KING, SERGE KAHILI

Leading proponent of theHawaiianHunatradition. The addition of the family name Kahili to his name derives from his adoption by akupua, or “shaman of the Hawaiian tradition,” at the age of 18, three or four years after his father had initiated him in Huna. King also studied with WestAfricanshamans. His many books and lectures convey his stress on down-to-earth practicality and his rooting of shamanism in urban reality. Like mostneoshamans, he portrays shamanism as helping others to know themselves better, a form ofhealingentirely fitted to modernity.