2017 Kunapipi

Aloha Daughters of the Goddess

We are in the time of Aquarius Sun, swirling in the dreamtime ~ the space of creation, life, growth and transformation.  Little Spring buds are just beginning to show and come back onto the bare branches of winter, green shoots of the bulbs that have been hibernating in the soil are starting to tentatively peek out.  The Earth flowing thru its cycles is starting to transform and rebirth, becoming new again.

From far across the ocean Kunapipi came, the First Mother, bringing with Her the ancestors.  Kunapipi is one of the Mother Goddesses of the Northern aboriginal tribes of Australia.  She is the perpetually pregnant Mother of us all who is constantly giving birth to all of existence ~ all plant life, all animals, and all humans.  She is also known as the rainbow serpent as this is the form She takes to go out into the world to care for Her people, to teach them Her ways.

The Earth is Her body and caves are very are sacred to Kunapipi.  Caves are where Her ceremonies and rituals are held.  She is the Goddess of coming of age ceremonies.  Once during their lifetime the people go to one of her sacred places, a cave hollowed out from the Mother’s body, where they swing the bullroar instrument until Kunapipi sings loudly and introduces the initiate to their twin soul which is believed to live always at Her side.  Upon death the soul rejoins its twin at Her side until she decides to send it back again.

Kunapipi created songs to tell of the Dreamtime, and through the songs are the stories of the ancestors.   She travels the lands with a band of heroines and heroes doing great miracles and teaching the people.  The Ubar, a long wooden log or gong, is another instrument that is played during Her rituals.  It is considered the uterus of the Mother, as is the Earth and especially Her Caves.  The gong is played at the beginning of the ritual to call the Mother into consciousness and then is constantly sounded by musicians with flat sticks made from the center rib of the Pandanas Palm frond.  Should the sound stop it means that the Mother’s spirit has departed.  From Her we are birthed, and to Her we shall return.

During this time of new birth, renewal, of growth and transformation ~ as you come forth from Cave of Winter what Sacred is to you?  What needs to be tended so it will grow and flourish?

Kunapipi Hymn

Great Kunapipi, I do not forget You as I climb back into Your holy
womb to make contact with my spirit soul, crawling into the crescent
vessel of Your protection dug deep into the soil of Your body,
carved into the precious Earth beneath me.

I beckon to my spirit soul which lives within You until my time of
finishing this life and though I leave Your womb at this initiation time,
though I choose to climb out from Your nurturing warmth, to live
my years of life, I ask You to care for my spirit soul until my return
so that after my passing from this life my two spirits may be reunited in You,
before You send me forth again to once more live on Earth.

Dear Kunapipi, no matter how far I wander,
how many lives I live –
to You I shall always return.

Traditional Australian Aboriginal

For the altar, please bring a candle any the colors of the rainbow.  Please bring offering for Kunapipi of a flower or clipping of new growth of a plant.  Please bring Symbols or images of Kunapipi, snakes and caves, rocks & stones.