Moonbeam 14

My Journey to the Cavern Realm of Kapo

By Charlotte Berney

On a radiant December morning in 1983, we drove haltingly down a dirt road in the Puna District of the Island of Hawaii. Except for the beauty of wild orchids, the grassy fields on either side seemed to hold little of interest. Locating the spot, we pulled off the road and walked through a field, still appearing to be the plainest kind of nature, until we came to a small rocky bluff.

Lowering ourselves down the steep incline with a little struggle, we arrived at the cave entrance. Its mouth lay broad and unconcealed in the hillside, an opening, but shallow- looking, holding little promise of depth. A hiker in the area would easily have passed it by. Having some idea of what lay within, I stared at the unassuming entrance with fascination.

I had come with my kumu and an archaeologist who was investigating the cave. The large, recently discovered lava tube, called the Puna Cave, showed evidence of ritual use by the ancient Hawaiians and held significance for Hawaiian religion and mythology.

We were told by the archaeologist that the complex of caverns here might be as long as twenty miles, stretching from the mountains to the sea. We had permission from the cave's owner to be there.

Standing amidst sunlight and orchids, I felt excitement and some fear at the thought of surrendering myself to the darkness ahead. I pushed back the feeling, swallowed to moisten my dry throat and stepped down into the cavern.

Dim light filtering in from outside revealed piles of large rocks below and a ceiling of variable height above. The rocks on the cave floor appeared to have fallen down from the ceiling above. This gave me a twinge of fear. I suddenly felt I would rather be out on a sunlit beach rather than delving into this dark, uncharted place.

The entry was almost large enough to stand up in. Its ceiling was brick red in places, with the spikey protrusions of small stalactites, and these assured that one kept one's head well down. We had to shift our flashlight beams from the floor to the ceiling, watch the step, then the head. I tried not to think of what had formed this cave &mdash molten lava welling up in a pressurized pipeline from the core of the planet.

The ceiling lowered and we traversed a narrow ledge in a stooped position, waddling forward, forced to watch our feet rather than what lay ahead. Finally I saw with relief that the cave opened up into a large amphitheater. Light streamed down from a hole in the ceiling, enabling us to see without our flashlights.

We soon located what we had come to see, what makes the Puna Cave special. Near my feet on a ledge above the cave floor was a great wonder, the centerpiece of the cave's large, flat, natural lava sculpture of perfectly formed female genitalia.

I had been told of the kohe's existence, but I was not prepared for the graphic reality and symmetry of the eleven-foot-long sculpture. How had molten lava come together in space and time to render faithfully this female organ which medical visitors to the cave pronounced anatomically accurate? Surely that was impossible. Yet there it was, a smooth and lovingly wrought earth mother.

Divine Kapo, goddess of this underworld, I have come with imperfect eyes to gaze upon your source of feminine power with its gift of life. I am silent as I stand before your mystery, having forgotten the ways to praise you. I can only send you love and reverence.

We stood for a long time experiencing the powerful presence of this wonder, which researchers identify with the Hawaiian goddess Kapo. The sister of volcano goddess Pele, Kapo's is associated with the deified dead, sacred hula, medicinal sorcery, and a vagina (kohe) that she could send flying into the world when help was needed. Kapo's power to send her vagina out from her body gives her the name Kapo-kohe-lele, or Kapo of the flying vagina.

In an ancient altar prayer to Kane and Kapo, Kapo is described as “sitting in her darksome covert” (Emerson, Unwritten Literature of Hawaii). The raised position of the sculpture does give one the sensation that it could detach and leave its platform.

Tradition relates that Kapo once came to the rescue of her sister Pele when the latter was besieged by Kamapua'a. He abandoned his attack on Pele and chased the kohe as far as O'ahu, where it touched Koko Head in O'ahu, leaving an impression there (Beckwith, Hawaiian Mythology).

