In the most unequivocal terms, the legends of the New Zealand Maori
recall times when the earth was wracked by every possible form of natural
disaster.
From the apparent impact of a comet to the birth of a land from the sea itself,
their records are a close match with those of other ancient cultures that
recall battles among gods, lands in torment, and heroes and heroines who
paved the way for those who survived to start afresh.
Maori prophecy also hints at such things happening again.
Legends and prophecy these things may be, but in many details they are an
uncanny match with scientific theories about the past and expectations for
the immediate future. The terminology is different, but both the Maori and
modern scientific descriptions relate to the same events, except that it
is science which is the late starter and the slow learner. Consider for example
how 20th Century scientists were surprised to find that the Dogon tribe of
Africa knew without the aid of radio telescopes of the existence of Sirius
B (the Dog Star), and also speak of "space brothers" from that system who
have visited and taught them many things. While scientists were finally forced
to accept the existence of Sirius B when they confirmed its existence with
their instruments, they still refuse to allow that the rest of the Dogon
"legend" is equally valid.
The Maori were also aware of "star brothers" long before science began looking
for evidence of intelligent life on other planets - intelligent beings who
may well be the source of the ancient and world-wide references to gods in
the histories of so many cultures, and who are in truth the "missing link"
in humanity's evolution as a hominid.
New Zealand is a pearl of a country, yet it is one of the world's least-known
nations. Situated in the South Pacific, it is basically several large islands,
the two largest uninspiringly called "The North Island" and "The South Island"
by its European settlers who have lived here in numbers for little more than
a century. And as they did in so many other countries, the predominantly
British immigrants moved to banish the ethnic language from everyday use,
struck up a quick trade in natural resources by tearing down forests and
shipping them "home," and replaced the trees and the many varieties of birds
which died with their passing, with grassland farms, crops, sheep and cattle.
The birds were replaced with chickens - which certainly filled a need since
the giant moa had already been hunted to extinction.
When the British came, schools were soon established to teach the English
and Christian version of God, creation, history and life, with an amputated
version of Maori history being condescendingly given less than respectful
mention from time to time. A "Maori Parliament" was established under the
guise of fostering national unity, and it worked very well as a ploy to divert
attention from what was no doubt the hidden European agenda of the time -
total take-over and control of the country. In New Zealand, this did not
succeed, because the Maori warrior of the past, who was to become such a
legendary fighter in the ranks of the Maori Battalion in later years, was
also to become a worthy and honourable adversary in the new political
battlefields of the parliamentary system. Thus, despite some notable exceptions,
New Zealanders as a whole do live in harmony together, and even when that
harmony is disrupted by arguments over past treaty commitments or current
land ownership, such events are more often than not resolved, or at least
moved toward resolution, by the efforts of all those who contribute to the
process of change. This process is not always peaceful - and we are going
to find, as the Maori have known for thousands of years, that this is the
way of Nature itself.
In the century or more of decay and progress (depending on one's point of
view) since the Europeans arrived in any numbers in New Zealand, what they
have not known is that a lot of Maori lore, knowledge, history, and true
science was kept from them deliberately. And although the Maori are ostensibly
one nation today, because of past tribal differences many Maori may not be
aware of this fact either.
When sailors such as Captain Cook arrived in the South Pacific to spread
their diseases and religions in the name of their country, king and god,
Maoridom was already an ancient culture, and as such, like any culture, it
was in a state of ongoing evolution within itself. Cannibalism and slavery
were reputedly a way of life. The tribes were supposedly given to warring
among themselves, or to helping shipwrecked newcomers ashore, only to make
them the main course at a seaside feast.
It might be argued that this once great culture which was partly seeded by
intrepid and learned men and women who migrated from South America in pre-Inca
days, had finally dissolved and decayed into barbarism. But was such barbarism
worse than the habits of the English who were given to using the force of
the press gang to turn men into slaves as sailors, or hunting the Aborigine
of Australia by licence on Sundays? The British certainly felt no pangs of
conscience about developing a trade in shrunken heads and stolen artefacts,
and to this day films depicting past Maori culture tend to treat them as
cunning savages. But the outward appearance of savagery was never the full
measure of the Aboriginal and Maori cultures, both of which are conversely
famed for their mystical knowledge, the powers of their priests or shaman,
and their ancient roots - and both of which hide ancient secrets about science,
the human body and mind, and even about the cosmos, to this very day.
