“Hina” by Susan Seddon Boulet

“Hina’s themes are the moon, communication, cycles and mediation. Her symbols are lunar (silver/white items or any corresponding plants/stones) and coconuts.  This Tahitian Goddess is the Lady in the Moon who shines on us with Her changing faces. As the dark moon, She presides over death. As the waxing moon, She is the creatrix who made people from clay and the moon, Her home. As the full moon, She embodies a mature woman’s warrior spirit. As the waning moon, She is the aging crone full of wisdom and insight.

According to tradition, coconuts were created from the body of Hina’s lover, an eel god, after he was killed by superstitious locals. She also governs matters of honest communication and when properly propitiated, Hina sometimes acts as an intermediary between humans and the gods.

On July 20, 1969, American astronauts visited Hina in person, landing on the moon’s surface and exploring it. In spiritual terms this means taking time to explore the magical nature of the moon today. If the moon is dark, it represents the need to rest from your labors. If it is waxing, start a new magic project and stick with it so the energy grows like the moon. If Hina’s lunar sphere is full, turn a coin in your pocket three times, saying “prosperity” each time so your pocket remains full. If the moon is waning, start taking positive action to rid yourself of a nagging problem. Eat some coconut to help this along by internalizing Hina’s transformative powers.”

(Patricia Telesco, “365 Goddess: a daily guide to the magic and inspiration of the goddess”.)

“Hina” by Lisa Hunt

Patricia Monaghan has this to say about the Goddess Hina, “The greatest Polynesian Goddess was a complex figure of whom many myths were told.  Like other major divinities, She was associated with many aspects of life and had many symbols: She was the tapa-beating woman who lived in the moon; She was Great Hina, the death mother; She was a warrior  queen of the Island of Women.  An all-inclusive  divine archetype, Hina appeared in many Polynesian legends, some of which – not surprisingly, for such a complex and long-lived Goddess – contradicted others.

In some legends, Hina was said to have been created of red clay by the first man.  But others – in Tahiti, for instance – knew Hina as the preeminent Goddess, for whose sexual pleasure the first man was created.  This Goddess has two faces, one in front as humans do, one at the back of Her head. She was the first female being on earth, many bearing Her name.

One of these was the dawn Goddess Hine-tita-ma, who was seduced by Her own father, while unaware of his identity.  Furious and ashamed on discovering this trickery, Hina ran away to Po, the Polynesian underworld; this was the first death in creation.  Her fury was so unquenchable that She announced Her intention of killing any children begotten by Her father, thereby assuring that death would remain a force on earth.

“Hina” by Herb Kane

How the Goddess Hina reached the moon – She who had originally lived on earth and populated it  – was a matter of numerous myths.  In Tahiti, Hina was a canoeist who enjoyed the sport so much that She sailed to the moon, which proved to be such a good boat that She stayed there, guarding earthly sojourners.  Others told of Hina being sent to the moon by violence.  Her brother, hung over from indulgence in kava, became infuriated at the noise Hina made while beating tape cloth.  When She would not cease Her labors for Her brother’s convenience, he hit Her, sending Her sailing into the sky.  Because tapa-beating was thought to be like the process by which the human body is slowly beaten down to death, this Hina of the moon, the tapa-maker of the sky, was closely related to the Great Hina of the underworld.  Finally, a Hawaiian variant of these legends said that Hina, a married woman, grew tired of constantly picking up after Her family and She simply left the earth to pursue a career as the moon’s clothmaker.

“Hina” by by Joanna Carolan

One guise Hina wore was a warrior of the Island of Women, a place where no men were allowed, where trees alone impregnated the residents.  A man washed up on the shore and slept with Hina, the ageless and beautiful leader. He stayed for some time.  But every time She began to show Her years, Hina went surfing and came back renewed and restored.  At the same time, Her human lover gradually bowed under the years.  Hina returned the man to his people on a whale, which the humans impudently and imprudently killed.  The whale was Hina’s brother, and She sent terrible sufferings on the people  as a result.

Among all the many stories of Hina, however, probably the most commonly known one was that of the Goddess and Her lover, the eel.  Living on earth as a mortal woman, Hina bathed in a quiet pool where, one day, She had intercourse with an eel.  Her people, afraid of the power of the serpent, killed him, only to find that Hina had been mating with a god.

Furious and despairing at having Her affair so terminated, Hina took the eel’s head and buried it. Five nights later the first coconut there, a staple product thereafter to Hina’s folk” (p. 153).

 

 

 

Sources:

Monaghan, Patricia. The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines, “Hina”.

 

 

Suggested Links:

Circlingin, “Hina- Woman in the Moon- selected from the ‘Goddesses Knowledge Cards’ by Susan Seddon Boulet and Michael Babcock“.

Hall, Leigh. Order of the White Moon, “The Goddess Hina“.

King, Serge Kahili. Aloha International, “Hawaiian Goddesses“.

MXTODIS123. An Inner Journey: The Moon, Mythology, and You, “Goddess Hina“.

Powersthatbe.com, “Goddess HINA“.

Revel, Anita. igoddess.com, “Hina: champion of words“.

Sacred-texts.com, “HINA, THE WOMAN IN THE MOON“.

Skye, Michelle. Goddess Aloud! Transforming Your Mind Through Rituals & Mantras, “Hina: Hawaiian Goddess of Self-Liberation“.

Tate, Karen. Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations, “Rainbow Falls“.

Telesco, Patricia. Gardening With the Goddess: Creating Gardens of Spirit and Magick, “Hina: Warrior Garden“.

Wikipedia, “Hina (goddess)“.