Indigenous Technology, Myth, and Wounded Masculine
Addressing the ills of modern life
Technology, by its older definition, is a systematic application of knowledge to achieve an outcome.
For example, here in Hawai’i, before colonization, the indigenous people had sophisticated ecological technologies that kept all of the people fed. In the system called Loko i’a, they routed water from the mountains through various taro fields carrying nutrients into brackish coastal fishponds.1
The technology was more than physical, too; they preserved memory, navigated vast waters through intuition, and repaired personal and community relations through ritual.
The Hawaiian way of repairing community relations was really enhanced through the practice of Ho’oponopono — to make things right. There, an elder sits between conflicting people, allowing them to air their differences without judgment, such that their hearts can open. Then, the elder walks folks through a process of reconciliation and forgiveness. I am sorry [list of things], Please forgive me [list of transgressions], Thank you [list of gratitude], I love you.
Modern life, on the other hand, can be described as disconnected. We don’t have conflict reconciliation practices. In a capitalist society, people feel fragmented from their communities, while their essences and creativity are extracted. This is the wounded masculine at work.
To understand how these technologies work, we must first learn to speak their language. The language of myth and symbol.
Indigenous technology is an answer to the themes of the wounded masculine.
Mythical Language as Technology
For my more rational readers born from the academy, the language I use here will be mythic. Some of you may prefer precise and empirical language. That’s useful for medicine and space travel. But I invite another way of thinking about things…
In the arts, humanities, and indigenous cosmologies, mythical language leans on right-brain intelligence. It uses myths, symbols, and metaphors. In scientific language, we understand things as “they are” but through mythical language, we say, “this happens” over and over, inside us.
In mythical language, we use symbols. Every character — whether animal, object, or place — represents more than itself. Like a snake represents shedding of skin to transform. This snake, then, becomes an archetype. Archetypes are recurring patterns and figures that we collectively share. For example, the snake in Adam and Eve, or a snake in the Hindu Kundalini. They are vehicles of awakening.
The purpose of mythical language is to show that the cycles of life carry common themes. Like the “hero’s journey” or the “three-act structure”, these patterns are universal.2 It’s functional because it shows us how to grow, grieve, survive, and ultimately, transform.
Therefore, mythical language is a technology. It whittles complex knowledge into simple forms. By seeing the complexity in simplicity, we see ourselves. Every good movie does this, no?
The Wounded Masculine
If you were to scroll social media, you may find a lot of spiritual influencers say “the wounded masculine.” This isn’t some half-baked idea from the new age movement. It’s an ancient mythical archetype — our earliest records are of it in Egypt, Sumer, and Akkad 2500BCE-1000BCE. Old mythologies, like Goddess Inanna’s descent into the underworld, were a confrontation with masculine authority.
The common theme of wounded masculine through the eras is that of authority and rationality supplanting embodied, nature-based wisdom. Logic over mystery. In many ways, stoic in its most negative form. Noble on the outside, disconnected from inner-knowing. This space begets obedience and submission to authority, and authority seeks to control.
Naturally, this has come up many times in our history — every war against fascism, for example — where hierarchical control wages war. It also comes out as conquering Christians against pagans, as noted by Silvia Federici during the witch trials of Europe.
This is the wounded masculine.
This work is not just for men — women and non-binary folks carry the masculine within them as well. We all possess the divine masculine within us, it’s just a matter if we know it and healing it.
It’s an archetype of dominance. It seeks to control without connection to what it holds. In its own head, it uses rationality without considering the whole picture.
What does this have to do with indigenous technology?
Indigenous technology is an answer to the themes of the wounded masculine.
Here, various tools reconnect to our place in the universe, and most importantly, to ourselves. Whereas the wounded masculine seeks to take from Earth, either through degrading farming practices or colonial economic structures, the indigenous seeks healing by permaculture and reciprocal economies. Instead of internal domination by trying to live up to some imaginary standard, there is internal flourishing.
Let’s get into it.
Technologies
Technologies of the Psyche: In “Buddha in Redface,” by Eduardo Duran, he finds that Buddhism and the ideas of detachment are common practices in Indian country. Throughout the world, indigenous cultures have independently developed the same tools to heal the mind and heart: soul retrieval, energy work, and ancestral veneration.
Technologies of Ecology: In Southern California, the Tongva people have been gaining small parts of land back to help heal the ecological destruction of over-development and under-care of wilderness. The indigenous mode is that the people are kin with their surroundings. This attunes them to the land, and not simply a “variable.” Further, they have developed hunting and foresting taboos to help protect ecologies — in Hawai’i, it’s called kapu.
Technologies of the Body: The ideas of prana, chi, ki, mana, or asé are found throughout the world. Modern science is just beginning to put its finger on it through epigenetics, fascia intelligence, and the polyvagal theory. In fact, many of our baseline medicines, like aspirin and metformin, come from indigenous communities. Things such as sound baths and acupuncture were once considered fringe treatments, but these indigenous methods are now normal treatments for emotional and physical pain.
Technologies of Knowledge: While modernity prizes singular truth and progress, indigenous wisdom acknowledges paradox, cycles, a mystical unknowing. In doing so, it taps into intuition as intelligence. This is accessed through the “third eye,” right bright intelligence, and body intelligence.
Through these various technologies, we regenerate life on Earth. Whereas the wounded masculine seeks to take from people and Earth, the indigenous ways seek reconciliation by seeing nature and man as one.
Transforming into Sacred Masculine
If we were to talk to the wounded masculine, and heal it, a person would embody the following: A desire to listen before speaking. They do not conquer their emotions per se, but sing, cry, and pray without shame. Vulnerability to pain is power. The body is not something to dominate through exercise and beating pain out of it, but an altar to venerate. They begin to feel the earth in their body. Ultimately, the masculine becomes a protector and servant of others, not a destroyer.
Carl Jung would say the archetype of the healed masculine is embodied in some of these forms: the king, the warrior, the magician, the lover.
This work is not just for men — women and non-binary folks carry the masculine within them as well. We all possess the divine masculine within us, it’s just a matter if we know it and healing it.
It is difficult to know the masculine until you begin to act and see yourself in the harm you create for others. And truly, as human beings, we must give ourselves and others the grace to grow into the best version of our own archetypes. Most importantly, according to James Hollis, the sacred masculine takes full responsibility for their own selves.
This is not just a personal project, but a societal one too. When we see Earth as a mother, we venerate our own inner Earth. When we see the river as a brother, we make sure he is clean. When we see all of humanity as wounded but trying, we can extend compassion. Indigenous technology doesn’t build like modern technology. It allows us to connect and repair.
Using Filipino shamanic practices, Miko the Intuitive Healer removes pain and reconnects people to their life current — their power — and their com-passion.
If you would like to reconnect to your power and expanded consciousness, I offer free 30-minute consultations at Miko Intuitive Healer.
Note: This post was written with the aid of artificial intelligence, including grammar correction and punctuation. The writing and ideas were made by the author.
Loko i’a was so effective Captain Cook’s crew noted them as abundant, and University of Hawai’i research has shown the system could feed tens of thousands of people.
In addition, Claude Lévi-Strauss documented recurring myth structured across cultures