February 18, 2015 in Huna
“A controversial and interesting figure Max Freedom Long (1890-1971) was an American who shortly after graduating from UCLA in 1917 moved to the island of Hawaii to teach in elementary schools. When he arrived, he claimed that some Native Hawaiians were practicing what he called “magic.” Long wrote that, at first, he was skeptical of this magic, but later became convinced that it worked. He devoted the rest of his life to creating theories about how the Native Hawaiians did what he claimed they did, and teaching those theories through the sale of books and newsletters.
Long decided to call his compilation of teachings Huna, because one meaning of the word is “hidden secret.” He wrote that he derived it from the word kahuna, which is a priest or master craftsman who ranked near the top of the social scale.