So Supernatural - LEGENDS OF HAWAI'I: Madame Pele (with Lopaka Kapanui)

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

Yvette and Rasha continue their trip home to Honolulu alongside master storyteller Lopaka Kapanui—this time discussing the history and legends of the ancient Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes, Madame Pele. She’s said to still walk the island, taking many forms—and Rasha and Yvette talk about their own personal experiences with the goddess. For a full list of sources, please visit: sosupernaturalpodcast.com/legends-of-hawaii-madame-pele  So Supernatural is an Audiochuck and Crime House production. Find us on social!Instagram: @sosupernatualpodTwitter: @_sosupernaturalFacebook: /sosupernaturalpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Aloha and how my so supernatural listeners, I'm Rasha Pecarrero. And I'm Yvette genteelie, and do we have a surprise for y'all? We have the most beautiful and amazing human. We have ever encountered it in our entire lives sitting right next to us. And his name is Lopaka Kapanui. He is a native Hawaiian storyteller, Konaka Mauli. He is an author and actor, a Kumuhula, a cultural practitioner, former professional wrestler. What is that doing in there?

And Lopaka is a proud husband, father, and grandfather. Sometimes known as the ghost guy, Lopaka makes a business of leading guests into some of the darkest, spookiest, and dare I say, supernatural places on the island of Oahu in our hometown in Honolulu, Hawaii. Acoma, al-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aqa-a-aqa. It's nice to meet the both of you. Well, we've met previously, what, almost 12 hours ago.

On a nightmarked tour. Yes. On a ghost tour. With mysteries of Hawaii, which was absolutely incredible. Thank you. Yes, it was fantastic, you know. It was so profound and so beautiful to hear the stories that you were telling and to walk the path and to fill the energy, but just the history, the history that you tell, it's so needed, Lopaka.

It is so needed. So tell us a little bit about how you go preparing for the ghost tours or how it started for you and why you're doing it. The short story is my biological mother had things she wanted to pass on. And the even shorter story is in the process of passing it on, I wasn't allowed to write anything. It couldn't record anything. So it was basically my kohana'a Ike.

You know, I talk, you listen, and you absorb it. So some lessons were like 20 minutes and other lessons were like until the sun came up. Every single lesson at the end, my mama would say, okay, now tell me everything I just said. Like, what? She's like, everything. I said, oh, my God. But now, you know, all these years later, like, sit. but it's so deeply embedded in your spirit though right you know you don't even realize it that's you know

it's part of the the fabric of who you are it's almost like once i start whether it's a ghost tour or a storytelling concert something just clicks on and a lot of times when it's over like my wife will tell you i don't even remember anything happening in blackout yeah that's so interesting that you said that because we witnessed that last night you did you did You were. Absolutely. Absolutely. We were all just mesmerized from the moment you started talking. The whole group was just like, right? Transfixed. Yeah. Transfixed is the perfect word, Rosh. Yes. A lot of times after it's over that, you know, beginning part about, you know, if you've got issues with your father or, you know, any kind of medication. You heard me who talked up. I was like, wait a second. I'm like, wait a second. I'm like, am I allowed to be here?

Because my quilliana with my father is not good. Sometimes people are like, wait a minute, a dramamine, methadone. I know, volume. We were talking about that actually last night, right? Because, and we didn't get that on recording when you address that, you know, asking, you know, if anybody had any particular situations going on. And then when you said, if you have an ex that is looking for you or trying to get to you, or jealous, like, all of that started to make sense in that moment, right?

Yeah, and the beauty of the whole thing, as I was saying last night, is the experience is up to you. Right. You know, I'm just the person leading the way, so everything you come with determines what happens and what doesn't happen. So some nights, nothing, which is like the best nights, and other nights everybody has stuff and everything goes to heck. It was a beautiful night. I definitely felt it at night when I was sleeping, and I felt like there was a sitting ghost with me on my leg last night, and I didn't remember it until my sister asked me this morning,

how did you sleep? And that's why I had to tell you that this morning. I'm like, Uncle Lopaka. I had a sitting ghost with me. Can you describe to me why you think that the sitting ghost was there? Well, a lot of people don't realize, and this is academically documented, everybody's inherently psychic.

Everybody has some level of a psychic ability. And so that inherent psychic ability is like a muscle. If you don't exercise it, it doesn't work. So at its core, your natural psychic ability is called intuition. And as we know, intuition is a lot more stronger in women than it is in men because men are dull. It takes us a while to get to the point. I mean, I wasn't going to say anything. Present company excluded.

But women are right there. So it's a lot more prevalent, you know, with women than it is with men. That's essentially what it is. And in your case, you're probably at a level where you don't even realize you've developed it to a certain point. So it's like I said, if you and me are in a ballroom full of people from Wisconsin, but we're the only two Hawaiian people. I'm going to find you. Yeah. You're going to find me.

I'm going to find you. We're on the other side of the room. Our difficulty in communicating is because between us is all this dissonance. Right. So spirits are trying to talk to us all the time, but the reason they can't get through all the time is because we as human beings are focused on jobs, family, relationship, money. So... Pelicia problem.

Right. Everything that's humanly possible that prevents us from communicating the spirits, that's what it is. So if there's a spirit that's coming through that's trying to get you a message, but it can't because you're having all this stuff happening, it will go to the person closest to you, who is your sister. Oh, yeah. So it might be your auntie. We'll tell her, can you tell Rasha? I don't mind when she come, leave food on my headstone.

