Thomas Jefferson on Democracy

 

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)

Two Mask Making Workshops Offered in the Fall

The Masks of the Goddess

        A  Mask Intensive Workshop for Women

November 3 through 7,  2021  

November 10 through 14, 2021 

$400.00

(includes housing)

$200.00 without housing

​
I'm pleased to be able to offer 2 residential workshops in the Fall at last!  In this 4 Day Mask Arts Intensive for Women  we will  draw on our mythic imaginations  and the many faces of the Divine Feminine as we learn to make durable, professional theatrical masks.   Is there a Goddess you wish to celebrate through the magic of the mask?  And would you like to explore the use of sacred masks in storytelling,  community arts, and ritual theatre?   Open the conversation in this intensive workshop which includes housing if desired.  Workshop is limited to 5 participants.  We begin Thursday morning at 9:00 am and end Sunday afternoon at 5:00 pm.   You take home the means to continue the work. 

 Housing is provided Wednesday nights through Monday mornings (5 nights).  We are an AIRBNB Super Host "Enclave" and accommodations are comfortable and private.   A $100.00 non-refundable deposit  is required, and payment can be made through Paypal or by check.   For further information or to reserve, please contact  Lauren Raine at  laurenraine9@gmail.com or call (520) 609-4904.  

Lauren

www.masksofthegoddess.com

www.laurenraine.com

Lost Art.................

"Gaia" (1987)

 A lot of my body of work over the years has been lost or destroyed, and what I retain are photos. Lately I've felt like it's time to digitize some of those paintings or masks, to preserve them in someway.   Just felt  like posting a few of the "Lost" here..................many of them I have no idea where they went.  But perhaps this post is a way of honoring them because I put so much work and intent into each one, and it makes me sad that too much moving around, no storage, lack of self esteem and hence respect for my own work, and sometimes the intentional destruction by a hostile family member......wasted them.  But I'm glad that I have the photos at least!

The painting above was 9 feet by 4 feet, and was destroyed, as big paintings so often are, when there is no space to store or exhibit them.  I worked so hard on that painting!  I showed it only once, as  part of my mid course MFA Show, it was accompanied by a spoken word musical
 piece called "When the Word for World Was Mother".  I was very influenced then by the writings of  Starhawk in The Spiral Dance , which ultimately led me into Pagan theology and community.  Years later I would move to Berkeley, and end up renting a room from a woman who was one of the founders of Reclaiming Collective, Judy Foster.  Because of Judy, I found myself working with Starhawk, her colleague Macha Nightmare, and Reclaiming on the 20th Annual Spiral Dance in San Francisco. The Masks of the Goddess Collection would be made for that event, and the first time they were performed.

"The Magician - Art" (1994)

From the Rainbow Bridge Oracle, a Tarot deck I created more or less in the early 90's.  Another life size oil painting, this time representing the Magician Tarot Card.  Once it was taken off the stretchers to store, it was all over for the painting.  I stopped doing big paintings after that!  I envisioned the Magician invoking  the white light of the Divine, the unified force, running it through his mind and heart with the power of his intention, and then manifesting on this plane of being the colors of the Rainbow spectrum, which is earthly life in all of its diversity.  I used my then husband, Duncan, as the model, and I still feel it was very successful, getting across the concept I wanted to express about Art and Creation = Magic, as well as a pretty good portrait of him.  It was also a way of honoring Duncan, but a bitter ending to the relationship never allowed me to let him know that.

"The Goddess" (1982)

I painted this when I was living in Putney, Vermont, and it was based on photos I had by a friend from my earlier life in Berkeley, the artist John Hincks.  I have used the photo in my Rainbow Bridge Oracle Deck, but the painting.......I have no idea where it went.  I must have given it to someone when I left Vermont to move to Arizona for Graduate School?  I learned to poo poo this painting as "pretty and decorative" once I got into Graduate School, where, in the 80's, and still so I believe, paintings must be political, shocking, intellectually obscure to prove they are "sophisticated", or best of all, dark enough in style and content to be "Meaningful".   Now retired, I can make beautiful paintings that please me freely, and the heck with the "high" art world's ugly aesthetics!  But I wish I'd kept this painting.................

"The Empress" (1976)

One of the early Tarot paintings I did in the 70's when I lived in Berkeley.  I look back at them and they were rather beautiful, if clumsy.  This one was from a photo I took of a woman who lived in the warehouse/artist's studio building I lived in in Berkeley (there are pretty much no longer any such thing in Berkeley now thanks to gentrification).  I had to take it off the stretchers, where it was rolled up with a bunch of large early paintings.  I am saddened to say that I actually threw this painting away into a dumpster at a storage facility.  More of the self hate I learned somewhere along the way.  Someone somewhere might have enjoyed the painting.  I like to hope someone saw the paintings in the dumpster and rescued them.  A bad time in my life.

