Huna is a Hawaiian word meaning secret, but it also refers to the esoteric wisdom of Polynesia. Kupua is another Hawaiian word and it refers to a specialized healer who works with the powers of the mind and the forces of nature. In that respect it is very similar to the Siberian Tungusic word shaman.

The understanding of Huna described here comes from the kupua family Kahili from the island of Kauai, through Serge Kahili King, an adopted grandson of that family who was trained in the kupua tradition.

The basic assumptions of Huna are these:

1. The World Is What You Think It Is
2. There are no limits
3. Energy Flows Where Attention Goes
4. Now Is The Moment Of Power
5. To Love Is To Be Happy With
6. All Power Comes From Within
7. Effectiveness Is The Measure Of Truth

Another set of assumptions used in Huna is that human behavior and experience can be explained and changed through the interaction of three (sometimes four) selves, aspects or functions:

1. The High Self (Kane, Aumakua, Spiritual Mind), has the function of creativity, is motivated by harmony, and uses energy.

2. The Conscious Self (Lono) has the function of reasoning, is motivated by power, and uses imagination.

3. The Subconscious Self (Ku) has the function of memory, is motivated by happiness, and uses sensation.

4. The Core Self (Kanaloa) has the function of will, is motivated by experience, and uses confidence.

A third set of assumptions coming from the kupua tradition divides all experience into four levels or frameworks of beliefs about reality which can be summarized as follows:

1. Everything is objective
2. Everything is subjective
3. Everything is symbolic
4. Everything is holistic

The Ho'omaka (initiate) had been laid out on a long black solid block of lava rock, 4 feet high, by 6 feet by 3 feet. Around the lava rock in each corner and in the center on each side was a Kukui nut oil lamp that provided light for the five Kahuna to do their work. As the initiate lay there the Kahuna Lomilomi massaged the Ho'omaka for what seemed like days. As they worked, their chants reverberated into the cool night air:

"Kau ka halia, i ka manawa, He hiamoe kou. Ho ala ana oe, o oe, o O halau lani o hoa ka lei, He me manu e, e kani nei."

Each day the Ho'omaka went, he felt, deeper and deeper into himself. During what seemed like the second day, the images came flooding back. He remembered a time long ago. He remembered!

The days of The Order of Kane had come to an end. The soldiers of Pa'ao had arrived, and they were hunting all the Kahuna of the old order, and burning the temples. In this time, as he remembered, was a young Kahuna, and he feared for his life. As he hid near the temple, he sensed his doom. All his masters were dead, his mother, father, wife, and young baby daughter, had all been killed. He knew that all was lost, and felt he was next. Even though the soldiers of Pa'ao were all around, he managed to survive through the night. And as the sun rose in the morning, the Pohaku O Kane (the stone images of the One God who had created the universe) had laid themselves down. None were broken, none were damaged. And as he remembered, the sadness came flooding back, and then the tears. The perfect times were over. That idyllic time of love, peace, and happiness was over.

When the Ho'omaka awoke the face of the kindly old Kahuna was smiling down on him. She said, "Welcome back." He said, "We aren't the first. I remembered when we were here before." She smiled as he continued, "There was a time when we all lived in harmony. Women were equally honored and could rise to the highest level with the men." "Yes, little one; you are right," she said. "In the ancient times it was so. Those times are gone now, but they will return." "But why did it end," he asked. "Everything moves in cycles, from the highest to the lowest. The time of balance was over long ago, and we are now in a time of imbalance, a time for extremes. But the balanced times will return. It is predicted. They will return."

The science that is now called Huna is a very old science. We believe that it may be as old as 35,000 years old, and is a part of the original teachings of the peoples of the earth which were centered here in Hawaii on a continent {Lemuria} which now, no longer exists. All that remains physically of that land are the mountain peaks of the island chain called Hawaii.

Long after the original teachings of the peoples of the earth were codified, and were spread out all over the world, the continent disappeared. The teachings continued in Hawaii and in other parts of the world.

