Do you ever wish you could see into the future and just know how your life is going to turn out?
Have you ever a met a person that changed the trajectory of your life?
For me and many others, that person was Aunty Mahilani Poepoe.
The haumana, students, of Aunty Mahi gathered together last week for a beautiful reunion. It’s been almost 15 years since her passing and we had so much fun sharing amazing, heart-felt stories of our time with Auntie.
We come from many walks of life – scientists, healers, cultural practitioners – but each one had a story of how spending time with Aunty Mahi changed everything.
Her wisdom and way of being changed our lives and continues to open doorways, bring healing and send more love and compassion into the world.
Steve and Ami Schorr are the founders of Bioponic Phytoceuticals, a company dedicated to creating herbal healing products and natural medicine. They shared their story of meeting Auntie Mahi…
“One day, this Hawaiian lady just showed up at our door. She said she had been told by the kupuna, elders, to bring forward some Hawaiian medicine, La’au Lapa’au. She wanted us to help her to do that.
At the time, we were distilling plant medicinals and thought, “Yes. Of course!”
Auntie Mahi’s process was quite incredible.
In dream time, she would receive messages from the ancestors. Her grandfather was a kahuna of Hawaiian medicine and he would show her formulas. She would scribble them down, then teach the boys where to go, how to gather, the protocols for calling the medicine, and what the medicine was to be used for.
Bioponic Phytoceuticals now distributes these products all over the world.
One of the students shared about his brother that had been deep into drug abuse. He would always come home high and it was taking its toll on the family.
He began to complain to Auntie about how frustrated he was and worried that his brother had gone so far off into drugs that he was past the point of no return.
“Don’t worry Boy,” Aunty Mahi told him, “your brother is going to come to you and you need to be ready for when he comes and asks for help.”
“I don’t think so Aunty,” the student said angrily. “It’s never gonna happen.”
“He is going to come and you need to get rid of your anger so you can be ready to receive him.”
The very next day, the student was sitting with Aunty and his brother came crying. He came to aunty and asked for help.
Aunty told her student, “we need to create a La’au for him so put this, this, that and the other medicine together. Call Steve and Ami. Tell them to make the formula.”
She decided to call the medicine kukuipuka, which means the pathway to the light.
About an hour later, the student was at the door to pick up the medicine from Steve and Ami. They told him they wanted to call the medicine “The light at the end of the tunnel.”
Talk about alignment.
Everybody had received the messages from spirit about what was needed in that moment and to this day, the student’s brother has been completely clean and sober over 15 years!
One person that you meet or one situation or one experience can change the trajectory of your life. When you have the chance to sit at the foot of the elders, take it.
Each person in the gathering wished they’d had more time with Aunty Mahi. She had the ability to foresee what would happen and give a push in the right direction.
The opportunity to sit with the elders and soak up their wisdom is a gift. It could change everything for you.
Auntie Mahilani Poepoe was a gifted healer, an international ambassador of aloha. She continues her legacy through each one of her haumana, (students).
The seeds of aloha that were planted in her lifetime have been spreading for all of these years. I am honored to witness all that her legacy has brought to our lives and to the world.
What I took away from the evening when listening to the stories was that each person had an intimate connection with Aunty. She was our beloved Kumu.
We speak of her with reverence, but not from the place of the guru and the follower. Auntie would never let us put her on a pedestal because that would be permission for us to stay small.
Our Kumu opened us up to witnessing the realm of spirit, of miracles, an expanded awareness of what is possible. Aunty showed us her humanity, her vulnerability and her humility.
She did not ask for our devotion.Instead, she taught us not to rely on her but to look beyond her and in direct line to source.
Aunty wanted us to rise up to meet the gifts, talents, abilities and kuleana (responsibilities) that she saw in us and for us.
“I will not always be here in the flesh, so don’t lean on Auntie,” she often said. “Look to Ke Akua I’o (Divine) with trust and follow your na’au (intuitive knowing). Aunty will always be with you in spirit.
Take every opportunity to sit at the feet of great elders while they are here. Go to your grandmothers, grandfathers, Aunties, Uncles, Parents, beloved teachers and gather their stories. When they are gone you will be the source.
With aloha,
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3 thoughts on “Wisdom of the Elders”
I just wanted to tell you that everything you said and wrote brought tears to my eyes. I’m her oldest Grandson Daniel III. Me and my little family will be seeing you shortly. We’re moving to Texas in a few months and is making a stop to Maui before we depart to say bye to my Grandparents upcountry and I would love to come by and maybe hear some stories you have and could share with me and my wife and two keikis while getting some lomilomi at the same time. Thank you again, Aloha
P.S. I was born and raised in kalihi but used to go to Waianae every weekend with my little brother to my Dads house(Daniel Jr.) up in the Valley where my Grandma and Grandpa Poepoe them was too. When I was a little boy I remember my Grandma Poepoe always Speaking to us in Hawaiian but me and my little bro was raised in Kalihi and we didn’t know half the stuff she was saying. But two things she said in English always stayed in my head. She said “the books can say all kine stories po’ohina, but it’s the stories Grandma tell you and your kupunas that is Going to live on and you got to pass it on to your keikis!” And “Family is Everything, Protect your keikis destiny!” And I gotta add that my wife and I believe our 7year old daughter has a photographic memory also. But that’s my story. Thank you Again ALOHA
Mahalo for this beautiful sharing. Time for me to call my Mom and Dad to ask them to share their stories!
I have always loved special time when we can be with family and share family stories. One of my favorite books is actually from a family that is related to us. It’s called Hawaiians family album by Matthew Kaopio. My favorite one is where Mama Polly rides the back of a shark to safety after being washed out to see while she was picking opihi.