mama – Maui Goddess Project

The Holy & Sacred Elixir

Published on October 8, 2018 by mauigoddessprojectLeave a comment

As women, we all experience the rite of passage into womanhood at some point in our early adolescents. We bleed for the first time and it is our initiation into great responsibility, beauty and sacrifice… the gift of creating life & healing the Earth. Our society has shifted out of honoring this time for women and now we are slowly going back into honoring our moon cycles and celebrating in ceremony. I met Arielle after a long wait and she knew she wanted to photograph her experience deep in the jungle honoring her moon cycle. I was so supportive of this having a daughter and wanting all young women to not feel shame around their bleed time. Arielle was so peaceful and beautiful when she had blood on her fingertips, her third eye and then offering it to the river. The Earth in that moment became still with us and it felt as if it was honoring Arielle in return. We saged our bodies and our surroundings. She drummed softly as the waterfall rushed on. As I watch fellow women reach deep within themselves to share these potent stories, I am honored to pass them along to empower all of you. Do what you can to honor your cycle. Rest, dance, be free and remind our young maidens to embrace this gift and cherish it. It is one of our gifts to heal each other and the Earth. Arielle works with herbs to help with our cycles and emotions during that time. Check out her salves at Mahina Medicina or reach out to her on her Instagram at @mama.mahina.

I Honor the Goddess in You ~ Arielle

Much Aloha to You Always

Manawahine

Published on December 20, 2017December 21, 2017 by mauigoddessprojectLeave a comment

I have had a long time friendship with the lovely Kate Griffiths, who is the creator of the Maui Mama Magazine. As a mother of two, this magazine became a monthly ritual for me for tips, advice and support especially throughout those younger years. Kate wrote me about contributing to the front page of the upcoming issue because the theme is Manawahine, the Power/Essence of the Woman/Girl as it seemed to be a perfect fit for Maui Goddess Project.

She connected me with a beautiful family of local girls and we set out to create imagery honoring the message of Mana Wahine. The super cute 8 and 4 year old daughters of Mama Pili were giggly, loving and very playful as we walked along the serene setting of Kealia Pond Boardwalk. I kept thinking I should have the girls give me strong, tight lipped faces with fists to show power and strength but it just didn’t seem right. As I watched the sisters help each other and explore together and interact kindly with their mother, I realized that this is our feminine power. Women are wired to have compassion, gentleness and to hold space for these to emotions with ease & grace requires immense amounts of internal strength. The imagery that we have been shown through mass media of what strength is and should be, isn’t all that power and strength actually entails.

Enjoy these photos of what the Feminine Strength can look like from the Maui Goddess Project perspective and continue to let this Manawahine in all of us shine.

Mahalo Kate for making this magical connection happen.