Many have struggled with the concept of being able to communicate with the dead, especially when it comes to those set deep in Christian religion. TV 2’s hit series “Sensing Murder” brushed over this gift, yet the angle that was approached is a completely different situation compared to mine.
The people they were in tune with were strangers, people they did not know, nor ever heard of before and of no relation to them. In my case I am related to these spirits, and the things that they want me to do for them can be done by me, and me alone. I am not in any way given specific instructions, nor given any type of assistance to achieve it either; like the winning combination for the Powerball results when it hits 30 Mil. (So that I can make trips up and down the countryside, collecting data and whatnot to understand my mission further), I am, however, given direction by signs along the way. I remember when I returned to live in Auckland in the year 2005, I was tossing up whether to continue on with my theatre career or just get a 9 to 5 job and start to build a life for myself in Auckland. That day, I went to take my mother to the doctors and while I was parking the car across the road from the surgery I looked up and saw a billboard with the words, “Time to settle down”, written on it. Is that the biggest slap in the face or what, hello?
A few months later I started dating my (now) husband, and within the year was pregnant with our first child. Seems the Tupuna (Ancestors) wanted the line to carry on through him, and if I was to one day become Tupuna then I would need to pro-create in order for that to happen.
The word Tupuna according to my basic translation means Ancestor, but a breakdown of these words is “Tu”, meaning ‘to stand’, and “puna” is ‘a spring’. Usually the spring they refer to is a water spring , but the deeper meaning here would mean the spring of life, which is where we have all come from. You see, in my eyes the most important thing that one can understand, is where he or she comes from, and what their purpose in life is. To reiterate this, to know where you come from is the purpose of your life.
Heading back toward meanings of words, to tie into the title of this korero, the Maori believe that when one passes on to the next life their spirit makes the journey, back towards the Northern most of the North Island to Te Rerenga Wairua, or Spirits Bay. From there they will jump off the cliff, and plunge below into the ocean where they proceed to the Underworld. In the eyes of Christianity this comes across as being evil. Underworld? They most likely equate this to hell, but it is not, it is merely a cultural belief from stories handed down to us from our ancient ones.
There are also many interesting stories that can tie into Christianity that I could wrote about, but I will share this with you on my next blog.
Nga mihi, nga mihi, nga mihi kia koutou.
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