Wayfinding: Intellect and Instinct

[Nagual Menagerie]

Written by Nainoa Thompson, he explains the meaning of sorcery from the perspective of his culture. Spirit guided him instead of the intellect of the mind. One of many tales of power using sorcery. One of many tales where sorcery has made history in our modern day. The Hokule'a completed its Worldwide voyage on June 17, 2017 with its arrival at Magic Island (funny coincidence).  http://www.hokulea.com/home/  

Background

Charles Nainoa Thompson (born March 11, 1953 in Oahu, Hawaii[1]) is a Native Hawaiian navigator and the president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. He is best known as the first Hawaiian to practice the ancient Polynesian art of navigation since the 14th century, having navigated two double-hulled canoes (the Hokule‘a and the Hawai‘iloa) from Hawaiʻi to other island nations in Polynesia without the aid of western instruments (star navigation).

Wayfinding: Intellect and Instinct

by Nainoa Thompson

The difference between the second voyage [in 1980] and the first one [in 1976] was that on the second voyage, the canoe was guided by, captained by, and crewed by people from Hawai'i. For our culture to really be alive, we recognized that we had to practice it ourselves.

Before we left I was panicking. I had the safety of the entire crew in my hands. There was intense media pressure. I had to appear confident, but inside I was very much afraid. The part of the trip I dreaded the most was the doldrums. I had no confidence that I could get through it. I thought that I could only accurately navigate if I had visual celestial clues and that when I got into the doldrums there would be a hundred percent cloud cover, and I would be blind. And that's what happened.

When we arrived in the doldrums, the sky was black. It was solid rain. The wind was switching around. The wind was blowing at about twenty-five knots, and we were moving fast. That's the worst thing that can happen – you are going fast and you don't know where you're going. The guys steering the canoe were looking for direction and that increased the pressure, especially because it was my first voyage as navigator. I couldn't tell the steersmen where to steer. I was very, very tense. To prevent fatigue, you cannot allow yourself to get physically tense, but I couldn't stop feeling tense.

I was so exhausted that I backed up against the rail to rest. Then something happened that allowed me to understand where the moon was, without seeing it. When I gave up fighting to find the moon with my eyes, I settled down. I suddenly felt this warmth come over me and I knew where the moon was. The sky was so black, I couldn't see the moon, but I could feel where it was.

From the feeling of warmth and the image of the moon came a strong sense of confidence. I knew where to go. I directed the canoe on a new course and then, just for a moment, there was a hole in the clouds and the light of the moon shone through – just where I expected it to be. I can't explain it, but that was one of the most precious moments in all my sailing experience. I realized there was some deep connection I was making, something very deep inside my abilities and my senses that goes beyond the analytical, beyond seeing with my eyes. I cannot explain what this is from a scientific point of view. But it happened. And now I seek out these experiences. I don't always have them. I have to be in the right frame of mind and beyond that, internally, I have to be able to enter into a kind of spiritual realm. I don't want to analyze these experiences too much. I just want to make them happen more often. I don't think there's an explanation for them. There are certain levels of navigation that are realms of the spirit.

Before that happened, I tended to rely on math and science because it was so much easier to explain things that way. I didn't know how to trust my instincts. They were not trained enough to be trusted. Hawaiians call itna'au – your instincts, your feelings, rather than your mind, your intellect.

http://archive.hokulea.com/ike/hookele/ ... tinct.html

(edit by wg: used NM's preferred formatting)

[watergaze]

It is amazing how they can re-discover old traditions. Link with one's ancestors and/or spirit must be strong there. Really a beautiful tale of power . Thnx for posting.

(I also see links to what we are doing now and what we have talked about recently.)

[Nagual Menagerie]

I'm grateful you noticed the patterns and different ways to apply magic from here into other areas of meaning. It did remind me of you and that's why I posted it. There's something very majestic about falling (or rising, if one prefers) into their own inner truths.

[glance left]

The timing of this thread...and of me coming across this thread and reading it just now, is so cool.....and, of course, indicative of the very source of the power of "wayfinding" as described by Nainoa which guided him during the doldrums.

First off, I did not know that the term "doldrums", colloquially used to describe an emotional/cognitive state in which one is swallowed by gloominess/moodiness/depression/low energy/perception of stagnation, actually comes from this navigational term used to describe part of the ocean which harbors some of these qualities.

From dictionary.com:

"1. a state of inactivity or stagnation, as in business or art:

August is a time of doldrums for many enterprises.

2. the doldrums. a. a belt of calms and light baffling winds north of the equator between the northern and southern trade winds in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

b. the weather prevailing in this area.

3. a dull, listless, depressed mood; low spirits"

And then, the synchronicity of reading this post today....and coming home from work last night, I sat down with my kids watching Moana, which I've never seen before. As Wikipedia describes it..."The film tells the story of Moana, the strong-willed daughter of a chief of a Polynesian tribe, who is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with a goddess. When a blight strikes her island, Moana sets sail in search of Maui, a legendary demigod, in the hope of saving her people."

On her quest, she's both chosen and then guided by the ocean itself, which becomes a personification of this "wayfinding" described above....the hand of the spirit which helps her along the way toward the completion of her quest.

Wayfinding....its real, without question. Current synchronicities attest to it

[watergaze]

Way-finding is surely a skill that any good shaman has to possess - be it on land or sea (or air or other worlds hehe). With everything one does there is an element of way finding. It surely is something that deserves more attention .

Of course if is real . A core shamanic skill... Whatever the community needs - water, food, shelter - the shaman had to go and find which way to go to keep his or her people safe and not starving etc.

[Guest]