Mana Energy: A Brief Explanation of the Polynesian Life Force

Missionary R.H. Coddington was one of the first western anthropologists to study deeply into the concept of mana, though his primary concern was using it to bring a Christian religion to the region. The term has caused a lot of trouble for anthropologists and linguists, and no perfect translation exists.

One difficulty is that there seems to be a need to view the word out of context, but the meaning can change markedly depending on the situation. In general, it can be understood as being anything that is outside of the normal powers of man. It seems to be a key to truly understanding some of the deeper nuances of Pacific culture.

What Does Mana Mean in Hawaii?

In Hawaii, mana can be an energy or power that can be concentrated in both living things and natural objects. It is an energy that can be lost or gained. Sexual activity and fighting are both viewed as ways one can gain energy. There are also certain places that are believed to possess a large amount of mana. Two in Hawaii are the volcano of Haleakala on Maui and the sites of battles on Molokai.

New Zealand’s traditional use of the word is a bit different. It is something that somebody is born with, passed down from higher beings called kawai tipuna. Chiefs and their kin are considered to be of higher birth, more closely related to kawai tipuna and therefore are possessed or more mana. It was not uncommon to carefully mate high ranking families to keep mana levels high. It almost seems as if mana in this way can be seen as influence or political power. However, it can be acquired throughout one’s life, but also lost, primarily through their actions.

For example, being a skilled warrior or even an artist can increase one’s mana, as can having a deep knowledge of the past. It can be lost through carelessness, not finishing jobs, unwarranted hurting or insulting a person, or an abuse of one’s influence. Certain places have more mana than others. Inanimate objects such as certain objects or the heirlooms of powerful families can be possessed of it.

A full exploration of all the meanings of and uses of words across cultures is something that would require the scope of a whole book, so this article will stop with only the two aforementioned examples, but from just these one can see the nuance of the topic.

Given that many of the regions that utilize the concept of mana were non-literate before coming into contact with European settlers, it is difficult to explore how the philosophy surrounding it has evolved or where it started from.

One such culture that did have writing was some Fijin cultures and in older texts, mana has a connection to speech. However, modern anthropologists have already seen the concept change in the last couple hundred years.

With the rise of Christianity in these regions, mana has been linked with the church. For example, Christian priests are now thought to bring mana, which may be viewed as an extension of God’s grace and his power.

Mana has also taken a more political meaning over the years. It can be seen as a synonym for political power or authority. For example, in the Hawaiian constitution of 1852, the term is employed to mean a branch of the government.

Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss physician, was one of the key figures who used the concept of mana to explain his views on psychic energy and the collective unconscious. Mana is an energy that exists in everyone’s collective unconscious on a regular basis and around which everything revolves. This universal magical power corresponds to the idea of soul, spirit, God, health, physical strength, fertility, magic, influence, power, prestige, medicine, as well as certain emotional states. Though these ideas were expressed differently in different cultural contexts, he believed that at their core they dealt with the same psychic forces that he had explored in his psychological theories.

According to Jung, a person’s psyche develops through experiences with a variety of archetypes and symbolic figures. On this path, the “mana personality” is an important stage: by dissolving the constraints of the ego, the individual connects with the collective consciousness, so that the conscious and the unconscious coexist. This power often manifests as inner wisdom, creativity, and intuition, and the person often notices deeper connections and synchronicity in ordinary life events.

Though extremely intelligent and open-minded, Jung has come under fire for balancing in-depth research with antiquated methods and for not using primary case studies to support his theories. He also often juxtaposed ethnographic accounts that were unrelated to each other.

Although mana energy is sometimes listed as a synonym of other concepts of energy and power such as qi / chi and prana, as seen from above, it is a poor model. This has not stopped new agers from adopting it into their healing philosophies.

It is one of those buzzwords that can be thrown onto a particular product to make it seem more mystical or give it some sort of relevancy or exoticism. This is especially noticeable in products that come from Hawaii or other Pacific ring islands.

The modern movement of using mana energy for healing was popularized by Max Freedom Long. He claimed that a museum curator named William Tufts Brigham used a large portion of his life exploring the concept during his years living in Hawaii.

Long started the Huna Research group. He found that mana could be used for healing, combining these ideas with the healing theories of Wilhelm Reich. One his followers even developed a machine that was marketed as being able to sharpen razor blades.

Mana is often used in modern Oceanic literature. It has a clear link to the past culture. It has for example lent its name to a literature magazine.

Mana has found some popularity in gaming circles, in part thanks to the work of Carl Gustav Jung. In the game universe, a Mana personality is someone like a sorcerer, shaman, or other divine person who has a lot of spiritual authority and a strong connection to magical energies or spells. The collectable card game Magic: The Gathering uses the name mana for their cost of spells. It has also found use in various video games, especially those produced by Blizzard Entertainment such as the Diablo series and the massively popular World of Warcraft series.

These have helped bring the term to the collective consciousness of the west, though with little connection to the original use of the term.

Updated: July 14, 2024. – This article was originally published on February 7, 2021.