Huna Teachings

Huna is the name that Max Freedom Long gave his version of Hawaiian spiritualism. He claimed to have learned a secret tradition from Hawaiian friends while working as a school teacher in Hawaii. He founded the Huna Fellowship in 1945 and, starting in 1948, published a series of books on Huna that are still in print.

Victor Anderson, the founder of the Feri Wicca or Vicia tradition of Wicca also claimed to know Huna, to be a kahuna, and to speak Hawaiian. He was active during the last half of the 20th century.Another practitioner of Huna is Serge Kahili King, who established the One Order of Huna International in 1973 and has also published a series of books on Huna.

Long, Anderson, and King had and have many followers and imitators, who publish, offer seminars, spiritual counseling, healing, and massage.Neither Long, Anderson, nor King were ethnic Hawaiian, and their followers are generally non-Hawaiian. Native Hawaiians and academic experts generally dismiss huna as New Age mythology.

In Hawaiian, huna simply means "hidden". It does not seem to have been used, as Long and King use it, for a tradition of esoteric learning. In Pukui and Ebert's Hawaiian Dictionary, it is cited in compounds like lua huna, meaning "secret cave". It may have been chosen because it seems to be part of the word kahuna, which is widely used to mean "Hawaiian sorcerer". A common Western conception of aboriginal peoples is that they are primitive, irrational, and child-like, but have mystical powers.

The English use of kahuna fits this pattern. However, in the Hawaiian language, the term kahuna is used for priests and sorcerers, and for any professional or learned person. A doctor, a lawyer, or a skilled canoe-builder could be called a kahuna.

The Huna teachings are very similar to the Egyptian teachings of initiation into the Order of Melchizedek during the Third Dynasty. Huna, in Hawaiian, means "secret." Huna, in its purest form is ancient knowledge enabling a person to connect to his or her highest wisdom within. Understanding and utilizing the fundamentals or "seven principles" of Huna is intended to bring about healing and harmony through the power of the mind. This healing art and earth science is spiritual in nature, experiencing its concepts gives us the opportunity to integrate mind, body and spirit. One might acknowledge Huna teachings as one of nature's tools helpful in development of inner knowing and enhancing innate psychic abilities.

Seven Principles of Huna

• IKE -The world is what you think it is
• KALA -There are no limits, everything is possible
• MAKIA -Energy flows where attention goes
• MANAWA -Now is the moment of power
• ALOHA -To love is to be happy with
• MANA -All power comes from within
• PONO -Effectiveness is the measure of truth

Huna teaches that the high self cannot manifest a prayer unless it receives the needed mana from the middle and low selves. Thus, it is essential, according to Huna teaching, to accumulate a surcharge of vital force before beginning to pray to the high self. A great deal of emphasis is given in the Huna teachings to how this is done.

Huna teaches a number of ways to accumulate extra energy:

1. Asking and commanding the low self to build up a surcharge of vital force for use in prayer

2. Physical exercise

3. Deep breathing, which causes more blood sugar to be burned -- this is the main method used

4. Posture

5. Nutritious food

6. Visualizing vital food rising like a fountain of water from the base of the spine up through the top of the head

7. Holding a mental attitude of gaining personal power and strength such as the attitude you would maintain when preparing for a race

8. Proper sleep and rest

9. Affirmations spoken out loud, "The universal life force is flowing into me now. I can feel it!"

In addition to the need for a surcharge of mana, there is the need for "the Clearing of the Path." Clearing the path means removing all thought forms that could sabotage the prayer. Such thought forms can occur in the conscious or the subconscious mind.

Huna teaches that the only sin that exists is hurting another person. You must balance out the hurt on all levels.

The last step in the process is to create a proper thought form prayer. Huna teaches that thoughts are like seeds. They create reality. You clear the path, remove negative thoughts in the low and middle self. You can write your thought form prayer on paper. Now visualize it. Build up vital force in the shadow body of the lower self for the use of the middle self when the prayer action begins.

Say the prayer aloud three times.