Both cultures date back to pre-history, to the very earliest times, to epochs
before the English language existed anywhere; certainly to ages long pre-dating
any of the so-called empires or super powers that we are familiar with. In
reality, any nation which uses its scientists to develop an arsenal of weapons
of mass destruction which could destroy the whole world ten times over -
and vaporise men, women and children fifty miles from the epicentre of an
atomic blast in the time it takes for a dropped plate to hit the floor -
is far more savage, not to mention a thousand times more cowardly, than the
Maori ever were.
Further, when we reflect on the fact that in any civilized city right this
minute killers walk the same streets as rabbis and ministers, we should
understand that if there were killers and cannibals among the Maori, there
were also peaceful and loving people among them too, and some of them were
chosen from birth to eventually attend special and secret schools of wisdom.
Part of that wisdom decreed that it would be dangerous to reveal their sacred
knowledge to those with no capacity for understanding the mysteries of prophecy,
legend, and ancient science; be they Maori or Pakeha, people are people,
and some of them care little for wisdom, preferring instead to wield power
and control through fear and force.
So the sacred knowledge became secret knowledge, and the students of these
schools of wisdom (both men and women) would become tohunga ("medicine men"
by European definition), who are the knowledgeable doctors and visionaries
of ethnic cultures which are so hypocritically decried by Christianity as
practitioners of superstitious ignorance because they call on the powers
of invisible gods and speak to invisible spirits (there is an irony there
somewhere). But the tohunga and tribal leaders were wise, and this wisdom
prompted their decision to keep certain elements of Maori history, or the
history of what is translated as "The Nation," as closely guarded secrets
for many generations.
Only recently, in a book titled "Song Of Waitaha - The Histories of A
Nation," has some of this secret knowledge been revealed, starting with
a prophecy that "all will seem lost beyond recall," but the time will come
when "the circle of our dreamtime takes a new shape for a new dawn. And the
people of all colours join to bind what was broken and live in hope."
It is time to turn the pages of history, to recall global disasters of the
past, to question the current cycle of world-wide weather changes that are
upon us once again, and to look to the future that is unfolding as we breathe.
New Zealand will not escape unscathed, if prophecy proves to be correct -
but it will, in the not too distant future, become once again a participant
in the next step in human evolution.
Therefore, at the dawning of the 21st Century, we may well ask ourselves,
what is this land's destiny? Will it evolve further as a nation of mixed
cultures, or will it once again be devastated by the forces of Nature; forces
which have played such a part in its past, and which legend and prophecy
- backed up now by science - expect to impact not only this one small nation
in the south Pacific, but perhaps the whole planet as well.
In ancient times, New Zealand was called Aotearoa ("The Land of The Long
White Cloud"). To put it in perspective it is a very small country when seen
on a map or globe and measured against the land masses that exist elsewhere.
But appearances are deceptive, because the existence of vast oceans creates
the illusion that places like New Zealand exist in isolation, when in reality
they are inextricably linked to the crust of the world, which over the aeons
has subsided beneath the oceans. The world we know today is not the world
it was in ancient days.
New Zealand then is only one of the multitude of features of the planet Terra
- a planet which is constantly undergoing its own cycles of change, growth
and evolution - and it is only one of many countries whose ethnic peoples
recall times of change that affected the whole world. Some of those changes
took many ages, but there have also been times when they were both swift
and violent beyond imagining. Prophecy, legend, and science indicate that
the world is now moving into, and through, such a period of time, and New
Zealand will not escape its share of upheaval.
Science knows for certain that natural disasters are predictable, but they
are far from controllable. The best instruments cannot do more than provide
data about the past, the present and possible futures - and when people interpret
that data, it invariably gets coloured by the opinions of those doing the
interpreting. These opinions may be based on a significant amount of knowledge
and learning, but they are at best nothing more than informed opinion.
On the other hand, there are gifted people throughout the world who for centuries
have used the finest instrument there is - the mind - to record past events,
to interpret current events, and to predict future probabilities. We call
their art, prophecy. But we generally treat it with scepticism, or derision,
because we cannot understand how anyone can see into the future. Therefore,
we do not believe what we are told.
But this does not mean it is not true, or that the prophecies will not come
to pass; it means only that we do not want to hear the message.
Given the reality that the ancient and modern prophets of many cultures have
been predicting for a long time that the earth would go through a violent
rebirthing around the beginning of the 21st Century, and given that modern
scientists have been saying the same thing, in different terms, for at least
half a century, it would be wise to sit up and take notice.
