Waitohu: A Journal for Making Meaning
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From the best-selling author of Aroha and Wawata comes a new and inspiring journal to help you make deeper connections using the energies of Hina the Maori moon goddess and the power of aroha. Kia ora! Welcome to Waitohu - a journal where the Maori lunar calendar invites us to write about our lives in a new way. This writing journey is fuelled by the whakataukī (proverb) 'ka mua, ka muri', 'walking backwards into the future'. Every month we circle back to the beginning of the book, rediscovering thoughts from the month before under the illuminating gaze of each moon face. New layers of ideas are added to earlier reflections, then collected together in a way that uncovers new truths. Waitohu is a much-needed companion to help us navigate the turbulent waters of our complex world. It is a sacred place to write the future, drawing on the lessons from the past. Waitohu is Dr Hinemoa Elder's response to many requests for a journal to record life lessons, guided by her two previous books Aroha and Wawata.
About the Author
Ko Parengarenga te moana, Parengarenga is my ocean. Ko Tawhitirahi te maunga, Tawhitirahi is my mountain. Ko Awapoka te awa, Awapoka is my river. Ko Kurahaupo te waka, Kurahaupo is my ancestral canoe. Ko Potahi raua ko Te Reo Mihi oku marae, Potahi and Te Reo Mihi are my traditional meeting places. Ko Te Aupouri, ko Ngati Kurī, ko Te Rarawa, ko Ngapuhi nui tonu oku iwi, My tribes are Te Aupouri, Ngati Kurī, Te Rarawa and Ngapuhi. Ko Hinemoa taku ingoa, my name is Hinemoa. Dr Hinemoa Elder is of Ngati Kurī, Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri and Ngapuhi descent and the mother of two adult children.She has lived on Te Motu Arai Roa, Waiheke Island for more than 20 years, and is the author of New Zealand's best-selling local non-fiction book of 2021, Aroha - Maori Wisdom for a Contented Life Lived in Harmony with Our Planet. She is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who works at Starship Hospital's Child & Family and Mother & Baby Units and various community clinics. Hinemoa also provides youth forensic court reports and neuropsychiatric assessment and treatment of traumatic brain injury in private practice. She is a deputy psychiatry member of the New Zealand Mental Health Review Tribunal. In 2019, Hinemoa was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to psychiatry and Maori. You can also find her on Instagram and Tiktok @drhinemoa.