Now you must see the prayer manifested. Do this daily until the desire result is accomplished.

According to Huna teachings this is the same process that accounts for the phenomenon of Apports. This usually refers to the of physical objects over long distances by discarnate spirits. The explanation the Huna gives is that the discarnate spirit somehow obtains an accumulation of extra vital force and uses it ot dematerialize the physical object into its etheric, or shadow, form, then moving the object to the desired place and materializing it back into physicality.

Huna teaches that it is also possible for the high self to control such things as weather, animals, insects, plant life--actually anything in this physical plane. The final goal of Huna teachings is the integration of the three selves.

The Huna teachings are an ancient secret science that has come to the West through the work of Max Freedom Long. Long initially learned about the teachings of Huna from William Tufts Brigham who had spent forty years living in Hawaii, trying to understand the secrets of the Huna teachings. He had been able to obtain much information but never able to get to the core of the teachings. Long had heard of Brigham's interest in Huna and searched him out. Long felt that Brigham would find the asnwers to the teachings.

Long studied Brigham's work. He too came across obstacles in his search. The Huna teachings had been passed on by word of mouth. The few kahunas left in hawaii would not speak with him.

In 1935 he made made a fresh translation of the chants and prayers based on the root words. The new translation was the key that unlocked the secret of how the kahunas performed their seemingly magical feats.

Long spend the next forty years studying and working with the Huna teachings, until his death in 1971. The work passed to Dr. E. Otha Wingo, who is head of the Huna Research Associates and who is the author of Twelve-Lesson Huna Correspondence Course. It teaches the practical application of the Huna teachings.

The essence of Huna teachings is that the human being is made up of three selves, or minds. They can most easily be called the subconscious mind, the conscious mind, and the superconscious mind.

The kahunas call the conscious mind the "uhane", or middle self. this middel self is the part of the human that is conscious of its own existence and has the ability to reason. It has also been given free will to create as it pleases, along with the low self.

The subconscious mind is called the "Unihipili" or low self. It is the part of the human that presents the unconscious material to the conscious mind so it may reason for or against it. The low self is the storehouse of all memory abd the seat of the emotions. Its form of mentation is considered to be that of animal-level reasoning. The term "low" has no reference to rank or importance, only to the fact that it is below the level of consciousness of the middle self and to the fact that its bodily center is in the solar plexus rather than in the head.

The third part is the high self, called the "aumakua" by the kahuna. The high self is the "older utterly trustworthy parental sel of spirit." This higher self lives at a higher plane of consciousness outside of the physical body. It will not intervene in the affaires of life unless asked to do so. This is understood to be a cosmic law the high self must adhere to.

The high self has a higher form of mentation than the middle and low selves have. It is the part that direct dreams, intuitions, and premonitions through the subconscious self. Huna teaches that it is the high self that constructs your future form your thoughts, hopes, and fears of the middle and low selves.

The high self is supposed to be able to see into the future as far as your thoughts have been crystallized. As thoughts change daily in the lives of the middle and low selves, so does the future change, according to Huna teachings. Huna also teaches that communication with the high self occurs quite naturally during sleep. It is in that contact that most of the thoughts of the day are supposedly averaged by the high self and used, by some mysterious mechanism, to materialize conditions in your future.

Huna teachings say that each of the three selves has its proper role to perform in the life of each individual. Life, health, and happiness have to do with th integration, blending, and harmonizing of these three selves.

The other basic teaching of huna is that people are made up of ten basic elements. To understand this concept it os necessary to understand the triad of mind-force-matter. It is believed that the basic vital force, or energy, in a person's body is divided into three voltages. The lowest voltage is that of the lower, or sunconscious self. This same vital force when used by the middle self or conscious mind, is thought to be raised to a higher voltage. In the same way when the vital force is raised to the level of consciousness of the high self, it is raised again to an even higher voltage. The basic vital force of a person changes according to which self is using that energy.

The last element of this triad is that of matter. Huna teaches that each of the three selves has a shadow body, or etheric body. The shadow bodies are metaphysical bodies that are thought to be exact duplicates of everything that exists in the physical world. It is these energetic molds that hold all physical from together. Everything that has ever been created has a shadow body.