For a long time prior to 750 A.D., there flourished a system of personal development, healing, and spiritual discipline that was known by "everyone." The system was a balanced system -- one that honored men and women equally. There were almost no secrets; in fact, there were so few secrets that the information that comprised the techniques wasn't even organized or formally taught. It just formed the background of "how it was" in the world.

In Hawaii, this teaching was originally called Ho'omana ("to make Mana, or life force energy"). The people who practiced these teachings and techniques knew that all power, and all life force emanated from the One, the source of all -- all life, all energy, which in Hawaii was called 'Io. In those times, the same knowledge was taught everywhere else on the planet, too. Around the world today, however, only remnants of this system survive.

There are only remnants of this system around the Earth, because starting in 325 A.D. (it may have started as early as several thousand years B.C., but the effects were definitely under way by 325 A.D.) a wave began to sweep around the planet in an attempt to destroy the balanced systems -- the original teachings of the peoples of the Earth. The wave hit Hawaii sometime between 750 and 1250 A.D. At that time, the Kahuna Pa'ao, arrived in Hawaii, and found a very peace-loving people living in a paradise.

Several years later Pa'ao returned with a number of warriors and priests, and overturned the original system in Hawaii. When Pa'ao arrived, he installed his system, and the original teaching was changed. The old order was overturned, and the current order of Ku was installed.

The Huna that we teach predates the teaching of Pa'ao. So it is very ancient -- from before 750 A.D. We believe that before 750 A.D. the balanced order that existed was a balanced system that could be called The Order of 'Io. This is true all over the world. The balanced Male/Female system in western Europe was called Wicca, and like Huna it was attempted to wipe this teaching out. The Holy Inquisition conducted by "The Church," for example, reduced the population of Spain by more than 50% in 200 years, killing hundreds of thousands of people. In India, too, a system called Tantra was attempted to be wiped out by the newer system called Vedanta. Although Tantra fared better than Wicca, both systems were subjected to much persecution. The situation was the same all over the world, from the Native Americans, to the Aboriginals of Australia, each of the peoples bearing the original teachings were (and, be sure, still are) subjected to an attempt to eradicate the culture, and the teachings. In Hawaii, fortunately. the original teachings were hidden in the chants of the Ancient Ones -- when the original teachings were overturned they went underground. The original teachings were hidden inside of the chants and the Hulahula (Hula dances), and they have waited. They have waited, hidden, for a long, long time. The newer arrivals adopted chants and Hulahula which contained mysteries hidden to them but which were simply waiting for a rebirth of the original teachings.

The teachings were buried again (to a second level) in the ancient chants when the Missionaries arrived from Boston in 1820. Their arrival was not accidental, since the more modern Hawaiian system (order of Ku), called the Kapu system had been ended by King Kamehameha VI in 1819.

Once again the new priests brought their new gods, and the original teachings were buried even deeper. The Missionaries began to do away with the old "superstitious ways." In 1820, they passed the first of the laws that were designed to eradicate the ancient teachings:

"Section 1034: Sorcery -- Penalty, Any person who shall attempt the cure of another by the practice of sorcery, witchcraft, ananna (sic), hoopiopio, hoounauna, or hoomanamana, or other superstitious or deceitful methods, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not less than one hundred dollars or be imprisoned not to exceed six months at hard labor.' There is also another section of the law which classes the kahuna with bunco men and defines him as one posing as a kahuna, taking money under pretense of having magical power, or admitting he is a kahuna. For this the fine goes up to a thousand dollars and a year in prison." - Long, 1948

So, in a Pacific Island nation influenced by American Missionaries, the people were disallowed from practicing their original teachings until the federal government of the United States passed the Native American Religious Freedoms Act in 1979. Amazingly, in 1953 the Kahuna, Daddy Bray, was arrested for chanting a chant in the Hawaiian language at Hulihee Palace in downtown Kona -- a chant quite similar to a chant we teach at our Huna seminars in Hawaii.

That a country whose pride lies in, among other things, freedom of speech the practice and teaching of Huna was illegal in Hawaii from 1820 to 1979, is absolutely inconceivable. How could that have happened? What did we not see that allowed us to disenfranchise the dear, sweet, loving people of this land? Further, we shall see that this has not been, even as of today, been fully addressed.

