Hank Wesselman - The Bowl of Light: Ancestral Wisdom from a Hawaiian Shaman

I have known Hank Wesselman as a friend and fellow shamanic practitioner for almost thirty years, and when he told me that he was writing a book about his relationship with the great Hawaiian teacher and healer Hale Makua, I was thrilled.

Hale Makua was a revered Hawaiian elder who brought forth from his ancestors many beautiful and powerful teachings to inspire and guide us, helping us to remember our spiritual gifts and providing us with enhanced ways of being. The Bowl of Light is filled with much of the wonderful wisdom that Makua had to share, and now, through Hanks intimate and evocative sharing of his encounters with this great man, these teachings are available to those of us who did not have the opportunity to meet Hale Makua.

Yet, this book includes more than just spiritual wisdom. The Bowl of Light is also a touching and potent story of the loving and supportive friendship of two men both devoted to being in service to all of life. Makua was a wisdom keeper who exhibited great humility and kept a low profile in his native Hawaii (although in his later years, he traveled extensively to speak with indigenous leaders all over the world). Hank Wesselman is an American anthropologist and scientist who has spent much of his life living with traditional peoples in Africa. Together, Makua and Hank impart aspects of the deep indigenous mysteries that can be integrated into our modern way of life so that we can heal ourselves and the planet.

You will be touched by their story, and your heart will be warmed by the loving and supportive relationship that developed between them. Yet most important, you will be inspired by the teachings and stories imparted in The Bowl of Light, as they encourage you to explore your own spiritual connections and develop the awareness that will help you step firmly onto the path of your destiny.

Makuas teachings originate from the spiritual wisdom of the kahuna tradition of Polynesia and are thousands of years old. They begin with revelations about the nature of the self and continue with shared visions of how each person can reconnect with the inner sources of wisdom and power that lie within us. Makua also shares his thoughts about an extraordinary plan that was set into motion by the ancestors long ago to help us face the challenges with which we are dealing today. The plan includes principles that allow us to experience the power of aloha, of love, as well as guidelines for the next cycle of ages that will lead us toward the evolution of a new level of consciousness that is our individual and collective destiny.

What a gift for Hank Wesselman to have gotten to know Makua on such a deep and intimate level! What a gift for Makua to have had such a friend as Hank Wesselman! And what a gift that this beautiful and powerful story of friendship is now available for us to read and witness. Its one that shares deep wisdom from the kahuna tradition to inspire us all.

This book is about an unusual and enduring friendship between two male elders. One is among the last authentically initiated native Hawaiian kahuna wisdom keepers, a shaman and mystic who became a revered spiritual teacher in his elderhood. He is a warrior descended from a long lineage of chiefs. The other is an American anthropologist born in New York and trained from birth to become a scientist. I am this anthropologist, and we were an unlikely pair given the complexities of the traditional Polynesian kapu system of laws govering various aspects of behavior.

The Hawaiian word kahuna is a term that implies mastery, and more specifically self-mastery. The term describes those members of the learned classes of old Polynesia ( tofunga in Proto-Polynesian) who carried a great wisdom tradition that is thousands of years old and that was much like that of the pre-Christian mystery schools of the Egyptians, the Druids, the Gnostics, and the classical Greeks. In old Hawaii, where the flow of primal energies created unparalleled natural beauty, one of the worlds most highly advanced spiritual cultures developed. These Polynesian metaphysical insights still remain largely unknown in the West.

The holders of this ancient wisdom tradition, the kahuna, who could be male or female, were taught this mystical knowledge from childhood using a method in which the apprentice underwent many years of arduous training. The wisdom was handed down orally within families who carried particular areas of this knowledge as their kuleana which in Hawaiian means their rights and responsibilities as well as their rightful property, their jurisdiction, and their estate.

In old Hawaii, there were many different kinds of kahunaeach type with its own specialty area. Kahuna mystics who could directly experience the hidden realms of the spirit world often served as high priests, shamans, and ceremonialists, becoming acknowledged as kahuna nui or kahuna poo. And there were also healing kahuna laau lapaau, who were designated as such because of their great wisdom and high accomplishment as healers and medicine people. In the negative polarity, some kahuna in the past became sorcerers who used rituals, curses, and even prayer to extend harm and suffering toward their intended victims.