Gloria Orenstein I am shortening this journey to fit it into this format. My story began when I was a grad student at NYU in Comp. Lit., and i was specializing in Surrealism. In 1971 I had a magical encounter with Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, who lived in Mexico then. We eventually met, and I began to write about her amazing and visionary art. She is also a novelist, playwright and multi-talented in many genres and areas in the arts. In 1972 I was visiting her in Mexico and she gave me her novel THE HEARING TRUMPET, to read in manuscript. (I recommend this highly). I am responding to your ideas on SHAMANISM , and this all entered my life through her novel. The protagonist, throughout the novel yearns to go to Lapland. In those days I had to ask her why a 92 year old woman in a Mexican old-age home (where her family had "put her away", not realizing she would be encountering others with whom she would discover many esoteric truths about her cosmic identity as an incarnation of The Great Goddess, among other things). Her reply took me by surprise: "Because, Gloooria (her English accent--she came from England originally) boomed at me, "Because the Shamans of Lapland just happen to be the most magical people on Earth, Gloria." I knew I had to remember that important information, but at the time I was a mother of two on the Upper West Side of NY, and did not even know what a shaman was. All that changed when in 1987 I had become a Prof. of Comp. Lit. at The Univ. of Southern California, and I received a phone call from a feminist prof. from Norway asking if she could stay with me on her fund-raising trip to L.A. because she was going to create a feminist university outside of Oslo, devoted to Eco-feminism and Peace Studies. I had a tiny apt. and could hardly take in anyone, but I suggested that a colleague could put her up in a larger space. She was adamant that "THEY" HAD TO STAY WITH ME." They was obviously more than I could accommodate in my tiny one-bedroom apt. She exerted pressure on me so that i would understand that they had to stay with me, and then she said these unforgettable, and shamanic words. "Don't you want to know who I am traveling with Gloria? I am traveling with A SHAMAN FROM LAPLAND." I began to tremble, as I knew this was definitely, as Leonora Carrington had told me so many years before "The most magical person on Earth." I tried to think of a colleague who had a roomy abode and would be interested in meeting a shaman, and I couldn't come up with anyone who would know how magical this person was.. Ultimately, I invited them to stay with me on a couch that opened up onto the floor. They were delighted. The story is a long one, but to conclude; I ended up being invited by the shaman, a woman turning 50, beautiful and powerful---because, as her father, The Great Shaman, had said: "The Great Spirit has called you, Gloria, and you must come to Samiland (the true name of the area that we mistakenly think of as Lapland, when only a part of it is really called Lapland). ......I had to come to Samiland because, as he was firm about " The Great Spirit has called Gloria, and she must come to our sacred site." In this way literature made its entry into my life in a way that blew my mind---or as we might say---expanded it cosmically. Leonora Carrington was interested in shamanism (as she was in many things such as alchemy and magic and Tibetan Buddhism, and nature, and Feminism etc.). She was a visionary artist/creator in many fields, who is being honored this year in Mexico for her complete oeuvre and legacy. She was so far ahead of her/ and certainly my time. !!! I did go to Samiland, and had further journeys to their sacred site and stayed with them several summers in a row. The Shaman who stayed with me became a dear friend until she died much too young, from what we would have called cancer (as they did in Samiland's hospitals), but from what she defined as a spirit war. This is my example of how, quite literally, a work of art can enter your very life in the most unexpected of ways, and create unbelievable transformations that you had not ever been prepared for, but which jettisoned you out into other journeys and forms of knowledge. I remained at a low level of shamanism, but had a kind of personal introduction to what aspects of it I could handle in the very beginning. Today I have come to believe that possibly (just possibly), if angels and spirit guides exist but are invisible to most of us---just possibly, Leonora's fictional protagonist, Marion, was real in her dimension and like a spirit guide or an angel or other invisibles---she might have visited me and traveled to Samiland with me, in order to fulfill her dream on that spiritual level, as throughout the entire novel this was her dream, and she did go there at the end. This is my actual story of how a work of art took residence in my spirit's journey in this life. I expect that many others have had encounters with works of art that have literally entered their lives and transformed them in powerful ways. I am just speculating about this protagonist, but why not? In the novel, she, herself, had a real interaction with a portrait of an Abbes on the wall, which used to wink at her as she passed it by. In the end she learns that she is the incarnation of the Goddess, and I ask myself, .........what is the back story to how this happened to me, a graduate student at the time at NYU studying Surrealism--in all innocence. Now in my 8th decade on this planet , I feel as if I have led several lives. Some I might be able to identify and others were on other planes or dimensions, and i am not so sure of them, BUT surely there is something to be said that is really extraordinary about how this happened to me, and why , and how, and does it matter except to know that it has happened and was "real" in our current limited definition of what "real" means anyway. Thanks for hearing my story. Gloria Orenstein, Prof. Emerita, Comp. Lit. and Gender Studies, USC , Los Angeles, CA.
