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He toa taua, mate taua; he toa piki pari, mate pari; 
he toa ngaki  kai,  ma te huhu tena.
Maori Proverb¹

The Tohunga² stood in silence before the dawn stained ramparts of the cliff top Pa³.. waiting .. waiting for the sign .. and in the green valley .. the White Heron in whispering glide passed before his eyes .. and in the soughing of the wind in the pin feathers,  his inner ear detected the whispers in the valley .. soon .. soon .. and the whispers played  in his heart strings and the bitter sweetness flowed like a symphony .. the yearning, the joy and the sadness almost overwhelmed him .. and he all but drowned as the dam broke within his heart. It was the joyful shrieks and laughter of the children inside the Pa that broke the spell and bought him to the surface once again.

All that day in solitude he pondered the portents of his experience,  for tonight was the gathering of all of the outlying kainga⁴ of the tribe. He was due to address the assembled peoples and deliver the Oracular  to guide the coming year.

Resplendent in feathered cloak he stood, then clearing his throat he began .. Seven times more we will celebrate the returning of the light, this was told to me by the emissary of Tane⁵ .. Kotuku⁶ .. After the seventh return, the garden of every heart shall bloom, and in the blooming all will be made new again. Every mother will be returned to her lost child .. and every lover reunited. The evil gods of want and war will lie defeated and the great canoes of the ancestors will beach once more upon the sands of Haiwaiki ⁷

 Hawaiki-rangi ⁸ will ring again with the singing thanks of the peoples, for the yearning of the ages and every hearts desire .. Peace and Justice!

He stopped to draw breath and his heart heard the yearning in the unison of the outgoing breath of the gathered generations, whilst his inner eye once again saw the assembled legions of the ancestors nodding their approval. He spoke again .. That is the will of the most High .. that every heart shall become a garden and that is the message in the returning of the light.

1. A warrior dies in battle; the hunter on a high cliff, but the food cultivator dies of old age.
2. Shaman/Priest.
3. A fortified settlement to which the outlying villages would retreat in times of danger.
4. Unfortified village.
5. The first man .. Lord of the Forests and Nature, we called him Adam.
6. The White Heron.
7. The homeland of the Maori from whence they traveled to New Zealand.
8. The temple on the mountain of the homeland.

The image of the White Heron is from Ted Scott Art Cards Tel/Fax 64 09 817 7868.

 Greetings from New Zealand

�May the long time Sun shine upon you�.
The Incredible String band.

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