Pele


 
 

Pele is the fiery Hawaiian volcano goddess.  The daughter of the earth goddess Haimea, Pele came to Hawaii in a boat.  Killed in a fight with her sister, the ocean, she took refuge in the glowing cauldron of Mount Kilaeua where she receives the souls of the dead and regenerates them with fire.  In a tempestuous relation with Kamapua'a, the ferocious pig god, she is portrayed as a jealous goddess, her jealous rages manifesting as volcanic eruptions.  Revered by Hawaiians even today, she carries the force of the volcano with its molten lave flow that even in destruction is creating new land.  Pele stands for the molten, pierce aspect of life that is unable to do anything halfway.  She reminds us that even in the midst of fiery eruption there is creation and new life.
 
 
 
 
 
 

together in light and darkness

           








description & paintings  by Susan Seddon Boulet