But please tell her, take it away. And the bugs. The bugs is driving me crazy. Yvette is much more receptive, I think, to the spirit world. For sure. I get kind of scared about it. But as I've shared with you, we both, Yvette and I desperately want, like, our mom, her spirit to visit us. And I feel like she's come in dreams.

But I want to physically feel her. Yeah. Yeah, we were talking about that last night on the tour with another woman that was on the tour, and she was saying that, I want to see it, I want to see the ghost, I want to feel the ghost. And I said, especially Rasha, she wants Mom to come and pull her hair because mom said that brush my hair was going to do that, right? Yeah. And I think that, yes, we want that, but there are times that when you're sleeping or you feel their presence. I know that when I fall asleep and something may be going on and I'm just calling out to mom. Mom, like, help me, Mom, help me, Mom.

And I can feel her touching my head, you know. And sometimes you think, well, is that just in my mind? Am I just conjuring this up? But the reality is, no, I'm not. She is there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Whether you know it or not. I mean, she's there all the time. But for us, as human beings, we have to get ourselves to a certain point where we're not so laden down with all this extra stuff. That's what leaves you in this capacity to receive communication. from your mom or whoever it is was trying to get through. How old were you when you first recognized

that you could feel or see spirit? Do you really want to know that answer? I would love to. Okay. When I was six years old, I was adopted by a Portuguese Catholic family. So when I would go to the bathroom, there was blood,

so I had to go to children's hospital to take care of that. Oh, my goodness. So the short story is when I was in the hospital, there's a kid next to me and his name was Scottie Boyd and he was famous because he was on this TV commercial and the commercial was him sitting on this fence

at Parker Ranch and his dad was playing to ukulele and Scott was singing in this song. On Hovahe Island? Yeah. And so that's how he was a celebrity. So we play all the time. One evening before dinner on his side of the ward

there's light shining this way. So here comes a doctor, his parents and they come up to his bed and they closed a partition between us this white curtain. So because there's this light on this side, you can see all their shadows. And there's crying and just grieving. And then I see all the shadows leave, but I can see Scottie's silhouette like this on the bed. And I see him get up like this, and he gets off this side of the bed and comes around this way. And on this, his side of the curtain, he's going,

friend, friend, let's go play. Come on. It's like they left. Let's go play. So I'm swinging my feet over to, you know, get off the bed. And up until that point, every afternoon, my adopted father's Grandma Lucy would come and sit with me until they would show up like an hour before she'd leave. And as I'm going to get off the bed, I hear her voice from behind me. She's, get off the bed. And I think it's strange because she was supposed to have left at five. And I saw her, said, why? She goes, you know what's paying attention to what was happening?

I said, no, she said, that boy, Maka, he died. So she said, you get off that bed, your feet touched the floor, you go play with that boy, you never come back. So she said, you stay right there, don't move, no matter what happens. And so there's got his shadow on the other side of the curtain going, friend, friend, let's go play. And then it just stopped. And then a couple of days later, there's this 11-year-old kid in this side of the ward. He was from a Kiki.

So this guy went downstairs to the kitchen after lunch and stole like a six-pack of Coke, Coca-Cola. Okay. And remember Coke was a real thing back then. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All the sugar, all the things, yeah. There we are in the steps, you know, hiding down down the steps. And we're drinking cold, the cold, and me with my kidney condition. Is that what you had?

Yeah. When you were in the hospital, okay. So I ended up having to go get surgery. So during the surgery, I remember being on the table in this spotlight. And on the outer perimeter of the spotlight, I can hear my friend Scotty going, no, no, no, I'll take him. And then this, and my grandmother's voice going, no, no, I will take him. And then this woman's boy is saying, no, no, he's coming with me. And I heard my grandma Lucy said, no, I will take him for life.

And I remember coming out of the surgery, and I'm still kind of groggy, but I hear my adopted mom talking to the doctor, and the doctor said, yeah, we lost him. Oh, yeah. You know, but, you know, we bought him back. And my adopted mom said, for how long? He said, oh, I think less than a minute. Wow. I remember her screaming out, but you mean less than a minute. You know, so ever since then, it's.

it became a lot more prevalent than it was before. From the age of six. From the age of six. So when I finally met my biological mom, that's one of the things I told her. And she said to me, oh, it's because you're Hawaiian. I was like, you know, later, later when, you know, one year old, I'll tell her, she goes, but she was, don't worry, it's because you're Hawaiian. Huh. She said, but I'll explain it later.

So once I started to learn from her, she said, it's who we are. Wow. You know, as a people. She said, I cannot speak for the whole race of one. She said, I can only tell you what's in our family. Your lineage. Yeah. And so, yeah, that's how it all started.

So I flew a short story. And as you're telling that story, the light is flickering over there. Yeah. So do we need to do it, Ollie? Yes. Well, nice. Yeah. Yes.

Well, I hithelowna, who are you, and a-o-e-e-a-oh-e-a-oh-e-a-h-h-hita-a-h-h-h-tie-h-h-tun-a-h-h-h-pun-a-a-oha-ha-ha-ha-ha-a-oh-oh-oh-oh-h. Well, I would love to ask, because, I know that you are a direct descendant of Madame Pelle. And I personally, and my sister, Yvette, we've always, always been so engrossed, enthralled. Just so drawn to her. So drawn to Madame Pelle. We have art. We both have a big painting of her.

