Author Topic: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani  (Read 13918 times)

Offline ShadowDancer

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‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« on: August 29, 2012, 01:18:17 am »
I did a search of the forum, but couldn't locate anything regarding this individual, ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani.

He published and is promoting a book written by his wife, Inette Miller, in 2010 Grandmothers Whisper which is said to contain a thousand year old prophecy regarding Hawai'i.

Quote
They said: All that our Islands and our people, had endured for one thousand years had been prophesied. Prophesied too: this huliau – our return to knowing the truth of who we were, and are. With that return, the kanaka maoli would light the path – live the example – for all the peoples on Earth to witness and to emulate.

He and his wife have been getting a bit of press.  There are aspects of the interviews which seem to be a bit off.  He was raised in Washington State, but returned to Hawai'i in 1997 after hearing the voices of the spirits.

From The Garden Island December 26, 2009:

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...he pointed out that Kanaka Maoli have a 12,000-plus-year history that included no war, with the predominant mantra being that God takes enough people through other means, so he doesn’t need the help of wars to take more lives of children born in the islands, ‘Imaikalani said.

A little bit of Googling indicates the Hawaiian Islands where inhabited in approximately 300 CE. It is plausible the 12,000 years he refers to could be for the entire Polynesian peoples. 

As for war, there have been numerous conflicts among the peoples of the Pacific over the millennia. 

While purporting to promote a return to the indigenous ways, he talks of "God" which seems a bit off as the Polynesians were a polytheistic culture, later converted by missionaries to Christianity. 

He and his wife appear to have been essentially living on the beaches of the Hawaiian Islands and in their car for years.

In the Daily Mail Aug 24 2012, his wife discusses her meeting of him while on vacation, as well as the lifestyle.

Quote
Miller and her two sons, aged 14 and 17, moved to Hawaii and slept illegally on public beaches and lived out of tents

There is, of course, the Donate through Paypal link statically displayed on every page of their website.

I am not sure what to categorise this individual as. 




Offline ShadowDancer

  • Posts: 91
Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2012, 01:22:32 am »
In looking at reviews of the book on Amazon, I find this, from someone named Tara Fiona, telling:

Quote
I regret to say, and I say this with respect and concern for Inette -- that what follows in the book is a harrowing tale of a woman enraptured and ensnared with someone who is clearly (to anyone outside this) -- a classic narcissist. This is not a love story, it is a story of abuse and manipulation that is staggering in it's harm and damage to not only the woman who writes, in a textbook abused woman manner -- but also the harm and mayhem done to her son who was 14 at the outset of this story.

Iokepa appears to be nothing less than a man with NPD, a narcissistic disorder. He seems incapable to empathy and anything other than the mimicry of love and, God forbid, this terrible "romance." Narcissists are good at mimicry. No matter how bad it gets, no matter how many times he abandons her to being alone and destitute, hungry, even sick -- never mind without shelter or care . . . leaving her to fend for herself and her son -- no matter how many times, like the good abused partner, she takes him back -- and in the book, shows us the power of DENIAL -- with page after page of justification, rationalization and "love." The grandmothers voice Inette claims appear to be a portion of her own self, speaking in desperation to rationalize all that is happening to her. To convince herself. To keep going in the face of desperate poverty -- drained of every resource, including her son's college and bar mitzvah funds. And how can you argue with a man that leaves whenever the going is getting tough, and announces with flair that the "grandmothers" have told him to go. She in turn, in this crazed dance, "hears" the grandmothers and comes up with a rationale. All the while, they both are dependent on the kindness of others while proclaiming they will never take charity from the government. No, only from others who must find compassion to take her in, her child, and sometime Iokepa. He has no trouble finding support -- there are always women and susceptible men looking for a powerful, charismatic man to glom onto. Groupies in any other vernacular -- who support him and the fantasy he weaves.

Epiphany

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Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2012, 02:09:55 am »
Hopefully we can find his real name, he does say his first name is Joseph but so far I don't see any mention of surname. I checked to see if he legally changed his name in Washington state but haven't found anything listed under the name he uses now.

.................................

Corporation info:

This business is not in good standing.
MASTER NAME RETURN VOYAGE, INC
BUSINESS TYPE Domestic Nonprofit Corporation
FILE NUMBER 230087 D2
STATUS 1
PURPOSE
TO ASSIST IN THE PRESERVING OF THE CULTURE OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS; (SEE ARTICLES)
PLACE INCORPORATED
Hawaii UNITED STATES
REGISTRATION DATE
Jul 26, 2010
MAILING ADDRESS
3808 AHONUI PL
P O BOX 1628
HANALEI, Hawaii 96714
UNITED STATES
TERM
PER
AGENT NAME
`IOKEPA HANALEI IMAIKALANI
AGENT ADDRESS
3808 AHONUI PL
PRINCEVILLE, Hawaii 96722
UNITED STATES

Officers:

    `IMAIKALANI,`IOKEPA HANALEI

    WINKLER,GERD

    ROSENBERG,DAVID

    MILLER,INETTE



http://hbe.ehawaii.gov/documents/business.html?fileNumber=230087D2&mobile=Y

Offline maliemalamalama

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Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2012, 07:24:19 am »
The name Iokepa is the Hawaiian pronunciation of the name, Joseph.

