Max Freedom Long - The Teachings of Huna

Attempts by scholars to trace Hawaiian origins through language and customs have been none too successful. There are eleven tribes of Polynesians, all speaking dialects of the same language, but some having words, customs and beliefs easily identified as of Indian origin. On the other hand Polynesian words may be found scattered all the way from the Pacific to the Near East. Madagascar has them, indicating the early contact with a people who spoke the Polynesian language. Even in Japan may be found Polynesian words and ideas. In India a number of the ideas connected with the kahuna magic are to be seen, greatly changed and now of no practical use, but still pointing in the same general direction.

With the invaluable help of Stewart, and by making full use of what he had learned in North Africa, I was able to continue the research. Little by little the "Secret" was reconstructed as its symbols and practices were matched against the observations made of the external acts or rites of the kahunas by Dr. Brigham and, in a lesser degree, by me.

It would, however, have been utterly impossible to grasp the meanings of words and the significance of rites, had modern Psychology and Psychical Research not already made certain basic discoveries upon which to rest fuller structures. Religions also played a valuable part because in them I found the battered remains of the original Huna philosophy. These remains, misshapen as they were, gave hints as to where to look next for certain bits of information, and helped to verify other uncertain materials as they came to light.

Soon after the publication of my report in England I had entered into a correspondence with a priest of the Church of England who had written me upon reading my book, and who was carrying on psychological studies of mental and spiritual healing. His interest in the kahuna lore grew, and shortly after my contact with Stewart, the clergyman and a group of his associates decided to try out some of the healing magic of the kahunas. This they did, after much writing back and forth. They were especially successful in obsessional cases. The family of a patient who was healed offered to supply money for extensive experimental work, and the clergyman and three of his group made the journey to California to spend some time with me in discussing the best ways to proceed. They left me, all plans complete even to a blueprint of the building to be erected. But on their way back to England, World War II broke out and the plans were dropped. With the war over, the funds are no longer available, and the healing group is scattered.

Such experimental work as has been done has gone far to prove that the reconstruction of the Huna system is sufficiently complete to be workable in the hands of individuals owning certain natural talents and able to give sufficient time to learning to use the system. Steady and continued practice under proper guidance seems to be the main thing needed.

In Hawaii there is little or no dependable literature covering the kahunas. What little there is available in books and articles and pamphlets, misses entirely the basic mechanisms of which I report. Each writer contradicts the others, and the muddle is never resolved.

My own studies and those of Dr. Brigham are almost unknown in the Islands, and copies of my first report are kept carefully locked away in the library in Honolulu, being brought out only if requested by one who knows that it is there. Because of misconceptions and because there was formerly a very real danger in the "death prayer," the general attitude of the residents is one which encourages denial of kahuna magic, or, failing that, a policy of letting sleeping dogs lie.

With these introductory remarks, I will now proceed with the task of presenting the Huna system with all its details, and with the available proofs of its correctness as a workable set of scientific facts.

Footnotes

1In the pronunciation of Hawaiian words, the sound of the vowels is that used in Latin. A as in father; E as long a in ale; I as long e in enough; Ai as long i in isle; U as oo in moon; O as long o in over; W almost like v. Uhane is pronounced oo-hah-nay. Unihipili is pronounced oo-nee-hee-pee-lee. Aumakua is pronounced Ah-oo-mah-koo-ah.

2RECOVERING THE ANCIENT MAGIC, published by Rider & Co., London, 1936.

Table of Contents

There are two features that make the psycho-religious system of the "Secret" (Huna) outstanding and set it apart from modern systems of either religion or psychology.

First and foremost, IT WORKS. It worked for the kahunas and it should work for us.

Second, and but slightly less significant, it works for men no matter what their religious beliefs.

The finest example of a workable piece of magic which functions perfectly in the hands of any and all religionists, or in the hands of heathens and savages, is FIRE-WALKING, which has been practiced for centuries and which continues to be practiced today in many parts of the world.

Fire-walking has another thing to recommend it. It involves feet, and burning coals or other burning hot materials, such as stone, or even pure flame. Now, there is nothing mysterious about feet, or hot things. Both are subject to the most painstaking examination, and neither is subject to the manipulations of trickery.

In addition to feet and heat, there is a third element which cannot be seen, tested or examined. But it is just as real and just as free from danger of trickery. This third element is what I call "MAGIC" for want of a better word.

This third element is certainly present when feet contact heat, and burns do not result in the usual way.

War has been waged steadily on superstitions for at least two centuries. The growth of the sciences was dependent on the ability of scientists to fight up through superstitions and religious dogmatic taboos. Today, however, scientific denial of psychic and psychological phenomena has turned out to be a dogmatic taboo of science itself. Our schools and our press have done their best for years to discredit all things which could not be explained, setting up the cry of "Black superstition!" Because of this attitude the average person has been led to believe that all magic, and especially such things as fire-walking, are the beginning and end of trickery.

If my report is to get a hearing, I must prove that magic is a fact. I shall prove that it is. But, for the reader who has already decided that no such proof can be given to his personal satisfaction, I say this: Read my report anyway. It offers much new and exciting material for thought, and will be found entertaining, if nothing else. And when you finish it, see if you can give a better set of answers to its puzzling questions than did the kahunas.

For convenience sake in my report, I shall place major units of evidential material under case headings, with preliminary notes of introduction and with a comment at the end.

For the first case I draw from Dr. Brigham's investigations and personal observations in the field.

Preliminary Notes:

The usual explanation for fire-walking is that the feet are so calloused that they cannot be burned, or that they have been toughened by alum or other chemicals. Also, the coals or hot rocks are said to be covered with a layer of ashes, or not to be hot enough to burn. Harry Price, in trying to explain the fire-walking of Kuda Bux (a Kashmiri Mohammedan) before the University of London Council for Psychical Investigations in 1936, wrote:

"It is hardly necessary to point out that, in rapid walking, the whole of the foot is not put into contact with, or withdrawn from, the ground at one instant, so that no portion of the skin was in contact with the hot embers for as long as half a second."