You know, I have one in my studio. You have one in your living room, which is. was given to us by our mother, Fauna Hodel. Wow. And we've always had this affinity. Affinity, yeah, this connection to her. So can you tell us a little bit about the legend of Pelle? And your connection to her.

So on my mother's side, our connection to Pellé is through the Kohuna of Pelle. And the story goes that Pelle and her siblings are born from different parts of their mother's body, home male. And so as Pele is growing up, her older sister is Namako, the goddess of the ocean, so they don't get along. Not like us, yeah. Not like us to know. So, Halmaa said, look, you stay on this side of the island, your sister will be on the other side. You guys just stay out of each other's way. And the person who eventually teaches Pele how to stoke the fires of the volcano is her uncle, Lono Makua.

And in one legend, it says that Namako Kaai's husband was this ali'i, Aliki Naukele Nauaiku. And that at some point when Namaka was away, Peli just happened to wander on her sister's side of the island. And she got together with Alkele and, you know, they did biology together. Yeah, biology. We all know what biology is. And so that's strike one. Right. Huge strike.

Yes. Strike two is when Lono Makua is having another lesson with Pele, how to stoke the fires, call it forth, gom it down. And he says all of a sudden, I forgot, have an appointment, I'll be right back, so just wait here. And like, you know, Fantasia, Mickey Mouse, the apprentice, Pelle is like stoking the fires, fires get out of control, and it burns down her sister's side of the island and kills everybody.

So when Pelle goes to her mother, Hohman, and says, Oh, away, you know, this is what happened. And Homiya says, she says, okay, look, she says, this is not going to turn out good for you, so you have to leave. And so she tells Pella, get all of your siblings. The canoe, Honua Iakea will be waiting for you, and your brother, Kamoa Li'i, the shard god, will guide the way. But make sure you get everyone that belongs to you.

And so the canoe is ready to sail, and Homao says, you can't leave now you have to wait until sidereal time then you go when's sidereal time explain that according to Halmea

it was the time when you know Kippo Kala it's like the sun is directly overhead and it casts no shadow she said during that time

you leave and the time comes and Peli is leaving with all of her siblings and she jumps off to Kuno and goes to her mama and her mama says don't look back

just go you know we'll see each other again And so Pele took off. So, of course, when Namaka gets back and sees all this devastation, she's like, Mom doesn't even stop her. So Pele is being pursued across the Pacific by this giant tidal wave with Namaka and her two Mo'o, you know, her dragons. And so when Pele arrives to Nihua, she can't make a volcano because it's too small. And so she goes to Nihihau.

And this isn't one version that I heard growing up. On Ni'i Hao, she sees perhaps she cannot make a volcano either. So she leaves her, one of her brothers, the shark god, Kuai Muana. And says to him, you become the guardian of these Neihau people. Because if my sister comes to inundate the island, you know, it's through no fault of theirs. It is mine. So she says, protect them and be there al-Mauqua. So today, on the island of Ni'i-I-Hao, the Nihau people are not afraid of sharks.

And so next Pelae goes to Oahu. and tries to make a volcano, and Namako Khae shows up and heals out the fire. So Salt Lake, Aliyapakai, was an actual lake of sea salt, which she tried to dig out. So today, when the volcano is erupting, there's Pele's hiding in Salt Lake, you know, in the neighborhood. But she stops at Ka'aava. And so they take a break, and Pele's like, you know, guys, take a break, you know, she said, oh, you know, yeah okay, you know, so they're taking a break.

And as they're leaving, Pele has this pet dog, size like of a baby elephant. And so she says to this, this ilio, she says, you wait for me until I come back. And the dog says, when will I know this? She said, when you see a raging orb of fire through the night sky? She says, that will be me and that is my return. So the dog climbed on his hill and waited so long,

he turned to stone. So the people of the area didn't know the dog's name so they called him Kauhi Mako and Alanyi the red-eyed one who gazes toward the heavens so today that's the crouching line We just drove by there yesterday

and that's always been such a magical place for us So growing up we would always take a drive around the island We'd go there, we'd have lunch And I'm a Leo So every time As is Lofaka Yes as is Lofaka

And our beautiful mom But we, I was always drawn to that area, always. Always, right, Russia? So it's, yes, always. So it's not a lion. It's an ilio. It's a dog. It's Pele's dog. How sacred. I know. Wow. It's like, we never had lions in ancient Hawaii. Right. But now, looking back, like, we just drove by there yesterday. Yeah. Like, it looks like an ilio. It looks like an ilio.

It looks like a dog. Right, right, right. A crouching dog. Yeah. So he's still waiting for him. Oh. And so, you know, pull-line-up, punchbow, Leahi, diamond head, peeled out. You know, Peli was unsuccessful.

Right. And even like Molokaii, Kahulalabia, just unsuccessful. So when she gets to Maui, you know, at that point, she's like, you know what, I've had it. So she's going to turn and fight. And she does, she fights bravely, but because the maka has her two mo'o, they end up killing Pele, and they scatter her bones at a place called Ka'evi-o Pele and Hana. Oh. And so Pelle's family take her bones and they deify her through this ceremony called Kupaku.