The shadow body of the low self is said to be a mold of every tissue of the physical body. The low self's shadow body hence looks like the physical body except that it is metaphysical in form. Huna teaches that all memory is stored in this shadow body of the low self. The shadow body of the middle self is an energy body in the region of the physical head. The low and middle selves, hence, interpenetrate the physical body with their shadow bodies.

The high self has a shadow body also, but it does not interpenetrate the physical body. The high self is connected to the low self by an energy cord. This energy cord has been called the silver cord in other mystical teachings.

I have so far mentioned nine elements. The tenth elements is the physical body, which is the vehicle, or instruments, in which the low self and middle self operate and live.

Huna teaches that the high self expresses all the divine qualities- compassion, patience, love, forgiveness. It is the ideal to which the middle self is to aspire. It is a step advanced in the mental powers and creative abilities. The high self is also considered to be a combined community of spirits. High selves are considered to be individual in identity and yet one with all other high selves at the same time. The high self is also considered to be a perfect blending of masculine and feminie, an androgynous self.

The shadow bodies of the three selves are made of a subtance called "aka". Aka has a sticky and elastic quality to it and can stretch without breaking. This substance is also a perfect carrier and conductor of vital force. According to Huna teachings, the lower self's shadow body is capable of changing shapes temporarily ot permanently to form a connecting thread between the middle self and the high self.

If you have a good relationship and a strong rapport with your low and high selves you have dedeloped these aka threads into aka cords. It is upon these aka threads and cords that vital force and thought forms travel.

Every time you contact your low self, your high self, any object, or any person in the world you are sending out aka threads. When contact is made between two persons, a long sticky thread is drawn between them. Further contact adds other aka threads, and they become braided together into an aka cord. Ana aka cord results in a strong rapport between the two individuals.

Telepathic communication, according to Huna, has to do with the traveling of vital force and thought forms along aka cords. This telepathic sending of thought forms and vital force can occur among the middle, low, and high selves, and between two people who have a strong aka cord connection.

Every thought you think has a shadow body around it, also. As a thought is formed it is fastened by a thread of aka to the thought threads that came before it. This concept is the explanation for the association of ideas which is acknowledged by modern psychology. In other words, a given thought attracts the threads of all similar thoughts.

Another extremely important aspect of Huna teaching is the importance of mana, or vital force. Mana is the basic energy in all things. Huna teaches that mana is taken from food and air by the low self and stored in the low self's shadow body. This vital force in the lower self's shadow body can be used for anything the middle self wants. When used by the middle self the mana is raised from the shadow body of the lower self to the physical head region of the middle self and in the process of being raised is changed in some subtle way. This force, when raised, is called the will by modern psychology. When the middle self does not use this will power as it should, the lower self acts out and flits from one activity to another without carrying out any suggestion or command effectively.

The low self is thought to be like a child. It needs to be loved, and it needs to be treated firmly and in a disciplined manner. A real physical child, if spoiled and not given any discipline will act out. It is the same with the lower self. That is why it is essential that the middle slef raise the mana for use as will power. The middle slef is te reasoning mind which is like the parent of the low self, jjust as the high self is the parent of the middle self. The three selves are gradations of conciousness.

The Kahunas believe that God is a triune being, just as people are triune beings. They believe that God is the trinity of levels of spirit. They term these three levels Ku, Kane, and Kanaloa. This concept of God correlates with that of other religions such as Christianity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and Hinduism (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva). The kahunas believe that the process of evolution is one of moving through these levels of consciousness back to eventually at-one-ment with God the Creator, or Ku.

Making prayers to the high self is similar to the process that is used between the low self and the middle self. Once the middle self has raised the vital force from the shadow body of the low self to use as will, it can do whatever it wants to do with that energy. Such will can be used for physical exercise or controlling the lower self or thinking or praying or anything else. This process of prayer to the high self involves raising the vutal force or mana, up from the middle self to the next voltage.