Grandmother Wisdom: a Chat with Annell Livingston and Barbara Mackenzie

Sherry: A confluence of recent events, including the Womens’ March in January, and the suffering of the children at the southern border, had Annell Livingston, Barbara Mackenzie and myself talking about the need for Grandmother Wisdom, or Wise Woman Wisdom, in these times.

Long ago, a matriarchal culture lived peacefully on the earth. Patriarchy (and its warring “us and them” perspective, not to mention the emphasis on profit over planet), has been terribly damaging to Mother Earth  and all her creatures. We are the only species who destroys our own habitat, along with that of other creatures. It is mind-boggling. I wonder when survival will finally come before “economic interests”, and am reminded of this quote, from the documentary Awake: A Dream of Standing Rock :

“In prophecy, it is said in times of terrible trouble, first, the young will rise. Behind them will be the mothers and grandmothers. And after that, the warriors will rise.”

We are seeing this now. The young are rising, women are rising, and indigenous people are rising and speaking truth to power. Grandmothers, with our lived history and life wisdom, are rising.

Annell Livingston, of Somethings  I Think About, lives in Taos, New Mexico,  under the gaze of Taos Mountain. Annell, you live among a very ancient culture, the native people of the Pueblo.  Do you feel its history in the land around you? Will you share your thoughts about Grandmother Wisdom with us?

Annell:  Much has been written about The Wisdom of Women, or Grandmother Wisdom.  Women are taking their place in society, equal to men.  And women have something to say.  In the past,  women have  been voiceless or mute, unheard.   Now women are speaking,  and are speaking for all creatures living on the earth, and for the earth itself.  We speak for the “other,” those who are different, those of color, children, and small things.  We are in a time of reclaiming of ourselves. 

We are awaking in a time of our own making.  A place of darkness.  This is a place of “outcasts,” and we know ourselves to have been the “outcast”.  No longer afraid of aging, or of dying.   No longer afraid of who we are.   No longer afraid of our own bodies.  No longer afraid of our power.  We wrap ourselves in our power,  and wear it proudly.   For all to see.   We laugh out loud.  As Virginia Woolf said, “a room of her own.”  A room where we can be free to be, no longer told we are not good enough.  No longer afraid of what “he” might say, instead we are finding our way.

Sherry: This reminds me of the article “Kali Takes America”, when Vera de Chalambert wrote, right after the 2016 election: “Make no mistake, it is really Holy Darkness that has won this election….the Dark Mother….oracle of holy change….brought down our house in a shocking blow; all illusions stripped in a single night. We are not who we thought we were. Now we must get ready to stand in her fires of transmutation.”

Annell: We are still learning who we are, and who she was… and who she was, back in time to the beginning.  This is the “Wisdom of the Grandmothers” painted on the walls of the cave.   As we run our hands over the stone walls, we find what is now, and who we have become.   The follower becomes the followed, moon in the sky, what we have been seeking, is ourselves.  We see what has been painted over, erased. 

We are finding our way with the help of the Grandmothers; we are one with all that is, the endless possibility of form, taking new shape at the speed of light.

The new space is filled with the presence of mothers, and everyone is a daughter.  Shaped by the movements of white-haired women and ringing with the laughter of old lady friends.  A place filled with the love of women for women and the play of little girls.

Starlight in darkness, lit up with her thoughts.  She is the maker, the builder, the doer, the finder.  We claim this space for our own.    In the past we have been invisible, called a witch, tortured, burned at the stake, a time governed by fire.  We have been prohibited from practicing medicine.  She knows her time has come; it is now that she listens and is heard, no longer alone.  The Age of her Resonance.  

My only qualification to speak is that I am a woman, old enough to be a Grandmother. I live in Taos, New Mexico, in one of the most beautiful places in the world.  I live on the mesa west of the village of Taos, above Taos Valley.  I can see Taos Pueblo from my back window and hear the drums beat as they drift over the sage brush.  Taos Pueblo is at the foot of sacred Taos Mountain.  The Mother Mountain.
 

