Maya Shrine and Guatemalan Daykeeper Ritual Layout

I once visited this Maya shrine. I like to study all kinds of spiritual and religious practices. Photo by Antonio Turok of a shrine outside Chichicastenango, Guatemala. An old diety in stone who is visited during Holy Week. (Pasquale Abaj)
Photo by Ed Barnhart from Maya Exploration Center.......a beautiful offering with the colors of flower petals and candles relating to the directions. In Guatemala these offerings are made in ceremonies at old ritual sites (ruins) at mountain top shrines and other places.

An Urn from a Zapotec Tomb at Atzompa, Oaxaca

Here's a recently discovered funerary urn from a tomb at Atzompa, a site adjacent to Monte Alban and outside the town of Atzompa which is famous for its ceramics today. The urn is colored red. From around 700 of the current era. Beautiful. The Zapotecs created amazing urns to bury with their elite. This is an example. Valley of Oaxaca.

Mi Querida Oaxaca

I took this from FB, a site called YO SOY OAXACA......I love this photo looking up from the Alameda, up Garcia Vigil. Boy, I am homesick for this beautiful and carinoso place in the world and my life.

La Guelaguetza in Oaxaca--final day Mon July 30

La Danza de la Pina features women dancing with a pineapple. Pineapples come from where these dancers live (Tuxtepec area). The pineapple has to be a symbol of the womb, and this a kind of dance about women reaching puberty.

These dancers are flying. I think they are from the Oaxaca coast area.

Las Casahuates....painting and foto.

Las Casahuates.....a painting series. The painting above has a blooming woman tree, meant to evoke the casahuate trees that bloom in the fall in Oaxaca. My friend the feathered serpent and the bird in the tree top have to do with consciousness raising energy (kundalini), perhaps influenced by that lightning striking the old temple base or dance platform.

A photo of a casahuate bloom. Usually they are full of honey bees.

Mitzi Linn's Studio Sale

Oasis # 5 Gouache Painting by Mitzi Linn

My Studio Sale this weekend in Eugene includes my paintings, cards, reproductions, and folkart collected from Oaxaca Mexico. Email me at
mitzi_linn@hotmail.com if interested.

La Guelaguetza in Oaxaca today

Dancer from San Martin Tilcajete, La Danza de la Pluma

Dance group from the Istmus of Tehuantepec....La Sandunga

Chinas Oaxaquenas.......with their offering baskets....

Images from the Guelaguetza in Oaxaca, taken yesterday I think. From a FB site called La Guelaguetza. I really wish I was there. I love the dances from the state of Oaxaca, and all the connections to their history and hermosa cultura.

OREGON COUNTRY FAIR...43 years of being FAR OUT

Dear Ms Fantasy play us a tune. It's time for the fair again. Here's Mitzi at her funky booth at the fair. She's had a booth since 1980. Before selling her art reproductions, she used to read Tarot. Photo on blog on right side.

You can find out more about the country fair, the hippy institution, that starts today for the vendors and crews. www.oregoncountryfair.org

OUTASITE......FAR OUT.......COOL.....FUN

La Guelaguetza in Oaxaca

In July Oaxacans will celebrate another Guelaguetza in Oaxaca. The modern fiesta started in days before the Spanish conquered Mexico, when various groups from the area got together to dance and trade in honor of the local Corn Goddess.

The Corn Goddess is still honored at the opening of the modern fiesta, held at the auditorium overlooking the city. The dancers and musicians are from pueblos all over the state of Oaxaca--mostly the indigenous peoples -- Mixe, Mixtec, Zapotec--They identify with their pueblo usually, not their indigenous language group. Still, that word is Zapotec--Guelaguetza--and means an exchange of goods and services. This exchange still goes on in the pueblos (towns) when there's a wedding, baptism or some other fiesta.

Jaguars--Ancient Olmec and Modern Mayan

Ancient carvings from the Olmecs of the Jaguar, one of their most represented spirit animals. Below, dancers in Jaguar costumes from a village in Chiapas, Mexico.
According to Walter Morris, who took the photo, these are like the traditional warrior costumes of the Aztecs. The cloth is painted with spots. The masks are carved wood, and worn as helmets.

Heirloom Ear of Corn--Jewels

Isn't this beautiful? Produced from a seed from a traditional Cherokee farmer in Oklahoma but grown by Seeds Trust in Arizona. Seeds Trust is on Facebook.

