The Collective Healing Has Begun
Written by Anna-Leigh Hodge
Tēnā koutou katoa. Te uri nō Te Rarawa me Ngātiwai ki te Moana. I tipu ake au e Waitākere me Muriwai, Tāmaki Makaurau. E mahi ana ahau e Kaimātai Hinengaro Hauroa me PhD Tauira o Waipapa Taumata Rau: Tū Wairua kaupapa. Ko Anna-Leigh Hodge tōku ingoa.
I whakapapa to Te Rarawa and Ngātiwai, Northern France and South/Southeast England. Through all four lineages my people are all those of the ocean. I am a lover of te tai ao (the natural world), spending my spare time in the māra kai (food garden) or the ngahere (forest). I am passionate about holistic health, collective healing, expanding my understanding of rongoā Māori, Ao Māori, science, anthropology, connecting deeply with those I love, and am always being pulled towards whatever creative endeavours gently whisper yes.
I grew up in Auckland, and Muriwai has my heart. I am a Registered Health Psychologist, a Māori Clinical Health Research Council Fellow, and a PhD Candidate at the University of Auckland. I have the honour of being the Clinical Trial Lead for Tū Wairua, which is a Māori health science collaborative based in Tairāwhiti (Gisborne) - https://tuwairua.org/.
From an Ao Māori perspective, collectively we are reclaiming mātauranga (Māori knowledge and wisdom), tikanga and kawa (customs and etiquette) in these sacred ceremonial spaces, advocating for Māori rights in accessibility and acceptability of traditional medicine across all systems, and contributing towards the whakamana (empowering) of the Māori health workforce on the ground in Tairāwhiti and beyond.
We are aiming to realign whānau with the wider ecological, energetic and cultural systems in which they find themselves mistuned from, using Te Whare Atua (whakapapa established by Rangiwaho and Davina Thompson) as a conduit for these shifts. The focus is on collective healing with the aim of minimising the impact of methamphetamine on our communities and prevent the poison from impacting generations to come.
From an academic perspective, we have just completed the dosing sessions for the Phase 1 Clinical Trial, whakatutuki nohopuku, where we are assessing the safety, acceptability and feasibility of a rongoā Māori (traditional Māori medicine) psilocybin assisted intervention for healthy Māori individuals in a marae setting. The learnings and reflections from Phase 1 will inform intervention development for a methamphetamine use clinical Māori population in Phase 2.
Below is my kōrero (narrative) around initiating the mauri (vital essence) of the rongoā (medicine) upon arriving to the shores of Aotearoa back in December 2024. As I navigate this demanding space between two seemingly opposing worlds, I allow this kōrero to be an honouring of the learning, expansion and healing that is occurring not only within myself and for my whānau, but collectively as a peoples.
~
Kōkā Jody, Kōkā Kay, Kōkā Tina, and Messenger Midge honoured me with the responsibility of welcoming the long awaited taonga (treasure/medicine) to our shores, to begin weaving layers of te mauri o Tū Wairua (vital essence of Tū Wairua), reo Māori (Māori language), aroha (love), me manawa ora (hope), waiata (song), and karakia (invocation), to create an energetic protection within and around te taonga for the final stages of the journey down to Tairāwhiti, to Rangiwaho Marae (Ngāi Tamanuhiri).
“Anna Leigh we know your ngakau (heart) is already attuned with our tikanga..”
11.12.2024: Walking into the ngahere (bush) at Ngaati Puaki, 3 pīwakawaka (fantail) curiously welcomed me, ostentatiously darting around, displaying their tails and chit chattering to one another. They seemed to be intrigued to why I had entered their space with such intention and purpose. This was a tohu (sign) for me. I was not only seen - but welcomed. I felt supported and entrusted by those who have and those who continue to guide me: tīpuna (ancestors), kaumatua (elders), kaiako (teachers), whānau (family and friends), and many of those who openly share their wisdom through oral histories - too many to name, but always within my field of awareness.
Ngaati Puaki, a place of significance to me. A place where Papatūānuku and I have built a deep trusting reciprocal connection over the years. A space I have returned to for rongoā rakau (herbal medicine), for re-grounding my roots, to breathe in fresh air amongst difficult times, to meditate to the sound of the insects and birds, to heal. In exchange, I have planted many young kōwhai, tīkouka, manuka, kanuka, and harakeke to offer āwhina (support) in the recloaking of Papatūānuku and to tautoko (support) the capillaries of the trickling water ways that spread throughout. An exchange of mauri (vital essence) that feels visceral, innate, and essential to all existence. Haumi e, hui e, taiki e – An existence more potent for both, when intertwined together.