Taos Pueblo is one of the oldest continuously occupied communities, over a thousand years old.  And the people of Taos Pueblo honor their traditions.   It is known for being one of the most private, secretive, and conservative pueblos. (There are eight Pueblos in Northern New Mexico.)  The people almost never speak of their religious customs to outsiders, and because their language has never been written down, much of the culture remains unknown to the rest of the world.  Taos Pueblo has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Taos Pueblo is a reservation of 95,000 acres, and about 4,500 people live in the area.  The people of Taos Pueblo speak a variation of the Tanoan language.

source Wikipedia Commons

Sherry:  I am fascinated by your desert landscape, with its ancient history. I would love to share the poem you wrote that began our conversation about Grandmother Wisdom, if I may:

A Woman Gives the Full Moon Names

Native tribes have names

For the full moon

To mark the passing of time

A woman could give the full moon

Names to mark the passing of her life

Beginning with the time of birth moon

Little girl moon

School begins moon

Time of the young woman moon

Time of marriage moon

Time of children moon

Time of the full woman moon

Time of old age moon

Time of death moon

The circle 

Of the moon complete

Sherry: We are in the time of Wise Woman Moon, time for grandmothers to arise and share their earth wisdom, ignored and dismissed by the patriarchy for far too long. Thank you, Annell.

I came across this quote by Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose Rooted. It speaks to the rising of the Divine Feminine, and our herstory:

"If women remember that once upon a time we sang with the tongues of seals and flew with the wings of swans, that we forged our own path through the dark forest, while creating a community of its many inhabitants, then we will rise up rooted, like trees.......well, then, women might indeed save, not just ourselves, but the world."  Truth.

Barbara Mackenzie, of signed….bkm, is one of our very first Poets United members from our beginnings in 2010. She  lives in northern California and is 1/8 Sioux. Barbara, I know your culture reveres your elders. I resonate deeply with your beliefs and traditions, and admire how your people live with reverence for Mother Earth.

Barbara: I did watch a lot of Standing Rock and was deeply moved by the experience.  I know, however, man has and is always capable of cruelty to other humans -  it does not matter the color of skin.  Each race should be proud of their own. 

My mother was Native American when it was not cool to be so - she was only 1/4 but carried the skin and hair;  she paid a deep price for it. We are all gifts, no matter the color, and embracing our heritage is important.  Not all Natives love the Earth or its promises - I have seen this.  They too are human - we are all children of this great mother, and must do what we can to protect her.

You are right; it will be up to the young now to save her - our generation and economy has left her a mess,  though we did bring attention to the issue - like Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.  So much more to do.  A population that is a burden for her, a free and entitled generation that do not even know where their food comes from. 
  

The earth will win out. She always has.  We may be gone. She may have enough of us.   Maybe the few words we write while here will make a difference- maybe we can be a voice for her.

Sherry: This is what I fervently hope, Barbara. So many of my poems are pleas for awareness and action. We do what we can. 

Would you talk to us about Grandmother Wisdom, about prophecy….anything you wish to share with us from the wealth of your cultural traditions. We are all ears!

Barbara: My Great Grandmother Elizabeth was full Dakota Sioux, she was orphaned in the Minnesota Uprising in 1862 in New Ulm, Minnesota.   And so the story was passed on from generation to generation, from grandmother to grandmother.   Grandmothers are keepers of the stories, and ensure their wisdom moves forward with each generation. 

It was passed to me by my non-native grandmother who married one of Elizabeth’s sons - she guarded it and passed it to all her children and grandchildren.  She told how Elizabeth and her sister were in the tall grass, hiding, after their parents were killed. A brave came by and picked her up on horseback - she never saw her sister again.   

She was left in South Dakota near Fort Sisseton and there she would live out her days, have her children, and pass the blood of the Native American to her offspring.   But all grandmothers pass a piece of their soul with each generation, either through blood or story. And it is in these stories that we find our own wisdom and shelter. 

Sherry: That is an amazing history - or herstory! I recently learned that the egg that determined who we would be was formed inside our mother’s fetus while she was in our grandmother’s womb! Our beginning starts with them, not only our mothers. Perhaps this is another reason that our bonds with our grandmothers are so strong.

