MAHI A ATUAA WAY OF BEING
MATIU PENNELL & MARK KOPUA
Paia te rangi
I will bring ceremony
I will care and provide
Your companion
Paia te rangi
Tenei te po, nau ma te ao
Indigenise your space
Whiro te tipua
I will consume, control
and take you
With false promises, insults
and threats
You will fall and we will
become one
Whiro te tipua
Ka ma te ariki
Ka ma te tauira
Remain an active
learner
Tawhirimatea
I can caress you or turn you
over
I can lift and support
I have a temper – a blinding
temper
Tawhirimatea
Hongihongi te
wheiwheia
Embrace negative
feedback
Te Kuwatawata
I guard the path of peace
I maintain balance
Before me is chaos
Beyond me is peace
Te Kuwatawata
Lean into the
uncertainty of
learning
Lean into the
discomfort of failing
Tangaroa
A great falling of water
came to me
I control the temperature
I have children of the sea,
sea and land and the land.
Tangaroa
Let the first response
be human
We see the tiniest glimmer
of hope, potential, opportunity
Stay collective no matter what the
challenge
Together we flood the fear with
light
Whiro. Hinatore
Te Mamaru Uepoto
Peketua
Within the darkness lies
the lightWhiro. Hinatore
Te Mamaru Uepoto
Peketua
Lord of the forest and its creatures
Father of mankind
Separator of Rangi & Papa
Liberator of confinement, of the
darkness Tane
Find the ‘Tane’ from within
you and bring ‘him’ to the
fore
Tane
Lord of war, of strategy and
strength
The rakau mata-rua
Tumatauenga
The opposite to risk is
connection
Tumatauenga
I am kindness, father of Pohutu-kawa of Rongo-nui
Making paths across seas, land and sky
Rongo Rehua Tumatauenga
Replace the anaesthetic experience
with an aesthetic experience
Rongo Rehua Tumatauenga
I bring the reflecting waters of the heavens
The water that Whiro will shy from.
I am of the upper-most-spaces
Hine-kau-oro-hia
“It is not a chemical imbalance,
It’s a power imbalance”
Hine-kau-oro-hia
I gave my son to contain the anger of others -
to shield my father - Tane
To protect all
Hine-pu-te-hue
Individualism and individual
approaches breeds invisible practices
Hine-pu-te-hue
I govern the forest floor,
My retreat, my mother
Not merely safe.
Haumia-tiketike
The myth of meritocracy
diminishes the capacity
of community
Haumia-tiketike
I govern all Rarohenga
Abandoned, discarded, I will rain fire.
To reshape and scarify your world
Ru-au-moko
Equity is about need
Inequity comes from the
failure to respond to need
Ru-au-moko
The prince of peace of healing over
all, even my brothers
Let Tu-pore-nuku and Tu-pore-rangi
cover you
Let my healing waters flow over you
Rongomatane
Rongomaraeroa
The Mahi a Atua is YOU
modelling a way of being
not telling anyone else, how
to be.
Rongomatane
Rongomaraeroa