Aloha Friends,
 
Can we please come together for the families of Maui Island right now? Can you join me with love and prayerful intention that they feel our support wrap around their hearts and minds since we can’t be there to hug them all in person? Breathe this in with me… Send your love with me now, please?
 
And so be it. And so it is. 
 
Mahalo.
 
As most of you know, after living and raising our children on Hawai’i Island for seven years and travelling to Maui many, many years for my birthday, I carry the people of Hawai’i and her people in my heart. When I was thirteen years old, fresh from my parents’ painful divorcing, my mother sent me to Maui for the first time, alone with my sister (eleven years my elder), for us to take a break from the pressure cooker at home. I hadn’t even stepped down the stairs from the plane, only just inhaling the balmy, sweet air of Maui, when I inexplicably said, “I’m home.” I wasn’t embarrassed by such a relatively strange statement for a thirteen-year-old as we made our way to Lahaina. It simply was my heart sharing. Every cell of my body knew it to be true. At thirteen, I hadn’t yet heard about past lives or ancient memories. The words just tumbled out with serene joy, and I’ve never stopped loving Maui. Years later, when I met a circle of elders on the island of Maui, without them knowing my little girl story, they embraced me and told me I was from there a long, long Lemurian time ago.
 
Watching the footage and hearing the stories of friends who survived the Maui wildfires but lost everything—more than structures or material items, they lost friends and family—my thirteen-year-old heart weeps with my sixty-year-old heart. And my ancient heart just wants to wrap them all in my arms. The grief is just starting to register for so many who are still in shock that all they loved in their community could so quickly be consumed. And while the number of lives lost has inched above 100 in the news reports, locals know there are likely more than 750–1,000 people more who perished that they’ve not yet been able to identify because the fires were so tragically intense. And sadly, many of the missing are children who were at home while their parents worked because the schools had been closed.
 
There is much speculation about how such catastrophic loss could be, who is responsible, how, or even if they could have made it better, and how survivors can trust to be held by the people in their community, but right now, the most important thing to remember is that Maui and her people are grieving. And no, it’s not just one island grieving, but all the Hawaiian Islands are grieving. And yes, there are also those who are touched by the land and the people throughout the world, but it’s Maui and her ohanas (families) to whom we must give our hearts. We must give them the space to grieve, to talk, to cry and rail and if so moved, stand by ready to help with our prayers and our donations. We, as a global sacred community, must stand witness with the greatest compassion to what their hearts are going through without any divisive discussion. Many there wonder how they will carry on with integrity, grace, and support and so I’ve been watching and asking every day how I may help. How may I serve?
 
Donations have been flowing in. People around the world have stepped up, but this is a long, long process for Maui. Listening to friends, as many of you have, there are asks to give directly to families through GoFundMe campaigns. This is beautiful and circumvents the slow red tape of government aid. I am grateful that funds have been tagged to immediately help, but we know it still can be too slow. To simplify, I’ve been asked to give to the Maui Food Bank as they will need to feed their survivors for a long time after the collected donations run out. 
 
And so, I’d like to invite you to join me in a dance THIS Saturday, Sept. 19^th at 11:00 AM PDT, to wrap our highest and best intentions, prayers, and love for the animation of the health and life on Maui. I use these specific words from my Hawaiian sisters who are dancing in sacred protocol every day to call forth the collective energy of prayer, the KeAkua (God & Goddesses), the aina (land), the life-giving water, and the Source energy within, and more, to animate the health and life on Maui. I will not be appropriating their important, sacred protocol. That would be disrespectful. I only wish to give you context for the depth of work they do to help, so if we can encircle the prayers of our Hawaiian loved ones with our dancing prayers and other prayers from around the world, I know they would be felt.
 
I am humbled and grateful as one who serves for the best and highest good. I hope you will join me here and in any dance I have coming up as aloha lives in my heart forever and will continue to pour through my hands with gratitude that we can do so much more when we come together for love. And if you can’t join us on Saturday, then thank you for making donations any way you can.
 
Sending you blessings and hoping to hug you in circle online and/or in person soon.
 
We have lots of other news to share, but right now, this aloha call is most pressing.
 
Mahalo/Thank you for being here.