So they're taking the mana of her bones and they're going to deify her into an al-makua. Into a god. And so that's how she becomes Pelle, the goddess of fire. Wow. So when the Makka looked toward Hologi Island and saw, you know, just this fountain of flames from what is now Kilauea, she knew, okay, you know, you kind of kill my sister now. And so there's sort of like this thing, all right, you know, you do you, I'll do me. Wow. Yeah, we'll leave each other alone.

And there's been peace ever since between them? Pretty much. And I find it's funny, like when hurricanes are coming with, you know, rains and horrible waters. The big island always buffers that hurricane. Right. And so the rest of the archipelago doesn't feel it. So a lot of people who are from places like Kalapana or Ka'u when the volcano was erupting, they won't say the volcano was erupting there.

They will say Pele is having her money. Oh. She's been having her money a lot lately. A lot. A lot. Yeah. But as my mom said, you know, if she has her money, there's nothing you can do about it. You just got to wait.

Yeah. You got to let her. Wow. Bleed. Literally. Yeah. Because, you know, the earth is a woman. But after all that devastation, you know, new light takes place, new growth.

Right. Right. You know, so that's the beauty of this duality of Pella. She's a destroyer, an eater of land and soil. But when everything's over, it's new life again. Right. It's a circle of life. Absolutely.

And it's also sort of indicative of, you know, the circle of life and death. Right. You know, death happens so life can begin in you. I have a question for you. I mean, I'd love to know more, of course, about, you know, your amokua and how you are a descendant of Pelle. But on a personal level, I just want to know if this is something that you think actually happen. So, you know, Yvette and I have different fathers, and I always went 50-50 between my father and stepmother. And we lived in Manoa from when I was the age of 5 until 15.

and then we moved to Wailaiki. And then, you know, the other 50% of the time I was with Mom and Yvette, and we lived all over the island of Oahu. But in Manoa, even though I felt like Manoa protected me, inside the home was very tumultuous. And I still have nightmares about it. I still have all these things that happened to me

that I'm processing through therapy and all the things. But when I was in the Wailaiki, home, there were two things that were supernatural that happened. Well, more than two things, but two big things that I wanted to ask you about. So one of them was we had three bedrooms and it was only me, my father and my stepmother. And in one of the bedrooms, we would always see little Menehune footprints by the window. And it was parallel to the ground. We'd always see the footprints. And I'm like, what is that? I mean, and my dad, would like vacuum like crazy on the carpet and the footprints every morning would come back.

So like I always was convinced that Manehune were like, were there. And it felt like a very like spiritual land. And the reason I tell you that story is just because I always felt protected. I was never hit in that home. I had emotional and verbal abuse in that home, but I just felt like there was a barrier trying to protect me. And my father used to say that he would be visited. in the shower by Tutu Pele. And my dad is a big holly guy.

He moved here in the 70s. You know, like he, he wouldn't say Tutu Pele, but I'm saying that respectfully. He would say, I think Pele is talking to me in the shower. She's got, you know, the salt and pepper, like hair, the bun, the long white dress. And I've never heard him say that he was scared before, and he said he was scared of her.

And for me, like, I kind of giggled inside. I was like, oh. It was like a warning call to him. I'm like, Madam Pele. Yep. I'm like, Madame Pelle is protecting me. And that's, you know, the first time, like, I tried to speak up. I tried to get Mom and, you know, Yvette to get, like, full custody of me.

And then I backed down because I was too scared. But do you think that Madame Pelle and the Menehune were really there? Or do you think it was more of just, I mean, he smoked a lot of Pacaololo, too. There is that. There is that. But the Menehune footprints, I physically saw for myself. And I had other, you know, things that happened in that home that I knew there was Amakua or some type. the spirit watching over me.

Yeah, there are many moon in that area. From Walaiki to, what's the Bear State? It's right next to Calvary by the sea. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like almost to Aina-Haina. Yeah, so the Bear Estate was used in Hawaii Fivo as Steve McGarratt's house. Right. The original of Waipelo.

Yeah, the lower days. Yeah, yeah. It's a place where they have Japanese weddings. Right. So it's a two-story, really nice little place on the beach, and I know the owner. And so one year she allowed me to have this ghost story thing at the Bear Estate. And when it was over, she says, you know, can I share some stories with you? I'm like, oh, absolutely.

And she brings out these pictures, and she's handing it to everybody. So she says, you know, nobody knows this, but, you know, there's many huni on this property. And so the husband is a retired attorney. And when Sus is then telling her part of it, husband says, I'm a retired attorney. I grew up in a Japanese family, plantation Japanese family, like very, very Samudai. Yes. We don't have time for this kind of thing.

And he said, you know, when the wedding guests come, the bride goes upstairs, does her makeup and all that. Then they come here on the beach to get married. And he said, one day I'm bringing the bouquet up. And he said, the stairs are like this. And, you know, you can see between the stairs. And he said, he looked down. He said, this little boy, like this tall. And he said, dark, dark skin, like.

black shiny hair like big eyes and he said when he did a double take he said it's not a little boy it's a man fully formed man like over there and he said it took off he chased that right it was gone wow and so he said it kept happening with such frequency that you know they're kind of freaked out you know should be closed down their business and so the husband asked me like you know what what should be doing because it's still happening and said you have to leave out a certain type of pink banana as an offering. Stargy one, Iholena, and then a particular kind of shrimp, if you can find it. Oh.

