Very interesting, Mark - thank you! I know that Two Bears is definitely not a kahuna 'ana'ana . He knows better than to use Hawaiian energetic techniques (Huna) to interfere with others or cause harm - although obviously not all kahunas did!

Hawaiian sorcerers are still among the most powerful and feared the world over.

He doesn't build canoes, and I'm not sure he watches the skies for omens -- but he's a healer alright, a wise and powerful one too. So that makes him a kahuna lapau'au. He's been oh-so-patiently training me, and I absolutely LOVE HUNA! .... but I'm affiliated with Cats ... not Bears, and that makes me less interested in work and more interested in the Good Life!   ;-)

Seriously though, the word kahuna has yet another meaning - keeper of the secrets. The Hawaiians had no written language. They kept track of their history and preserved their knowledge through oral tradition - and the kahunas spent a good part of their lives honing their memory and mental focus by reciting the traditions and myths, the long historical lineages of kings etc, sometimes for days on end.

The extraordinary mental feats of these kahuna are still legendary.
And their "secrets" - the powerful spiritual/psychic technology called HUNA - were closely guarded, passed on only to the next generation of kahuna. These kahuna were bound to serve the ali'i (royalty)- while the common people and the slaves (the "untouchables" captured in war etc) were generally at their mercy.

According to Allan P Lewis' "Clearing Your Lifepath through Kahuna Wisdom", the kahuna lapau'au (medical kahunas) were further subdivided into areas of speciality, such as bone-setting (orthopedics) etc. "The High Priest, the Kahuna Nui was a great man who had mastered all the various branches and passed all the tests. It is reported in their verbal history that there were times when no one was considered worthy of that title. The position would remain unfilled until someone sufficiently adept did come along".

Hmm ... is this what you aspire to, Two Bears?

daylia