The Puhi
Innocence
A man is asked what he sees and he replies 'a Tree'. A puhi asked would reply instead 'I see leaves'.
As a female vessel she is beyond the literal interpretation of youngest daughter or virgin. All women are born puhi to Maori land but some are born spiritually special when the stars align for the family.​
In very old times a circular tattoo on the shoulder or face highlighted the seer bloodlines separating them from the tribe. Coveted by many they could bring great spiritual taonga to the ancestors.
The Pepper tree gifts
The Pepper tree roots blankets the arc of our buried afterbirths joining womb and spirit back to the time of old Jacob our tupuna.
Performing puhi could stand on this sacred soil left side in their world and rite in ours to korero across the steps of life to be nature's scale and scribe to the other side.
The art of a puhi
Puhiwhenua represent the female balance within spiritual sacredness of the land. Connected to the whenua some were seers others healers all skilled for survival in the Maori world.
Many hand picked from birth were taught female healing properties of being at one with nature and to use the womb as both guide and shield. ​
Some were sacred vessels used for guidiance and direction from the afterlife. They could hold a photo and blink into darkness then light up the living ancestors world.
The healers
​The ability of the female womb to procreate for Rangatira made great puhi bloodlines prized in old times.​​
To use the rongoa one has the blood to open the spirit of leaves as medicine.​
Families stopped tattooing their puhi to hide these gifts from those seeking to take from the whakapapa.
Jacobs Well
Our tupuna Jacob Hakopa banned his puhi from all forms of tattooing to safeguard his seer and healing lineage in to the future. My mother had heard this message in her youth from her nannies and so upheld this practise with her daughters.
Trained to forage and gather natural resources as children she kept her gifts to herself only sharing with her Papa Ngahara a religious uncle who taught from Paiperatapu alone.
