15/05/2026
I can feel a build-up of activity around Whauwhaupaku (Pseudopanax arboreus). The unripe fruit have been visible for a couple of months now, and they must finally be ripening because the kererū have made their appearance this week.
There is so much movement gathering around this rākau. Is it the ripening fruit that calls? Is it the presence of the kererū themselves? Or is it the return of Puanga and Rehua in the winter skies, stirring something through Whauwhaupaku?
Perhaps it is all of these things — a frequency, a sound, a vibration moving between star, plant, manu, and whenua. These are the tohu I love to sit with, and the mātauranga I long to understand more deeply.
Whauwhaupaku has a whakapapa that reaches beyond the whenua and into the stars. It is an offspring from two supergiant stars: Rehua, known as Antares in Scorpio, and Puanga, known as Rigel in Orion.
Rehua is a beacon in the winter night sky, sitting in the heart of the Scorpion. Puanga is a blue supergiant, rising in the winter morning sky, heralding new beginnings and the turning of the season.
I have been sitting with this pūrākau for a few years now. Each year, I receive a new insight, or someone shares something that deepens my understanding. I often think about the kererū and how they know the fruit is here. Does the fruit have a frequency? Does something within the rākau call to them?
Years ago, one of my kaupapa was to bring larger manu back into our backyard. For the last two years, Whauwhaupaku has been the rākau fulfilling that vision.
The kererū have returned.
Manu are messengers. They are tohu. So this season, I feel called to sit with the kererū, listen more deeply, and see what transpires.
What does whauwhaupaku look like where you are? Share an image. I'd love to see them.
*** If this way of learning speaks to you — sitting with rākau, listening to tohu, and allowing te taiao to reveal its mātauranga — Mauri Kura begins next month. More information is available on my website ***
Joanne Hakaraia
