Kahuna Leilani
Daughters of the Goddess
Kahuna Leilani is a Hawaiian Kahuna, High Priestess & Ceremonialist
As a native Hawaiian, Kahuna Leilani brings ancient Hawaiian healing and Goddess wisdom to the community. She brings forth teachings of the Aloha Spirit through Hula, Ceremony, Performance, Writing, and Ritual. Kahuna Leilani is the founder/ritual director of Daughters of the Goddess Women’s Temple in the San Francisco Bay Area an international community of women dedicated to She of 10,000 names and Multicultural Women’s Mysteries.
She was Uniki’d/Initiated as a Hawaiian Kahuna by Kahuna Auntie Pahia on Big Island under Miracle a 100-year-old Banyan Tree surrounded by Ohana and elders.
Leilani was Ordained a Dianic High Priestess by Z Budapest in La Honda, California. She has conducted workshops and ceremonies in Hawai’i, Canada, the Michigan Women’s Music Festival, Hopland Women’s Music Festival, the Goddess Temple of Orange County, Spiral Door Priestess Training Faculty at the Temple of Diana, the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, Yraceburu Earthwidsom, Mount Shasta Goddess Temple, the Sekhmet Temple in Indian Springs, Nevada, Rainbow Stew in Yucca Valley and at California Institute of Integral Studies. She a graduate of the Women’s Spirituality M.A. program at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.
Kahuna Leilani has co-authored the book, On Holy Ground: Commitment and Devotion to Sacred Lands with Luisah Teish. She is included in the anthologies Shades of Faith: Minority Voices in Paganism, and Stepping Into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writings on Priestesses.
Leilani gives thanks and honors to her teachers: Yeye Luisah Teish, Iyanifa Yoruban Chieftess and author of Jambalaya; Kahuna Auntie Pahia; Vicki Noble, author and co-creator of the Motherpeace Tarot; and Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakane and Mahea Uchiyama, and Uncle Butch of Ka’ala Farms, O’ahu.
Kahuna Leilani
Hawaiian Kahuna, Ordained Dianic-Preistess and Ceremonialist
Kahuna Leilani’s Story
The Goddess has been calling to me all my life. The Hawaiian culture is filled with spirituality and respect for the ancestral realm and I was to have a deep aloha/love for the land of Hawai’i.
Becoming a Mother was a Rite of Passage for me. On July 16, 1990, I entered the sacred realm of Mothering. The joy from my first daughter’s birth along with the huge demands of motherhood sent my whole world into chaos. As a feminist, I thought at the time that career, education and success reflected in the “outer” male dominated world was more desirable. How humbled I was to learn that being a mother is the hardest job there is, and yes, the most potently powerful!
The next event that propelled me full force toward Her/the Goddess was my mother’s death from cancer, July 10, 1994. She was 54. My mom instilled in me the love of community and family from Our Hawaiian culture. Raised as Hapa- Haole (the term for part Hawaiian and part Caucasian) in the Mainland I learned the beauty, joy, and honor of being a brown skinned daughter of the islands of Hawai’i. My mother taught her children the importance of community, family, and love and the “Aloha Spirit” a revered cultural attributes of our Hawaiian culture. I was devastated by the loss of her physical presence.
After my mother died the Moon beckoned me as a beacon of light, comfort and wisdom. My mother Judy, had always been such a source of wisdom and strength Her parting was unbearably painful for me. My journey to the Goddess from this point on was a calling that I could not deny.
I could feel Her/Goddess summoning me towards Her loving presence. Grief and inner turmoil tore at my soul while I struggled to unblock, understand and free the huge energy I felt trying to come through me. To channel my energies I began to read books about the Goddess authored by Luisah Teish, Z Budapest and Vicki Noble.
I had a reading with Vicki Noble four months after my mom died. She told me about the Womyn’s Spirituality Master’s program at CIIS (which moved to New College) of which I graduated with a Masters in Womyn’s Spirituality. My first class with Vicki was titled Womyn Healers. Within this circle/class there were 25 of the most amazing womyn Healers, Astrologer, Midwives, Teachers, Mothers, Nurses, Executives all coming together to honor the Goddess, the Sacred Feminine. The energy was electric and transformative; finally I was home again. Our sacred class was focused on finding ways to re-piece and re-claim the womyn’s Mysteries of Old. My life from this point on was changed forever.
Summer Solstice 1996 I founded a womyn’s ceremonial circle named Daughters of the Goddess. It has evolved from a small circle of friends into a Womyn’s temple that is open to the community and serves womyn mainly from the San Francisco Bay Area, although we have had womyn from all over the world circle with us. I started the circle because I had a burning desire and passion to reach as many womyn as I could to share the Goddess with. Thus I began my commitment to womyn’s mysteries and the ancestors who call me to their service. August of 1998 I was Ordained as a Dianic High Priestess by Z. Budapest a the Goddess 2000 Womyn’s Festival in La Honda, CA was an honor and a reflection of my inner calling.
All I have learned from the classes, my teachers and ancestor spur me forth to share the forgotten and lost knowledge that is so powerful and that can become a vehicle for womyn to move together in Sisterhood. Our Fore-mothers left legacies for us to inherit. It is our right and blessing to join together to reclaim, preserve and perpetuate the traditions and ceremonies of our ancestors. I am here as a Priestess of the Goddess to provide community, the Aloha Spirit and a space for womyn’s Mysteries to continue onward as our legacy, honor and birthright.
Kahuna Leilani
Hawaiian Kahuna, Ordained Dianic-Preistess and Ceremonialist
Follow us
Join Our Community
Follow us on Facebook
Follow Us on Instagram
Daughters of the Goddess on Paypal
Use for Rituals, Workshops,
Zoom Sessions and Purchases.