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Post by pineapple on May 5, 2009 1:08:10 GMT -5
I really doubt the volcano can tell the difference between a leaf and a flower anyway. My experience with volcanos is that the offering they most seem to want is your life. Dang things are always finding new ways to kill people. Crevasses, avalanches, rock fall, explosions, poison gas, heat stroke, hypothermia ... you name it, they try it. Hawaii's volcanoes don’t explode as Mt St. Helen, or Pinatubo and Krakatoa do. Instead, Hawaii volcanoes- among the world’s tallest and most active- erupt gently. As they do, they attract people, not scare them away. The lava flows are Pele’s jewelry, hot and beautiful. Instead of being wasteful and destructive, the flows create more land. Awesome! Instead of destroying, they create.
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Post by pineapple on May 5, 2009 1:51:26 GMT -5
People follow people and make rock offerings to Madame Pele wrapped in Ti-leaf, Hawaii's spiritual plant. Why not! The rocks are symbolic of helping Pele to create land. Try taking any of the rocks away. See what happens. Madame Pele can be so gentle and caring, but take those rocks away and undermine her work... you will incur her wrath, her terrible temper.
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Post by pineapple on May 5, 2009 1:59:11 GMT -5
Madame Pele and Na-maka-o-kaha'i, goddess of water and the sea, Pele's older sister, are bitter enenmies; they are constanlty doing battle. You can see them clashing where lava flows into the ocean. Pele has the upperhand because Na-maka-o-kaha'i's sea, in stopping the lava flow, unwittingly creates more land, exactly what Pele wants.
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Post by pineapple on May 5, 2009 2:04:56 GMT -5
Have you ever given a thought to what usually happens to hurricanes when they’re about to hit the Islands? The source of the storms are Na-maka-o-kaha'i's ocean. They either die out, veer away or become less destructive tropical storms. It's no mystery: madame Pele with scorn tells her sister “don’t you dare….”
The last two Hurricanes that touched Hawaii, Eva and Iniki, as they were about to hit the Big Island, veered southward. After passing the Big Island, it went back to its original course. It seemed that they wanted to avoid hitting any part of Hawaii, so they changed direction again and headed north. If they had stayed on course they would have hit Lihue. They found a pathway in the channel between Oahu and Kauai. They hit the eastern half of Kauai, sparing Lihue. I find this to be rather interesting: First, they paused right next to the Big Island as though to make navigational adjustments. Then they cut through the channel between Kauai and Oahu. Why didn’t they just go over Oahu and hit Honolulu? It seems that they were trying to avoid all islands.
Again, Madame Pele held her hands out and told her sister "Stop!" Na-maka-o-kaha'i, not in a mood to fight, obliged.
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Post by pineapple on May 5, 2009 2:08:31 GMT -5
It’s the same with tsunamis. We are located in harms’ way being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Earthquakes in Peru, Alaska, Japan, and other Pacific Rim places have occurred many times and have generated major tsunamis. Yet, only two have had major destruction, both on the Big Island. Of course, we should not make light of the aftermath of the first one in 1946, which killed 24 school kids and teachers and destroyed parts of downtown Hilo. Nor should we make light of the second one that annihilated lower Hilo in 1960. But these occurred about a half century ago.
No doubt Na-maka-o-kaha'i is also powerful, very powerful, maybe equally as powerful as her younger sisster and can overcome her sister occasionally.
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Post by pineapple on May 5, 2009 2:12:19 GMT -5
Now, Bearclause, you know what the ti-leaf covered rock offerings are all about. With greatest reverance, I honor and respect Madam pele.
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Post by goGopherBill on May 5, 2009 8:43:13 GMT -5
I agree.. With The curse of taking a piece of lava rock home.
It's not that I believe....it's that YOU believe...and I respect that.
Besides lava rock covered up with 3 feet of snow for 6 months of the year bums even me out.
