Many modern day astronomers, down play or simply disregard the knowledge that was held and the knowledge that many are attempting to learn today. This was a very brief description of the knowledge held by the Polynesians. There’s much more and it’s much more complicated than I describe. I hope if you do take away anything, it’s to look up at the night sky. No phone, no camera and no telescope. There is a truly special connection to be made if you allow it.

If heading south the cross will be rising in the sky as you go. Hitting the South Pole it will be far overhead. Heading north and it will sink to the horizon. So how did the cross come into play? When you are in the same latitude as Hawai’i, the distance between the top star (Gacrux) and the bottom star (Acrux) is the same distance from Acrux to the horizon.

Since the moon is positioned either east or west of the sun, if you draw a line between the light and dark surface of the moon, it will align roughly north and south. As the Sun gives east to west directions, and the winds create swells. A swell coming from the north will travel south and so on. In Hawai’i, navigators would look for the Southern Cross.