Another legend related by His Majesty King David Kalakaua describes Pele and her family as taking refuge from Kamapua'a in a cave such as this. Unable to get through the barricaded entrance, Kamapua'a and his companions attempted to dig through the top of the cave. Before they broke through, an earthquake and lava flow inundated the area. Around that time, it is said, Pele took up residence in the crater of Kilauea. (Kalakaua, The Legends and Myths of Hawaii)

We descended a rock stairway into a cave-within-a-cave underneath the kohe. In trying to negotiate a difficult step, I misjudged the distance and fell down several feet, scraping against the sharp lava rock in an attempt to break my fall. I picked myself up and assessed my wounds. I was bleeding from several cuts and scrapes on my fingers and arm, and I felt bruised. My senses were heightened by pain, and my mind cleared.

I had felt something would happen to me in the cave. Before going in, I put a tissue in my pocket but couldn't have said what for. My cut finger was bleeding and I pulled out the tissue. My finger wasn't badly hurt, but I had a slightly twisted ankle as well as scrape cuts and bruises on my arm.

Since I don't believe in accidents, I felt later that this fall was an initiation for the intense experience that followed in the undercave. It made me attune to my body and assured I would be a participant rather than an observer. The cave had interacted with me physically.

I felt a surge of determination to press on. Bleeding stopped and the pain vanished.

We continued into the chamber which lies directly underneath the ledge supporting the kohe. The undercave is hollow, dark and womblike. Standing there, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort, as though surrounded by a loving embrace.

Beloved Kapo, I have been to your depths and shared your secret. I have felt your loving warmth and have been healed by your presence. In your place of darkness, I have gone back to the beginning and felt again the stillness at the center.

We stood in this place of power, filled with inexplicable harmony. Scattered around the floor of the undercave were hundreds of baby opihi (limpet) shells which, according to the archaeologist, may have been used in birth or fertility rituals. The heightened energy and the sense of balance and harmony in that space were tremendous. We lingered there for a while and then ascended the stone stairs.

Back in the cave's amphitheater, I observed a ritual platform of rocks to one side and other human-made formations of rocks. Tiny artifacts and natural objects of appealing simplicity &mdash rock figures, obsidian knives, shells and shell implements — were strewn about the floor. We were very careful not to touch, displace or disturb anything.

Light streamed down on us from the “skylight” in the cave's ceiling as we sat quietly on stones in the amphitheater. Drops of water from the ceiling of the cave fell on us like a purification and blessing.

We slowly made our way back to the entrance. I had experienced wonder, joy and power, and I now had to make the transition to the outer world. I emerged reborn into the sunlight, forever altered.

The cave transmits the energy of the ancient Hawaiians. As a receptacle, it has collected their mana and stores it. The people are gone but to enter the cave is to immerse oneself in their energy field and experience the intensity of their world. Their closeness to the forces of nature inside the cave and the spare simplicity of their ritual implements touched me deeply.

Kapo flew from the pages of mythology to make her presence known as a loving and living force in the world. I was left with profound gratitude for this experience.

The cave is closed, its future uncertain. The Hawaiian community is at odds regarding its use. These are justifiable concerns that it be preserved as a treasure of Hawaiian antiquity.

For those who still revere Pele and Kapo, the cave is a living sanctuary. The healing places on my hands and knees were visible marks of the cave's impact on me. They faded in time, yet the wonder remains.

Postscript: There is a print, Kapo Kohe Lele, by a master artist of Hawaii, Dietrich Varez, whose work so beautifully portrays Hawaiian culture. It captures Kamapua'a, the Kohe, and Kapo in that dramatic encounter of long ago.

References

Beckwith, Martha. Hawaiian Mythology. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1970.

Emerson, Nathaniel B. Unwritten Literature of Hawaii, The Sacred Songs of the Hula. Rutland, VT and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1974.

Kalakaua, David. The Legends and Myths of Hawaii. The Fables and Folk-Lore of a Strange People. Rutland, VT and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1972.