There are many streams throughout Ngaati Puaki, which year by year appear to be improving in clarity as the ecosystems begin to thrive again with much support from the surrounding community. I serendipitously took a wrong turn on the path, being distracted by the brazenly assured pīwakawaka. I landed at a stream in which I had planted tīkouka a few years prior. They were thriving, and the surrounding grove of kahikatea were collectively standing taller and prouder. The mauri of the water was healthy and alive. This was where I collected the wai (water) for whakawatea (clearing/cleansing).
My abiding kawakawa friends waved with a welcoming gentle gesture guided by the wind, as I approached on an inclining hill. It appeared that they had been waiting patiently in anticipation for their involvement in this important kaupapa (matter). This kawakawa would be used to wrap the taonga to offer protection from bad energy on the last leg of their travels.
12.12.2024: Whakamānawa mō te taonga.
I had never held ceremony before (other than for myself by myself). Also, I was very nervous of the responsibility the following days would encompass. Taha Wairua (spiritually): welcoming the long awaited taonga and initiating the energetic container within and around the rongoā; Taha tinana me taha moni (Physically and financially): Transporting $15k worth of long awaited GMP grade psilocybin in carry-on luggage to deliver by hand to our Indigenous leaders of Rangiwaho Marae; Taha hinengaro taha ngākau taha whānau (Mentally, emotionally, socially): as a representative of my whānau (family) and decedent of my tīpuna, a researcher, a health clinician, colleague and now whānau to the Tū Wairua rōpū (group) to initiate this next phase of the kaupapa o Tū Wairua with the mana (prestige), and the deep respect that all involved deserves.
Suresh and I proceeded to the lab within the School of Pharmacy and into the 4-degree fridge where the rongoā had been eagerly awaiting connection after a long journey across te Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa (Pacific Ocean). “Where are you going to do this ceremony?” Suresh enquired. “How about right where I left my whānau, outside the School of Pharmacy?” I boldly implied.
Whakamānawa mō te taonga was held on 12.12.2024 outside the School of Pharmacy on the third mezzanine floor which was open to the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Waipapa Taumata Rau. My tuakana (sister), iramutu (niece), and Ma ended up coming to tautoko, along with Suresh, and Tehseen and his beautiful partner Rachel from abroad on the screen. The fact my mother wanted to be part of this ceremony and was so open to te ao Māori was significant and healing for my whānau. She has spent a good part of her life whakama (ashamed) of her skin tone, her whakapapa (lineage) and culture – until more recently. This continues to bring me tears and much grief as I write these words, yet much hope. Hope also being the kupu (word) that my youngest niece invocated towards the rongoā within this ceremony.
The mauri reverberated throughout the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. It was to be known that there is a level of reverence required when working with medicine, and to set a precedence of instilling strong intention towards bringing health and healing to our people.
I used my hue for the first time in ceremony. I was quite nervous and emotional, so struggled to get noise out multiple times. One has to laugh at thy self, considering the neuroses and amount of practice that went in in preparation for this moment. However, a special friend who I connected with a week prior, Dane Scott, shared some mātauranga (wisdom and knowledge) with me that sunk in deep. “No noise is out of place.” What I took from this was a reduction in self-judgement, a newfound confidence to trust that what comes out is exactly how it should be as it is an expression of where one is at in the moment: spiritually, physiologically, emotionally.
My tuakana (older sister) completed the closing karakia. She is the wāhine toa (brave wāhine) within our whānau to whakapiki (uplift) reo māori, ao māori, mātauranga, along with igniting the embers within myself to be louder and prouder within these spaces. My youngest niece led waiata, Tōku Reo Tōku Ohooho - Te Tira Waiata o Te Pukawai, with her beautiful voice. One of my supervisors Tehseen Noorani framed this wonderfully, an “intergenerational forcefield” amongst the “sacred chaos”. One which echoed and reverberated throughout the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Waipapa Taumata Rau 10:00am on 12/12/24.
Within myself, my whānau, the institute in which I am finding my place and belonging within, and within the Tū Wairua rōpu and Rangiwaho Marae - the potency and the healing effects of Te Whare Atua were already being felt before rooting down into the whenua and connecting with the people of Ngāi Tāmanuhiri.
The Collective Healing Has Begun.