Thank you for this!! I have been thinking about this same idea. I struggle to make the time for my art, thinking that it is self-indulgent. And I think "whats the purpose?", am I just creating more "stuff", more merchandise?? But this idea that we as artists have "visions" and we need to share these visions with the world is a higher level purpose I can understand and feel motivated and inspired by. People always tell me my art makes them smile. And maybe that's why I need to make the time to create art. To bring more smiles into the world. More laughter. More fun!! Looking forward to your next 2 videos. Namaste.
“Basically, I have understood that art and magic are precisely the same thing. This is not a way of saying that magic is a lesser thing, that it is ‘only’ art at the end of the day, but instead of saying that art is a far, far greater thing than its currently degraded state as a commodity or as simple time-filling commodity might lead us to suppose. If you happen to live within a worldview that supposes our entire neurological reality to be made up of words, and happen to believe that certain intense forms of language might therefore be capable of altering that neurological reality, then picking up a pen or sitting down at your keyboard feels like a very different proposition.” - Alan Moore
Brainard, I found this interesting as I'm an artist and also walk a shamanic path. The word "shaman" is often misused these days. A shaman is more than just a visionary. The shaman is a healer who accesses other states of consciousness to obtain guidance, information or power for those who need healing. It is very, very possible for artists to work in a shamanic way, creating images that are healing for themselves as well as others, but not all artists work this way. A shaman is something specific. To cite examples, Sandra Ingerman, Michael Harner, Hank Wesselman. Those are just a few and they do core shamanism, and there are indigenous shamans all over the world working in slightly different ways according to their cultures, but still they specifically practice the skill of direct revelation through trance states to help others heal. I do appreciate your viewpoint on this, but because I walk between the worlds.... not only as artist and shamanic practitioner, but in an ordinary reality/non-ordinary reality way, I felt the need to help clarify the term 'shaman'. Thank you for all that you do for artists. As a professional artist of 30+ years, I still hold the hope of being discovered one day. Peace and thanks.
I have just discovered you via the Audible version of your excellent book 'Making it in the Art World'. I am a big fan of Joseph Beuys - as he'intgated his art and his life into the shamanic role'. Beuys believed that humanity was too hung-up on the notion of rationality and that this was depriving us of a major source of creativity 'in every individuall' I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on this and other topics. Thanks for the inspiration :)
Right on Brainard. I too have both a shamanic and art practice. I am so glad I recently joined your Praxis. It is Amravati - hi! I must tell you that what you are doing is already profoundly healing for artists like myself who are still finding their feet in the art world. Your gentle appreciation and encouragement are priceless. Of course I agree with your premise re art and shamanism. It is my experience and also includes my biodanza and healing practices. Maybe art is about making the divine within material. Luv xxx
I am an artist and for me, art has always been a personal and spiritual journey for me. Thank you for presenting this idea of art being shamanistic/spiritual. In the past when I have mentioned this ideology and manner of painting to other artists and the public, it was not received as true art and inferior to "mainstream"
I'm interested in this topic, and have written about it. Joseph Campbell was articulate about artists being shamans in modern societies. Many of us are tapping into the 'collective unconscious'. But, of course, it can't be said across the board. Others are making products for their aesthetic and/or commercial value. Shamans are consulted for what they have to offer when they are in a context of being understood for their worth. Artists are often breaking new ground for their culture, which is catching up to them.
