Rongoā Māori
To get to know Te Ngahere, we must Listen. Watch. Notice the details. Be prepared to visit the forest, to build up a sense of really belonging, becoming part of the family of Tāne. To learn from the #Kaumātua (elders) is to be entrusted with the wisdom of traditional Rongoā Māori medicine. It is to carry the #Taonga (treasure), and realise that we are receiving not just the knowledge, but the responsibility to care for it and protect it. To ensure its survival.
It is our duty as #kaitiaki to understand our interconnected relationship to our forests, our rivers, and our mountains. To understand that when a river or forest is sick/polluted, inherently part of ourselves is also sick.
Rongoā Māori is so much more than the rakau (trees) and the medicinal chemistry in the leaves. It is about Te #Mauri (the life force) and Te #Wairua (the spiritual dimension) that flows through and connects all living things.
The knowledge of Rongoā Māori grew out of the tradition of being part of the forest and the accumulation of generations of close observation of every detail. To really know Rongoā Māori, we have to become a part of that tradition.