Madam Pele

Pele the Fire Goddess of the Big Island of Hawaii

There are many legends and stories about the power and wrath of our Goddess, Pele. Most Hawaiians have had at least one sighting of her in their lifetime and many have had more. I myself have seen her twice, and have felt her presence more times than I can count. Once I saw her at the volcano during the 1959 eruption, and another time, in 1974, I picked her up hitchhiking in Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Pele is a shape changer and will appear in any shape she chooses, but seems to favor some more than others. It is common to see her dancing and swirling in the fires and smoke of the active volcano with her long black hair keeping time with her movements, dancing and swirling away from her body as she twists and turns in the fire.

Often she will be seen as a medium sized white dog wandering alone on a moonless night. When she is spotted in the shape of the white dog it is a sign of a death in the ohana (family).

Pele has been seen as an old hag, bent-over with age, and with bits of lava rock and ash clinging to her long, salt and peppered gray hair. She has also been seen as a beautiful young Hawaiian woman, with gorgeous long, blue-black hair flowing down past her waist.

Madame Pele's attire have included old raggedy clothes, muu-muus, holokus and peareus in white, red or black. The pareau being wrapped and tied in the Hawaiian tradition.

People must have respect for Madame Pele, her ways and her aina. The rocks must not be taken from the volcano area. If the rocks are taken away from the area, or from the islands back to the mainland, only hard luck will befall these people until the rocks have been returned to their rightful place.