Shamanism is the first evidence of art. In the rock at in all over the world (from 40.000 years on) we can see on the walls of the caves shamans in the act of flying or transforming into some animal of power -as every "modern" shaman can do. I'm studying all this from an artistic pont of view, and you can read all this in some essays by paleoantropologists, such as "THE MIND IN THE CAVE"by Lewis-Williams. I'm working to a video and an exhibit on this argument (I'm an artist). Excuse-me for my english. Good week.end to everybody. Teresa
In some way to pursue the way to work as shaman an artist need have a faith in humanity, for what I see around I am not sure if I share the same enthusiasm.
Brainard, Interesting concept. The art world hierarchy speaks to value in price point by collector. I practice to make art that speaks to ethics & aesthetics. I seek out public art opportunities where art is not asking permission to be seen. Art, like nature is there to be seen, if only for a moment. Best 2U
Yeah, sorry, I don't see it. Here's my metaphor: Art is a manufacturing process, the most efficient and cost effective one ever created. Take twenty bucks worth of pigment, canvas and glue, smear and smoosh it around, and in a couple of hours you have an object potentially worth thousands if not millions of dollars. It's like building a Rolls Royce out of a pile of pencil shavings and a crumpled candy wrapper. The artist prospects for beauty in his environment, extracts it from its matrix, refines and distills it through his sensibilities, then turns it into a painting or a sculpture. It's a manufacturing process; what it lacks is a mechanism to market and sell the end product. But I guess that's where you come in.
Marc Clamage dear Mark, you see and interpret the world around you? You learn from your environment. An image, or rather all images are simply information that is offered to you from all of yourself. Art can cause revelations, and great waves of influence. It isn’t a manufacturing process like Warhol thought. We are all unique forms of the same thing, and artists produce, like you said, with their own sensibilities visions by nature and conscious choice. We all have something to learn. If you were to say art is a manufacturing method and that a lone then you’re saying everything is, and if everything is only worth as much as someone will offer for it, that isn’t considering love and compassion. The Beatles said it best, “Money can’t buy me love.” Love is inherent, not manufactured.
Gloria Orenstein I am shortening this journey to fit it into this format. My story began when I was a grad student at NYU in Comp. Lit., and i was specializing in Surrealism. In 1971 I had a magical encounter with Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, who lived in Mexico then. We eventually met, and I began to write about her amazing and visionary art. She is also a novelist, playwright and multi-talented in many genres and areas in the arts. In 1972 I was visiting her in Mexico and she gave me her novel THE HEARING TRUMPET, to read in manuscript. (I recommend this highly). I am responding to your ideas on SHAMANISM , and this all entered my life through her novel. The protagonist, throughout the novel yearns to go to Lapland. In those days I had to ask her why a 92 year old woman in a Mexican old-age home (where her family had "put her away", not realizing she would be encountering others with whom she would discover many esoteric truths about her cosmic identity as an incarnation of The Great Goddess, among other things). Her reply took me by surprise: "Because, Gloooria (her English accent--she came from England originally) boomed at me, "Because the Shamans of Lapland just happen to be the most magical people on Earth, Gloria." I knew I had to remember that important information, but at the time I was a mother of two on the Upper West Side of NY, and did not even know what a shaman was.
All that changed when in 1987 I had become a Prof. of Comp. Lit. at The Univ. of Southern California, and I received a phone call from a feminist prof. from Norway asking if she could stay with me on her fund-raising trip to L.A. because she was going to create a feminist university outside of Oslo, devoted to Eco-feminism and Peace Studies. I had a tiny apt. and could hardly take in anyone, but I suggested that a colleague could put her up in a larger space. She was adamant that "THEY" HAD TO STAY WITH ME." They was obviously more than I could accommodate in my tiny one-bedroom apt. She exerted pressure on me so that i would understand that they had to stay with me, and then she said these unforgettable, and shamanic words. "Don't you want to know who I am traveling with Gloria? I am traveling with A SHAMAN FROM LAPLAND." I began to tremble, as I knew this was definitely, as Leonora Carrington had told me so many years before "The most magical person on Earth." I tried to think of a colleague who had a roomy abode and would be interested in meeting a shaman, and I couldn't come up with anyone who would know how magical this person was.. Ultimately, I invited them to stay with me on a couch that opened up onto the floor. They were delighted.
