Publication Announcement, Piko: A Return to the Dreaming
Auwe Ue, Hiki E, I Have Arrived!
Piko is here!
I have to admit I was getting a bit deflated by some mishaps in getting the book into print, a process comically hindered by the Mercury Retrograde. For two years, the book has been my entire focus and I was so ready to get it into your hands, I just did not want to wait! However, I was able to slow down, let go and trust the process, stop micromanaging every minute the book wasn’t here yet, and even forget about it for a few hours in the exhilaration of body-surfing, riding my bike, and socializing with old friends on Block Island, because one thing I know for sure from this book—it’s not orchestrated by just me! Writing the book, then the long months of editing, more months of editing and layout, and proofing the final book for design flaws have all been opportunities to go with the flow. The book began with a ceremony and I’m proud to say its entire process of creation has honored those original 21 days.
Piko knew when it wanted to arrive and did it in proper style, riding ashore on the storm-tossed Block Island ferry as Hurricane Lee kicked up the surf and sea-spray, and Mercury turned direct.
Auwe, Ue Hiki, E, I Have Arrived!
For those who are so excited to read the book they can’t make it to the bottom of this letter, here are links to order:
There are so many stories spinning out of this piko already, I’m a little dizzy, and definitely in awe of the magic surrounding the book’s arrival. My hope for you is that reading the book becomes a ceremonial act, and that my words activate the knowing in your bones that life itself is a ceremony. I also hope you remember your own particular role in keeping the balance between humans and nature, and offer that back to this beautiful, heart-breaking world where people are always coming and going, fire destroys a town in one night, the earth opens up and swallows entire villages, floods wash away families, and wind carries laments from the beginning of time around the planet in great swirling waves. My hope is you find stillness in the center of the constant motion, a prayer in your hearts for those in despair, and the courage to be present with grief. My hope is you sing.
I live in a web of synchronicities—and since I sat for those 21 days in 2021 at the edge of the two anchialine ponds in the Pu’uhonuanua o Hōnaunau, so many more have occurred that synchronicities are normal to me. I know I have made contact with the deep nourishment my body and soul needs. The layers are deep. The patterns ever-evolving.
I hear many English speakers in today’s world say things like, “It’s beyond words,” or “Words fail me.” I’d like to shift that perspective by asking a question—What if we have failed words? What if language, which enables us to praise, is the greatest contribution humans can make?
All the writers I love the most know this, the storytellers like
who inspired this book, the indigenous people still present on Earth today who have survived the cataclysm of colonialism. Words are enough. Yes, there may be something beyond them, but that’s why we have poetry, to hint at the mystery. Some things, the most sacred and holy, aren’t meant to be exposed to direct light. We come to them in the dark on our knees. We do what only humans can do—we praise.Only then, when we return to life as a ceremony, will the inner earth waters flow again to nourish humanity’s spirit. I don’t know what will happen when that occurs, but I am content with that. I have played my part in a cycle of life and completed it. More cycles will open in infinite waves. Your cycles maybe. The next stories will be yours to tell, and you will be the one to return to the dreaming. May this book be a blessing on your journey.
In deep gratitude I leave it now to you,
Whitewave
(Also known as Jennifer Lighty, the author of this book who has seen a seal inside a green turquoise wave and played her flute to the empty bank swallows’ nests on one of the last days of summer. May she continue to praise until it’s time for her bones to rest again in the deep layers, the dark soil in between the fire at our center and the wide blue sky.)
Links to book below. You can also order from your local bookstore. Thank you for following along on the book’s journey and for reading The Corpus Callosum Chronicles. There will be an e-book forthcoming as well in the near future. And finally, if you feel moved, please share this post or tell a friend about Piko.
“Jennifer Lighty is the real thing and has done us a great service with Piko. A modern woman working intuitively to contact mythic ground. Her language is fresh and imaginative, her intention five fathoms deep. I’m so glad she exists, and that she has turned some of her life’s work into a gift that we can cradle in our hands and feel the benefit.”
-Martin Shaw author of Bardskull
“In the Hawaiian language, Piko can be translated as “the very center.” As a society, we understand that before we can make sense of the results of our culture, we must remember the very design of it, or its piko.
Jennifer Lighty, with her provocative “Piko: A Return to Dreaming,” coaxes its readers back into this center and, with masterful literation, weaves the patterns that bleed from this center to result in what we know as the human condition. Although the core concept is poetic, Lighty expresses this work in such a relatable way that anyone can position themselves as the lead character(s) whom, through the beauty of words, symbols, art, and consequence, truly affirm the core design which all results from.”
-Ke’oni Hanalei, Pōhala Hawaiian Botanicals
Kō aloha lā ea
Concentrate on love by way of the light
Congratulations, Jennifer! 🥳🥳🥳 I ordered a copy and can't wait to dive into it!