Tag Archives: Maori

Maori Prophet and Temple

Posted on October 3, 2016 by esotericnz

Tūhoe prophet, Rua Kēnana Hepetipa, and his temple, 1908.

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Evil eye on the train

Posted on July 19, 2016 by esotericnz

Waikato Times WAIKATO TIMES, VOLUME XXXVII, ISSUE 3036, 31 DECEMBER 189 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18911231.2.10 With thanks to the National Library of New Zealand

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Segement from ‘The disappearance of letham crouch’

Posted on May 30, 2016 by esotericnz

A segment from ‘The disappearance of letham crouch‘ by Chas Owen an early (the earliest I am currently aware of) example of ‘consciously’ horror fiction in New Zealand. Inhabiting the borderland between weird fiction and the ghost story, the evocative little … Continue reading →

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The Old Gods

Posted on May 16, 2016 by esotericnz

THE OLD GODS. Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 130, 4 June 1929, Page 6 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19290604.2.52&srpos=13&e=——-100–1—-0witch+goddess–

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The Noosing of the Sun-God

Posted on February 8, 2015 by esotericnz

The Noosing of the Sun-God Jessie Mackay 1910 “Tiraha, Te Ra! I am Maui,— Maui, the bantling, the darling;— Maui, the fire-thief, the jester;— Maui, the world’s fisherman! Thou art the Sun-God, Te Ra of the flaming hair. Heretofore man … Continue reading →

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A Cultural Transmission from Maori to Pakeha

Posted on January 19, 2015 by esotericnz

SUPERSTITIOUS SETTLERS. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18600, 7 January 1924, Page 8   This is similar to warnings about Tapu contributors to this blog received from inhabitants of Stewart Island in the 1990’s. With thanks to the National Library … Continue reading →

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Giant Bones Found Near Christchurch

Posted on June 23, 2014 by esotericnz

FIND OF HUMAN BONES. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 6093, 21 November 1898, Page 2     http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TH18981119.2.16&srpos=6&e=——-10–1—-0giant+bones– With thanks to the National Library of New Zealand

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A Fairy Woman

Posted on June 2, 2014 by esotericnz

Kai-he-raki was a witch woman who lived on the Takitimu Range—not an ugly old witch-hag, but a young and beautiful witch whose comeliness defied Time. She was tapu. A man out hunting wekas caught her, but the narrator forgot his … Continue reading →

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Wizard in the “Gall of Satan”

Posted on May 26, 2014 by esotericnz

From H. Beatties’ Traditions and Legends of the Natives of Murihiku. (Southland, New Zealand) from the Journal of the Polynesian Society volume 28 No: 112 Merehau, a tohuka, who resided usually in the Port Molyneux district was living when the white settlers came. He … Continue reading →

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A Secret Word

Posted on April 7, 2014 by esotericnz

From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s  ‘The Wanderings of a Spiritualist‘ (1921) It is said that the Tahungas, or priests, have much hereditary knowledge of an occult sort. Their oracles were famous, and I have already quoted an example of their … Continue reading →

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