The story is a long one, but to conclude; I ended up being invited by the shaman, a woman turning 50, beautiful and powerful---because, as her father, The Great Shaman, had said: "The Great Spirit has called you, Gloria, and you must come to Samiland (the true name of the area that we mistakenly think of as Lapland, when only a part of it is really called Lapland). ......I had to come to Samiland because, as he was firm about " The Great Spirit has called Gloria, and she must come to our sacred site." In this way literature made its entry into my life in a way that blew my mind---or as we might say---expanded it cosmically. Leonora Carrington was interested in shamanism (as she was in many things such as alchemy and magic and Tibetan Buddhism, and nature, and Feminism etc.). She was a visionary artist/creator in many fields, who is being honored this year in Mexico for her complete oeuvre and legacy. She was so far ahead of her/ and certainly my time. !!! I did go to Samiland, and had further journeys to their sacred site and stayed with them several summers in a row. The Shaman who stayed with me became a dear friend until she died much too young, from what we would have called cancer (as they did in Samiland's hospitals), but from what she defined as a spirit war. This is my example of how, quite literally, a work of art can enter your very life in the most unexpected of ways, and create unbelievable transformations that you had not ever been prepared for, but which jettisoned you out into other journeys and forms of knowledge. I remained at a low level of shamanism, but had a kind of personal introduction to what aspects of it I could handle in the very beginning. Today I have come to believe that possibly (just possibly), if angels and spirit guides exist but are invisible to most of us---just possibly, Leonora's fictional protagonist, Marion, was real in her dimension and like a spirit guide or an angel or other invisibles---she might have visited me and traveled to Samiland with me, in order to fulfill her dream on that spiritual level, as throughout the entire novel this was her dream, and she did go there at the end.
This is my actual story of how a work of art took residence in my spirit's journey in this life. I expect that many others have had encounters with works of art that have literally entered their lives and transformed them in powerful ways. I am just speculating about this protagonist, but why not? In the novel, she, herself, had a real interaction with a portrait of an Abbes on the wall, which used to wink at her as she passed it by. In the end she learns that she is the incarnation of the Goddess, and I ask myself, .........what is the back story to how this happened to me, a graduate student at the time at NYU studying Surrealism--in all innocence. Now in my 8th decade on this planet , I feel as if I have led several lives. Some I might be able to identify and others were on other planes or dimensions, and i am not so sure of them, BUT surely there is something to be said that is really extraordinary about how this happened to me, and why , and how, and does it matter except to know that it has happened and was "real" in our current limited definition of what "real" means anyway. Thanks for hearing my story. Gloria Orenstein, Prof. Emerita, Comp. Lit. and Gender Studies, USC , Los Angeles, CA.
Thank you for this!! I have been thinking about this same idea. I struggle to make the time for my art, thinking that it is self-indulgent. And I think "whats the purpose?", am I just creating more "stuff", more merchandise?? But this idea that we as artists have "visions" and we need to share these visions with the world is a higher level purpose I can understand and feel motivated and inspired by. People always tell me my art makes them smile. And maybe that's why I need to make the time to create art. To bring more smiles into the world. More laughter. More fun!!
Looking forward to your next 2 videos. Namaste.
“Basically, I have understood that art and magic are precisely the same thing. This is not a way of saying that magic is a lesser thing, that it is ‘only’ art at the end of the day, but instead of saying that art is a far, far greater thing than its currently degraded state as a commodity or as simple time-filling commodity might lead us to suppose. If you happen to live within a worldview that supposes our entire neurological reality to be made up of words, and happen to believe that certain intense forms of language might therefore be capable of altering that neurological reality, then picking up a pen or sitting down at your keyboard feels like a very different proposition.” - Alan Moore
Brainard, I found this interesting as I'm an artist and also walk a shamanic path. The word "shaman" is often misused these days. A shaman is more than just a visionary. The shaman is a healer who accesses other states of consciousness to obtain guidance, information or power for those who need healing. It is very, very possible for artists to work in a shamanic way, creating images that are healing for themselves as well as others, but not all artists work this way. A shaman is something specific. To cite examples, Sandra Ingerman, Michael Harner, Hank Wesselman. Those are just a few and they do core shamanism, and there are indigenous shamans all over the world working in slightly different ways according to their cultures, but still they specifically practice the skill of direct revelation through trance states to help others heal. I do appreciate your viewpoint on this, but because I walk between the worlds.... not only as artist and shamanic practitioner, but in an ordinary reality/non-ordinary reality way, I felt the need to help clarify the term 'shaman'. Thank you for all that you do for artists. As a professional artist of 30+ years, I still hold the hope of being discovered one day. Peace and thanks.
