint across two terminals, we were given seats on another flight, direct to kona, in first class, no less.

call me crazy, but in it i could feel the hand of Mama Pele.

i’ve known people all my life who speak of Jesus as “their personal savior,” but i’ve never felt the need for a personal kind of god or goddess. the Divine is very real for me, the OtherWorld as close as just around the corner, just beyond the hill. raised a monotheist, and having evolved into a pantheist, a “personal” diety smacks a bit too much of polytheism to sit easily with me.

but on my first trip to hawaii four years ago, i remember how, when my foot touched the tarmac at the airport, up through the asphalt, i felt a bolt of energy shoot from the sole of my foot up my leg, all the way up my spine, to sizzle in my head. i had a migraine for five days, and I didn’t care.

despite the discomfort, the whole experience was of a connection to Something that had Identity, Personality, Awareness... and understood the same of me. it was as if some great energy had reached up out of the ground, wrapped a hand around around my ankle, and didn't just claim me, but recognized me in some way as already belonging to her.

i read a few days ago that some people who see the film Avatar experience a profound depression, because in their experience, our world falls far short of cameron’s created one. and yet, my experience of Mama Pele, of the Divinity that infuses hawaii, tells me that pandora isn’t just possible here, it exists. It exists on every continent, on every island, assuming we don’t kill it first.

i am not sure for what purpose or why Mama Pele Called me. i don’t completely understand the nature of our Relationship. i only know that here, on her blessed earth, i have found the place i know i’m home.