Pele comes up again as our Goddess of the Week; She showed up just over a year ago, on March 14th and April 5th of 2009. She is the Hawaiian Goddess of volcanoes and their power, said to live within the crater of Kilauea on Hawaii, perhaps the most active volcano on the planet. The Pu'u 'O'o cone, part of the Kilauea system but not located within the main crater, is currently erupting, and has been since January 1983; just this morning as a matter of fact it ate a webcam.
Here's an aerial view of Pu'u 'O'o:
(Picture from Google Maps)
In legend Pele quarreled with Her elder sister Na-maka-o-kaha'i, the Sea-Goddess; an angry Na-maka-o-kaha'i pursued Her through each of the Hawaiian islands in turn, destroying Pele's efforts to set up homes there. But when Pele came to the Big Island She took refuge in the crater of Kilauea; this proved to be too high for the Sea-Goddess to reach, and Pele was finally able to make Her home there.
Pele is capable of immense swaths of destruction, and is accorded much respect, as is proper; but Her acts of destruction are at the same time acts of creation. There is no land in Hawaii that is not born of a volcano.
As for this week: Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland is causing problems again, or, rather, our dependence on air travel is causing us problems; the volcano is really just doing what volcanoes do. I think that may be part of the lesson here--distinguishing what is in our control and what is not, and then accepting the situation. Seriously, would you argue with a volcano?
Also I can't help but think that it has gotten to a point where the Earth has begun to push back. Well, not push back, per se. Really it's all a natural and normal reaction to the crap She puts up with from us humans--the pollution causing rising temperatures, the oil pouring into the Gulf due to our own greed and insistence on using everything up--and we should not be surprised. That we are is testament to our hubris.
On a personal level, what are your volcanoes? I once had a nightmare in which a new volcano formed a street over from my house; it was quite terrifying. When I woke it seemed to be warning me of anger I held within myself. What do you hold inside? What threatens to erupt? Kilauea rarely explodes catastrophically, since it is constantly spewing lava; I won't call it a 'gentle' eruption, as it is after all a volcano. Still, there is a lesson there, about being open to expressing our anger regularly so that it does not build up to explosive levels.
What does She say?
I rumble from within. Lava is my blood and it boils. I destroy, all the time, constantly; I create, all the time, constantly. I am partial to neither. It is simply what I do.
Learn that you are small. Very small. Keep this in mind. You must learn some respect. Well, you will or you will not; it will not matter, really. You are just so small.
There are some things that are beyond your control.
What do you think?
4 comments:
Ai yi I always find the Pele entries so hard to do. I always feel I should ground, ground, ground after (before?) I do them. But I think part of the problem is that how do you ground if the ground is a lava flow? The earth isn't always stable, is it?
Also, here we are back to fire. It's been fire water fire water fire water for a while now. No wonder I feel like I have whiplash.
The google map photo that you posted looks amazingly like a yoni.
I think Pele took a little vacation to Iceland. We all need to get away once in a while.
I've always felt a connection to Pele since learning about her from the Tori album. I agree with you that the Earth is striking back against the abuse rendered onto her by humankind.
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