The Kuia Series
The Kuia Series
Kuia means “grandmother” in Te Reo Māori. A Kuia is also a wise female elder whose guidance is revered. The ways in which colonization has eviscerated Māori culture is only just beginning to be repaired through the courageous advocacy of the Māori men and women who respect their lineages. Of these, the Kuia, the women elders, stand out in their stalwart, staunch and unwavering representation of the integrity, skill and dignity they sustain. This series, that began with the previous post on Te Puea, is dedicated to the Kuia lineage.
I believe that the world, women and crones in particular, will benefit enormously from tapping into the Kuia lineage. While Kuia is a Māori word with a specific Māori experience attached to it, the archetype is universal. In Western tradition the Kuia is the Crone. These titles are earned through deep reflection and honed expressions of wisdom in a vast array of forms. They are also earned and revered by how the Kuia speaks for the people, transmitting values that are often at threat of extinction, in ways that penetrate and uplift consciousness and awaken intelligence.
Kuia are desperately needed. We are an endangered species. While the world writhes and grasps at stale and repetitive images of girl-children who entertain rather than lead, we step forward with another kind of beauty. This is the beauty of the Oracle, the Sophia, the bejeweled, enlightening Crown of Wisdom that simultaneously guides the way for others and deeply nourishes all who experience the Kuia, including the Kuia herself.
Dressed in robes rather than underwear, and with no inclination to proffer artificially manufactured breasts, we shine with the radiance of what we have assembled from within ourselves. We rise from the shards of violence and ignorance. Kuia transmute vengeance, resentment, outrage and defiance into illuminating transmission. We are irrepressible leaders.
Kuia have no need to hide their age or pretend to be younger. They walk with the full dignity of the bodies that have served them so forgivingly in manifesting purpose, the bodies that have borne and nursed children alongside sustaining entire communities, if not entire people afflicted with the same genocidal violence that rages today, in personal and collective environments.
It is with profound and deep gratitude and humility that I offer up the word Kuia. Let its true meaning simmer in your body’s core, so that when you bow to it, you understand that you are not subservient. On the contrary, you are blessed to be mentored by the lineage of Kuia. Feel how you are so thoroughly welcomed into and enveloped in the robes of the Wise Woman Leader until she is who you are. This recalibrates your nervous system so that you can stop holding back and step into the way of the Kuia.
The Fierce and Tender Activism of Tuaiwa Hautai Eva Rickard
The distinctive quality of Te Puea, Tuaiwa Hautai Eva Rickard, and other Kuia you will meet in this series is the multifaceted scope of their expression. Please highlight and underscore this. I identify deeply with the irresistible passion to express oneself in the arts, in community activism, in movement; to utilize voice, writing, song, music, whatever flows through as authentic delivery of purpose. Not restricting oneself to one medium is the living, authentic truth of how kuia are in the world. This includes dedication to family. The breadth and scope of Kuia expression is invigorating.
Tuaiwa Hautai Eva Rickard, who died in 1997, fought vigorously to reclaim Māori land rights from confiscation and was an instrumental activist in successfully returning the sacred land of her marae in Whangaroa. This is the place known popularly now as the surf paradise of Raglan in Aotearoa. This is only one of her achievements in this sphere. She also advocated for Māori representation in Parliament, confronted the Raglan City Council about their environmental affronts, risked deportation when defending the social justice rights of other indigenous people outside Aotearoa, and secured funding to educate unemployed Māori and protect, house and support orphaned and homeless children.
All this while simultaneously being a singer, storyteller, actress, debater and clothing designer!
Tuaiwa Hautai Eva Rickard was the mother of nine children. They continue to celebrate her attentiveness to them and how thoroughly she encouraged their own gifts, even while she was playing a key role in the Māori Land March, or creating community organizations to support young Māori performers and the Mana Māori Movement to contest seats in Parliament.
I am not speaking of workaholism or super-woman determination here. How did all this outreach flow as one expression with many arms? I am speaking of passion, of the deeply regenerating drive of purposeful Original Brilliance, and of the unceasing and aligning flow of spiritual directive.
My message to you, dear readers, is to not restrict yourself. To not constrain or restrain your expression, but to allow it to grow wings just as it grows deep roots. This is the pathway of the Crone. There is no limit on our expression.
Feel your unquestionable connection with the Kuia. Let yourself experience the widest wingspan possible.
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