ASWM 2021 Virtual Conference: Celebrating the Work of Marija Gimbutas

 

Register Here! A Conference I've attended and presented at several times in the past, one I very much have enjoyed and learned from!   Wisdom Across the Ages ~ Celebrating the Centennial of Archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas July 16-18 PROGRAM NEWS   We've added some great blog posts on our website. Joan Marler's remarks on her upcoming Symposium keynote "Remembering a Great Woman of Science", introducing the Symposium panelists and topics on “Voices from/for the Land: Wisdom of Place and Tradition”.  Also, Miriam Robbins Dexter discusses her latest book and how she is honoring Marija Gimbutas in her current projects. ABOUT OUR EVENT WEBSITE:   Our Symposium is hosted through a different event website. You can recognize it by the red and gray color scheme and the ASWM Bee logo in the upper left of the Menu. We want you to get the most out of your online experience. Please review these notes about the event website.    Notes for everyone:  While the program sessions are only open to those who register, some features of the site are available to everyone. They are: Gratitude and Tributes to Marija: This is an interactive page open to all of our members and friends, whether or not you have registered for the event. You may add words or videos to an archive of appreciations. If you met or knew Dr. Gimbutas, or you were influenced by her research, or you just want to express gratitude for her vision and persistence, your remarks will become part of the permanent record of this important centennial event.   On Demand Program: Here you will find samples of music and performances by featured speakers and others whose work is inspired by Marija Gimbutas. We'll share the link as soon as the page is available.  Online Art Exhibition: Watch for information about the opening of our international, juried art show through both the event site and our ASWM site. It is free and open to the public for 60 days as a companion to our event.  Notes for Those Who Register: Talk to us -  Live Chat: You can chat with the event team to answer questions about registration or logging in. This feature is Live between 9 and 5 Eastern Daylight Time, M-F. At other times you may leave an email and get a prompt response. The Chat button is on the bottom right of any page. Time Zones: When you are looking at the schedule for the Symposium, please note that the time indicated is reflected in YOUR local time zone (according to where your computer is located). Logging In: Once you have registered, you can Login to the site using your email. There is no password associated with your registration. Click "Login", enter your email address (be sure to use the one you registered with) and you're in! Watch at leisure: Don't miss a thing! All of our programs will be recorded, and will remain available (to all who are registered) for 12 months following the event. Test Drive the experience on Demo Days: To help you navigate the site and get the most out of the event, our Team is offering Demonstration Sessions on July 14 and 15. They will help you navigate the site and access all of our programming with ease so you don't miss a moment of content! Once you're registered, you'll get an email with all the details.    MEMBERS: be sure to register from the ASWM webpage to get the member-only discount: www.womenandmyth.org.

Summer Solstice 2021

Found at the Chalice Well in Glastonbury, UK.

In Ursula Leguin's Earthsea Novels,  the Summer Solstice is celebrated by dancing "the Long Dance" all night, to watch the sun rise in the morning.  Something many do on this planet as well, and still. I have done so myself.  I wish all the Blessings of the Day, and may we each find a way to  "dance the Long Dance" together in body or in spirit this sacred and most primeval day.  Here (again, and again) is the poem I share on such days, because the words and harp of the poet will always arise as I look out at the rising sun on the Solstice, the "World's Self Seen" in all of Her abundance, no matter where I am. "Every blue yonder Her brass harp rings" for those who can stop, who will listen to the deep throb of the Heartbeat, to the Harp strings sounding.    "She  will seal us with Her seed", the poet tells us, and this, strangely, is the taste of immortality I experience, each Solstice, when I stop to listen to the Song that Walks among us.

Every morning when I rise with the sun to water my garden, and especially this morning, I find myself  talking to all the people that live there.  The tall sunflowers, making seeds beloved by finches and sparrows.  The desert tortoise who has decided to live here.  My cats, and the  green scarab beetles getting drunk on tree sap.  The bees, having a drink at the bird bath, and the hummingbird. All the beings sensed and unseen, but friendly somehow too.  As  a child, the garden was full of "people" for me to visit, and now, an old woman, I seem to have returned again to that happy experience, unconcerned with what others think, and increasingly tired of all my human "identities" at last.  So much is possible by just shifting the way we see things, from an "it" to a "you".  When we "see with a Webbed Vision".  The world becomes again  conversant.  I think (again) of a story by Ursula Leguin called "May's Lion" that speaks so eloquently to that power of naming.  But let the rest of this post belong (again) to the Poet, Robin Williamson.  And the Glory of the Summer Solstice!

Summer Solstice, Brushwood, 2008

Verses from Powis

I am a lover of the steady Earth

And of Her waters.

