The Importance of Ritual in Huna Practice
Dr. E. Otha Wingo

The modern tendency to eschew the use of ritual in spiritual practice
has deprived us of an essential step in the effective use of Huna.

From my own experience in the Baptist church, I was taught
that "ritual" should be strictly avoided in religious services. The
clear implication was that ritual was "bad," perhaps "evil," since it
reflected the influence of the Catholic mass. Had these Baptist
leaders ever attended a Catholic mass? No, assuredly not. Had they
read the text of a Catholic Missile? Certainly not, especially in the
days when it was in Latin and not within the capabilities of most if
not all Baptist ministers. Could we suppose they confirmed their
negative impressions of the Catholic ritual by attending a mass or
reading a missile after the change to the vernacular? That would
stretch the imagination beyond probability.

Being curious as well as seriously interested, I attended several
services at the Catholic church with my university roommate. The mass
was still recited in Latin, so I understood it. My roommate did not,
although he grew up in that church and attended regularly.

A realization dawned on me from the first time I attended this
church: Baptist churches also have ritual! They call it an order of
service and it is not prescribed. It is stripped to the bare minimum
and has lost most of the elements of effective worship. This was
emphasized in my own experience as organist at the local Baptist
church, when I played a variation of Old One Hundred ("Praise God
From Whom All Blessings Flow") as an offertory. I planned to modulate
into the accompaniment of that same tune, since it was traditional
for the congregation to stand and sing it after the offering was
taken. Most of the people stood up as soon as the offertory was
started, reacting automatically the to tune, without noticing that
the deacons had just start to pass the plate. Realizing their
mistake, they looked about in awkward embarrassment, some sitting
down and others remaining standing through the entire process.

The study of ancient religious practices from ancient to modern times
from "primitive" to civilized societies cogently convinces the
serious student of the essential importance of ritual in all
spiritual worship. For every type of spiritual work the rituals had
to be performed with exact, prescribed detail in order for the person
to attain the desired result. Nowhere was this more clearly
prescribed than in the traditional practices of the Polynesian
kahuna, which were replete with kapu (forbidden actions) or where the
ancient chants were recited verbatim and with the correct intonation.

Has Huna teaching included the use of ritual? It has, but perhaps not
with the emphasis and detailed instruction that it deserves.

When the mantle of Max Freedom Long was thrown over my shoulders and
I was reading every scrap of information I could get my hands on, I
completed reading Max's books and immediately summarized the process
of the Huna Prayer-Action in an orderly outline that could be used by
every Huna student to use the Huna teachings effectively. I left the
specific wording and ritual actions up to each person. This was
probably a mistake. Max described the precise procedure for the
Telepathic Mutual Healing Group participation in 1948. He told us
exactly what he did at each session of the TMHG, which he observed
twice a day for the rest of his life, some 26 years. Every
participant, whether joining in sending healing energy or seeking
healing of some kind, was instructed to follow the same ritual. No
data are available on how many participated or how they did so.
However, over the past 55 years during which the TMHG has been
active, continuous input from participants indicates that there are
many Huna practitioners all over the world "meeting" for that ritual
on a regular basis. All Huna practitioners are encouraged to have a
special place prepared for special Prayer-Actions, although in no way
is Huna practice limited to finding a quiet, special place to perform
the ritual. We know that the practice should be such a habitual and
regular part of our daily lives that we can join in the TMHG at any
time of the day or night, or we can "shoot one up" without advanced
notice when the need it known.

What about group rituals in the Huna Fellowship meetings. We know
that some perform a specific ritual as a part of every meeting,
before or after a group discussion or demonstration of healing
technique.

I'll use our Cape Girardeau Huna Fellowship as an example. When we
first established our Huna Fellowship, we tended to come together a
few at a time and engage in lively visiting and discussing until
everyone had arrived. We had a regular study program, led by various
members of the group. It would take a few minutes to get the
attention of everyone present and settled down in order to start the
meeting. Eventually, we started having a quiet meditation with music
at the beginning of the meeting. We found that as soon as the music
started, all of our members quickly quieted down and went into the
meditative mode without any necessity of calling to order or waiting
for discussions to end. We still enjoy our visiting time before the
meeting, but never have difficulty getting the cooperation of all
present in starting the meeting.

At the conclusion of the meeting, timed usually just before the 9:00
TMHG hour, we form our circle, holding hands, do our deep breathing
to build a surcharge of mana, adding our prayer requests either
silently or aloud, and concluding with "The Huna Prayer," the ending
phrase, "Aumama, ua noa. Lele wale akua la!" and a vigorous "PAU!"
(Hawaiian for "Finished") with a clap of the hands. I have observed
that we have never suggested that anyone memorize the Huna prayer,
but we do make copies available to any visitors or new members, and
we find that within a very short time everyone is repeating the
prayer from memory.

That is minimal ritual! We do not feel comfortable, or completed,
without these phases of the meeting. In our monthly Drumming, which
is not a specifically Huna event and is attended by many non-members,
our leader once suggested that we end with "the usual circle of
light" and we have done so by general agreement ever since. Our
leader, Sherry, smudges everyone with sage and other herbs and then
starts with an opening ritual.
What about a more structured ritual for Huna Fellowship meetings?
Some years back in Cape Girardeau, we had for a time a long-time Huna
member who had run a school of metaphysics, including Huna, in
another city. She taught and led groups in working out and performing
ritual in meetings. Offering to work out and lead some rituals in our
meetings, on a trial basis, to see how our members liked them, she
prepared rituals, set up the paraphernalia, and led the opening
meditation for each meeting for several weeks. In asking for input
and responses, we were assured that the meditations were well liked
and should be continued. Then suddenly several of our regular members
stopped coming. We found out that they were "offended" by the
unfamiliar rituals and would not come until they ceased! One even
proclaimed in a public setting that we were doing "witchcraft" at our
meetings. By the way, that was based solely on our use of candles!

What's wrong with this picture? I was puzzled that the same persons
that stated their approval at the meetings were criticizing us
severely elsewhere. But the real problem, as I see in now, was that
they were not properly instructed in the meaning and significance of
the rituals or even the importance of using any type of ritual. These
were reactions based on personal experiences, false information, and
misunderstanding of what was being done.

In our International Huna Seminars, we have benefited from the skills
and techniques of Loretta Grabowski, teacher extraordinaire of Huna
and many metaphysical systems from Lake George, New York, in planning
and leading the Circle of Light ceremony. These are elaborate rituals
involve preparing a large central altar, adorned with ti leaves
(flown in from Hawaii), shells, crystals, gourds, candles, and shell
lei. Within a circle of participants, Loretta directs the program
with full participation by everyone. Her chant of "Mana, Mana-Mana,
Mana Loa" never fails to generate an enormous supply of Mana for the
purposes of the Ha Rite.

Ritual should never become so habitual that it is repeated mindlessly
without any participation in the meaning of the symbolic. Ritual,
like Huna, is not something you say, but something that you do.
Participation makes ritual meaningful.