So you leave out those two things, you should be fine. Raw or cook shrimp? Raw. Okay. And, you know, when you make the offerings, you know, just I'm so-and-so, here's my offering. You know, call on my, let's work together. And so I'm standing here. Everybody's seated here.

Susan and her husband are talking over here. And I glanced this way in the living room just, you know, momentarily. You know how this leg is on this table? Low to the ground, yeah. So table's kind of taller, but, you know, the table leg. And I glance, and I see this little Hawaiian boy, dark, dark skin, knees up to his chest, shiny hair, big eyes like this. And he looks at me and he goes like this.

He goes, he blinked. He blinked, and then he got up and walked that way, and it's like this tall. It's like, it's a better one. It's somebody who me. So I didn't know what to do. I had a cream sickle. So in Hawaiian, in my mind, and like, Kui Kolomai, I have a opening this cream sickle.

So I'm validated, knowing that there were mena-hune in Wa'a-Iki. What do we think about Tutupele? Well, plus, you know, what's that place? Cocoa Head? Yes. You know the story of Cocoa Head? No. That's Kohe Lepe-Lepe.

I'm going to turn beet-red. So, you know, I see it happening right now. You know, I said last night, you know, I'm a gentleman. I don't swear in front of women. Yeah. So this is not swearing, but cohelepe lepe is that, um. He doesn't know how to look at it. He really is.

And he's a beautiful, gorgeous. Yeah. Hawaiian dark skin, man. He is pink for sure. God. It's, it's, it's, you're going to take a form of you right now. I have to. Let me put it to this way. Oh, Paco.

Pele got involved with this guy that her family told her was absolutely the wrong guy and you know, when you tell your family member that's the wrong person, the first thing they do is... Go after him. We know this very well. I should say I do. Yes.

So, of course, you know, when it's the wrong person, this person ends up living with Pele. It doesn't have Pele live with them. And so this person is Kamopoa, the pig god. And so when they consummate the relationship, like the lovemaking goes on, like, weeks and weeks. It's just good being the God. Yeah, get it, girl. Yeah, right?

But at some point, Pell is like, Lava, pow, that's enough. But come up with us like, you know. I only took this part of the blue pill. It's like that's tough. Now we're turning red. Right. So at some point, Kamapua is, like, restraining her. He's starting to bite her to hold her down.

Oh, ah, only. And so, Peli's sister, Kapo Uliu Kinau sees this and knows her sister's in trouble. So she removes her own personal body part and waves it in front of the pig on like this to this. Oh, no. Yeah. And then takes her koha and throws it until it lands where Koko Head Crater is now. Oh, what? Cohe Lepe, Lepe, the flying...

So, Camopo, it chases that thing in the second at length. He's, like, just, you know, going to town on it. Wow. So, um... So it's like the flying punani? Yeah. Well, Cohe is... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. As Roger Daltrey said, your squeeze box. Something I didn't know I was going to learn today. Mama never sleeps at night. So a couple years ago, well, actually before COVID, in these two women asked me to perform their wedding ceremony at the beach on the reef at Sandy Beach.

Oh, beautiful. As the sun's coming up, so I turn around and I see the back of Cocoa Head, Cohelepe, Lepe, and I tell them the whole story. They're like, what? And I said, The lesbian wedding at the way. They're loving that. Yes.

I said, look at the back of. of Coco Cater, I said, what does it look like? They're like, I'm never going to be able to say that again. They're going to drive straight there. I was like, oh my goodness. Listeners, Google, Coco Head, on the island of Oahu. That's your comment. I know.

But the back end, not the front end. But they said, you know, warrants are just poetic geniuses. Wow. Oh, my goodness. That's so funny. Yeah. So Pele has, you know, dominion in that area as well. Wow.

So if she was appearing to that man in the shower and that, in that capacity, she certainly had something to say. And it was several times, several times. I've always immersed myself in the Hawaiian culture. Like, I wanted to be Kanaka Mauli so bad. And there was rumors. Our biological grandmother, she, you know, had told me that we had family from Molokai. So in my mind, I'm like, oh, I have cocoa.

We have Hawaiian blood. I'm like, I know it. I know it. I told you. I told you. And then, you know, before our mom passed in 2017, we all did 23 and me DNA. Sure enough, no Hawaiian blood, no cocoa. But we did have a little bit of Japanese.

Japanese, Korean, Spanish. Spanish, like, yeah, this blonde, blue-eyed girl is not all hauli, is not all white. You know, I've always been taught to respect the Hawaiian culture that, like, it's the only culture I know. And, of course, you know, with mom, and mom decided to raise Yvette Nite in Hawaii because she didn't want us to experience any of the racism that she went through because she wasn't white enough, she wasn't black enough. Yeah, she felt Hawaii was the melting pot. And when she came here, you know, the energy, the mana, right, and the Ina, the land, you feel it. And she knew, she knew from that instance that this is where I want to raise my child, my children. She didn't have Rasha yet, but she had me, who was this biracial child.

