It was a warm afternoon and I found myself steering a waka (canoe) in a fast flowing inlet where the river meets the ocean with a Māori woman on board as our navigator and several other people as well. Everyone sang uplifting waiata (songs) to gain the attention of those on land. As we moved through the water I noticed faceless people and other entities standing at jetties waiting to get onboard and then it struck me that as the steerer - these people were our passengers.
I looked at my own task as steerer and noticed my rudder was made of dark wood and was fashioned like a chicken wing extending into 3 parts to a sharp point at the end. Once fully extended it could be dug deep into the riverbed to push off, turning it the other way and stabbing it into the riverbed would make the waka stop against the current.
Folding it into two and left in the water acted like a proper rudder to maneuveur the waka or to create drag to slow it down, and folding it into one piece enabled it to be used like an oar for better maneuveuring or lifting it completely out to go fast.
I eventually realised the role of the Gatekeeper of the East or Kaitiaki of the East - in one respect, is to steer the waka wairua or waka of all the spirits which come to the whenua (land) each day from the East, and who must be called back onboard the waka towards the evening as it leaves to go into the West. Those spirits or energies who deliver all of God's gifts through us each and every day.
* Waka wairua (Waka of Spirits)
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