Pualani Case + Karenna Gore

We are living in extraordinary times – deeply challenging times for the survival of life on earth. Yet emerging at this time are channels of information, offering all kinds of doorways to a better understanding of how all life is inextricably connected. We are learning that people can connect across space and time in ways we would never have thought possible. Bearers of this living ancestral wisdom ““ what some call “The Original Instructions” are among us, and it is urgent that we pay attention to this message for humanity.

In this first program in the Karma series, Karenna Gore looks at two channels of wisdom transmission. With Native Hawaiian Pua Case whose relationship to a sacred mountain has informed her teachings of traditional knowledge and ways; and with Shamanic Healing author Itzhak Beery who relates a dramatic example of a Midwestern woman finding herself being able to speak in an Amazonian language she does not understand, relaying a message privileged only to shamans. Hawaiian singer/songwriter Häwane Rios will join Pua on stage for a concluding performance.

About the Speakers

Pualani Case was born and raised on the Island of Hawai’i surrounded by high mountains and fresh waters. Pua’s life path has led her to become a Kumu Hula, a teacher of the ways, culture, and traditions of the kanaka maoli, or native peoples of Hawai’i. With a degree in Hawaiian Language and culture, and a teaching degree in Social Studies, interwoven with the traditional teachings from her kupuna, or elders, Pua has integrated “˜Ike Hawai’i, or Hawaiian knowledge and lessons, into the public school system and community for over 30 years. She and “˜ohana, or family, are active as spiritual and cultural leaders, and have traveled around the world to address the challenges facing sacred places and lifeways of the people of HawaiÊ»I and beyond. These include the movement to protect the sacred mountain Mauna Kea on the Island of Hawai’i, efforts to restore salmon to the McCloud River in New Zealand, and the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota.

Karenna Gore is the founding director of the Center for Earth Ethics (CEE) at Union Theological Seminary. The Center for Earth Ethics bridges the worlds of religion, academia, politics, and culture as we discern and pursue the changes that are necessary to stop ecological destruction and create a society that values life. Before founding CEE, Gore worked as the director of Union Forum at Union Theological Seminary, where she helped organize Religions for the Earth, a conference of over 200 religious and spiritual leaders from around the world, with the goal to reframe climate change as a moral issue and galvanize faith-based activism to address it.

Gore’s previous experience includes work as a lawyer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and in the legal center of Sanctuary for Families, as well as serving as director of Community Affairs for the Association to Benefit Children (ABC). She has also worked as a writer and is the author of Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America. Gore is a graduate of Harvard College, Columbia Law School, and Union Theological Seminary. She lives in New York City with her three children and serves on the boards of the Association to Benefit Children (ABC), which serves the needs of New York City’s most vulnerable children and families, and Riverkeeper, a nonprofit environmental organization whose mission is to protect the environmental, recreational, and commercial integrity of the Hudson River and its tributaries, and safeguard the drinking water of nine million New York City and Hudson Valley residents.

Häwane Rios is a Hawaiian songwriter, singer, multiple Big Island Music Award winner, activist, and cultural practitioner. She comes from the small town of Waimea on Hawai”˜i Island, nestled in the protection of the sacred Mauna Kea mountain, and was raised by her family to know that the earth is as much a part of us as we are a part of it. She has stood on the frontlines to protect the sacred places and lifeways of the kanaka maoli as well as supported the stances of relatives on Turtle Island. The movements for the earth has inspired her music. Hawane’s hope is to continue writing and lifting her voice in honor of those who came before, those who live now, and those who are yet to come. E ola mau nä iwi, e ola.

Itzhak Beery is an internationally recognized shamanic healer, teacher, and author. He was initiated into the Circle of Twenty-four Yachaks by his Quechua teacher in Ecuador and by Amazonian Kanamari Pagè. He has trained intensively with other elders from South and North America. Beery is the founder of ShamanPortal.org, cofounder of the New York Shamanic Circle, and a faculty member at the New York Open Center. His work has been featured in The New York Times, films, television, and webinars. An accomplished visual artist and owner of an award-winning advertising agency, he grew up in Israel and lives in New York.

Image Credit

Images of Pualani Case and Häwane Rios: Courtesy of Kapulei Flores