And she thought, this is the perfect place, you know. And, you know, I didn't get here until I was probably eight years old. And it was hard at first because we came from San Diego, you know, there's Disneyland, SeaWorld, all the things. But as I, you know, started to grow up here, like, there's just something that is so magical, it's so precious that every time I come home and I come home often, as soon as I get off the plane, everything just melts away, you know? so every day of our lives we thank mom for bringing us here and raising us here in Hawaii and she got her pie she got pregnant with me here she even had an appointment to have an abortion

and she flew from Honolulu back to San Diego because she's like this is the first white guy I've ever slept with like am I really going to have a kid and I like I don't know him and I she told me later that I came to her in dream the night before she was supposed to have the abortion. And I remember it as, because the way she described it, she said I was, you know, five years old at the time. It looked like I ended up looking when I was five years old. And I remember saying, I'm supposed to make a difference in the world. Please, you know, save me. I'm supposed to be here. She said you were screaming.

She said I was screaming. And so she was so scared that she had to have me. But I remember it romantically. It's not the truth. And so I truly believe that was the greatest gift was to be born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and to have my sister by my side, even though mom's not here. And forever, forever, forever. And forever and always, you know, she united us so deeply. And we will continue to carry her legacy with us wherever we go, you know. That's beautiful.

It really is. So there's, you know, there's a purpose for you being here. I'm not sure if you guys are ever actually going to move back here. I know. We've talked about it many times. I want to. I know. But who knows, this might be actually the springboard, too,

where you need to be financially to actually move back here. That's so true. Yeah. Universe. Yeah. Manifesting. We can podcast from anywhere. Anyway, that's the reason why your mom is hanging around.

But she's just waiting for both you to get to the point where she can actually come through, you know, and say something, you know, do something physically. So it's probably something that only the both of you would know, you know, that's specific to her. Yeah. His name is Miyasato. He grew up in Hawaii when it was just pig farms and orchid farms. But he said growing up there, everybody, Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino Portuguese, he said, everybody spoke Hawaiian. Olala Hawaii.

So my Kumu's Olela Hawaii is that dialect from that time. Oh, wow. You know, but he said everybody, even though they weren't Hawaiian, were Hawaiian, everybody spoke it. Like, it's not something unusual. And so he said, you know, that's the beauty of this place is, you know, once it gets a hold of you, you know, you become Hawaiian in ways you don't think you are Hawaiian, but you are. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that's the case for the both of you.

Tell our listeners more about Pele being Amakua to you or Ohana to you. So my sister explained it. she said in our in our lineage part of our ohana on the kona side were kokura to to pele so it's through that lineage that our bloodline is to pele in some circles they say that pele and kamepoa actually had a child and the child's name began with lono supposedly that's how the human connection comes into that line i see so and we have lono in our bloodline was it pie and lono so as my sister says it when kamehameh came into power

there was something about this priesthood that he felt was a threat so when he came into power he wanted to get rid of that priesthood so as my sister said it to me that part of our family had to go on the ground and hide and try to live among commoners until this

until Kama'a got over it wow and he eventually got over it. I don't know. I mean, there's some of us still around, which explains why. In the late 80s, early 90s, my mama went home to Kalawa, which is upland in Kona, to visit her, Auntie Mary Green. They wanted to surprise auntie, so they didn't tell her they were coming. And my mama says, you know, as she's walking up the steps from inside the house, she hears my auntie going, oi come inside my mom said how do you know where it coming she said the wind told me you're coming and so a couple of days later they're all going to go drive to hilo to go shopping and my mom wanted

to stay home you know she was tired and she said um just sitting down in the living room you know enjoying her solitude and there's this knock on the door and from outside she can hear whoi no way not po emma kea how they're the people in this house and so my mom said she went to front door and she said standing there beautiful, beautiful Hawaiian girl, dark skin and just black, black curly hair. And she said, and the hair was like flex of Ehu. And she said, almost looks like like flames. And the girl's wearing this kikapa. And she said the material was like black with red designs. And a girl was barefoot. And so the girl asked if, uh, if there was any white hui, hui, any cold water, you know, with ice. And my mom went to go get it.

And she said, but the ice in the tray hadn't frozen over So when she came back, she told the girl, you know, ice is not ready yet But I still have, you know, this water, the girl took it And she said, when a girl touched the cup, this film of ice formed over it And she drank it and gave it back to my mom And my mom said when she grabbed it, you know, and ice is like really You know, kind of like the fingers stick to it Yes, yeah

She said, the girl said, Mahalo, you know, Mahalo And so my mom said, where did you come from? And the girl said, I've been walking, so I was, you know, Bella, just, you know, makivai, I was thirsty. The girl said, but, you know, I'm going now. And so the girl is, like, going down the driveway, and she starts walking up this way. My mom asked her again, where are you going? She goes, oh, my home is over there. And my mom said, that's nothing about, ah, it's like dry lava.

And so my mom said, wanted to wait, a little bring the car around and I'll take you. And the girl is gone. So when my auntie then came home, my mama told her what happened. And Ante said, oh, that makes sense. He said, we stuck at Halema'u Ma'u. We had to make, you know, ho'okupu to Bele. And she said, since he wasn't there, she said, I made one ho'o kupu for you.

So when I pulle, and I throw the ho'okupu inside, the wind brought it back. So she said, maybe Pele wanted to see why you never come. And my mom was like just jaw to the ground. And so my mom said, yeah. That was Pele, not on Pele. But she said during that encounter, like, she doesn't remember sounds, smells. It's just like everything was like hyper-focused on this one thing that was happening.

