10 | October | 2012 | Journeying to the Goddess

Archive for October 10, 2012

Goddess Ra’i Ra’i

Filed under: Goddess Spirituality — 2 Comments

October 10, 2012

“Ra’i ra’i’s themes are children, youthfulness, recreation, play, joy and fairies. Her symbols are sunlight and white or pastel-yellow items. In Polynesia, Ra’i ra’i is the Goddess of unbridled happiness and sunshine, lighting the way for truly joyful living. When Ra’i ra’i came to earth to mother the first humans, She brought with Her tiny frolicsome fairies who live in the elements, often playing with people and watching over nature.

Follow Samoan tradition of White Sunday and wear white to inspire your inner child, then go enjoy the children in and around your life. In this part of the world, the entire day today is dedicated to children and activities to promote their delight.

Go for a nature walk and look for signs of Ra’i Ra’i’s fairy friends. Small circles of mushrooms, a ring of trees, the sound of tiny bells all indicate the fey are nearby watching you!

Get outside and allow this Goddess’s warm light into your body through the sun today. If the weather isn’t cooperating, wear any golden or pastel-yellow items today as a type of color therapy to inspire Ra’i Ra’i’s youthful energy within.

Definitely take time to do something frisky today. If there’s a recreational activity you enjoy, go play! This invokes Ra’i ra’i’s happiness and pleases this Goddess greatly.”

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

Art by Susan Seddon Boulet

So, I couldn’t dig too much up on today’s Goddess. I’m not entirely sure as to how factual all of this information is, as it kind of has a New Age-y type feel to it (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, I just really prefer more scholarly type references) but I will share it with you anyways. From what I could piece together: “Ra’i Ra’i is the name given in the Tumuripo Story of Creation [I could find no reference to or definition of ‘Tumuripo’] for the divine progenitress of the Hawaiian people (the People of Havai’i). According to Melville, ‘Ra’i Ra’i was chosen, by royal command of the Goddess of the Sun, Lady Ra, to perform a mission of transfiguration. She was sent to deliver into being upon this earth the human beings who were soon to blossom as branches of the Tree of Life in Po’ (the Celestial Realm of the Gods) [I’m thinking something similar to this]. The place which Ra’i Ra’i established for this creation was the ‘Garden of Sunshine’ in the Land of Rua (Mu) [the name of a hypothetical continent that disappeared at the dawn of human history]. There to help Her in the Garden where the Menehunes, whom Melville equates to ‘brownies‘. He states that the little people who populated Hawai’i in the early period of the islands were ‘Manahunes’ and were simply a human dwarf race, not related to the Menehunes.

In addition to the Menehunes, the other nature beings in the Garden of Sunshine are the following. I am giving Melville’s comparisons to western names for them as well as their Hawaiian counterparts. These western comparisons may or may not be entirely accurate in my estimation. The descriptions come from Melville’s translations of The Tumruipo chant (again, I could find no reference for this chant).

a) eepas (elves)

b) tup’ua (fairies — tiny winged creature, feminine in shape who lived above the ground in the blossoming branches)

c) mo’o (water nymphs–shaped like mermaids)” [1]

* Now on Sacred-texts.com, it states that “Hawaiian families count the Menehune as their ancestral spirits and helpers, and these little people play the part of benevolent godparents to their descendants. On the other hand, Hawaiians speak of eepa spirits who are tricky rather than helpful to mankind. A family story told in Kau district on Hawaii illustrates the benevolent activities of the Menehune spirits and many examples occur in old legends like those of Laka, Hainakolo, and Kawelo.

Back to Ra’i ra’i – Frank Joseph in his book The Lost Civilization of Lemuria writes, “In Hawaiin myth itself, the firstborn of Ra’i ra’i, a sun Goddess, was Mu Re, ancestor of the islands’ earliest inhabitants.” [2] According to James Churchward, Ra Mu was the King-High Priest of the Motherland – Mu (Ra meaning “Sun” and Mu meaning “Land”). Churchward goes on to explain that, “Many generations before, the people had selected a king and added the prefix Ra to his name. He then became the hieratical head and emperor under the name ‘Ra Mu’. The empire received the name ‘Empire of the Sun’.

As high priest, Ra Mu was the representative of the Deity [whose name was never spoken and was worshiped through a symbol out of deep reverence] in religious teachings. It was thoroughly taught and understood that Ra Mu was not to be worshiped, as he was only representative” (p. 24).

I’ve included some “Suggested Links” that don’t necessarily pertain to Ra’i ra’i per se, because I really couldn’t find that much; however, I felt the information in these links were relevant to the overall mythology surrounding Her and the characters of this interesting creation story.

Sources:

Churchward, James. lost_continent_mu_churchward_1931. (PDF file)

Joseph, Frank. The Lost Civilization of Lemuria, “Hawaiian Motherland” (p. 166 – 169).

Pihanakalani.spiritmythos.org, “Children of the Rainbow“.

Suggested Links:

Beckwith, Martha Warren. Hawaiian Mythology, “Legend of the Mu People“.

Crystalinks.com, “Lemuria“.

Gudgeon. Jps.auckland.ac.nz, “THE TIPUA-KURA, AND OTHER MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT WORLD“.

Jantsang, T. Guardiansofdarkness.com, “Two Articles on Polynesians and Cthulhu Oceanic Mythos“.

Joesting, Edward. Kauai: The Separate Kingdom.

Marsh, Amy. Waihili.blogspot.com, “A Hidden Meaning of the Mo’o Goddesses?”

Mythicalrealm.com, “The Menehune: Also known as Nawao“.