Weaving Lauhala as Metaphor
_{for knowledge gathering and sharing, for moving through the world}

Lauhala weaving is a cultural practice in the Hawaiian islands, using the leaves of the hala tree to create various objects of use, from mats to hats to jewelry. My first mat was woven as a part of my La’au Lapa’au apprenticeship, a practice of self-cultivation and for creating sacred place for the preparation of medicines. 

Lauhala weaving involves intentional sourcing and preparation of materials - living materials which carry their own mana and intelligence. You begin with locating the trees from which you will create. Preparation involves collecting, cleaning, softening, rolling, and stripping. As you weave, beginning from the first stages of gathering, your spirit, mind, heart and intention weaves with the spirit of the organic materials.

Creating with this level of intention and meditation results in an object that is not only physically more than it was before, but an object that carries it’s own mana. I share my learnings and reflections as a meditation on creation with intention - metaphor for how to more consciously move through the world.  

Starting Notes

_{setting the space,
aligning the tools,
stating intention,
opening the session,...}

Once materials are ready -

• know your template. intention. we are moving toward a set form.*

• equipment to facilitate the process. not a set collection - depends on the conditions you’ve chosen. I use clips to keep my frame to the template, but the tools are less about specifics and more about the function they serve.

• preparing the setting. I like, when can, to weave to music. Native American flute helps me feel attuned to myself and the ancesters. Irish bagpipes are something to consider too, but surfaces warring Ku energy, which feels better for a different type of hana. what attunes you? what supports and influences your presence and tone while you hana (work)? cultivate a supportive environment with aligned influences.
  
  
  

*This mat is a tool. It has explicit purpose. I am weaving mana, spirit, into it. in it, I am creating spirit. and Spirit is derived from the materials which make it up. (Kuhao Zane) the results can be viewed in the final object - that which went into it will be perceptable, and visible to those who know how to see.

The Weaving

• ORIENTATION. position yourself to the materials to acces them well, to move freely, to work effectively.

• IKE. know the material and the technique - KUMU. but also engage your intuition and move by feel - nurturing and growing your own relationship to the creation. the materials want to live together a certain way, and your role is to work with them to find and guide that harmony in real time. it is a creative dance.

• TRADITION + INTUITION. creating something from pattern is a different act and a different process than creative discovery. pattern is same as formula, uncovered by many hands and generations of refinement. you can make adjustments once you know the pattern, but for the unexperiened, veering off course means you won’t necessarily be successful. an experienced, skilled practitioner can innovate, moving from previous experience which helps them navigate scenerios that arise. Growing intuitive knowing of the pattern - how the pieces want to work together - aides successful navigation of rogue territory. 

• IDENTIFY THE COMPONENT PARTS, UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE. what are the parts that make it up? And how do they relate to each other? support each other? work together?

• STYLE can be an aspect of divergence. but it also is present in the mere creation. It comes from and is shown through the selection and preparation of materials, the selection of which pieces to use at what points, and the artist’s’ touch, intention, energy and spirit.

• CREATE RUNWAY. make sure you have enough material lined up in order to move forward with ease, so flow is supported rather than frequently interrupted. keep the material juiced up, but not soggy. Just enough so that it is pliable for the weaving, and dry enough to prevent soiling from mold.

• BECOME FAMILIAR enough with the form you are creating (the framework/ pattern) so that you can elevate your eyesight higher to see how it is coming together. navigate with that bigger picture in mind. what would, what is needed to make it complete? sturdy? reliable? design this into it. will help you find and fill all the pukas, or even help prepare it from the get-go, so there are no pukas (holes/ gaps).

• LOVE. NURTURE. MALAMA. this is a dynamic co-creation, between you and another spirit. honor that. work with it. leave space in awareness to respond to it as you weave. listen to it!

• HONOR YOUR ROLE in the work. as the crafter. your intuition with the material. your collaboration - your creative direction of the collaboration. it is not about control - the material will only perform within its limit. but we can call forth spirit from it to become. THIS is alchemy. to co-create something from something, to generate new spirit. 

Closing the Mat

What does it mean to be unfinished?
What is completion, and what does it require?
---

What is lingering, left open, undone?
What is inbetween states?

Tend to these.

Once engaged, activated, removed from its origins, materials are no longer what they were. Our interaction and engagement changes them. Their purpose will not be served before completion, their sacrifice will be for naught. Left incomplete, the threads of mana invested on both sides will be raw and exposed. What is becoming of them, in their limbo?

Tend to these.

For a mat, unfinished can be seen with the eyes. In other types of hana, it may not be visible. We can not go where we are meant to go, or become what we are meant to become, achieve what we aim to achieve, until we properly tend to completions. Completions are gateways. 

Reflections

/ I can put attention to detail into this because I am working with something that feels more equal to me, that is meeting me in its intelligence. drawing or painting feels less so like a co-creation and more just a manipulation. the 3D nature of materials feels exhilarating to partner with.
perhaps I just haven’t found the delicacy in the dance with paint yet. (though I do know I’m called to oil because of it’s ability to take on dimension and texture, to build up.)

/ in my weaving, I like the metaphor of standing the moe up, and laying the ku down. the new ku, rising as the activated feminine moe, guides the standing ku more gracefully down into resting moe, the feminine, and gives clarity to the intersection between them so that the interlocking is more square. it frames the standing ku in relationship to the past moe and future moe-to-ku. it is a nurturing embrace through transition, allowing the standing ku to lay down. graceful (ex)change as progress is made, right-relationship and cycles of ebb and flow in demonstration. perhaps what our world needs to foster smoother transitions.

/ it wan’t until the end of the mat that I felt a connection with the lauhala when gathering. opening to the plant in receptive mode, asking it if it would like to contribute to the completion of my mat. when i engaged its consent, the collection was easier, the leaves provided were of better quality...

/ I still needed to use my knowledge and wisdom to prepare and craft the mat. the right strip size and all. cleaning them, rolling them, using them before molding, etc. practices with natural materials connect us to the phases of life and what it means to be in the organic. sure, lauhala molds. but it there a way for us to engage in the process in more tended way to prevent that?

/ there is a cultivation that is generated in the process of creation. want to get it done faster? what for? why so in a hurry? is the whole point not to ENJOY all of it? you grin and bear it to swing yourself to the other side for decompressed enjoyment, but at what cost? what have you cultivated and woven into the mat, when we rush to get it done just to get it done? be mindful of who you being when you are creating.