Wow. So in 2005, when we're living off of Date Street, we're coming back. And so I drop off my daughter and her mom at our apartment and I go park on Date Street across the football field from Kaimuki High School. And so I get out of the car on the driver's side. As I closed the car door and look over the hood on the other side of this old Hawaiian lady and she's kind of funky the way she's dressed because, you know, children like sweater. Yeah. And plaid skirt and these mod boots, you know, from the 60s.

It's like this woman is crazy. Wow. But Hawaiian woman and she goes, pull olivow, she goes, I'm hungry. She goes, take me to zippies. You're all after my own heart. So I said, well, I'm going to the jack-in-the-box, Kapoorulu, so, you know, I can take you to the zippy. She goes, no, not that one, the one in Wahiawa. Oh.

So, Tutu, I'm not going that way. She goes, but, you know, Pololi, Maci Pololi, I want to go to that zippies. Insisting. So I glanced down, and I noticed that in the backseat, my daughter left her cheese pizza from Chucky cheese. So I went like this, and I said, Tutu, have cheese pizza if you want it. And she's gone. Oh, oh. So, Dade Street is situated in such a way that no matter where anybody walks, you can see them coming and going.

Right. So she's gone. A second later, this car just, like, Zoom isn't even the word. It goes by me so fast, like, you know, the jet wash, like, kind of, like, pushes you. Yeah. And it blows the traffic, like, at the intersection, it gets T-boned. Oh. So that was supposed to be me.

Wow. So she protected you. Yeah. Wow. So it turns out when, you know, the old Hawaiian woman appears for a ride or for food, I always tell people, no matter what she's asking, give it to her. Absolutely, yes. Give her the food, whatever she wants.

I said because those two or three minutes that she's saving you from something worse. Wow. And that's tutupelle. That's two to pelle. Even today, I would think, why would she wear a turtleneck sweater? Flat skirt and blonde boots. I know, I'm used to her in, like, a turtle neck, like white, not turtleneck, but the high-collared, white, you know, beautiful, like, dress.

But then I thought, maybe that's why she appeared like that. Yeah. Because you're like, who is this crazy clothes? WTF. Right, right. Made you stop, right? Yeah. Yeah.

And that was in 2005. 2005, you know, and the belt didn't match the shoes. But who cares? But you remember. As I would. Yeah. But, you know, that's how our. Kupun, our ancestors work from the other side.

Whether you need help or you need that moment of affirmation or knowing you have to go right but you intend on going left, you know, that's what they're doing. And sometimes they have to come through it physically, slap you on the head, what are you doing? Our extended Ohana, our extended family is very complicated. We have a lot of generational. trauma. That trauma was

paled. It stuck with our mom. Our mom just radiated pure light. Like how you said last night, how the light always overpowers the darkness. That was our mom. And so for me, I just wanted to ask you, like, she's

now an ancestor because she's passed on, right? And we can... Yeah. Because I always want to do everything, Pono, and everything from a place of Aloha and love and represent her. And that this is our dream job working together and yeah yeah and it was created through her you know how it how it all began was because of her so i just want to make sure that she's the only ancestor that's with us and not the

scary ones or other scary ones still there and we have to learn to make sure the thing when you're asking for protection prayers guidance from your ancestors no matter what the circumstance was in life They're still your family, so you ask everybody. Okay. And everybody has to come. Because, you know, in our culture, when you ask, with sincerity, with intention, they're obligated. They have to come and protect you. So even your jerk uncle, you know, you has to come too.

Your jerk stepfather, you know, they have to come too because you're asking and they're obligated no matter what the circumstance. Okay. You know, so you ask everybody and they'll come. And the great thing about communicating with our people is that even though they're no longer flesh and blood, their personality is still the same. Okay. So when you ask of these particular kinds of people who have passed, you talk to them the way you did in life. And the same way you talk to them before, you speak to them now.

And even if we didn't know them, still talk to them and give them respect, I guess, yeah. Right. I have to let go on the pain. And coming from a place of healing, right? So your job now in this capacity, because this is all generated from your mom, is to express the kind of communication that makes a family whole and makes them, you know, tighten it. I'm speaking only for myself, but, you know, I found that it's because of a lack of communication that we have physical, mental abuse and sometimes, you know, the other kind. Yeah. Because my adoptive father, I realized later on, was never given the tools to say, I love you.

Yeah. Or to hug. Yeah. So growing up, he made it a point to remind me all the time, you're not my real son. Oh, I'm so sorry. So when we go out to a restaurant or wherever we were going, and, you know, his friends would show up and he'd introduce my Honai mom, you know, my older husband. brothers, but when he got to me, he goes, oh, it's my adopted son. And I remember in 1972, there was this thing, father-son, baseball thing, where if you win,

you get to go, all expense, paid everything to go see the Red Sox play. Oh, wow. So my Hanai father saw that and went to my two older brothers and said, hey, let go do that. And, you know, my brother's like, I got a girlfriend, I got to work on my 55 Chevy. When I was like, Dad, Dad, let's go, I'll do it. He goes, oh, we can't. He goes, but you're not my real son. Oh.