She says:  “Let the light be brilliant, 

for those who will cherish color.”

What if there be no Heaven?

 She says: “Touch my Breasts - the fields are golden.”

Her Songs are all of love, lifelong.

Every blue yonder, Her brass harp rings.

Unlettered, in Her rivers our cherished sins

Drift voiceless in Her clouds.

She will rust us with blossom

She will forgive us

She will seal us

with Her seed.

Robin Williamson

Invocation

You that create the diversity of the forms:

Open to my words
You that divide it and multiply it

Hear my sounds

Ancient associates and fellow wanderers
You that move the heart in fur and scale

I join with you

You that sing bright and subtle
Making shapes 
that my throat cannot tell

You that harden the horn
And make quick the eye

You that run the fast fox 
and the zigzag fly

You sizeless makers of the mole
And of the whale:  aid me and I will aid you

You that lift the blossom
and the green branch
You who make symmetries more true

Who dance in slower time

Who watch the patterns

You rough coated
Who eat water

Who stretch deep and high
With your green blood
My red blood 

let it be mingled

Aid me and I will aid you

I call upon you

You who are unconfined
Who have no shape
Who are not seen

But only in your action
I will call upon you

You who have no depth
But choose direction

Who bring what is willed
That you blow love
upon the summers of my loved ones
That you blow summers
upon those loves of my love


Aid me and I will aid you

I make a pact with you

You who are the liquid
Of the waters
And the spark of the flame:

I call upon you

You who make fertile the soft earth
And guard the growth of the growing things
I make peace with you

You who are the blueness of the blue sky
And the wrath of the storm
I take the cup with you

Earth shakers

And with you
the sharp and the hollow hills
I make reverence to you

Round wakefulness 

We call the Earth

I make wide eyes to you

You who are awake

Every created thing
both solid and sleepy
Or airy light,
I weave colors 'round you

You who will come with me

I will consider it Beauty

I will consider it

Beauty, beauty

by Robin Williamson 

Published by  WARLOCK MUSIC, LTD.

https://youtu.be/7xvIDX9gKhg

Guest House

 

After 10 years,, I recently blocked off my AIRBNB listings, at least for a while.  I find that it's time for a break, and that I desire to be alone for awhile, not in service to the needs or presences of other people.  I have much to be grateful to AIRBNB for, I've met all kinds of people over the years, and it has enlarged me a great deal learning from them all.  I've had a lot of fun building a kind of "enclave" on my property, with 4 tiny houses or casitas now, in addition to the main house with it's 4 bedrooms.  I still have dreams of having more than transitory travelers here, of having perhaps someday a real community of kindred souls, but that has not happened yet.   But now I need some alone time to condense myself in my own space, so I will "retire" from "running an inn" for a while, with gratitude for all it has given me.  Here is a poem by Rumi that came to mind as I think on all the people over the years I've hosted.    Sometimes I think about how I have, however transitory, made a space for others.....and when I feel disappointed or tired, I try to remember that you never now what kind of haven one might have provided, what effect, is any, your presence, garden or art or stories or books lying around that you haven't read in years............might have.  And, of course, the other way as well, the lessons that each encounter can potentially provide.

The Guest-House

 
This being human is a guest-house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you
out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

 

Found: A Book for Spider Woman

 I'm at a funky hot spring I sometimes go to when I need to, and this morning I saw a beautiful snake curled up by my campsite.  Determining that it was not a rattle snake, I watched it unwind, flash its forked tongue at me a few times, and then spiral away slowly into the bushes.  I felt quite graced by that presence!  Which may or may not have anything to do with finding another "book that never happened"  in my Blog, and wanting to share it again, as well as to remind myself to not let it just vanish.  It was a proposal for a book arts residency that I didn't get.   I really should see about just finishing the book myself somehow........................ 

Nov. 17, 2017

This is the time of year I go through the tedious process of applying for things, which I try not to be disappointed by when the rejections roll in.  I figure it's kind of like "artist Bingo".......sometimes you win.  And I've "won" a few times in the past, and been fortunate to have some great residencies and even a few awards and fellowships.  So this was an application to make an artist's book in the spring at the Women's Studio Center  in New York. Usually I tear my hair out when I make these applications, but this was fun!  

A book would consist of no more than 20 pages all silk screened and hand bound, so the pages would really be part of a "bound theme show" in a way.  I returned to my many  years of devotion to the Legend of the  Spider Woman in coming up with these prototypes for pages.  With so much competition, I seriously doubt I'll be considered, but, the ideas were fun to make and who knows, maybe they could become a book anyway.  I shall never tire of images that speak to me of the meaning of "A Webbed Vision".

All images are copyright Lauren Raine MFA (2017)