2 Women. 1 dog. 5 Weeks. 12 destinations. One summer. (Part 2)

Motueka – Wellington – Otaki – Tokaanu – Te Kuiti – Auckland – Kerikeri – Cape Reinga – Auckland – Tokaanu – Otaki – Wellington – Motueka

Thelma & Louise would be proud of us. In a world that is still dominated by patriarchal capitalist empire, 2 Women went on an adventure, to wake up to their own culture outside of patriarchy – an Archan culture. Staying with friends, village weaving along the way. They succeeded, they failed. They honoured their own and encountered their incompetencies. They did not kill and they did not get killed. They live to tell the tale of their journey:

(Missed Part 1? Read it here)

Part 2: Creating Magic in Otaki (Julia)

As we left Wellington, we were clear: We had to stop for the beach in Otaki. Driving into Otaki an hour later, we both had an inkling of “Does Ariana live here?”

Ariana is a Maori Woman, an energy healer that Annika had been recommended to go visit, and that I had wanted to connect with for a while. At the beach, Annika leaves a voice message with Ana Norambuena, who knows where Ariana lives. Ana, a Magician herself, responds via voice message half an hour later: “If you want to find Ariana, follow the clues.”

We leave the beach and drive into Otaki town.

“This is it, the third impulse. We stop at this church!” Annika says. So, we do. She walks in to find the receptionist, who doesn’t know Ariana but advises us to take a cup of tea and wait for the service to end in 5 minutes. 5 minutes later, we are introduced to the pastor’s wife – she also doesn’t know Ariana, but knows that there are Maori elders in the service that might. She advises we wait for them to come out – which they don’t. Instead, a little while later her husband appears. He has a lead for us: There’s a kaumatua (elder) lunch at the local marae today. If anyone knows her, it would be there. In fact, she might well be there herself. This lunch takes place once a year for Christmas, and it is about to start in half an hour! He goes out of his way to contact his auntie, who confirms: yes, she knows Ariana and she likely will be at that lunch!

Now it is for me to know what’s next: Let’s go to the marae. “Really?” Annika asks. Yes, we go.

We arrive there and are greeted friendly by an old man. We meet the auntie and in order to get to her, pass a row of seated elders whom we greet each. We sit down on the elder bench, slightly uncomfortable as we seem out of place. Chatting away eases the discomfort and before long, two women arrive that were supposed to bring Ariana to the lunch. Alas, she has a cough and decided to stay home. The women taxed us, then nodded to their auntie – Yes, these two can go to see Ariana. We were told her address, said our farewells, and made our way.

And so started our encounter with Ariana. We met her, we had a conversation with her, and we walked out 3 hours later, baffled and not sure what had just happened. We were both so liquid that we struggled to note down what was said. Always take your notebook to any such meeting!

Either way, we were exhilarated by the experience.

I returned a few weeks later and was granted a recording. You can listen to it here.

Read more here.