And he showed to the article, he said, see, this is father and son. Mm. Yeah. And so, you know, I promised myself if I ever had a child that I would never do that. Yeah. But I also realized, you know, I was so intent on seeking, receiving his love that I forgot to love myself. Oh. So for me, I believe that's where it begins, you know, with love for yourself first.

Because if you don't have that, how can you love anybody else? And maybe those people who abused us, they didn't get that. Yeah, yeah. You know. So in a way, in spite of what they did, it's kind of not their fault. Right. Hurt people, hurt people. Yeah.

But you break the cycle. Yeah. And they can't give you what they don't have. Yeah. Right. And you can't hold on to that anger because that will destroy you, you know, your life. That's just dimming your life. That's probably my adult sons that I share with my wife, her boys. I wait until they're not expecting it. And I go up to them and I grab them, like, I love you. I love you.

You know, they're kind of like taking it back. I'm like, tell me you love me. He's like, oh, dad, well, you got to do that. Oh, my goodness. And so, you know, my little grandson, so I was grandma, love you. I love you so much. You know, and they're, like, squirming out of my arms. And I'm like, you'll thank me one day. But that's what you're supposed to do.

That's how you broke the cycle by loving yourself and passing that, aloha, on to your ohana. And it doesn't matter. I can tell it doesn't matter if someone is blood to you or not. They're your ohana. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't matter that you didn't, you know, physically have them.

Yeah. So when my, um, my grandkids, their grandparents, like, wanted to reconnect with them on Kauai. Our oldest granddaughter wanted to stay. And so I was upset because I said those people don't deserve, you know, her love. Because they treated her mom, my daughter-in-law, like, really bad. And my wife, too. Yeah. So, you know, I told my wife.

I've said, you know, even though they're not biologically mine, like, they're mine. Not oof. Yeah. They've been in my house. I raised them. You know, when they're kids, like, they pooped on me. That's the ultimate. It's all the thing.

Like, they threw out with me, I said, they're mine. She's like, I know, I appreciate it. She goes, yeah, you know. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Oh, wow. So family is, you know, extends well beyond, beyond Coco. Yeah, yeah, I'm blood.

But the universality of what you're sharing is just what's important. You know, we raise those people coming up with clear communication and with a clear understanding that, you know, they're loved and they know how to love themselves. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's easy. Oh.

And that's who our mother was. Yeah. You know, despite all the hardship that she went through, she still loved everybody, you know? And that is what Shined through her and what drew everyone to her. You know what I'm saying?

And I feel the same way about you. Because he didn't move on to it. Yeah. Yes. But I feel the same way about you because I know that you've had a crazy upbringing and you

are this leader and this true warrior and we are just. so honored to know you and now love you. Same here, absolutely. I was just talking about war this morning to my second oldest son. And I said, there's no glory in war, no matter how much they may.

Like, people have to die. Yeah, yeah. And I said, and it's horrible that brilliant scientists, you know, generals are always finding new ways to kill other people. Right. I said, that's easy. I said, that's easy. I said, but loving yourself and loving people, you know, and thinking about ways.

to make other people's lives easier, less complicated. I said, that's hard. I said, killing somebody's easy. It's not a problem, but that other stuff, you know, because I told them,

once you start realizing that you want to do better for people, and I said, the scary thing that happens is you begin to realize, I want to do better for myself. Yes. And some people don't know how to do that.

You know, it's sort of like disconcerting, wow, you know, really me? You know, I'm something I matter. I did that. It's unfathomable for some people, but, you know, this podcast that you're doing might actually help somebody get to that point.

And that is the goal. That is why we do what we do, you know? Yeah. Absolutely. And went from Madame Pele to healing the world. To healing the world. Yeah, I mean, she's this fiery woman that, of course, we know, but she's all.

also very loving and all-encompassing. Yes. So it's like, you know, in any situation, you know, once you're her family, that's it. You know, and woe betide the person who screws with Pelle's family. Look out, you know. But believe me, you know, I don't suffer fools either. You know, I don't do stupid. I just saw Anya come out in you.

He's like, you better recognize. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I mean, I hardly get upset, but, you know, my wife knows. Once I'm there and the switch is on, it's hard to come back. Ooh. You know, so I do my best not to get at that point. Right.

You know, unless you do something really dumb. I mean, you are human. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Well, that was an incredible story. and, you know, just telling your lineage about, you know, where your family comes from, and then the legend of Pele, Pele herself was beyond anything we could have even anticipated. Absolutely.

You know, it's a story about a woman who had to bear the responsibility of bringing her entire family with her and having this fight with her sister and making sure that, you know, these people are taking care of and fed and all this stuff. so in that journey Pele herself grew from this impetuous young woman who just was all over the place she finally had to be responsible

or something other than herself and that is a lesson to humankind right there yeah and so symbolically becoming this alma kuah this goddess of the fire is her transition to the station in her life where she was meant to be

yeah because who was it that said we're afraid of the fact that we can be more than we are. Is it Maya Angelou, something that that affects. Let's go with that. Okay. It sounds like something Maya would have said. Some wise words, for sure. This is So Supernatural, an audio chuck original produced by Crime House.

You can connect with us on Instagram at So Supernatural Pod and visit our website. at SoSuperturalpodcast.com. Join Rasha and me next Friday for an all-new episode. I think Chuck would approve.