April's Flowers

Photo by Lin Reilly. Here's the grand old cherry tree blooming in the Rose Garden a week ago in Eugene. It is a hundred years old I think.

Biblioburros

I love this photo of a lending library on the back of burros going from village to village in Jalisco, Mexico.  Some kids will be really happy about their arrival.

I'll Never Be Satisfied with Being Dead by Mitzi Linn (Homage to Arya Tara)

My new video. Photo of my Thangka of Green Tara, my art work, some photos. I am singing and playing the song I wrote in the 1970's. Art (c) 2012, Music (c) 1974 (Mitzi Linn's first songbook) Hope you find it relaxing to listen and watch.

Spring in Oregon ?*#?+?

Collage by Mitzi Linn.       Arya Tara #4

Another Buddha image created in the last couple weeks.  I should have gone somewhere sunny and warm this winter.  What was I thinking?  Still, I can imagine myself somewhere with sun shining and moon rising in a clear warm sky.  Perhaps its a pureland? 

Mexican Buddha (Homage to Arya Tara)

Collage--A-Tara #2 (c) Mitzi Linn

I am creating some collages with my prints and Buddha images taken from a catalogue. It's fun to cut and paste--seeing where this goes. I plan to make a slide show with another one of my own songs using these new images. Kiki called this piece Mexican Buddha. Hum.... Enjoy......

Join the Fiesta in Oaxaca

I love these parades down the Alcala. I can almost hear the umpah band, the drums and see the smiles of the dancers. Next week the International Dance Festival will provide great entertainment for all the Oaxaquenos, and their extranjero devotees.

El Sol y La Luna Mask.....

Here's an iconic image of Mexico--the sun and the moon. Un imagin iconico
de Mexico. I got the mask in Oaxaca years ago, but it is from Guerrero.
Compre la mascara en Oaxaca pero viene de Guerrero.

Flamenco

Flamenco #1---Gouache study by Mitzi Linn

This is a study for paintings about flamenco, one of my favorite dance forms.

"Angel's Song" by Mitzi Linn

Music and Artwork (c) Mitzi Linn,1974 and 2012

My latest video with me singing and playing a song I wrote in the 1970's. I uploaded paintings I made since 1990, making them panoramas with iPhoto--that gives the full screen effect with double images.

Angel was a real person in my life at Wolf Creek. Her flip out and then healing affected many of us, her friends and commune mates. The story called "Angela's Metamorphosis" on my other blog Wild Wisdom Highway tells a more complete story. There's a link on this blog with my photo reading Tarot many years ago at the Oregon Country Fair.

Earthblankets--new paintings

Earthblanket #1 gouache painting by Mitzi Linn 15"x 18" for sale.

Earthblanket # 2 new gouache painting by Mitzi Linn.....8"x 18" For sale.


It feels good to be creating some new work now in the new year. I hope you enjoy this post. Wishing all the best in 2012.

Welcome to 2012

An ancient statue of a Zapotec woman embodying a goddess. It was on the cover of a Mexicana airlines magazine some years ago. Another find in my image archives. She's ceramic with red paint. It's a common color called cochinea made from tiny insects that feed on cactus in Mexico. The Zapotecs started Mt Alban around 500BC in the Oaxaca Valley. They inhabited the valley for thousands of years before that. They used hieroglyphics like other ancient cultures in the Americas and the Middle East. Lucky for us the Zapotecs still live in their original homeland.

Happy Holiday Card by Holly Haas

I wish everyone holidays filled with contentment and joy. And a productive, healthful, and fun 2012. May all beings have the causes for happiness. Hugs

Felice Navidad a todos y un Prospero Ano Nuevo. Que reciben todos la paz, la alegria, y el bienestar y divertismo......Abrazos.

Homage to the Virgin of Guadelupe on December 12

"Guadelupe the Corn Dancer" by Mitzi Linn.
May she protect and bless all of us.

Here she is the pre-conquest goddess dancing the sacred corn in a hand woven huipil. On the new moon and with some sacred flowers from before the espanoles.

Fireworks-man dancing with exploding toro of paper mache in Oaxaca fiesta

A little light for the dark times here in El Norte!