We believe the final law against the practice of the ancient ways was repealed in 1989. But it was predicted that this would happen. Today, the entire planet is experiencing a revival of the old teachings, where once again we will experience the return of the balanced systems of teaching.

The older, male dominant, patriarchal systems are finding it harder and harder to survive. Look around you, the world is changing. Old systems are disintegrating, the most notable of which is the Communist system which wasn't vanquished by armaments, but which fell apart of its own accord because it denied the rights of women and because it denied spirit.

This offering is part of the revival of the original teaching that was predicted right from the arrival of the first newcomers in 750 A.D.

The teaching which is now called Huna was originally called Ho'omana. Ho'o means to make. Mana means life force, equivalent to Ki (as in Aikido), Chi (as in Tai Chi) or Shakti in the Sanskrit language. Taken together the word Ho'omana means empowerment or to empower. The purpose of the original teaching was, then, learning the ways to increase life force.

Do you remember the Big Kahuna in the Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello movies in the late 60's? In the humor of that name, we may be closer to the true meaning than we realize. The Big Kahuna was someone who was good at surfing -- he knew something about surfing that other surfers didn't know. He was the best!

"Ka" means "the," or "light," and Huna means "secret," but it doesn't mean secret in the sense that it did when you were a kid. It means secret in the sense of "esoteric," or "hidden." For example, if you were going to have a meaningful conversation with a Quantum Physicist, you'd probably have to study Quantum Physics for 4 or 5 years. So Huna means knowledge which is not secret as much as hidden from view. Huna means knowledge which is "concealed," or wisdom which is "protected like a treasure." If we divide the word differently (a common practice in discovering the deeper meanings of Hawaiian words), "Kahu" means "honored servant" or "high servant who takes charge of persons, property, or knowledge." "Na" means to care for, to settle difficulties, in a legal sense; quiet, pacified, as an aggrieved child; calmed, quieted, as one's passions -- calm and centered.

Today we would translate the word Kahuna as being roughly equivalent to Ph.D. -- a specialist in some field. So, in ancient times, there were Kahuna of fishing, farming and planting; there were Kahuna of philosophy, negotiation, and government; there were Kahuna of canoe building, navigation, and tiki (statue) carving; and there were Kahuna of child birthing and rearing; none of those types of Huna will be covered in this book. There were also (and this is our main interest in Huna), medical Kahuna called La'au Lapa'au; predictors called Kilokilo, or those who did divination; psychological healers called La'au Kahea; and mystical initiators, called Na'auao.

The Kahuna Kapihe in Kona in 1850 may have succinctly captured the essence of the Science of Huna in the saying,

"E iho ana o luna. E pii ana o lalo. E hui ana na moku. E ku ana ka paia."

Which means, "Bring down that which is above by means of the light.

"To ascend take from darkness into light that which is below by means of light.

"This will transform the spiritual energy as it flows from the source and integrates all the islands (inside you), giving peace.

"This will affect you profoundly, and change your life bringing illumination, and you will feel the delightful supreme fire."

Notice the similarity to the Hermetic axiom from the Emerald Tablet (approximately 1500 A.D.), "That which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is like that which is above." - Hermes Trismegistus

Huna is as broad based as any other shamanistic system, and it is important to know that there are correspondences from Huna to all other shamanistic and magical teachings. We can think of the origins of thought in Huna to be the same as Wicca, Alchemy or Hermetics in western Europe; the same as the Native American tradition; and the same as the Aboriginal teachings in Australia, the Maori teachings in New Zealand, or the original teaching of Tantra in India.

So whereas there was the tradition of the Holy Guardian Spirit in Hermetics, Alchemy and the Native American Tradition, so also in Huna we have the tradition of the Higher Self.

Where there was the tradition of the 5 elements in Hermetics, Alchemy and Tantra in India, so also in Huna we have the 5 elements.

Where there was the tradition of the Dream Time in the Native American Tradition, Maori and Aboriginal traditions so also in Huna we have Moe Uhane (Dream Time) in Huna.

Where there were Herbs used in healing in the Native American, Chinese and other traditions, so also in Huna we have a tradition of herbal healing.