It is also natural for people in authority to use their prestige or position
to scoff at "wild stories" about imminent peril or disaster, and to insist
that no-one should worry about anything so bizarre as old legends that tell
of "fireballs" from the heavens, "space brothers," volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, floods, and tidal waves that took the lives of whole nations
of people. However, though we may scoff at legends of the past, we can hardly
argue with present statistics, which prove that storms, earthquakes and volcanic
activity have been increasing globally for a quarter of a century. El Nino
has made its mark with associated weather changes everywhere; and, out of
sight and out of mind, the Pacific Ring of Fire is also beginning to writhe
like an awakening dragon; like water coming to a boil the very oceans are
heating up as underwater volcanoes begin to shake off their slumber.
Such events have indeed happened before, which is why they are at the core
of Maori legends of the past, and prophecies about the future.
Like it or not, that future is now.
The Ring of Fire on which Aotearoa sits is a long chain of unstable
earthquake-prone and volcanically active ground which circles the Pacific
Ocean. In past periods of heightened activity, it has played its part in
the creation of the land of New Zealand as it is today; proof of that can
be seen in the constant geothermal activity of the central North Island;
the irregular but menacing rumblings and eruptions from the volcanoes that
straddle the country from one coast to the other; and even in the South Island,
formed as it is by the battle between great tectonic plates riding on molten
magma within the earth, we see evidence that New Zealand is accustomed to
the fires of change.
Once upon a time, the land was not as it is now; and what it is now, it may
not be for much longer, because the tides of change are stirring around the
globe, as they did in the times of Maori legend.
Back then, the whole world was different - and again, science knows this,
because it has core samples from Antarctica which prove it was once favored
by a totally different climate. It was inhabited. And science knows that
too - but it is a fairly well kept secret
So too was New Zealand, at a time when world-wide changes rippled through
the skin of the whole globe.
In those days, people lived in various places around the planet, and those
who survived what happened have recorded their experiences, and many prophecies,
so the Maori are not alone among the ancient nations of the world to have
recorded past calamities and to predict coming ones. Those predictions now
have a substantial degree of scientific verification, lending credibility
to the suggestion that the world is on the brink of some form of global disaster.
To cite but one example, scientists are well aware that the Antarctic ice
shelf is slipping from its foundations, and that alone has the potential
to create a tsunami that could circle the globe, devastating New Zealand
on the way, and raising sea levels hundreds of feet. In addition, the movement
of such a huge mass of ice and water could create awesome earthquakes, which
the Richter scale has no capacity to measure.
Nevertheless, even if all the worst prophecies should come to pass, the outlook
is actually truly positive, for the same records, prophecies and visions
also speak of the establishment of a new era of widespread peace and harmony
over the following decades.
This story is about Aotearoa, how it came to be in the world of the past,
what it may experience in the present, and what role it will play in the
world of the future. In some respects it is a frightening story, but if we
are prepared to listen, we will find that it is one with a happy ending,
for as the Maori elders say, "we catch the breath of Life. We speak. And,
to open the way to the deepest knowledge, we listen."
Maori prophecy says fire will explode across the heavens. It will roar like
the greatest explosion ever heard by mankind. It will create cyclonic winds
that will in turn destroy the infrastructure of civilization as we know it.
Once again, the passing of one age and the birth of another will be recorded
and remembered as the time of legend, when "the gods" vented their wrath
upon the world as they are said to have done before. And they certainly did.
When the tumult subsides, those who emerge from their shelters, caves and
retreats will recover, as will the land. Seeds will begin to sprout. Life
will pick up, and go on.
The new legends will recall the shattering of mountains, the shifting of
vast land masses, and perhaps even the fact that New Zealand slid through
the ocean like a rudderless ship before being anchored once again further
south. There is indeed hidden but obvious truth in the Maori history which
recalls how the South Island was once torn asunder by a great storm (part
of it sank) and was later joined by a new "outrigger," and then the North
Island was "fished from the sea."
Legend is but metaphor for real events.
Maori records and those of races which until recently knew nothing of the
Bible story of Noah and the Ark, are all perfectly accurate about The Deluge,
which was one of the agents of global change many centuries ago. It was The
Deluge which played a very significant role in New Zealand's past. But who
would believe that anything vaguely similar might soon be upon us once again?
Education has a purpose - to fit the child into the society in which it lives,
teaching socially acceptable history, cultural manners and values, religious
beliefs, and so on. But what we learn as formal history is not the whole
truth, because history is written to perpetuate the aims, values and beliefs
of a particular culture - and that is what happened when Europeans settled
in Aotearoa. New Zealand became a predominantly British colony, bringing
with it a parliamentary system of government, and teaching its new generations
of children that New Zealand was discovered by a certain Captain Cook, a
great navigator who sailed uncharted oceans with a fearless crew, followed
by the children's ancestors who made the perilous journey to New Zealand
from a country far across the sea.
