Hina Moon Goddess

A hobbling mindset

What a dazzling spectacle it was: the glittering IIFA (India International Film Awards) ceremony staged in the heart of Canada’s largest city, Toronto, on June 25. It wasn’t merely the constellation of India’s film idols and goddesses that set Toronto’s otherwise dour scene alight. What set the Toronto show apart from others was the exuberant involvement of the Ontario government in staging the spectacle.

Ontario’s commitment — made good to the hilt — to IIFA had been set in motion last year by province premier Dalton McGuinty personally. It was on his watch and direct supervision that Toronto rolled out the red carpet for Bollywood. Fifteen million dollars of Ontario’s funds were spent on staging the event; another 10mn guaranteed fool-proof security for a whole week.

This set the minds of Toronto’s large Pakistani diaspora wondering what it is that makes India and its cultural ‘ambassadors’, so very attractive to the leaders of Canada? And what it is that makes Pakistan and its citizens so suspect — virtually pariahs — in the eyes of Canadian authorities that getting a visitor visa for a Pakistani is akin to seeking a flight to the moon?

There are myriad answers to this question. But if it were to be reduced to just one, it is the perception in Canada that India is a progressive, open and truly multi-cultural society just as Canada prides itself to be. Canada sees its own dynamic multiculturalism magnified on a larger canvas in India. Writing on Canada Day (July 1), celebrated journalist Rick Salutin, said so in one sentence: Canada is ‘India of the new world’.

And why is Pakistan being kept at more than an arm’s length? Because of its perception here (in Canada) as a regressive, undemocratic and oppressive society at war with itself and with its minorities, for whom the room is getting narrower all the time. In a nutshell, Canada, like so many other countries, has a bone to pick with Pakistan’s limited and narrow mindset.

Nowhere does this claustrophobic mindset reflect itself more than in Pakistan’s perennially-hobbled relations with India. The latest round of foreign secretary-level talks in Islamabad (June23-24) has been described as ‘frank and cordial’. That’s exactly how mandarins would put a label on parleys that went the full length of talking but failed to dent the armour of status quo. Both foreign secretaries were prim and impeccably turned out.

An Inner Journey: The Moon, Mythology, and You: Hina

Hina , the daughter of the Sun and the Moon, who was considered so beautiful that no one could look at her. She is, in Her many forms--coral reefs, marine life, ocean caves, the tides, the Moon--a principal cosmic force.  Hina is, in fact, the female force of the universe while Her husband, Ku , is the male force.  It is She who created all life in the reefs, and She is called upon to bless the gathering of seafood.  I'm a 63 year young crone. I was born in the beautiful countryside, but have been living in the city for 30 odd years now. As a want-to-be be hippie, I first lived in Greenwich Village, then moved to Queens, and eventually I wound up in Brooklyn. I've spent much of my life in search of a path that I could feel comfortable with. It wasn't until I began working on my family tree that I discovered my Celtic background. I I've got about 4,000 ancestors on my tree--from Ireland, Scotland, Britain, Germany, and France. Why I've a touch of Dutch and Native American in my blood. I have studied to become a Bard through the New Order of Druids and am currently working on the ovate course. I am an ordained Interfaith minister. I'm also an astrologer, have worked with numerology, enjoy mythology, psychology, sociology.

Dictionary of gods and goddesses

Also Himavat. See also HIMAVAN. Himerus God of desire. Greco-Roman. Member of the Olympian pantheon and attendant on APHRODITE (VENUS). Hina Moon goddess. ...

Sacred Places of Goddess, 108 Destinations

believed Hina of the moon and Hina the tapa beater originated from the Tahitian Moon Goddess Hina. In Hawaii, Hina also became the earthly manifestation of ...

Gods, goddesses, and mythology

In Oceanian mythology the first surfboard was carved by Hina, moon goddess of the waves. Islands, sat on the black rocks, combed her long hair, ...

Journal of the Polynesian Society

1 This story belongs properly to Hina as the Moon-goddess (see If 24). In Hawaiian legend we are told that it is only by the rainbow that Hina's heavenly ...

365 Goddess, A Daily Guide to the Magic and Inspiration of the Goddess

Moon Day (United States) HINA : Moon; Communication; Cycles; ... Coconut : This Tahitian goddess is the Lady in the Moon who shines on us with her changing ...