Shapeshifting in the Journal of Critical Psychology

Have you ever worked on something for so long it seems like it might never arrive – like an overdue baby that’s got to come out sometime right? My friends and I – Rachel and Ali have been working hard / shapeshifting in the background to get this publication live. And now it is! AndContinue reading “Shapeshifting in the Journal of Critical Psychology”

Ira Tangata, Ira Atua

As a child growing up I would stand on maunga that surrounded my whare and imagine I had the mana to control the elements – change the direction of the winds – declaring to Hineomairangi and Tāwhirimātea to heed to my words. After my karanga I would listen for the tree to chatter, birds toContinue reading “Ira Tangata, Ira Atua”

My conscious puku

Wairua We are not our body, mind and experiences we are wairua – consciousness. I see the universe as a projection of our stories, our pūrākau – a trillion stories, connected like synapses in the brain creating electric static, vibrating power to life all at once. The static projecting out every individuals perception of theirContinue reading “My conscious puku”

The Taniwha

My first post. Identity at any meaningful level cannot be manufactured or manipulated; it is as much genetic imprint as formative experience. No matter what destructive processes we have gone through, eventually the taniwha stirs in all of us, and we can only be who we are. Merata Mita in Dennis & Bierenga, 1996, p.Continue reading “The Taniwha”

Leadership for good.

Teah. In Greek the mythological Thea (Teah) was Greek goddess of light and mother of the sun; moon and dawn. Hmmm I will take that. I am passionate in a gritty kind of way, a mix of passion and perseverance, about the continued advancement of Māori and Indigenous peoples, and see it as an honourContinue reading “Leadership for good.”

Stay Brown!

To “Stay Brown” means to privilege, amplify and exemplify your Indigenous heritage – Te Ao Māori in the ways that hold you, speak to you and guide you. It means exploring your whakapapa, learning about your lands, your pūrākau (ancestral/whānau stories). Learn about and care for the Maunga that shadow over your whenua, the awaContinue reading “Stay Brown!”

That space between cells speaks

The lessons of tīpuna imprinted within, without, through and in between. That space between cells speaks without words, screams with emotion. I feel more deeply when I am still, calm and grounded. Tangaroa-a-mua I have consciously and unconsciously observed and felt maramataka – Māori lunar calendar. I come in and out of the awareness ofContinue reading “That space between cells speaks”

Kirimoko – Blood & Bone Holder

Kirimoko. The seen face of life, land, space and love. Skin breathing. The breath of our bodies, protection, oxygen, our blood and bone holder. An expression of self, relationships. To stand out or fit in? Ink holder, cells and whakapapa. Skin protected. We cover it in creams, lotions, make up, chemicals, shave, shape it, pierceContinue reading “Kirimoko – Blood & Bone Holder”