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The active volcano, Mount Kilauea, is the living manifestation of the Hawaiian Goddess, Pele, the Goddess of volcanic fire. She is a
great creatrix and destroyer. From the earth's molten core, a ferment of lava and gases erupt pouring up the volcanic mountain through the
Halema’uma’u Crater. Over the millennium, when the volcanoes were active, their lava built the string of islands. When they collapsed, the islands sunk beneath the
sea. The Emperor Seamount Chain, an undersea extinct volcanic mountain range stretches in the Northwest Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to the Aleutian Islands. The islander's
prayers and generous offerings may stop Pele's flow at their village, but if she is angry, all that lies ahead of her lava, 'Pele's Hair', will be buried in ash.
PELE
A magma womb
Primordial fire
Mother mountain’s blood
Births Pele in bursts
Of thunderous roars
Her first breath erupts
In red blazing flames
Splitting ash clouds
From the crater’s deep mouth
Her fierce face lines
The volcano’s steep sides
Her gold eyes open on a blue sky
As her Molten lava flows
In massive black rivers
Glowing with Pele’s burning hair
Her embers stream into the cold sea
In waves of rising steam
Along the rugged coast
Ocean and lava battle to the depths
Scraped skin to spine bones
Form the mountain ridge
That stretches north in the sand
Above the hot spot
The earth’s stigmata
Wound that never heals
Continental plates drift
Creating cycles of death and resurrection
That shape the land.
“Pele Honua Mea”
“Pele of the Sacred Earth”
“Pele Ai Honua”
“Pele Who Devours the Earth”
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