Where there was energy healing in the Philippines and in Reiki, so also the use of symbols for energy healing in Huna. Where there was a tradition of using the numbers and the stars for making predictions in Astrology, the Cabalah, and in Numerology, so also in Huna we have a tradition of using the stars and numbers for prediction.

And where there was a tradition of chanting in the Native American Tradition, the Aboriginal, the Maori traditions, and in the tradition of Tantra, so also in Huna we have a tradition of chanting.

Of course, there should be correspondences between Huna and the other disciplines if they all came from the same origin. While most, if not all, of what comprises the major esoteric disciplines has been written and published, upwards of 80% of what is really Huna has not yet been published.

This book is the beginning of the reclaiming of what, in this revival, has been called Huna.

As you begin your study of Huna, or whatever esoteric discipline you choose, please consider the following:

The spirit of any esoteric training does not lie solely in the information being taught, but in the influences that come from the teacher and which, over time, tune the pupil to higher and higher levels of vibration. An esoteric school is different from all other schools in that, although its intent is to communicate wisdom, its real power lies in its contacts with the unseen, and in essence inner worlds. Unless it has these contacts, it cannot give its pupils the power to put the intellectual theory into practice. All of the different schools of the original teachings generally share the same principles but they differ very much in how they gather their power and in their ability to apply and share that power.

Any training in esoteric studies should increase positive character traits in the initiate. Above all, it should bring increasing balance of the mind. If it does not do this there is something wrong. What could possibly be the purpose if a student experiences the heavens open to him, and yet loses his reason, his livelihood, and his friends? To put it clearly, training in Huna should not cause a person to loose his job, relationships, and all that is dear to him. The result of any esoteric study is, and should always be Balance. Remember that you have four parts to your personality: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual; and any method of training should take into account all four of these. It should then bring them into balance if it is to produce the stability that comes from having symmetry and harmony in life.

"Unless the study of esoteric science yields fruits of practical application it is unworthy of the pursuit of any serious minded person, and unless these fruits be the fruits of the spirit it is unworthy of the study of any spiritually minded person." - Dion Fortune

Please remember that any teacher (Kumu) of the esoteric sciences cannot reveal his entire system to one who is uninitiated, and the more the teacher knows the less he will be inclined to reveal immediately. But no real teacher would ever withhold knowledge from anyone who was worthy to receive it. On the other hand, for his own protection, he cannot accept as a pupil someone who would be likely to abuse that knowledge or betray that trust.

"The true trainer of souls knows that it serves no useful purpose to require an oath, for unless he is prepared to carry his pupils bodily into the Kingdom of Heaven he must teach them to walk on their own feet, and he can never do that as long as he keeps them in the splints of an oath. What is required of the neophyte is not a blind obedience but an intelligent comprehension of principles. that he shall have reached such a degree of self- discipline that, when a principle is explained to him, he will immediately be able to put it into practice. If the light that is in him be so dim that he cannot understand the principles involved, he should not be placed in the position of having to deal with problems beyond his powers. never surrender your will, never surrender your judgment." - Dion Fortune

Remember this there is no one other than you who has the power to give you initiation or the power to refuse it to you; as soon as you are ready for initiation you claim it by your right, not your grace.

"A great body of tradition exists, though scattered and concealed and the student in whom the inner eye is open can penetrate its significance when he studies it . an initiator . should codify this knowledge and reduce it to an intelligible system; the value of an occult school depends in a large measure on the manner in which this purely mundane work has been done.

"If we seek the roots of living spiritual experience, we are unwise to look for it along the lines of organized. tradition. In every record of the foundation of an Order we read of a meeting between its founder and an illuminated teacher who gave him his contacts by virtue of his personal magnetism." - Dion Fortune, 1922-1987

Four years in the making, this book reveals the philosophy and many of the practices of the ancient Hawaiian Kahuna.

Lost Secrets of Ancient Hawaiian Huna is a must for anyone on a spiritual journey, or anyone who wants to integrate the spiritual studies of several disciplines. Tad James pulls it all together and present for the first time in print, the ancient Hawaiian system which reveals, what some are calling, "the secret of all secrets" of spiritual evolution.