| An Interview with Burleigh Mutén,
Author
GRANDMOTHER'S STORIES:WISE WOMAN
TALES FROM MANY CULTURES
"Eight years ago I was a full time
housewife and mother yearning to express my creativity out in the world.
Being a woman raised in the 1950s, I really didn’t have a clue as to how
I might achieve that goal. I was discovering that there was a time
on Earth when women and mothering were considered sacred. The knowledge
of this legacy immediately shifted my sense of integrity."
In GRANDMOTHERS’ STORIES, WISE WOMEN
TALES FROM AROUND THE WORLD, the old woman, or crone, who was sacred
in the matriarchal cultures and revered for her wisdom is reframed for
youngsters.
Q. What particular qualities does
the grandmother archetype suggest to you?
A. As an archetype, the grandmother,
or old woman, is the Wise One.
She is wizened with the experience
of long life, aware of the changes that time brings, aware of the seasons
of life. Her closeness to death gives her a proper perspective on
what really matters. She knows when to speak and when to be silent.
She is in tune with Nature and knows about practices that may have gone
out of fashion, but are still valid. She is in tune with her own
authority and trusts her insight, intuition and her dreaming as valid ways
of knowing. She is the guide, the seer, the protectress, the midwife
and the healer.
Q. What do you think grandmothers
have to offer us as we enter the twenty-first century?
A. The Earth has been considered
feminine for centuries. Grandmother is re-appearing at this time
to remind us to take care of the earth so that it will be here for our
grandchildren. She reminds us to listen to our own inner wisdom and
to share it. For children, the connection that grandmothers offer
runs very deep. Lately, I have been watching my grandson, Jonas,
who is four months old, interact with his great grandmothers, who are in
their eighties and nineties. He is fascinated. His whole body
is vibrant with attention for them. He smiles without any coaxing.
Just looking across the room at the old women, he breaks into complete
joy. There is a deep connection between the very old and the very
young.
Q. Do you have a favorite among the
stories you have included in this anthology?
A. Yes. My favorite story is
"The Beautiful Crone of Cordoba." I love the crone's certainty when
she is arrested, and I love her creative resolution to being detained.
My own childhood fantasies always included flying, so I identify with her
clever escape. Most importantly, I enjoy reframing the word and concept
of "crone" so that we recognize her as beautiful. After many hundreds
of year of the "ugly, evil hag" stories, it is a great pleasure to present
the Old Woman as beautiful, resourceful, respected and wise.
Q. Your previous work has focused
on the goddess. What links are there between the goddess and the
grandmother?
|
Burleigh
Mutén, who is named after both of her grandmothers, is a pre-school
teacher and grandmother who lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
A.
Within goddess lore, the grandmother is the crone. Women are ready
to identify with their own inner wisdom, or crone. In all my work,
I have aspired to celebrate the validity and goodness of our experiences
as women. Grandmothers' Stories takes that goal to another octave
by presenting positive images of the old woman. Because of the unique
position grandmothers hold in children's lives, it is a great honor to
reinforce her goodness of character and the importance of her role as the
Wise One in children's literature.