spiritual vision

pohutu

spirits meet mortals

excitement

This is the Pohutu geyser at Te Puia near Rotorua in central North Island of New Zealand. It erupts once or twice an hour sometimes reaching up to 3o metres in height. This area of the North Island is rich in geothermal activity with an aroma of sulphur often drifting over the city .

The Maori first arrived in New Zealand (they call it Aotearoa) around 1000 years ago by canoe from one or more of Hawaii, Tahiti and the Cook Islands. There were many migrations over the following centuries. As they travelled around the islands and into the North Island the Maori encountered volcanic and geothermal activity. Their stories and legends passed down indicate they were very familiar with this geographic phenomena and earthquakes. They immediately made spiritual connections with hot springs, geysers, mud pools and volcanoes.  Maori people of the central North Island around Rotorua tell of the High Priest Ngatoroirangi who called to his sisters Te Hoata and Te Pupa from his homeland of Hawaki. They appeared to him above the ground in the form of this geyser and according to stories also created the other geysers, thermal springs and volcanoes.

This is my contribution to the 52 week Photo Challenge the last one for 2016 is SPIRIT and boy do a lot of us need some. See the other brilliant images for SPIRIT at https://nanacathydotcom.wordpress.com/2016/12/29/photo-challenge-spirit/#comments For next years challenge planned by Cathy and Sandra visit Cathy’s blog at  https://nanacathydotcom.wordpress.com/one-a-week-photo-challenge-2017/