MAUI SACRED SITES and Power Spots

KUKAEMOKU

'Iao Needle

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This is the centerpiece of the valley, a 2,250 foot high monolithic remnant of a basalt volcanic core. Commonly called "'Iao Needle," its Hawaiian name is Kukaemoku, roughly translated as "pile of excrement" (some sources translate it as "upright, isolated, projecting brow of a hill," which certainly sounds nicer). It was revered as the phallic stone of Kanaloa, god of the ocean, and it was also used as a lookout post by the defenders of the island.