The Shamanic Roots of Ho‘oponopono 

The new is always inside and never outside, everything is within you, not outside of you. 

     --Gitta Mallasz, Talking with Angels 

Shamanism has been practiced on our planet for several millennia. Some claim that shamanism’s origins are to be found in Siberia or Central Asia. But shamanism was practiced widely in Europe as well. The majority of prehistoric caverns were once the site of ceremonies in which shamanic journeys were undertaken regularly. The druids, in their day, were great shamans. In Greece, Plato speaks of holy priests who used techniques that allowed them to travel outside of their bodies. 

A path of oral transmission, shamanism has vanished from some parts of the world, but it still thrives among certain peoples such as the Mongols, the native peoples of North and South America, and the aborigines of Australia. 

Shamanism is closely connected to animist thought, which sees all the elements of nature--such as plants, rocks, wind, and rain--as endowed with life force and thus worthy of the highest respect. 

The shaman creates the connection between the human world and the world of the spirits. He travels into the world of the invisible in search of the answers to the questions that concern his tribe (Where should we set up our camp? Where should we hunt?) or simply an individual of his community such as questions concerning illness or family relations. 

The Origins of Ho‘oponopono 

Originally, Ho‘oponopono was a ritual used by the peoples of the Hawaiian islands to resolve community problems. This ritual served as a procedure for reconciliation. It consisted of gathering all the members of the tribe together so they could share their problems and conflicts. Once this had been done, each individual asked forgiveness for the inappropriate and even erroneous thoughts they had put out that were the cause of the problem. 

In these earlier times, Ho‘oponopono was organized by the shamans. It was part of the approach that advocated respect for the “spirits” and was also connected to the divine. From this perspective, the thoughts emitted and actions performed by human beings, if they were the fruits of erroneous memories, could also disrupt the world of the spirits. They also posed a risk of summoning--or creating--troublemaking spirits. Ho‘oponopono was therefore used as a reconciliation technique among members of the village, but it also ensured that the tribe remained in perfect harmony with the world around them, thus earning the good graces of the nature spirits. 

Modern Ho‘oponopono 

Over time, this ritual became somewhat neglected. It would not be until the late twentieth century when a Hawaiian shaman, Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, revised this ritual to appeal to more modern tastes. She was a kahuna lapa’au, a healer and secret keeper (kahuna means “secret keeper” and lapa’au means “healer”). 

Morrnah explains: “We are the accumulation of all our experiences, which amounts to saying that we are burdened with our past.” The memory created by each experience is stored in the form of a thought in the etheric body, which is the subtle body closest to the physical body. 

Inspired by the ancient ritual, she came up with a new protocol that could be practiced alone without the assistance of anyone else. This method consists of saying the following phrase: “I’m sorry, forgive me, thank you, I love you.” This appeals to the divine Higher Power to heal disruptive thoughts and memories. It can therefore be best described as a process of reconciliation with yourself by virtue of love energy. 

Ho‘oponopono tells us that we are the creators of all that surrounds us and by changing our thoughts we are able to make the life we are living harmonious. This is not so very far from the shamanic viewpoint. In fact, the ancestors believed that the erroneous thoughts of individuals had a deleterious effect on the spirits that lived in their close proximity and that these spirits would consequently send them unpleasant situations in return. Conversely, by thinking positively and erasing erroneous memories, these same individuals would restore harmonious relations with the spirits of the invisible world, who would then shower them with their favors. 

The Formation of the Human Being 

Ho‘oponopono makes it possible to restore balance between the outside world (visible and invisible) and the inner 

world. As it happens, what we might call “self identity” is made up of four elements: 

• unihipili or subconscious mind, which stores the memories of past experiences and emotions; 

• uhane or conscious mind, which corresponds with our reason and intelligence; 

• aumalua or higher self (soul), which resides in a higher dimension; 

• spark or divine intelligence, where inspiration and identity are created. 

The ideal state exists when these four parts are equally balanced. It is interesting to note that contemporary medicine is of the same opinion concerning the conscious and the unconscious (it of course has nothing to say about the soul or divine spark), which must be in balance for the mental health of an individual. 

The purpose of Ho‘oponopono is to re-create the equilibrium between the four parts of your identity, so that you may reconnect with your divine spark (or inner God) and recover your inner peace. For Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, peace begins with the self. She went on to say: “We are only here to bring peace into our lives, and if we bring peace into our lives, everything around us will find its proper place, rhythm, and peace.” 

According to the shamanic vision, Ho‘oponopono makes it possible to recover one’s inner and outer equilibrium and restore balance to the self and with the spirits of nature. 

Human beings are weighed down by their past. When they are feeling stress or fear, they should look within. They will see that the cause of their discomfort comes from an erroneous memory--a fear, value, or belief that simply needs to be cleansed with the words of Ho‘oponopono. 

The Book of Ho’Oponopono by Jean Graciet, Luc Bodin, M.D., and Nathalie Bodin Lamboy © 2016 Destiny Books. Printed with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International. www.InnerTraditions.com 

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