Aloha: The Breath of Love
Reprinted from Issue Five of Sacred Fire: The Modern Voice of Ancient Tradition
by Lei’ohu Ryder

Aloha, I was born and raised on the shores of Wailau, Oahu, where my family were farmers and fishermen. Wailau means “the gathering of the waters.” On this beautiful shore on Oahu, I learned about the spirit of the land and sea where my forefathers had migrated in earlier times and began to plant and cultivate taro, the spirit food of the ancient ones.

The taro symbolizes the family lifestyle of our people. In Hawaiian philosophy the taro is our older brother. The corm, as is is formed creates these offshoots called oha, which is the root of ohana, our word for family. There are many offshoots of this taro plant, and when we harvest the taro, the top of the corm is placed back into the taro patch for generations. And so that piece that we replace is called makua, which means parent. So the spirit of place goes back to our ancestors, the taro, who taught us how to live and cultivate the lands here in Hawaii.

Spirit of place is the body walking with the backbones of time within your spirit. It is not something that is just attached to land. It is attached to all things of spirit: land, Sea, Mother Earth, Father Sun, Grandfather Fire. Spirit of place is an essence. In the Hawaiian language it is the aka, the sticky glue that ties you to sacred things, whether you realize it or not. It is where the soul sits through one’s transition through the body of humanity. So the spirit of place is the compass that leads you to doorways, to doorways, to doorways, crossing over, filtering into human form over and over again.

Wherever one is born, the spirit of place continues to ooze forward from the land, our Mother Earth. As our two feet walk and take us forward, we are that spirit cultivating the place of the soul within. So this is a different way of shifting the spirit of place. It is a place, yes, but you are the place itself. Sacred places and heiaus - Hawaiian Temples - feed the spirit of place within us. The spirits of the land, earth, sea and sky feed us as keepers of place. So even if you see concrete paved over ancient pathways, that spirit of place continues to ooze forth whether to people understand that or not. In the midst of our fast-paced modern lifestyle that seems to be spreading all over the globe, spirit asks all of us to remember that we are the spirit of place.

There are places that the familhy of man is crying to gather towards, sacred places. Hawaii is one of them. In the onslaught of society, we no longer connect with the spirit of place within, because we get confused about spirit. But the bottom line is that we are all spirit, whether we know that or not. We must look at each other as spirit bodies, and learn from each other’s choices that lead us home to our original design as spirit keepers of the creator’s domain.

My home on Maui, Hale Kukuipuka O Waioha, “the house of the doorway to the light under the breath of heaven,” sits on the slopes of Haleakala, this beautiful doorway, this beautiful portal that aligns the energies of the Pacific Ocean, of Lemuria, to the very beginning. The pulse of our Mother Earth beats very sacredly and very full here because of this beautiful land we call Maui Loa, of Hawaii, in the middle of the Pacific.

As somebody who has been called into service to humanity, one of the my jobs is to support the sacred connections that honor all ancestors and those who hear them calling. It doesn’t matter where they come from or what religion they are. “Olohe Malu – Ancestral Teachings of Aloha” is just one way to support this. Through prayers I am able to use the connections to bring people into that sacred space so that they can align more fully in the sacred temples of themselves.

The music that I have been blessed to receive awakens those old memories lying deep within the DNA, the cells of humanity, rocks, flowers, and birds. You might listen to the music and not understand the words, but something gets triggered and you remember, and that opens the vessel, the tears and the memories. So a lot of the compositions are about sacred walks, sacred pilgrimages, sacred places.

I have been trained by a lot of the spirits of the places that called me. Many of my teachers are in that form. So one walks and learns at the same time. One trusts the creator to help. One must come face to face with the walk itself. You cannot plot your destination. It’s not all gravy. You’re not on a constant high. It is respect and surrender to the highest calling of your spirit that takes you to your origin of place of spirit.

The message is “Aloha,” that breath of love, that breath of light that goes back to our original intent, love. Spirit is love. When we are fully present, the spirit of place is all about love and compassion and allowing love to transcend all things. When you love, you don’t judge, you don’t separate. When you love, you have mercy and forgiveness. When you love, you understand that you are connected with a greater whole.

The biggest message I can give to the people of the world is to know that we are all aloha. We are all spirit. We are all connected to something much greater than ourselves. We are spirit of place. We don’t have to save money for ten years to buy a place ticket to Hawaii. Spirit of place is where you are. It is where the creator has placed you. And you don’t have to have money or position. All you have to be is spirit itself, humble, smiling, playing, being life, being aloha, knowing that you are part of that rainbow bridge, that breath of aloha.

Aloha is an energy. It’s not just a word; it’s not just love. When you say, “Aloha,” your body fills with the spirit. Aloha energy connects the spirit of place within our bodies with the full spirit of the Universe, of Mother Earth. Just like the beautiful food we eat that is organically grown. You can taste the energy in the food that is loved and cared for. Or when you see a person smile, you are seeing the spirit of place in that person. Their spirit is coming inside you. You can feel that. Tell people to say “Aloha.” When you say, “Aloha,” you can feel your body tingling, your cells erasing all the barnacles that you carry, eradicating all the resentment, hate, and sorrow that have been transmitted from generation to generation through your DNA. Keep saying, “Aloha, Aloha, Aloha,” and visualizing that Aloha. It will be the biggest medicine in your spirit of place that you ever had so you can walk more fully in your divineness.