Rongomaraeroa
Loss and Separation Part 1
Offering the Sacred Balm called Presence
(E Hoatu te Tapu o te ko te Mana)
By Raymond Te Korako Ruka
Son of Waitaha
Raymond Te Korako Ruka is a Son of Waitaha. May his words bless you, link you to far beyond to others around the world, and to the spiritual life that always dances around us.
Stephen W Emerick, PhD: Raymond, my brother, welcome. Would you please share how your tribe and people deal with loss and separation?
Raymond: Brother Stephen, We deal with loss in a way that one’s process of healing may be honored: never alone, feeling separated, but surrounded by her/his beloved, be they family, friends and even strangers who have been touched by the circumstances.
In our Waitaha culture, healing from loss or separation is understood and accepted to be a process of involvement. Of everyone being involved to the degree that is dictated by wairua/spirit.
Not by invite, or stiffness of protocol. Whomever will be called, stranger, friend or kin, presence is all that matters. Presence makes it very personal. It is the height of rudeness to question one’s presence.
To the degree we value anything, speaks directly to the measure of our loss when and if, we become separated from it.
If any of our people should stray from these protocol of our Ancestors then they soon find that the healing nectar of the Honey Bee over time loses its healing potency, to the sting of a foreign wasp.
Stephen W. Emerick Ph.D. To our listener and reader: Stay tuned for the next portion of Raymond Tekorako Ruka’s sharing of Offering the Sacred Balm of Presence: In this next portion Raymond shares the role of the Meeting House, or Marae, as sacred Houses used as communal, recreational, and funeral house. One House filling many roles, and often named after Ancestors of renown.