Pele. Goddess of fire lightning dance wind and volcanoes. Her poetic name is Ka wahine `ai honua or the woman who devours the land. She is both a creator and destroyer. She throws molten fountains into the air and governs the great flows of lava. With her power over the volcanoes she created the Hawaiian Islands and to this day she has been known to reveal herself throughout the beautiful islands she crafted herself. According to legend Pele lives in one of the most active volcanoes in the world. She calls the summit of Kilauea volcano home although her reach is throughout Hawaii.
There are numerous myths about Pele. More stories are written about the volcano goddess than any other Polynesian god or goddess.
Legend says that Pele was born in Tahiti. Her family had six daughters and seven sons. Her parents were Haumea the Earth goddess and Kane Milohai the creator of the sky. There are several versions of how Pele came to Hawaii. One version says that she was exiled by her father because she had a bad temper. Another state she seduced her sister's husband. One of Pele’s brothers gave her a huge canoe and she and her brothers traveled to eventually find Hawaii.
There is a popular belief that if you take a lava rock from Hawaii you will anger Pele and you will have bad luck until the rock is returned. According to some this was made up by a park ranger who wanted to discourage tourists from removing things from the park. While this was likely made up Hawaii gets hundreds of lava rocks returned via mail each year. Those who return them claim to have had the worst time of their lives since taking the rock. Some people even bring the rocks back in person just to be sure it is returned to Pele. It is illegal to remove anything from the National Park so curse or not it’s best not to take anything at all.
Pele is all about unapologetically claiming your power. She is dramatic and passionate and she asks us to live our lives with as much passion as we can muster. Do not hold back but move forward fearlessly. Do not let anything or anyone get in your way.