I have just discovered you via the Audible version of your excellent book 'Making it in the Art World'. I am a big fan of Joseph Beuys - as he'intgated his art and his life into the shamanic role'. Beuys believed that humanity was too hung-up on the notion of rationality and that this was depriving us of a major source of creativity 'in every individuall'
I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on this and other topics. Thanks for the inspiration :)
Right on Brainard. I too have both a shamanic and art practice. I am so glad I recently joined your Praxis. It is Amravati - hi! I must tell you that what you are doing is already profoundly healing for artists like myself who are still finding their feet in the art world. Your gentle appreciation and encouragement are priceless. Of course I agree with your premise re art and shamanism. It is my experience and also includes my biodanza and healing practices. Maybe art is about making the divine within material. Luv xxx
I am an artist and for me, art has always been a personal and spiritual journey for me. Thank you for presenting this idea of art being shamanistic/spiritual. In the past when I have mentioned this ideology and manner of painting to other artists and the public, it was not received as true art and inferior to "mainstream"
This was beautiful! I agree wholeheartedly. Artists go to other realms(like shamans) and return and share their visions through their art. Thank you.
I'm interested in this topic, and have written about it. Joseph Campbell was articulate about artists being shamans in modern societies. Many of us are tapping into the 'collective unconscious'. But, of course, it can't be said across the board. Others are making products for their aesthetic and/or commercial value. Shamans are consulted for what they have to offer when they are in a context of being understood for their worth. Artists are often breaking new ground for their culture, which is catching up to them.
so true! there is a saying 'the first artist & the first healer were one ~ Shaman'
Brilliant .
really looking forward to seeing more on this. great approach.
I can relate to this video!! I feel my inner spirit creates my art .
Shamanism is the first evidence of art. In the rock at in all over the world (from 40.000 years on) we can see on the walls of the caves shamans in the act of flying or transforming into some animal of power -as every "modern" shaman can do. I'm studying all this from an artistic pont of view, and you can read all this in some essays by paleoantropologists, such as "THE MIND IN THE CAVE"by Lewis-Williams. I'm working to a video and an exhibit on this argument (I'm an artist). Excuse-me for my english. Good week.end to everybody. Teresa
+Teresa Maresca thank you for sharing that :)
I couldn't agree more. For this reason I shall share my precious gifts once again with the world. 🖌🗿🌎💞
In some way to pursue the way to work as shaman an artist need have a faith in humanity, for what I see around I am not sure if I share the same enthusiasm.
This is very interesting and important!
Yes :)
love it
Brainard, Interesting concept. The art world hierarchy speaks to value in price point by collector. I practice to make art that speaks to ethics & aesthetics. I seek out public art opportunities where art is not asking permission to be seen. Art, like nature is there to be seen, if only for a moment. Best 2U
It was Gandhi that said that about money.
Yeah, sorry, I don't see it. Here's my metaphor:
Art is a manufacturing process, the most efficient and cost effective one ever created. Take twenty bucks worth of pigment, canvas and glue, smear and smoosh it around, and in a couple of hours you have an object potentially worth thousands if not millions of dollars. It's like building a Rolls Royce out of a pile of pencil shavings and a crumpled candy wrapper.
The artist prospects for beauty in his environment, extracts it from its matrix, refines and distills it through his sensibilities, then turns it into a painting or a sculpture. It's a manufacturing process; what it lacks is a mechanism to market and sell the end product. But I guess that's where you come in.
Marc Clamage dear Mark, you see and interpret the world around you? You learn from your environment. An image, or rather all images are simply information that is offered to you from all of yourself. Art can cause revelations, and great waves of influence. It isn’t a manufacturing process like Warhol thought. We are all unique forms of the same thing, and artists produce, like you said, with their own sensibilities visions by nature and conscious choice. We all have something to learn. If you were to say art is a manufacturing method and that a lone then you’re saying everything is, and if everything is only worth as much as someone will offer for it, that isn’t considering love and compassion. The Beatles said it best, “Money can’t buy me love.” Love is inherent, not manufactured.