"Lilith" (1992)

This one I really like, one of several paintings I did one long winter in 1993, when I lived in New York, using pieces of cut paper to frame the paintings.  Always meant to continue the series but never did.  This one I realize is not lost, but I sent it to the founder of the Lilith Institute in California, so it found a home! Huzzah!  She even framed it!

untitled (1973?)

I hauled this large painting around for years until, I believe, off the stretchers, it ended up in a dumpster in a storage facility.  Once again, I'm sorry that I had so little respect for my work.  

Someone might have enjoyed having this Elfin, Fey man.

"Day of Radience" (1986)

One of the "New Age" paintings I did in Grad School when I was not only going to Grad School but also working with a group of artist friends while we explored some of the spiritual modalities enthusiastically available in the 80's, including past life regression.  Alas, the painting is long gone who knows where, as are also those friends (except for one:  glad you are still around Madeleine!)

"The High Priestess" (1975)

Another of the life size large oil paintings I did when I lived in Berkeley, meant to be for the Tarot.  Probably this painting, taken off the canvas and hauled around for years in a roll of canvases, ended up in the dumpster at a storage facility when I was unable to continue to keep the storage chamber.  I am ashamed of that, because it was a beautiful painting of my friend the poet Felicia Miller, and I labored long and hard on it, and I should have valued it.  At least I have a record of it.

"Three Roots of the Tree of Life" (1987)

Part of a 3 part shrine I made as I became involved in Paganism in the early 80's - they were meant to represent the cycles of generation, reproduction, death and rebirth.  I used to store my art in a closet in my mother's home - unfortunately my mentally ill brother destroyed it while I was gone.  I stopped leaving any of my art at my mother's house after that.  Once again, I forget how many of my paintings are "rooted".

"A House of Doors III" (1987)

From my MFA Show, "A House of Doors", which also included a spoken word/musical piece inspired by Laurie Anderson called "A House of Doors".  This painting, I believe, was destroyed by my brother, because it disappeared from my mother's house.

"Lovers" (1989)

A strange painting, but I really liked it, although it is very clumsy in its composition.  In the summer of 1989 I had a wonderful, magical residency at the Cummington Community in Western Massachusetts.  For a month, surrounded by artists and writers and musicians in this (alas, now defunct) old artist's community, I was on fire creatively!  And somewhat literally too, as the whole series of paintings I did then involved transformation and shamanic fire.  I never showed any of them, to anyone, now that I think of it, but I guess I called them "The Shamanic Journey".  This one came from a dream in which a man offered me fire.  No idea where it went, but I think it was destroyed.

"A House of Doors" (1987)

Title painting for my MFA Show, a big painting about 5 by 4.  Later I used the image in my Tarot deck for "The Chariot", as it represents envisioning where we want to go, and spiritual progress.  I love the image, which used a photo of  Catherine Nash, an extraordinary  artist I knew in Graduate School.  I do remember that this one fell off the wall and right through a chair, so it was destroyed.

"Day of Radience II" (1987)

Another version of this image from the 80's................I did lithos using it too.  Part of the "A House of Doors" series.

"Guide" (1984)

From the time of High New Age, an envisioning Higher and Lower Self communing.  No idea where it went.  

"Hecate" (1997)

This was an image that came to me when I was working on the Tarot paintings, the original (which I do have) became "The Hermit - Solitude".  I felt that when we go through the dark times, the dark tunnels of our lives internally and externally, when we find our way out of those tunnels, out of the dark, we have a responsibility, or an opportunity, to "bear a light" for others to illuminate their paths.  This can also translate into the meaning of Hecate, who guided Persephone out of the Underworld.  She is  the Goddess of the Crossroads who stands with her torch to light the way.  It was a painting on paper,  and I used myself as the model, hoping I think to invoke the guidance I profoundly needed at that particular,  very difficult,   time in my life.

"Transformation" (1989)

This  was the last of my  "Shamanic Journey" paintings from my intense month at the  Cummington Community, and I've always loved it, although no one else seems to like it as they seem to feel it is gruesome, or represents some kind of anti-abortion statement!  Hardly!  But not wishing to alarm those who came to visit me, I took it off my walls long ago and it seems to have disappeared.   Yes, Stanley Kubrick used the fetus for his "Space Child" so I guess it's a cliche.  But what I was talking about is the incubation and birth into a new state of elevated being..............the child, the soul, is wrapped in the fire of transformation.  For me it's a deeply spiritual statement and I wish I had it still.  But I  seem to be the only one who thinks so! 

Untitled (1977)

This one I gave to a friend in Vermont - we fell out of touch, and I learned about 10 years ago that he had died.  I used the photo of it in my Tarot deck for "The Fool", as it represented to me the Innocense that makes so much "impossible" possible!