Barbara: The current ways of the world are not their ways - they knew the earth; they held the sky in their hearts.   My story-telling grandmother was born in a log cabin, born Swedish and Norwegian, the first of 12 children. Her father would be the one who brought all 12 children into this world. He was not a doctor but a farmer, who knew the gift of life as the deer knows her fawn. 

She would grow, others born, and stayed with her grandmother as the family moved west to Sisseton for land.   She would join them a few years later and become the mother of 11, after she married my 1/2 Native grandfather.   She would become the greatest influence to me and my brothers and sisters - her patience and eternal beauty was as earthly and whole as the earth.   

She believed in all people, and the gift of her stories and her love were her legacy until her death after 99 years.   She touched more souls and lived through more hardship then one should be able to bear, but she loved life, nature and her children.

Sherry: I love “they held the sky in their hearts". It sounds like your grandmother left many gifts to your family.

Barbara: Grandmothers are messengers, they are goddesses, carrying the light that is past for the world. Let us learn from their bloodlines the way of the earth, for she is our first mother and we have been put in charge to protect her.   She has many things to teach us, about ourselves and those around us.  From her we are born and unto her we will again rest.  

Sherry: Barbara, thank you for writing a poem especially for this chat. Let’s share it with our readers:

"Dignity"

Statue of A Sioux Woman 

in South Dakota

Artist: Dale Lamphere

source

Wisdom of Grandmothers

We collect wisdom in shards
And nettles
Dropped by winged women from the sky
We gather wisdom like souls that gather on the backs
of the great whales (centered and secure)
We (woman) harvest wisdom one seed,
one kernel at a time
We trash the harvest throw it to the sky gods for blessing
and health
We knead her and bake her we eat of her body

As a grandmother wears her offspring in each line on her face,
so too we wear Wisdom

Climb to the moon she says cling to her as the fetus to the fertile womb(man)- she will give you strength she will show you
your given path
be it wood or water -
be it desert or stone

Listen close (your ear) for the cry of the whale
Listen closer still (stillness)
for the call of the winged woman - she is Wisdom
the guardian of the gate
Call out to her at the water’s reflection and she will reveal 

her face
Round and full
Filled with the giving

Sherry: “Listen… for the cry of the whale”… I can see the winged woman’s face, round and full with the giving. What a glorious poem this is! Thank you so much, Barbara, for all you have shared with us here, and for this incomparably beautiful poem.

Let me leave you with my anguished wolf howls, and my insistence that our consciousness and our way of being on this earth can yet transform. Because it must. And there is no “other”. There is only you and me, human beings, alive on Planet Earth.

source

GRANDMOTHERS WITH WOLF HOWLS IN OUR HEARTS

Listen to the song of the ancients,
Grandmothers and Grandfathers from the Old Ways.
For we are the seventh generation,
the white buffalo calf has been born,
and the time of prophecy is at hand.

On the wind, I can hear Grandmother weeping.
She is calling to us to stand for the water, the air,
the forest, the earth and all its creatures.

What world will we leave to the children
seven generations from now?

The Black Snake slithers across the land.
Oil spills into rivers.
Mother Earth's womb is torn asunder by fracking.
Whales choke on plastic in a dying ocean
and the two poles are melting, week by week.

A madman sits in the throne of power
with money as his only god.
All protection is being stripped away;
men with dead eyes stalk the halls of government,
claiming truth is false news
and outrageous lies are truth.

In our hearts, Wild Woman stirs in protest.
This is our earth, the home that we love.
You cannot threaten our children's future
without incurring our wrath.
The Grandmothers' blood runs through our veins.
Our backbones grew strong in birthing.
Our hearts know truth.
We will never believe your lies.
When it comes to our children,
we have no choice but to fight.

We are gathering in front of 

the White House walls
in peace, but with hearts like banshees.

We are standing by the sides of rivers 

and sacred burial grounds.
We cannot turn away, for our beloveds are buried here
and our children  - and yours! - need this water to drink.
You have dotted the landscape of our nightmares
with strip mines and oil derricks and fracking.
Everywhere are nuclear power plants
that threaten our combined existence.
And now you rattle the sabers of war
and cast eyes on our fresh-cheeked children?