At a cursory level, the Maori history is remarkably similar in that their
ancestors also came to this new land by sea, but in other ways it is vastly
and profoundly different, because what we have not known until recently is
that the Maori have a far more ancient history of their discovery of New
Zealand - complete with references to experiences that were precipitated
by The Deluge. It was not until the publication of the book "Song of Waitaha
- The Histories of A Nation," that these secrets were revealed, along
with prophecies that are now coming to pass.
But once again, the European mind appears to have dismissed the Maori stories
as insignificant and unworthy of serious attention, ignoring the fact that
the revelation of these Maori secrets brings with them great insights into
events which Western science has only this century started to investigate.
It is a fact that, locked as it has been for hundreds of years into the
Judeo-Christian belief system, the Western mind has been prone to ignoring,
or if possible totally suppressing the histories, practices, beliefs, and
even the languages of the cultures which it has conquered, subjugated, and,
either benignly or by force, assimilated into its own chosen forms of
governmental, religious and economic control.
Some of the Maori were wise enough to recognise these potential dangers when
the Europeans arrived, and even though real efforts were made to destroy
their culture and their history under the guise of assimilation, certain
elders who were the custodians of knowledge which predates European history
by tens of thousands of years, chose to preserve their records in the utmost
secrecy.
Little did the pakeha know that Maori spirituality at its most sacred, most
secret core, espoused views and knowledge about creation, God, love, and
the powers of the mind which rivalled and surpassed anything the Europeans
brought to their shores. In fact, what they brought was a religion and a
cultural ethic which viewed people of color as heathens awaiting redemption
through allegiance to a dogmatic creed that demanded that the "natives" give
up their own beliefs, even their own language, in favour of the new religion
of the immigrants. Perhaps, given that cannibalism, head shrinking, and slavery
for prisoners of war were part of the Maori culture at the time, this was
an improvement of some sort. But we have not paused to wonder at the fact
that not everyone was a cannibal, nor were all Maoris "primitive natives."
Behind the scenes of their culture, just as there exists behind the scenes
of today's societies, there were great men and women whose knowledge, love
and teachings were as wise and sacred as anything ever known on earth. So
why would they expose themselves to a group of foreigners whose only interests
were power, domination, control and commerce?
To be educated in the pakeha schools of New Zealand around the 1950s was
to learn little about Maori history other than that "they were cannibals;
they used stone tools; they came here in primitive canoes from Hawaii or
India or somewhere - they don't even know themselves. They couldn't speak
English until we taught them. They're great bulldozer drivers. Good shearers.
Terrific soldiers. Bad drinkers. Rotten students, especially at math....
But some of my best friends are Maoris. And a lot have become Christians."
So much for European attitudes of the 50s. Imagine then what it must have
been like to be a Maori when the first Europeans arrived, especially a Maori
elder, well educated in the ancient knowledge of his or her people, and knowing
because of that that history was in a sense repeating itself. New settlers
were once again coming from lands far across the sea - as the Maori and Maoriori
had done before them - and once again, the land would enter a period of time
in which the clash of cultures and beliefs would result in turmoil and bloodshed,
misunderstanding and argument, distrust and hate. Such an elder would also
know full well that while the ancient traditions were based on peace, love,
respect and responsibility as the attributes of human nature which must be
cultivated to ensure harmony within a society, and by extension, harmony
with the life force of the land, there are times when the minds of men choose
the tides of conquest and the illusions of power. It is best, then, to love
the new neighbour (if you have the ability to do so - and such elders do
indeed), and treat him as a guest. But do not open every room for his appraisal,
and never reveal the storehouse where the most sacred artefacts are housed.
It is well to let such people believe they have had the last word. It is
well to be silent. And the elders of the Nation have kept their secrets well,
knowing in their wisdom that a time would come when the new nation of people
would need to be told some of that sacred/secret wisdom.
At last, the tide is on the turn. Anger and violence are coming to their
natural conclusion - the world is replaying a drama which has been played
many times before: one civilization is on the brink of disaster, and another
stands ready to take its place. It is in such times that the land itself
is subject to upheaval on a massive scale, as if symbiotically mirroring
the attitudes of its human occupants, and then, when the tide finally changes,
peace returns.
The Maori leaders, the chiefs and elders of ethnic groups throughout the
world, know these things. They know too (often from hard experience, for
many an honest tribal doctor, priest or prophet has been killed by the ignorant)
that there is wisdom in silence.
But now, the silence has been broken.
And what these elders have to say has implications for the whole planet.
To order the full text of this book on disc, send a US check, bank draft
or money order for $US 6.95 (includes S&H), to
W M Knight,
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