Tag Archives: goddess

White Peacock Encounter & Mythology

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Director of Student Engagement for the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text: “So, I was in Scotland for my fortieth… Forty-fifth birthday. Fortieth birthday. Forty-fifth birthday. Yes, I’m sorry, I was in Scotland for my 45th birthday, and I was on my way to find Iona Abbey, because Iona is the birthplace of Scottish Christianity and is kind of a pilgrimage site. But to get to Iona Abbey, you have to go across several little tiny islands to catch a ferry over to Iona abbey. So um.. and these little tiny islands have like a one lane road.

“So, my honey bun and I were driving on the last… across the last little island to catch the ferry. When we came around a bend in the road, out in the middle of nowhere, no like, country, and there was this beautiful white peacock with its feathers fully displayed, standing in the middle of the road, just looking at us. So I freaked out. I’m like, ‘oh my god you see that white peacock?!’ So the white peacock is just standing in the middle of the road looking at us, and we’re looking at the white peacock. And it didn’t move, and it just had its beautiful feathers displayed. And I knew that that white peacock was there for me, I just didn’t know what it meant. But I knew it was there for me. It did not move until we started to creep the car forward, and when we finally started to creep the car forward a little bit, it moseyed — you know, in Oklahoma terminology — it just moseyed off the road. Um… but it was gorgeous, and I’d never seen a white peacock in the wild, and I certainly had never come around a bend and had one waiting for me. But I felt like that peacock had been waiting for me. So I was mesmerized, and if we hadn’t been in a hurry to catch the ferry — because we were catching the last ferry over, and we were of course running late — I would have gotten out and, you know, tried to interact with this peacock. So it always haunted me that I never interacted with this white peacock, because I knew it was there for me.

“So fast-forward to when I’m 50, and I’m reading a book by Meggan Watterson, who’s a Harvard-trained divinity scholar, and it’s called The Sutras of Unspeakable Joy, and I think it was sutra number 14… I think it was 14. She has a line in it that says, ‘I am nothing more than the albino peacock of my own incandescent soul.’ Well, the moment I read that line… You know those moments in life where your whole body goes aflame, you’re like, “Wah!! What does this mean?” It took me down lots of rabbit holes where I was trying to understand the symbology around white peacocks in particular, not just peacocks but white peacocks. Well, there’s a lot of different things. One is that if you see one, it portends that you are on the right path, and because I was sort of on my pilgrimage at that age, I was like ‘yes, this is — I’m on the right path.’ I was sort of starting my path towards my spiritual sovereignty, so for me it was about spiritual sovereignty, and just knowing that I’m on the right path. But there’s a whole mythology around white peacocks that’s connected to Kuan Yin. And I’m gonna totally butcher this, but I want you to look it up. If I could go back to my journaling, I have it written down. But Kuan yin at some point, a goddess, was incarnate. By choice, because she wanted to be here to help the humans. And for some reason she had to go back to wherever that is. And she, like…. um… See, I’m not gonna say this very well, but the mythology is that the eyes on the peacock? She’s the one who created the eyes on the peacock. And the eyes on the peacock are supposed to be looking out for humanity while she is not here. While she is, you know, on the side of the gods and goddesses — the eyes of the white peacock are supposed to do that work for her.

“I just thought that was really cool because part of my growing up years, you know, I did my doctoral research about abusive Christianity, and I framed that through a panoptic gaze, and a punitive gaze, and it was so lovely to have a different framing of a gaze… And these eyes on the peacock feathers were a loving gaze, and a watchful gaze, but in protective way, and not like a “Let me see what all you’re doing wrong,” you know that kind of a gaze. So that’s partially why it was so striking to me. But look up the mythology around white peacocks, its pretty cool. And so now white peacocks are one of my… Totem animals, spirit animals? I don’t know what you would call it, but yes, there’s the story.”

Context: Informant RS is a highly educated individual from the Oklahoma with multiple PhDs. A key part of her life was recognizing and healing from the abusiveness of the religious tradition that raised her. After graduating college, she spent many years exploring different spiritual traditions that valued divine femininity, intuition, animism, and environmentalism. RS currently identifies as Pagan and feels a spiritual connection to Scotland, especially upon learning that she has ancestral connections there. She is also a Carl Jung enthusiast and values his theories of archetypes and synchronicity. Kuan Yin is the Buddhist goddess of compassion.

Analysis: RS’s experience with and reaction to the white peacock is reminiscent of various (and often overlapping) traditions including witchcraft, Wicca, Native American spirituality and Paganism that ascribe magical or spiritual powers to non-human beings. Thus, she interpreted the peacock sighting as a sign of guidance, protection, and compassion during a formative point in her spiritual journey. Her knowledge of Kuan Yin’s mythology in Chinese culture reflects her education and spiritual exploration, and she was able to translate her experience in terms of spiritual and religious folklore she had studied.

The Hawaiian Goddess Kapo

Kapo is the goddess of fertility, birth, and sorcery in Hawaiian mythology. She notably has a detachable vagina.

“Kapo is the goddess with a flying pussy. She and her winged vagina are the hero in many Hawaiian myths. The main one is where she sees one of her sister goddess being raped by another god. She throws her pussy at him and it keeps flying; he’s so entranced with it that he leaves the goddess alone to chase the pussy. It keeps flying and crashes into the side of a mountain. There’s an actual crater in Hawaii named after Kapo.”

