Family Traditions

Apprenticeship

There is a framework. But much of what happens isn’t up to me. Or to you. And that is a hard truth to practice, not knowing. To entertain the possibility of magic and mystery having a seat in the circle. There is weight involved. There is kuleana.

The threads we weave with our time next to each other will likely be a mix of Lāʻau Lapaʻau and Botanical Medicine Making, ID and familiarity to native plants of Hawaiʻi and North America, and the stories of the old ones, from Hawaiʻi Nei and the lands of our peoples. We will tend to projects around my hale and across the island. Whatever unfurls, it will be work, and if the gods see it fit, our time together could deepen and widen our capacity to be human.

The next session is called: Shaped by Water

September to November 2024

11 planned sessions with a few mystery days woven in.

Sessions will occur mostly Tuesdays from 8am-1pm with some Saturdays.

Please be in touch to inquire. Spaces are limited.

"The reasons my elders push me to run the apprenticeship are many I am sure. One that I have deciphered is to submit to being seen in my prayer practice. Could a person see in the ways I behave that I am grateful to be alive, for the countless blessings that have already come my way. Every encounter I have had with wise old ones from all lands begin and end their crafts in prayer, no matter what modality of skill, healing, or art they practice. They are all masters of ceremony.”

Botanical Medicine

Botanical medicine comes from all of our old people. Practicing kinship to plants and praising them for their healing strengths is a huge part of Family Traditions. Botanical Medicine is also a prayer and an invocation for village-mindedness, for families, for ʻohana to have the ability to care for their kin and community with everyday ailments, with their own hands and within their own backyards.

Family Traditions has an array of oils, creams, and mists that capture the essence of Hawaiʻi, the strength of our plants, and deep Aloha. We maintain a full-fledged apothecary in our small home and are also happy to create custom orders for chronic and critical needs. All plants are grown in our garden or collected from fellow neighbors and farmers.

Check out Family Traditions Products on Etsy

Botanical Medicine Lineage

"The practice of Lāʻau Lapaʻau was passed and told to me by Kumu Keoki Baclayon, Aunty Mahilani Poepoe, Uncle Hoaka Delos Reyes, Kahu Lei'ohu Ryder and from the land, water, and plants themselves. My education of Western Herbalism was forged by the California School of Herbal Studies, hugely influenced by Lily Mazzarella, Rosemary Gladstar, Richo Ceck, David Hoffmann, and Aviva Romm, as well as a year long apprenticeship with Jon Carlson in the Vitalist Traditions of Michael Moore, Ayurveda studies with DeAnna Batdroff at the Dhyana Center and eight years volunteering in the Wellness First Aid Tent of the Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium."

Lomi Lomi

Lomo lomi is a whole body system which incorporates Pule, Lāʻau Lapaʻau, Hoʻoponopono and Bone Setting. It has the capacity to balance the Spirit all the way down to the bones. It tends to be deep physical and emotional work, and requires the alignment of the practitioner, the receiver, and the gods, for any shift to occur.

Lomi lomi is not separate from our daily lives. Your family is welcome. Our sessions are open to your husbands/ wives/ sweethearts and your children / keiki, to participate, rest, and be with us. I offer both table work and mat work.

About Khadija

Khadija Meghan Rashell Striegel lives and works on the island of Maui, Hawaiʻi were she was born. Khadija practices botanical medicine, lomi lomi bodywork, and ethnobotany. She assists two local non-profit groups, Aloha in Action and Hawaiʻi Island Land Trust, in their efforts to revitalize culturally significant native forests, and is known for her craftsmanship, especially in lei making. Khadija hosts important and challenging conversations around belonging, community, and connection to the more-than-human, in her annual apprenticeship and in village gatherings. She currently attends the University of Hawaiʻi, where she focuses on deepening her skills and knowledge in the untold histories of Hawaiʻi Nei and in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, the oral Language of Hawaiʻi.

In Their Wake

It is the work we get asked to do, and then agree to pick up and carry, that is our true inheritance.

As a young person there’s an attitude of how dare anyone tell me what to do, how to think, or how to move. As a middle-aged person, there’s an illusion that we’re supposed to have it all figured out by now and should not still be seeking guidance or tutelage. But it seems to me that humans of all ages would do well from having people older than them that they are willing to submit to.

A decade ago, I met three people skilled at eldering: Leiʻohu Ryder, Maydeen ʻIao and Stephen Jenkison. Leiʻohu and Maydeen are the Kahu of Kukuipuka Heiau and the founders of the Aloha In Action. Stephen Jenkinson is a cultural activist, author, ceremonialist, and farmer. Along with his wife Nathalie Roy, they founded the Orphan Wisdom school.

Something that Leiʻohu, Maydeen, and Stephen have in common, and is perhaps a sign of a skilled elder, is that they don’t teach. They tell us. They tell us stories. They tell us how to remember.

Sitting at the feet of elders, there’s not a lot of “how to”, but a lot of “go do”. They don’t desire to be the center of the story, they are not asking me to be like them. They offer an opportunity for me to run into my own habits, assumptions and conditionings.

It has been and continues to be life altering to see humans practice the capacity to actually be somewhere, to witness older people that have submitted their lives to be claimed by place. Being in the wake of a person of consequence is etiquette in practice, legacy without demand, a bone lineage rather than a blood line.

It is the work we get asked to do, and then agree to pick up and carry, that is our true inheritance.