Stormy in Paradise – Hawaii Island Retreat

A quick little trip to the Big Island, that was the plan. Then Mercury had his way with me. Under the last day of Mercury retrograde, I left for the Maui airport in plenty of time for my scheduled commuter flight to Kona to do a site survey at Hawaii Island Retreat, where I was coordination a future workshop. I arrived in town early and parked in a strip mall lot to check my messages. I found a message I had not gotten from the previous day that said my flight had been cancelled and I was re-booked several hours earlier, uh oh!

I called right away on my cell, and just as we were about to settle the rebooking, the AT&T network went haywire and the agent could not hear me anymore. We called each other back several times, and although I could hear her, she was unable to hear me. I looked around frantically, remembering that there was a pay phone in this lot. Sure enough, there were two right next to each other. I had no idea how to even use a pay phone anymore, dinosaurs that they are, but this one took credit cards. I was able to rebook my flight for a couple of hours away, delay the rental car, and talk to someone at Hawaii Island Retreat to let them know I would be later than originally scheduled. The cost, I later found out, was over $5 for each of the inter-island calls.

The re-route took me through Honolulu instead of a direct flight to Kona, and the drive to the retreat center was about an hour long. It was dark, and I could not see the scenery along the way, but traffic was light and I arrived at Hawaii Island Retreat around 9:30 pm. It was just as windy and rainy as the weather I had left behind in Maui. I was greeted by Jeanne, the owner, and she showed me to my room, the Peach Hibiscus. She encouraged me to use the bathtub, a gorgeous over-sized oval large enough for me to stretch out my 5’10” frame easily. I obliged as soon as she left. All told, it was eight hours, door to door for a simple trip to the nearest neighbor island!

I slept soundly, wrapped in organic bamboo sheets and a down comforter, well insulated from the wild wind blowing outside. I left the curtains open so that the ocean view would be the first thing I saw when I awakened. In the morning, I took a closer look around the room. It was created with beautiful, dark wood furniture and floors, all highly polished. The bathroom contained a huge open double shower in addition to the lovely bathtub, and was also furnished in dark wood and marble with tile floors. Everything was spotless and there was an abundance of fluffy towels. I was greeted on the vanity by a baby gecko, who had probably hatched within the last few days.

Mercury continued to play with me as I watched my cell phone battery drop, realizing I had brought no charging cord for it. I was exchanging texts with a dear friend with whom I had had a deep misunderstanding that needed clearing, and I was feeling the emotional storminess overlaying my day even as the wind and rain buffeted the pine trees outside. Mercury would station direct the next day.

I only had a few hours to tour the place before heading home to Maui, so I went down for breakfast. I was served by Jeanne herself, in the open-air dining room. She sat down for a few minutes and I asked her about if she was of Hawaiian decent, as I could feel her connection to the roots of the culture. She replied that she was not by blood, but by heart, and that she had spent many years studying the Hawaiian language and culture, including the dance of Hula. She told me stories of being brought to this land many years ago, before she was looking for property, by her Hawaiian “Uncle”, or teacher. He brought her by boat and showed her the canoe house where the ancient Ali’i (kings) had come to hold council on this land. She did not fully understand why she had been brought to the land at that time, but later it was all revealed when she was brought to the land again and recognized the canoe house. She knew then it was where she was to build this special place.

Steeped in her stories, and having been fed luscious tropical fruits, homemade granola, yogurt and goat cheese, eggs and banana bread, I set out with Jacque to have a tour. The main lodge was a U-shaped, curved around a central courtyard, with an abundance of upstairs lanais and sitting areas. I saw several of the rooms, most of which had the same grand bath tub as the Peach Hibiscus, each room a different color. All the doorways were 9′ tall, with beautiful dark wood doors. Everything was immaculately crafted and kept. On the first floor, the Christmas tree was being decorated, and we peeked into the workshop room, large enough to hold at least 50 in a circle. Two curved, tile staircases took us to the second floor lanai and the media room with its comfy chairs and wireless internet.

Next we wound through the organic gardens and visited the yurt village, and I found the yurts charming and comfortable. Nearby was the bath house, with separate areas for men and women to shower. We then walked toward the spa buildings and pool. Though the day felt wintry and cool, the saltwater pool still looked inviting. From the outdoor massage space, we could see down in the valley that held the council stones, a sacred place on the land marked by ancient rocks in a verdant, green valley.

As the Director of Education, I am deeply excited to be bringing the Divine Feminine Institute to this magical place March 3-10, 2012. I feel it is a great privilege to be held in such a sacred container as we bring the much-needed work of sexual healing and spiritual sexual education to the planet. Those lucky few who will be with us in March are in for the experience of a lifetime… to be so cared for by a loving staff who wholeheartedly supports what we are doing… to be so nurtured by the luxury of the rooms and the grounds… and to be so held by the energy of the Gods and Goddess of the land of Aloha, the place of transformation, creation and destruction, is a rare privilege.