Kete Aronui - rongoā | Te Ipu Aronui

Rongoā is natural medicine, healing and treatments

Rongoā supports health and wellbeing within a cultural and spiritual framework of emotional, physical, spiritual, social and environmental wellbeing. Rongoā means to treat, to preserve, to apply medicines, to find a solution to a problem. The natural and holistic methods Māori practitioners use are varied. For example, a rongoā rākau approach focuses on the essence (life force properties) within each plant, the whakapapa (genealogy) of each plant and the environment they inhabit, and includes the whakapapa of the healer and the one being healed.

During the early stage of living with an illness and in the palliative care phase, rongoā healing can provide comfort to the hinengaro (mind), tinana (physical being) and wairua (spiritual dimension) of those who are ill and dying and their whānau.

Reflecting on the value of ‘Rongoā’, Mary’s pūrākau, ‘I am rongoā’ provides a heartfelt and personal reflection on what rongoā is and what it means to be a matakite and rongoā healer for her.

I am rongoā’ by Mary Bennett

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Reflecting on the value of ‘Ngā tuku ihotanga tūpuna’, Ned & Jane’s pūrākau, ‘Peita – Pae Herenga’ describes how Ned, and some of his rongoā practitioner friends, used the knowledge of Māori plant medicines that was passed down to them by their tūpuna, to care for his mother when she was nearing death.

‘Peita – Pae Herenga’ by Ned and Jane Peita

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