In a discussion about folklore, the informant C mentioned the goddess Kapo but then he had to leave for another event. I later received this text from him with another message explaining how he has a personal fascination with folklore and wanted to share this story. The mythology of Kapo speaks to the importance of nature in Hawaiian culture, both in the environment and the nature of pregnancy/birth. I found this piece of folklore to be interesting because of its emphasis on feminine experiences and solidarity. Although my informant didn’t include this, the goddess that Kapo saved was Pele the goddess of volcanoes and fires. Pele is a major deity in Hawaiian mythology because she is the one who created the islands of Hawaii. There are countless myths about women being raped, but very few end in the woman being saved and the hero being another woman. It’s a bonus that they’re both strong female archetypes.

Hawaiian Lava Rocks

This informant retold a surprising superstition which dates back to the ancient traditions from the islands of Hawaii. On a recent trip to Hawaii my informant was enlightened by some locals of a common curse tourists get whenever they take sand, rocks, or coral away from where it lies. According to the locals, taking away any of these common minerals and bringing them home would cause the individual to be plagued with bad luck for the rest of their lives. Allegedly these minerals all resemble individual pieces of the Hawaiian Goddess Pele. Pele is recognized as the creator of the islands of Hawaii meaning taking even rocks would be taking pieces of the goddess herself. 

This superstition underscores how certain beliefs serve as a means of cultural preservation and transmission, embodying the deep-rooted reverence for the land and its deities within Hawaiian culture. The prohibition against taking sand, rocks, or coral from the islands reflects a belief in the sacredness of these natural elements, which are perceived as tangible manifestations of the Hawaiian Goddess Pele. By associating these minerals with Pele, the superstition reinforces the spiritual connection between the people and the land. This emphasizes the importance of respect and harmony with the natural world. The notion that taking these minerals will result in a curse of bad luck serves as a deterrent against disrespectful behavior towards the environment and cultural heritage. Overall, this piece of Hawaiian folklore reminds us of the interconnectedness between culture, nature, and spirituality in Hawaiian belief systems.

Nuwa repairs Heaven

Context:

H is a parental figure of mine who grew up in China and is currently living in California. 

This conversation took place over a weekly phone call with my parents after I asked them about stories that they knew from China. 

Text: 

H: So basically, Nüwa is the goddess in China, well not China but in heaven. She’s a goddess in heaven but she was supposed to keep an eye on Earth. But in very old ancient times, somehow the heaven collapsed because the four pillars that hold heaven collapsed and the Earth was not covered because heaven collapsed. And fire went out of control and water flooded the earth and in order to patch the heaven, Nüwa had to do something. So she melted five different colored stones to patch up the sky and she also cut off the legs of a great turtle. I guess the turtle is also a god, you know, and set those legs as pillars to support the sky. And she also helped to put out the fire and drain the flood, you know the water, and basically she helped save the Earth.

Me: Hmm Okay.

Reflection: 

I think this story is really interesting because it is about a feminine figure who has a lot of power in the world of gods, which is not something very typical in Western culture. It is also interesting because I do not remember this specific goddess, but I do remember that these pillars are part of other tales in Chinese mythology that surround Sun Wukong, a character in Chinese mythology that I learned a lot about as a child. This story also seems to build on the myths that have turtles in which a city or island is on the turtle’s back, although this story is using the turtle’s legs rather than its back. According to other sources, Nuwa also created humans which is why she is so protective of them and rushes to patch up heaven in order to prevent the fall out onto Earth. In some versions of this story, the five different colored stones that were used to patch the heavens explain why the clouds can be multicolored in our sky. 

Greenberg, ByMike. “Who Is the Chinese Goddess Nuwa?” MythologySource, 5 July 2021, https://mythologysource.com/nuwa-chinese-goddess/. 

Pork over the Pali Highway

Background information: OLP is a 21-year-old student at Georgetown University. in They were raised in the Bay Area, but currently live in DC for school. Their parents met in Hawaii, and they were born in Honolulu. They visit frequently with their family, and their dad was raised there. OLP is white, Filipino, Mexican, and Japanese American.

OLP: You aren’t supposed to take pork over the Pali Highway in Hawaii. This comes from the Hawaiian myth that the goddess Pele had, like, a bad breakup with her boyfriend who was a pig god. So they divided the island between them, so taking pork from one side of the island to the other can anger Pele. This is pretty well-known in Hawaii but I’ve also heard from friends of my parents who said they’ve taken pork over the pali and their car broke down. The superstition says you won’t be able to finish your journey and you might be surrounding by spirits. A lot of locals take this very seriously and I think it’s an important way for people to show respect for Hawaiian traditions as well.

Me: So your family and family friends all observe this practice when you visit?

OLP: (laughs) Well…I’m vegetarian so yes. But yes, especially since so many people have had experiences where, like, something has happened if they tried. And it’s just good to respect things like this sometimes.

This is one of the only pieces of folklore that I collected in which someone had heard the same story directly from multiple people. I think this is very interesting, because it shows that these practices are alive and well, and that although Hawaii is often just seen as a tourist spot or getaway, there are traditions and cultures that need to be respected there. I think it’s really important that pieces of folklore like this – things that come from a time before a specific place or culture was colonized/occupied – continue to be shared and made known.