Maui
Maui is the Polynesian culture hero and demigod who snares the sun to lengthen the day, fishes the islands up from the sea with his hook Manaiakalani, steals fire from Mahuika, and dies trying to win immortality from Hine-nui-te-po; the versions differ between Hawai'i, Aotearoa and the Cook Islands.
Maui is a demigod and culture hero, a kupua in Hawaiian terms, not an akua to be worshipped: the tradition gives him the snaring of the sun, the fishing up of islands with the hook Manaiakalani, the theft of fire from Mahuika, and his death in the attempt to win immortality from Hine-nui-te-po, with different versions in Hawai'i, Aotearoa and the Cook Islands. The Disney film Moana is a modern retelling and not a source. The planetary (Mercury), zodiacal (Gemini, Leo), tarot (the Fool, the Magician, the Sun) and sabbat values in this entry are modern Western overlays, and the sabbat list is left empty because the Wiccan wheel has no Polynesian analogue. The 'fished up the islands' story is a genealogy, not geology, and the island of Maui is named for him; he is not a generic 'spirit guide' or a 'trickster'.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Mercury
Offerings
- Offerings
- The first fishFireKavaThe story told
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- MāuiMaui-tikitiki-a-Taranga (Maori form)
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- The Trickster DemigodThe Fisher of IslandsThe Snarer of the SunThe Fire Thief
- Symbols
- FishhookManaiakalaniThe sun snareThe jawboneFire
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneAdmiring and wryAddressMauiTricksterFisher of IslandsRelationshipThe clever one who always pays for itWarningEvery gift he takes has a priceResonanceThose who make things by cunning those who love a story
- Modern Practice
Maui is kept in story and chant rather than in a cult, and the practice is the telling of the stories and the naming of the land. The fishhook is a symbol of the islands' making, and the sun-snaring is told at the turn of the season. He is not invoked for favours.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- TrickeryThe sunThe seaFishing up islandsFireThe hookThe culture heroThe clever one
- Mythology Summary
Maui is the Polynesian culture hero and demigod who snares the sun to lengthen the day, fishes the islands up from the sea with his hook Manaiakalani, steals fire from Mahuika, and dies trying to win immortality from Hine-nui-te-po; the versions differ between Hawai'i, Aotearoa and the Cook Islands. In Hawai'i the island of Maui is named for him, and he is a kupua, a demigod, not an akua to be worshipped. The Disney film Moana is a modern retelling and not a source. Grey's Polynesian Mythology (1855) and Beckwith's Hawaiian Mythology (1940) are among the usual written sources.
- Related Deities
- PeleCoyoteHermesPrometheus
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