The Maori and the Guardians: A Spiritual Connection

October 19th, 2037:
The Maori and the Guardians: A Spiritual Connection
A Newswire Exclusive
By: Terri Kopp
Maybe it was hidden under our noses the whole time.
In almost every major myth developed by classical civilizations there is a figure who is a Guardian of Light. Baldr in Norse myth, Hyperion in Greek, Zhulong in Chinese; the list goes on. Many times these deities, or culture heroes, are associated not only with light, but also the Sun, the Heavens, or with healing and rebirth. With this plethora of characters it isn't a major surprise that the one who defied the odds with elements of truth slipped under the radar.
There's been a lot of debate over the body that was found in the Sonora Desert last month. What we are calling the Smoking Mirror. The Guardian Church has embraced this figure and is claiming it to be the body of one of the Guardians, left behind on Earth to help guide our civilizations. As you may suspect there has been some doubt to this claim, but as with everything Guardian Church related there is plenty of proof to be had.
A truth is that the body was found with a hand-written journal that has been dated as being from around 1200AD. This is initially rather strange as the last official recorded visit by the Guardians was supposed to have been to the Mayan Civilizations circa 900AD. The journal, now only partially deciphered, speaks of its author having visited the Maori in the mid-1200s. This creates an interesting conundrum as there had been no reported Guardian visits to anywhere in South East Asia, Australia or the Pacific Islands. Professor Hemi Mahunga, of the Waitangi University of Maori Arts and Culture was brought in to identify and try to understand the journal as well as a few other Maori-based artifacts found at the site - a set of intricately carved sticks. After a great deal of study he formally presented the carved sticks to the Mohio Academy and Museum at Wellington during a lecture on myth and culture in New Zealand. 
Professor Mahunga spoke at length about a cultural hero of the Maori, Maui. He could be compared to Hercules, known for his cunning, feats of heroism and trickery. In Maori mythology Maui attempted to win immortality for humanity, but failed, dooming mankind to be mortal, and die. Before he died he was granted a vision of the future, one where mankind would be divided apart by outsiders. This vision was taken by the Maori as representing solidarity of culture and people, and when Europeans came to New Zealand they found a strong culture, willing to accept the outside world, but not willing to change or be destroyed by it. To this day the Maori people exist as a major part of New Zealand's population, mixing modern advances with traditional practices. 
The Professor put forth an idea that Maui was actually a Guardian and that it is in fact Maui they found in the desert. Traditionally, the Guardians would land and appear to a classic civilization and then depart after humanity immediately took to worshipping them. This was a pattern that happened all over the world and is what is universally known as the sign of a Guardian Race landing. But what if things were different when the Guardians decided to visit the Maori people?
We now seem to have a deviation, or so Professor Mahunga hypothesizes. From only the carvings found on the sticks, Mahunga believes the ancient Maori did not worship the Guardians but saw them as protectors of the light, beings who offered them a way to change their destiny. The vision Maui saw could be one where in the future they would be marginalized as a people, split apart under the pressure of European colonization, as was seen almost the whole world over. The classic Maori instead unified and kept their culture rich and alive but also evolved it and held to a tight dogma based on beliefs and practices. The uncovered carved sticks tell a story of the Guardians and suggest that Maui was left behind as a guide or maybe a scout. He was waiting for a time when mankind was culturally and technologically advanced enough to welcome the return of the Guardians.
Maui is seen now as a Guardian of the Maori culture, both literally and figuratively. The appearance and understanding of the stories this body tells us shakes the very foundation of what we understood about the Guardians. The story of Maui on the surface looks like any other culture hero of light and fire, but with this new information it appears that he helped shape an entire civilization as well.
Category:Guardians
Category:VR News