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Post by mikegarrison on May 5, 2009 10:38:39 GMT -5
There is plenty of "lava rock" here in Washington. Certainly no need to bring some more from somewhere else.
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Post by BearClause on May 5, 2009 10:56:03 GMT -5
Now, Bearclause, you know what the ti-leaf covered rock offerings are all about. With greatest reverance, I honor and respect Madam pele. OK. However - some people left fruit or flowers. And I thought that the ti plant wasn't even native to Hawai'i.
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Post by mikegarrison on May 5, 2009 11:00:20 GMT -5
Now, Bearclause, you know what the ti-leaf covered rock offerings are all about. With greatest reverance, I honor and respect Madam pele. OK. However - some people left fruit or flowers. And I thought that the ti plant wasn't even native to Hawai'i. Nothing is native to Hawai'i, depending on how you look at it.
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Post by BearClause on May 5, 2009 11:27:50 GMT -5
OK. However - some people left fruit or flowers. And I thought that the ti plant wasn't even native to Hawai'i. Nothing is native to Hawai'i, depending on how you look at it. OK. At least the ti plant didn't arrive via some bird carrying the seed or from from being washed ashore from the ocean. And as for fruit, I guess I can figure it out why it's not so common. The National Park Service seems to discourage leaving any food out because it unnaturally attracts animals. Of course there are no bears to worry about, but I suppose feral pigs are a problem. I remember asking someone on the Big Island if there was any risk of encountering a feral pig at a certain garden. He told me that there shouldn't be too much risk, but if we did see a feral pig - run like heck because they can be really, really nasty.
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Post by BearClause on May 5, 2009 11:40:13 GMT -5
People follow people and make rock offerings to Madame Pele wrapped in Ti-leaf, Hawaii's spiritual plant. Why not! The rocks are symbolic of helping Pele to create land. Try taking any of the rocks away. See what happens. Madame Pele can be so gentle and caring, but take those rocks away and undermine her work... you will incur her wrath, her terrible temper. I thought she didn't mind if people did a little redecorating with the rock, like the Park Service using it as a building material for structures, fences, or signs. Or maybe setting up rock cairns to mark a lava trail. I've seen lava rock used as a building material all over the Big Island. Just don't take it away? Isn't there some story that the whole thing about taking rocks away was started by a Park Service Ranger who wanted to stop the random removal of rocks at some of the most visited areas? In any case, I saw a few people pocketing lava rock. If bad luck befalls them, maybe they'll mail it back like some reports state.
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Post by OverAndUnder on May 5, 2009 16:06:09 GMT -5
People follow people and make rock offerings to Madame Pele wrapped in Ti-leaf, Hawaii's spiritual plant. Why not! The rocks are symbolic of helping Pele to create land. Try taking any of the rocks away. See what happens. Madame Pele can be so gentle and caring, but take those rocks away and undermine her work... you will incur her wrath, her terrible temper. I suggest you all heed pineapple's warning. Just think about what happened to Greg Brady.
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Post by mikegarrison on May 5, 2009 16:21:05 GMT -5
People follow people and make rock offerings to Madame Pele wrapped in Ti-leaf, Hawaii's spiritual plant. Why not! The rocks are symbolic of helping Pele to create land. Try taking any of the rocks away. See what happens. Madame Pele can be so gentle and caring, but take those rocks away and undermine her work... you will incur her wrath, her terrible temper. I suggest you all heed pineapple's warning. Just think about what happened to Greg Brady. Dude, that only proves Tiki idols are not to be messed with. You have no legitimate evidence to extrapolate that to volcanic rocks.
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Post by OverAndUnder on May 6, 2009 9:39:25 GMT -5
The entire island is, by geological definition, volcanic rock or the byproducts thereof. What do you think the Tiki idols were originally made from, and what is the source of their power? It is the spirit of the earth in the form of volcanoes, as the Brady family unfortunately discovered.
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