Found this as well:
http://www.thesubtimes.com/2009/02/17/obituary-notices-40/

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Jetta Gae (Heidt) Lovell, born November 17, 1912, Challis, ID Passed away February 13, 2009 at Tacoma Lutheran Home Predeceased: Father Jacob Daniel Heidt, Mother Magdalene (Lena) Dellen Heidt Sister: Florence Mae Heidt Mayo, Brothers: Predeceased Donald Fredrick Heidt, sister in law Rena Roffatto Heidt, Jay Dellen Heidt (Myrtle Munson Heidt still living) Children: Herbert Ringquist and Arthur Dellen Ringquist (Linda). Survived by her children: Alan Ringquist (Jewell), Leilani 'I-Lovell, Nani Lovell Walczak (Wayne), 'Iokepa Hanalei 'Imaikalani (Inette) and Momi Fernandez (Perry). She was also blessed with 19 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and 5 great-great grandchildren. She operated power sewing machines for Harmon's Mattress Factory, Day's Tailor D, Eddie Bauer and Green River Sportswear. She held offices and participated in the Waller Road Grange #1111, 5th Degree Pomona, 7th Degree State Grange, Hawai`i 50th Club and Wakinikona Hawaiian Club and volunteered at Tacoma Lutheran Home. Family requests no flowers. Her ashes will be spread in Nawiliwili Harbor, Kaua`i where the ashes of Henry Lovell were also spread in 1990. The entire family wishes to thank all the employees of Tacoma Lutheran Home whom our Mother considered her Friends. To those, with their loving care while she was at the Care Center, witnessed her taking her final journey and with their help, she did it peacefully, we are all eternally grateful. Donations may be made in the name of Jetta Gae Lovell to Tacoma Lutheran Home, 1301 North Highlands Parkway, Tacoma, WA 98406, Franciscan Hospice and Palliative Care, 2901 Bridgeport Way West, University Place, WA 98466 or charity of your choice. Memorial services will be held Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. in the Celebration of Life Building, reception following in the same facility. Arrangements are being provided by Mountain View Funeral Home, 4100 Steilacoom Blvd SW, Tacoma, WA 98499, 253.584.0252. Please sign online guestbook at www.mountainviewtacoma.com
The above listed obituary was arranged by Mountain View Funeral Home. Sign the online guest book. 253-584-0252.

Offline Pono Aloha

  • Posts: 141
Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2012, 07:42:59 am »
He is Native Hawaiian. The first time a lot of us heard of him was an article in a local paper.

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On a one-man quest, though not alone, he is on a journey that easily could take the rest of his life, to let anyone who will listen, particularly Kanaka Maoli, that the islands are in danger, that it is imperative that the culture and language not be lost, and that re-learning how to live when life was much simpler might not be such a bad idea.

On that last thought, he pointed out that Kanaka Maoli have a 12,000-plus-year history that included no war, with the predominant mantra being that God takes enough people through other means, so he doesn’t need the help of wars to take more lives of children born in the islands, ‘Imaikalani said.

...

‘Imaikalani, on a mission after being chosen a prophet by his ancestors and undergoing nearly 13 years of training wherein his deceased ancestors continue to speak to him and otherwise guide him, was told by those ancestors — he sometimes refers to them as his “grandmothers” — to give away all of his worldly possessions (which at the time included a large, beautiful home in Washington state, fast cars and fast boats, and an envious lifestyle that in today’s lingo would be considered “living large”) and take a huge leap of faith that his unpaid work to revive his native culture will somehow provide a life for him and wife Inette Miller ‘Imaikalani that doesn’t include starvation.

One-man mission? Chosen a prophet? Revive his native culture??? Most real Hawaiians don't have fast cars and fast boats to give away -- they live in poverty. Thousands of real Hawaiians have been working together to perpetuate their culture. Where has he been? In Washington, living the fast life. And how is now living on the beach in poverty now going to help perpetuate the culture? And how is he perpetuating culture among Hawaiians? It seems his audience is non-Hawaiian new agers.

