If you travel areas untouched and unspoiled by modern civilisation and look hard enough, you will find traces of the lost culture of the Taniwha.

The weathered coastlines of New Zealand reveal the best treasures, while overgrown forests and dense bush hide other distinct signs of the high order of earthly magic possessed by the Taniwha.

These sites – often tapu (sacred) and sometimes forbidden to visit – are numerous, but if one respects the power attributed to these locations, one can feel the faint echo of (magic) energy emanating from between the rocks and trees.

You will find all sizes of rock carefully lifted and placed in unique locations to observe the movement of the stars, circles of trees purposely grown to conceal sacred groves, and unusual rolling hills drawn from beneath the earth under which they buried their secrets.

The off-spring of the Taniwha – referred to as giants – also left behind a lasting legacy, such was their curious religion of living rock.

Under the wishes of the gods, the Aho – the god’s most trusted guardians – were commanded to erase these monuments and their creators. Although they destroyed or removed most of these spiritual structures, the Aho were decimated during the brutal Second Taniwha Wars.

But a few Māori iwi retained the knowledge left behind in the wake of their terrible conflict.