No! It is Enough.

We have lived men’s ways for millennia,
and look what a mess we're in.
The Grandmothers and the Mothers 

and the dancing Maidens
and the strong little rainbow children are rising
with fire in our eyes and transformation in our hearts -
with compassion even for you men in the halls of power,
wounded and empty, whose dead eyes proclaim
you have never felt truly loved.

Here is a secret: even a billion trillion dollars
will not ease that wound.

Instead, hug your sad-eyed sons and smile
- not like crocodiles -  at your unhappy wives.
Trade in your gold walls for a chance to be real,
and let the rest of us live in peace.

This war is a holy war of light over darkness
and truth over lies.
You have might, but we have Right
on our side,
and wolf howls in our hearts
that will never be silent
until social justice is
the rule of the land.

As humans, we have been less than we were meant to be. But we can rise. Our Grandmother Spirits, that have survived so much, and learned to fly, know this. We are rising, as a morning bird seeks higher ground.

My friends, we must never stop dreaming and believing. But we also need – most urgently – to act, to vote, to march, to contact our elected officials and insist they address climate change, to speak up for social justice, and to protest all that is wrong. We must actively strive for change.

There is much we can do: protect forests, plant trees, oppose projects that damage the earth, stand with the oppressed, and be a voice for those who cannot speak. And we can write our poems, hoping they send some good, caring energy out into the world and touch some minds and hearts along the way.

Thank you so much, Annell and Barbara, for this timely and important conversation, and for sharing your thoughts and poems with us. I feel inspired and hopeful, and I hope our readers do as well.

Do come back, friends, and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!

*Source

For those interested in reading further on this topic:

Woman and Nature: the Roaring Inside Her, by Susan Griffin

The Four Phases of a Woman’s Moon Cycle

The Moon School – The Divine Feminine

Kali Takes America – Vera de Chalambert

BLOG OF THE WEEK ~ A CHAT ABOUT ART WITH ANNELL LIVINGSTON

Our friend Annell Livingston is well known to us as a poet, but recently some interest was expressed in hearing about her life as an artist, an idea I liked very much. So today we will follow Annell’s artistic journey through the years, and enjoy some of her glorious paintings. As you know, Annell lives in Taos, New Mexico, under the gaze of Taos Mountain, a landscape that finds its way into her artistic expression, in words and on canvas.

Fragments Geometry and Change #249  

40”x40”  acrylic on canvas

Sherry: Annell, when did you first begin your journey as an artist? Did you draw and paint as a child?

Annell: Yes, Sherry, I guess I always did draw and paint.  It has always been my passion.  I cannot be happy if I am not able to express myself. 

IMG_9305.jpg Nest Drawing Adobe  

27"x27"  graphite and gouache  on paper

Sherry:  I love your exquisite bird’s nest illustrations. And the bright colours taken from the pottery and art of Santa Fe in some of your earlier work. Would you tell us a bit about those early years of painting?

Annell: Sherry, there are many ways to draw, but the bird’s nest drawings are what I would call studies.  I actually draw from the bird’s nest, and try to get every twig and leaf the bird might use in the construction of the nest.  It is something humans can’t do. 

I have used the grid in my work since 1986.  In 2004 a dealer who represented my work in Santa Fe, New Mexico, asked me to do some still life for her gallery.  And it took me three years to think about what I might paint.  I wanted to do something different, but something that represented New Mexico.  Works that represented “Place”,  since New Mexico is heavily influenced by Mexico. 

I began to collect the early pottery, and colorful weavings of Mexico.  (The weavings of Mexico are considered the most colorful in the world.)  I used local fruit and flowers.  I wanted the work to be expressive, rather than “right.”   My work is hard edged, and at the time I loved working on oriental paper. I went to Japan and met Mr. Hosino, a master paper maker.  He guaranteed his paper for one thousand years, and I loved the idea that my work would last as long as the paper it was painted on.

Sherry: How wonderful that you travelled to Japan to verify your source of paper!

IMG_7736.JPG 16"x16"   gouache on oriental paper

Still Life With Deer and Yellow Cup

Here is a still life I set up in the studio.  The yellow cup is right there in front. I would draw from the still life, and then paint.

