Harry Wilson outside the Cambridge Resthaven apartments at the start of his karakia. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Ngāti Koroki Kahukura’s Harry Wilson knows he’s in for a tough time at the next day’s karakia if he has a sleepless night.
“I usually get dreams the day before,” he said after he blessed Cambridge Resthaven’s new apartments recently describing it as “spiritual cleansing”.
People often tell him a karakia or blessing of buildings and spaces is a whole lot of “mumbo jumbo.”
“I get that all the time, but your senses will know, will pick up on things. It’s all about appeasing those.”
Harry Wilson of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
The Waikato still has a lot of areas that have not been blessed since the Land Wars of the 1840s and 1860s where an estimated 2990 people, including 736 British and Colonial troops and 2254 Māori, lost their lives.
“It’s about connecting again and releasing that energy.”
Wilson said he had a clear day before the Resthaven karakia which he said was like being in a waka.
“It was like sailing in with the breeze, plain sailing, using our energy, our thoughts and projecting that onto the space. Everything was cool.”
But he recalled another blessing in Hamilton where he saw the image of Satan the night before.
“When we went there, we had no information, nothing. So, I connected the energy and made everything safe.”
Wilson’s ancestor is Tūkāroto Matutaera Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Tāwhiao (King Tāwhiao) who was born in Ōrongokoekoeā – halfway between Te Kūiti and Taumarunui in the King Country – in 1822 and died in Pārāwera in August 1894. He was buried on Taupiri maunga but is not resting in peace yet, said Wilson.
“He’s usually around with me and will look after me. His energy is there. He was always about the next generation. He’s still trying to fix it up. We want everyone to respect one another.”
Wilson often gets calls from landowners to come and bless their land.
“It’s all for free, we don’t charge, whether it’s Māori or non Māori.”
Harry Wilson outside the Cambridge Resthaven apartments at the start of his karakia. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
