GOING GODDESS™

Pele copyright © C-BREEZE 2008
PELE, HAWAIIAN GODDESS OF VOLCANOS. KEEPER OF THE SACRED FIRE.
FILLED WITH LOVE, COMPASSION AND CARING FOR HER PEOPLE WHO HOLD HER IN HIGH ESTEEM.

Me ke aloha pumehana
—Hawaiian kahuna

Born in Tahiti, Pele is the Hawaiin Goddess of fire, lightning, volcanoes, dance, and violence. Landing first at Ni'ihau, then Kauai, Pele moved down the chain of islands in order of their geological formation, eventually landing on the Big Island's Mauna Loa. As a word in the Hawaiian language her name, pele, means molten lava. She is not, therefore, a spirit who lives in the molten lava, she is the spirit of molten lava itself.

Pele was born of the female spirit Haumea, or Hina, who, like all other important Hawai'i gods and goddesses, descended from the supreme beings, Papa, or Earth Mother, and Wakea, Sky Father. Pele was among the first voyagers to sail to Hawai'i from her homeland, Honua-Mea in Kahiki, in a canoe guided by her shark-god brother Kā-moho-aliʻi,. Legends say she was pursued by her angry older sister, Na-maka-o-kaha'i because Pele had seduced her husband.


Goddess Pele can change into many forms. She can become a dog, an old lady, and a beautiful young woman. A way that you can tell that Goddess Pele is in one of her forms, is that the dog, young woman, or old woman would have red eyes plus the woman would be wearing all white and the dog will have white fur. For hundreds of years, sightings of Goddess Pele have been reported throughout the Hawaiian islands. She is known to be a wanderer, often begging for food or drink. Those who share with her are rewarded and spared. Those who are greedy and unkind have been punished by having their homes or possessions destroyed, so that they must rely on the kindness of others.

Goddess Pele can also be different forms of lava. Some of them are lava flows, leaks, and steady flows. Goddess Pele can also take the shape of fire.

Within the Hawaiian cosmos all natural forces are regarded as life forces, related to humanity by common descent from the same ultimate creative spirits. Possessing the power to create new land, Pele also has a volcanic personality. She is by nature impetuous and lusty, jealous, unpredictable, and capable of sudden fury and great violence. She can also be gentle, loving, and as serene as her forests of ferns and flowering trees.

Two endemic Hawaiian plants specifically associated with Pele are the 'ohi'a-lehua tree and the ohelo bush.

Remember to honor the Goddess Pele, creator and destroyer, Ka wahine 'ai honua.