What Is huna?
Ho'omana
To make "Mana", or life force energy
The word "Mana" means life force energy. Equivalent to Ki (as in Aikido), Chi (as in Tai Chi) or Shakti or Prana in the Sanskrit language. You may use another word that you prefer, meaning Life Force Energy. The Hawaiians call it Mana. Taken together, the word Ho'omana means to empower or empowerment. When you have Life Force Energy you are empowered.
The People
Kahuna
The people who practiced these techniques and teachings knew that all power and all force emanated from the the source of All -- all life and all energy. In Hawai'i, this was called I'o. In those times, the same knowledge was taught everywhere else on the planet. Around the world today, only remnants of this system survive.
The Remnants
The story of Pa'ao
There are only remnants of this system around the Earth, because starting in 325 A.D, a wave began to sweep around the planet in an attempt to destroy the balanced systems of the Earth. The wave hit Hawai'i sometime between 750 and 1250 A.D. At the same time, the Kahuna Pa'ao arrived in Hawai'i from Tahiti and found a very peace-loving people living in a paradise. Several years later, Pa'ao returned with a number of warriors and priests who overturned the original teaching. The old order was overturned and the current order of Ku was installed.
The Teachings
Ancient Huna in the new age
The Huna we teach predates the teachings of Pa'ao. So, it is very ancient -- from before 750 A.D. We believe that before that time the existing order was a balanced system which could be called The Order of I'o. This is true all over the world. The balanced system was an equally Male / Female system, where men and women were honored equally, where there were both male and female Kahuna. Hawai'i was very lucky to be so isolated. In other areas of the world the original teaching was wiped out earlier than that. There was a real concerted effort in western Europe to wipe out the original teachings which has persisted for thousands of years. These destructive pressures continue today in the world.
Ancients Under Attack
Early cultures and their balanced systems
The situation was the same all over the world, from the Native Americans in reservations where medicine women prevailed, to the Aboriginals in Australia, where a whole generation of children was kidnapped and "civilized" in white schools. Each of this peoples bearing the original teachings experienced serious pressure to eradicate the culture and the teachings. A wave began to increase the male dominant patriarchal systems in such a way that the old balanced order was overthrown somewhere around 2,000 years ago, and in Hawai'i the original order was was overthrown between 750 and 1250 A.D.
Why Ancient Huna?
What do we learn?
One purpose of the original teaching was the study of the ways of increasing life force energy, to give every single human the power in his own hands, ultimate means to create what they totally want in their life. The notion of Life Force is a very important notion. What's also important in the process is also to learn how to make connections with the sources of Mana both inside and outside yourself. The scope of Huna is quite broad -- if you think of it this way, there is one teaching and it has many different names.