Winter scenes in New Mexico

Water color painting by Fran Larsen entitled "Camino de Farolitos" 1995. Note the luminarias by the gate and on the roof tops. I really love her work. She painted the frames too to be part of the whole piece.

Photos from northern New Mexico in the winter. Enjoy. From postcards and other sources.

Luminarias at an ancient American kiva. The luminaria tradition lights the way along highways, and streets and roads in New Mexico around Christmas. I remember them along the highway between Santa Fe and Taos the year I spent Christmas there. It's Spanish in origin and in this calendar photo, staged I think at Bandalier Natl Monument.

Sanctuario de Chimayo in northern New Mexico.

A door in a wall in Santa Fe during the winter.

Taos Pueblo in winter. Photo by Scott Fields. One of the oldest settled places of this continent. Taos Pueblo is a bit north of the town, which is really charming too.

Las Chinas de Oaxaca

I lifted this cheerful foto from Oaxaca Turismo. The regional dances are enchanting and varied.

Time Passes .....celebrating el Dia de Los Muertos

Photo by Antonio Turok, "Dia de los Muertos" 1976 in Mexico. Where I live these days has a few gentlemen who look like the guy in foto. Time passes, but death never dies.

Family altar in Huatla de Jimenez, the Mazatec area of Oaxaca, taken in 1976




Some photos from Artes de Mexico's edition on Day of the Dead from 1993.







Creating altars, decorating graves and making a ritual are all arts related to the celebration of Day of the Dead, or Todos Santos.

Day of the Dead Art Suite

"Flying Muertos" gouache painting by Mitzi Linn

I just created a new post to share some images from my Day of the Dead experiences. I tucked away the art cards from shows in Oaxaca for later enjoyment, like now!!!

Scroll down to see art from La Mano Magica's exhibitions.

Day of the Dead Art from Oaxaca

Lithograph by Maximino Javier "Sin Titulo" 1995 Day of the Dead Show at La Mano Magica in Oaxaca. I really like Max's sense of humor!


Papel Picado by Mauricio Bonilla for a show at La Mano Magica. Let's join them in the dance!!!!


Silkscreen print by Juan Mariano Testera for the Day of the Dead show at La Mano Magica in 1993. Part of the announcement card of the show. Saludos a Juan Mariano.....


Watercolor by Kate Corbett, "Viva Mexico" from Day of the Dead show at La Mano Magica in 1990. One of my favorites. Saludos a Kate......


Painting by Felipe Morales " El Segundo Yo" in La Mano Magica's Day of the Dead show 1990. A favorite of mine. Saludos a Felipe.....


Karen Turtles grave in the Teotitlan Del Valle cemetery in 1993, decorated by Mitzi and Montano Familia. Photo by Arnulfo Mendoza at night on Nov 2. In memory of my friend Karen. Decorating graves is an art in Oaxaca and all of Mexico. El Dia de los Muertos o Todos Santos is my favorite Mexican holiday. Little by little it is arriving here in El Norte. (Gracias a los migrants de los ambos paises.)

I wanted to share some images from Oaxaca. These shows and artists inspired me to paint and make a series about the Day of the Dead. I hope you enjoy their work. Saludos a todos los difuntos y antipasados de todos de nosotros. Y los vivos tambien.....

May the Virgin of Guadelupe guide your way--Safe Journeys

--
Art card by Judy Perry of Bisbee, AZ. Check out her website. www.judyperrybisbee.com I was lucky to meet her when I lived in Bisbee. I met her through another woman friend, Mary Walker, a massage therapist there. Thanks universe, and blessings to them.

Today's observation

Clouds hang over the valley,
little rain but then no sun either.....
O..O.........
Winter hangs out on my mind's edges....
If I blow really hard,
can I move the clouds away and bring the sun?.....

What is better, myth or everyday life?
I witness the Fall from summer's grace and warmth..
Adam and Eve find apples under a wild tree.....
They make mythic applesauce.
We'll eat that applesauce later.

copyright Mitzi Linn

Orygen Menla

An image of Tibetan Guru Rinpoche as a healing Buddha.
"Om A Hung Vajra Guru Pema Siddhi Hung"

Gouache paintings by Mitzi Linn.....Combined images of "Horse Lovers" and "Horse Women go Swimming".

Though I don't seem to go swimming much these summers, I always associate summer with swimming. These paintings are summer offerings. They are small paintings and for sale individually.