Don't even get me started on the history. 12,000 years ago, the ancestors of the Polynesians were in China. There may have been a period of peace between 300 CE when Hawai'i was first colonized until 1200 when a new wave of immigrants came from Tahiti, but that doesn't seem to be the era he is talking about.

http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/imaikalani-aims-to-unite-all-who-love-the-islands/article_8c146c03-92d1-5492-9aaf-1bf1254448ab.html

Offline educatedindian

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Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2012, 02:17:40 pm »
The book does seem like another verson of Eat Sleep Pray, incredibly self centered western woman who thinks nonwhite people exist just to be purty super spirchul examples to make her feel good about herself.

There's some more of those Amazon reviews that are relevant.

-----------
....The grandmothers voice Inette claims appear to be a portion of her own self, speaking in desperation to rationalize all that is happening to her. To convince herself. To keep going in the face of desperate poverty -- drained of every resource, including her son's college and bar mitzvah funds. And how can you argue with a man that leaves whenever the going is getting tough, and announces with flair that the "grandmothers" have told him to go. She in turn, in this crazed dance, "hears" the grandmothers and comes up with a rationale. All the while, they both are dependent on the kindness of others while proclaiming they will never take charity from the government. No, only from others who must find compassion to take her in, her child, and sometime Iokepa. He has no trouble finding support -- there are always women and susceptible men looking for a powerful, charismatic man to glom onto. Groupies in any other vernacular -- who support him and the fantasy he weaves.

Why, I was left to wonder, doesn't this ex-construction magnate teach his people how to live off the grid, for instance? Create sustainable housing in line with the land, the aina? Why, doesn't he teach independence with alternative energies and ways of living -- using his skill? Instead, he creates constant drama by a juvenile kind of confrontation with local police and government over camping rights and a constant state of drama, chaos and just plain crazy seems to be the only fruit.

Then suddenly fast forward. These two finally marry. Giant gaps appear in the story then, and we are to believe what? Everything turned hunky dory? How do they now live? Years later? All we are given is that once married, they did not have these separations any more. But what have they been doing? How have they been living? And what is the "fruit" -- the results, of Iokepa's mission?

Sorry, I'm not buying this. I believe I just read a book by a woman in the grip of Folie a Deux: [...] delusional disorder shared by two.

There are some true keepers of the indigenous wisdom in Hawaii. I do not believe Iokepa is anything other than a narcissistic con artist with a devotee.

--------

This is also not the first time Miller has written this story. She had a virtually identical abusive relationship 20 years earlier. From another amazon review.

-------

The first time Inette Miller gave up everything for a man and wrote a book about it was 20+ years ago. She wrote "Burning Bridges: A True Story of Passion and Self-Discovery" (later made into a TV movie) about her affair with a sexy doctor when she was married and the mother of a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. He refused to leave his marriage for her after she divorced her husband for him, which propelled her into a mental breakdown. Her children were uprooted and traumatized for her passion then also, just as happens to her younger son in "Grandmothers Whisper". This time around, instead of "personal growth", she cloaks her self-centeredness in "spirituality". But it is the same old thing -- sexual attention from a charismatic man makes her brain and conscience switch off, no matter how he treats her.

--------

Anyone Hawaiian or even with a slight knowledge of Hawaiian history would find IHI incredibly ignorant. Hawaii had multiple kingdoms until the early 19th century who often fought each other. Then Kamehameha united all of Hawaii by war. It was a pretty brutal series of wars also, involving tens of thousands of warriors and guns brought in by Americans and Europeans.

The reason for his ignorance is pretty obvious. He didn't grow up in the Hawaiian culture at all. Except for the silly fluffy idea of no war, there doesn't seem to be much that's actually presented as his Hawaiian beliefs at all. There's talking to your ancestors, but lots of people practice that. And mostly he seems to use "my ancestors told me to do this" as an excuse for erratic behavior.

This article also points out how incredibly abusive he was to his new wife, forcing her into homelessness, and her two children. One left her and went to college in the mainland. The other, it says, was still a minor and kept going to public school in Hawaii. So was the child sleeping on the beach and then going to school by day?

------
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193296/Former-star-journalist-quit-job-gave-possessions-to-Hawaii-spiritual-lover-talked-dead.html

....That man was Iokepa Hanalei 'Imaikalani, a half-native Hawaiian construction worker raised in the American Northwest who regularly communicated with his long-dead grandmothers.

He had recently given up a lucrative job in Washington State, his home and seven cars after a conversation with his deceased grandmothers, who urged him to return to his native land to help restore the aboriginal Hawaiian culture....

Miller and her two sons, aged 14 and 17, moved to Hawaii and slept illegally on public beaches and lived out of tents with 'Imaikalani. Her youngest son enrolled in a local school while her eldest soon left Hawaii to go to college....

