From: Huna Vistas Newsletter #27 – Summer, 1978
Huna is something that you DO! It is not something that you “believe” in. Or just an “interesting subject” to read about — though the story itself is quite fascinating reading.
It is not a religion, not “occult” or “a cult.” Huna is, in short, a method, a tool, made up of a psychological system whose frame of reference is based on ancient Hawaiian ideas. But Huna is NOT a Hawaiian system, or even a Hawaiian religion.
It is a way of life, because it enables us to live efficiently, happily, healthily, wholly. But with all this, it is still a tool. And a tool must be USED. More exactly, Huna is a SET of tools.
Shortly after graduating from UCLA in 1917, Max Freedom Long moved to the island of Hawaii to teach in elementary schools. When he arrived, he claimed that some Native Hawaiians were practicing what he called “magic.” Long wrote that, at first, he was skeptical of this magic, but later became convinced that it worked. He devoted the rest of his life to creating theories about how the Native Hawaiians did what he claimed they did, and teaching those theories through the sale of books and newsletters.
Long decided to call his compilation of teachings Huna, because one meaning of the word is “hidden secret.” He wrote that he derived it from the word kahuna, which is a priest or master craftsman who ranked near the top of the social scale.
Long founded the Huna Fellowship in 1945 and, starting in 1936, published a series of books on Huna, many of which are still in print.
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9/14/23
