NAFPS Forum
General => Member Introductions => Topic started by: maliemalamalama on April 20, 2011, 10:46:04 pm
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Aloha mai kakou,
My name is Jolene, and I am a Native Hawaiian who has been online since 1991. You know, back in the day when my screen name on AOL was Jolene :) It's difficult for me to express just how amazed and grateful I am to have been led to this forum. You see, in those early days online, I took part in a few Native American and Polynesian groups that discussed fraudulent new age practices. Sadly, I know exactly why your mission statement, rules, and terms read the way they do. Yet until recently, activity in these groups remained at the level of discussion without being very proactive in educating the public or hindering the charlatans. I commend you and others like you for taking your mission to this next level, beyond just talk.
Of special interest to me: the fabricated new age practice of Huna. Its biggest advocates have names like Max Freedom Long, Serge King, Tad James, and Matthew James, and they all claim that this spiritual philosophy is so old, even Hawaiians don't know about it. They all claim they were given secret, sacred knowledge by our elders. Conveniently, none of these elders are alive to dispute these claims. And dispute them they would because the only thing Hawaiian about Huna is their insistence on using our vocabulary to validate its Hawaiianess. While that may sound utterly ridiculous to most thinking people, many non-native people in particular are looking for a tribe, a place to belong. So they literally buy into Huna, hook, line, and sinker.
In any case, I am grateful for the chance to participate and contribute here.
Me Ka Ha'aha'a,
Jolene
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Welcome Jolene. Or should we call you Malie or your full name?
We sure could use someone's help with IDing the exploiters claiming to be Native Hawaiian, and exactly what's wrong with their claims. A few years ago we had a Hawaiian member. I've mentioned the need for a Native Hawaiian version of NAFPS before too.
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E Komo Mai from Kauai....Steve
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Hello from me too. You would do me a great favour if you would write up your criticism of Max freedom Long and post it her. Somebody very dear to me is, alas, a fan of him and I'd like to make him change his mind. Thanks...
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Hello and welcome :)
I would be interested to know more about lomi lomi massage as it is appearing a lot on the menus of various "tantric goddesses" / intimacy coaches / newage sex workers.
I'm as sure as eggs are eggs that whatever it is that they offer is probably a world away from any authentic tradition, but am concerned about both the cultural appropriation and the sexualisation of what I understand to be a traditional healing modality by various newagers.
I know next to nothing about lomi lomi so any information or help you can provide would be valuable.
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Hi Jolene! Good to see you here. Aloha ;D
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Hello and welcome :)
I would be interested to know more about lomi lomi massage as it is appearing a lot on the menus of various "tantric goddesses" / intimacy coaches / newage sex workers.
I'm as sure as eggs are eggs that whatever it is that they offer is probably a world away from any authentic tradition, but am concerned about both the cultural appropriation and the sexualisation of what I understand to be a traditional healing modality by various newagers.
I know next to nothing about lomi lomi so any information or help you can provide would be valuable.
Hi there, I can give you information about lomilomi. You are right, the sexualization of lomilomi is cultural appropriation and ethnocide. Pretty much everything you hear from those people is wrong. lomilomi was not used in caves or temples for sexual initiations, it was not a rite of passage, it was not kept a secret by the kahunas, etc. Etc. There is a book called Big Island Massage by Nancy Kahalewai that goes into it pretty deeply. having said that, lomilomi was practiced within the family, and I have no doubt that couples practiced sexual massage as part of love making, but that is quite different. It was not what it is today, prostitution! let me know if you have other questions.
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Jolene
Thank you so much for your reply.
I am unsurprised by what you say and I am very sorry that your cultural traditions are being defiled in this way.
These newage sex workers seem to be completely unconcerned about cultural appropriation and ethnocide. They do not care whose traditions they defile or who they offend.
I have far more respect for people who just acknowledge that they are offering a sexual service than for these odious "tantrikas", "goddesses", "dakas", "dakinis" etc.
There again I think that many of these people have been tricked by pimps and people traffickers to believe that they are performing a spiritual service and some of them genuinely believe this.
A depressing and horrible situation.
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We have a thread for links and other good sources about Native Hawaiian traditions. Perhaps add the book there and any others you know of.
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=773.0