Offline Pono Aloha

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Offline Diana

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Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2012, 03:30:48 am »
They were on abc news 5 days ago

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/woman-homeless-hungry-spiritual-life/story?id=17067174#.UD6955YsFKU

Hmmm...well I read the article and I'm not impressed. Also the the comments are really brutal, wow! The tone of about 99% of the posters is that the woman should be lynched for treating her son so poorly. I also get the feeling that no one takes them seriously, especially the whole Hawaiian Grandmother talking to your ancestors gobbledygook.

They just seem kind of pathetic and gross. I really don't see anyone falling for their line of hokum.


Lim lemtsh,

Diana

Offline Pono Aloha

  • Posts: 141
Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2012, 07:18:00 am »
Quote
They just seem kind of pathetic and gross. I really don't see anyone falling for their line of hokum.

Agree, Diana, with the first statement, but we have now two newspapers and ABC News falling for their line of hokum. As well as however many newagers sign up for their classes.

I would be interested if anyone could search property records to confirm that they really did own houses before, that he really did work as a construction worker, etc. I wouldn't know how to do that.

Epiphany

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Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2012, 06:24:05 pm »

I would be interested if anyone could search property records to confirm that they really did own houses before, that he really did work as a construction worker, etc. I wouldn't know how to do that.

I'm looking into Washington state records on Joseph H Lovell, the addresses he lived at definitely don't display great wealth. Only brush with law looks to be a malicious mischief charge, don't know details on that. His story of leaving behind a Sea-Tac airport runway contract sounds suspect.

In Hawaii as Iokepa Imaikalani he has various traffic charges, like driving without license. If I have his genealogy right his father was born in Hawaii.

Inette Miller has traffic court stuff in Hawaii. In Portland Oregon she did indeed live in a nice house, from what can be seen on Google maps & street view.

I find them both creepy and I feel for her kids. This essay by Inette is horrible to her son: http://returnvoyage.com/wordpress/?p=3092

« Last Edit: August 30, 2012, 07:01:41 pm by Epiphany »

Epiphany

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Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2012, 02:05:49 am »
http://returnvoyage.com/wordpress/?page_id=1812

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In January, 1997, at forty-six years old, I held a contract in my hand to construct the third runway at SeaTac Airport.

But the State of Washington Department of Ecology didn't approve the "Port of Seattle's environmental permit to construct a third runway and related projects at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport" until August 2001. http://www.ecy.wa.gov/news/2001news/2001-137.html And then a federal permit was needed next. November 1999 is when State of Washington DOE began studies on the proposed third runway.

Quote
The Port of Seattle approved a plan for the new runway in 1996, prompting a lawsuit from opponents. The Port secured the necessary permits by agreeing to noise reduction programs and environmental protections. Runway opponents appealed these permits, but dropped their challenges in 2004. The runway opened on November 20, 2008, with a total construction cost of $1.1 billion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle%E2%80%93Tacoma_International_Airport

Quote
I gave away everything that I thought, until then, was important. I gave the house, the seven cars, and every memento from childhood to middle age – to friends and family. The almost $2 million contract, I tore up, unsigned.

I don't see any sign that there was an almost $2 million contract to be had concerning the third runway of Sea-Tac WA airport in 1997. News articles in 1997 discussed a possible runway financing plan and change in estimated costs of the project.


Epiphany

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Re: ‘Iokepa Hanalei ‘Imaikalani
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2013, 04:25:42 pm »
March 4, 2013:

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‘Iokepa and I will return home to Kaua’i this summer, and we will be fostering the collective, cultural sharing of the family stories that used to be told around the fire.  We anticipate privately encouraging reticent story-holders to share publicly.  We anticipate locating venues that make full-disclosure culturally appropriate and safe.  To this end, we expect to travel the Islands and locate those holders of a family story or two.  And finally, we will encourage the public sharing – in many Island locations over the next years.  Perhaps, finally,there will be a book that features  a selection of the compelling cultural stories.

http://returnvoyage.com/wordpress/?p=3501

Here's a video of the two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isa7C2rNjLk early 2012. Part of Iokepa's story of his 1997 life change is that he supposedly gave away over a million dollars of his savings, a house, and several cars (he was into hot rodding) over the course of two weeks.

They say that their path is to never work for man again, ever. So I wonder how are they surviving? If they aren't working, collecting social security, disability, trust fund etc. - where is the $ coming from? And why would that lifestyle, especially while caring for children, be seen as desirable and more spiritually enlightened?

They claim that the islands were without war for 12,300 years.

Interesting moment on video about 33 minutes in where Iokepa says "...generally always a woman who controls..." and Inette corrects him with the word "mediates" and he continues with that.

They refer to their 10 years living on beaches as a "grooming period".

I suppose this might appeal to some people who secretly want to chuck it all and start over in their own lives, also to white women who find this all somehow romantic.