There was a patient, an old Hawaiian woman, who had been seeing her Doctor in Honolulu for some time with no success. No matter what he prescribed, she still had the same pain in her head and in her throat. Exasperated, he looked at her chart, looked at her and said, 'There is nothing more that I can do for you. You are Kanaka sick. Go and have Kanaka medicine for your illness.'
She was elated! Her Western physician was telling her it was OKAY to seek traditional, old Hawaiian healing! She went home right away, told her family, lay in bed, and waited for the Cousin, the kahuna to arrive.
He came, took his time, stopping to bathe and to dress in his pure white kahuna priests' robe. He sat cross legged on a mat in the center of the room, and commanded, 'Auntie, tell me your troubles.'
She poured out a story of how she had a quarrel with her only son more than a month ago. She hadn't meant it, but in anger he left home. The evil which began with the quarrel had about driven her mad with pains in her head and the strangling sensation in her throat. Her headstrong son had gone to sea as a common sailor after their quarrel. Since he left in anger, the pains had grown worse and worse and with them had come a premonition that son would be drowned at sea and she would never be able to tell him how she regretted those hard words.
The whole sad story was told. Auntie cried, everyone in the room cried.
With the voice of authority, cousin finally said, 'Auntie, you have allowed a great evil to take hold. We will ask the gods to help. If they are willing, we will drive this evil from you.' Each person in the room was given a task. Papa must go to bring back five mullet fresh from the water. Another to bring fresh ti leaves, another taro, another...brandy, awa root, salt, an egg, seawater, and driftwood from the beach.
A meal was prepared and offered to the gods. There were small bundles made for each of the gods, and put into the pit oven to cook. The good was cleansed spiritually, and blessed by Cousin. Then the gods took the essence of the food, and the family, the food itself. But every morsel left after the meal was bundled up, Cousin told Auntie to go to sleep, and if the gods were pleased she would have a dream. He went with Papa and took the bundles of left over food, and buried them on different sacred parts of the island. Cousin then came back, and sat through the night on the mat, waiting for the first rays of the sun. Auntie woke up and shared with Cousin her dream--her son was safe on the big ship traveling around the world and was coming home at the end of the trip. Auntie cried with joy as she told of talking to her son. He was no longer angry. He, too, regretted the quarrel and wanted to wash it from his mind. Yes, the gods had taken away the evil which had possessed her. The pain was gone from her head and her throat.
Cousin agreed. They took Auntie to a clean beach with shallow water. They put a special lei on her, and helped her to swim. The lei was allowed to float away into the ocean, as an offering of thanks and as a symbol of her evil floating away. Auntie's treatment for her illness was part of a medical tradition that reached back into the ancient times of her ancestors. (Story is copied from the book, Hawaiian Herbal Medicine -Kahuna la'au lapa'au) by June Gutmanis, Island Heritage Press, section 'Prologue')
more at: http://reikidoc.blogspot.com/2012/12/kanaka-sick.html