Sherry: I am enjoying this so much! I love your colorful still life!

Annell:  I loved making these works, they were such fun.  And the viewer can look at the work, and he can see what the artist is doing, and he can say, “Well, you know, I wouldn’t have done it that way.”  This kind of work invites the viewer into the work.   A dialogue is set up. 

 

Sherry: I can see that. I have seen some paintings that may have arisen out of your Santa Fe inspired work – the same still life and colors, but set on a grid. Was this a stepping stone on the journey?

 Annell: You never know what you might learn from a project.  Actually these works took me to a series of work I called One Day In The Life.  I began to think about how you could tell the story of a man’s life, by focusing on a small period of time.  The two works above are “a day and a night”  of One Day In The Life.

IMG_9759  Still Life/Deconstructed/Reconstructed #48  

22"x22"  gouache on w/c paper

A series I called Still Life/Deconstructed/Reconstructed followed, and it was very important, as I allowed me to graduate with gouache (which is a very difficult thing to do) and weave the work together.  If you follow each color, you will see it moves from mid-tone to lighter.  Which showed me the way to continue to the current work, Fragments Geometry and Change.

Sherry: I have been watching this evolution, with interest. Annell, for those who do not know, there was a tragic event in your life when you lived by the ocean. One year after your husband’s death by drowning, you made a huge life change, moving to Taos. Would you tell us a bit about that move? Did you think the desert would offer you a fresh canvas?

Annell:  Sherry, I just needed a new point of view.  I had lived on the Third Coast of Texas all my life.  It was hard for my friends to see me grieve. I needed a place I could howl,  and I found it on the mesa above Taos.  My work was represented in Taos and in Santa Fe; it just seemed right to me.   So I moved to the dry desert.  You can’t drown in the desert.  It is not that I was afraid I would drown; it was just time for a change.  

Taos Mountain

Sherry: It is beautiful there. Would you tell us a bit about working on a grid?

Annell: Actually I had been working with the grid since 1986.  If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  And at first I didn’t succeed.  So I kept trying to find a way to allow the grid to be a part of my work.  It was around 1990, I went into the studio and closed the door…alone with myself, I determined what I had to say that was special, that was my own.  What made me different than everyone else.    

For me, the visual arts, are a language, and the artist is saying something every time he touches his brush to his canvas.  For the artist, we spend many years learning techniques, but then we have to learn who we are and what we have to say.   This could take from five minutes to a lifetime.  It is not just about painting a pretty picture.

_MG_0730 Fragments G&C  #130  20"x30"  

gouache on w/c paper

_MG_0181  Fragments Geometry & Change  #165  2014  

30"x30"  gouache on 300 lb w/c paper

IMG_0027 Fragments Geometry & Change #183  

30"x30"  gouache on w/c paper

Annell: Sherry, it is especially good of you to let me show several of the grid paintings.  You might think as you narrow your options, the work would be boring.  But actually as we narrow our options, we are forced to be more creative. 

Sherry: It is my pleasure, Annell. Your work is fascinating. I can see what a journey your work is. And how different each canvas is. The longer I look, the more color and movement I see in each canvas.

In a recent interview by Ann Landi at Vasari21, you stated, “My work is not so much about the external world, but about finding that place where internal and external  worlds meet. I call the series Fragments because my thoughts and memories are like fragments. Nothing seemed really whole, but the pieces came together to be the experience of my life.” I really appreciate that quote.

~ the place where internal 

and external worlds meet ~

In your life you have had a heartbreaking series of losses, first your husband, then your mother, and, in 2014, the tragic loss of your son, Jim. You move through your grief with such dignity and grace, Annell. I so admire you.

It seems to me, it must be peaceful and comforting to go into your studio, bend to your canvas and enter into the grid, hour after hour. Would you tell us a bit about this?

Annell: For me, painting is what is called active meditation.  There is a certain ritual to it.  And I go to the studio every day.  I begin the day writing, and then go to my work.  I don’t finish all I know at the end of the day, therefore the work waits for me, and I can go right into it, no time wasted wondering what I will paint today.

IMG_0535.jpg  Fragments Geometry and Change #247 

36"x36"  acrylic on canvas

Sherry: Oh, I love the red square in the centre of this painting. Not long ago, you wrote a poem about what it is to be an artist. I would love to include it here, if I may.

THE PAINTING IS THE INVENTION OF THE PAINTER

As a painter I invent everyday
I create something new
Something never seen
In exactly the same way before
You ask, but what am I to think
And I will answer
That is up to you

I pick the color
I mix the paint
I apply the paint
I allow the painting to come alive
And I need the viewer to have his own thoughts
To complete my work

But the viewer has to slow down
Be open
Take a fresh look
Be aware of his thoughts
Go with it
Perhaps it is based on a memory
Or a thought forgotten long ago
Suddenly it is in this moment
The thought is renewed
Seen in a different way

There is a dialogue
Between the viewer and the painting
Something is revealed
You will tell me
How your Grandmother cared for you
The first time you flew
The little dog you had when you were small
You will tell me about your love
And when you first met
Your story will be unique

April 18, 2018

Sherry: I like the idea of a dialogue between the artist and the one viewing the painting. There was another poem in 2011 that lends itself to this conversation. Let’s take a peek:

Soul Journey

As an artist
To improvise
Is what I do

Can I say how it is done
Probably not
Starts with an idea
We have don't know
How to do it
We don't even know
What we want
But we try
We try to discover
It is trial and error
It is "what if"

We seek patterns
Related to every
Kind of creativity
We look for clues on how
To be self-creating
Self-organizing
Authentic

All art is improvisation
Some we present
Whole and at once
Some we present
Revised and restructured
We seek our own way

It begins with an idea
And we stumble
Through the journey
The finished piece you
See or hear
Is but a relic or trace of the
Journey that has
Come and gone

All art is performance
Even when you are the
Only one in the studio
For all is revealed in
The finished product
It is a record of the
Process of improvisation

The process comes
From the deepest
Part of ourselves
It is a spiritual path
It is about us
About the deep self
It is a soul journey

2011

Sherry: Would you talk about about this soul journey, my friend?

Annell: I am not sure about the “soul,” and don’t think I have ever seen one, but someone dear told me, it is the authentic you, of you.  And that is what I try to do in my work.  To be authentic.  I do my very best.  I sign my work, I put my name on it, at the end of the day. 

  

Sherry: Taos so often creeps into your poems, the beauty of the landscape woven through your words. Do you feel the influence of the desert in your painting as well?

Annell:  When I first came here, I wondered would I get tired of the scene.  And after over 20 years, I can say, “no”. I am still thrilled, by mountains, the Rio Grand, and the forever sage brush across the mesa.

  

This is the sun rise over Taos Mountain.  Sometimes the sun rises are as colorful as the sun sets.

Sherry: One could never tire of such a landscape. What a blessing, to live there!

This is a sun set looking west.

Sherry: The beauty is truly spectacular. It calls to me much as the ocean does. The power of that sky, the colors of the sunrises and sunsets – perfect for an artist! I would like to close with a photo of Taos in a most beautiful sunset, and with a poem you wrote to celebrate the beauty of your beloved mountain.

  

TAOS, NEW MEXICO

Taos, New Mexico
My chosen home
Beyond what we might call beautiful
Perhaps there are no words for it
On the mesa
I can see
The sun rises in the east
Above Taos Pueblo
Lights Taos Valley
And the mountains that circle
Sets in the west
Glorious end of day
The low flat light
Crawls over sage brush
Reflects off adobe houses
Where everyday people
Go about their everyday lives

April 20, 2018

Sherry: You truly live in a beautiful place, Annell. Thank you so much for this wonderful chat. We so enjoyed hearing about your work as an artist, and visiting your beloved Taos.

Friends, Annell’s website is at  www.annelllivingston.com

The Color Book : Poems and Paintings 

is available here.

Annell’s Red Shoes Artists Book Project 

is available here.

My friends, we hope you enjoyed this chat about art, Annell's wonderful paintings and poetry, and the beauty of the Taos landscape. We enjoyed bringing it to you. Do come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!