THE VISIONARIES

Mardeene Burr Mitchell

"Woman Who Runs With Wild Cats"

www.visionariestolight.com

What is a visionary anyway? By my definition, it is first of all the willingness, then secondly the ability to see farther, to see beneath and beyond, what is going on in the so-called "real" world that is limited by our five senses. To look at things from a fresh perspective. We all have that capability, if we have the open-mindedness to go there. By that definition, you are a visionary within without a doubt. I am also a visionary-certainly more so on an experiential level than on an academic one. That means I am doing what it takes and what this age calls for-attempting to bypass the entrenched analytical left brain to access the right creative brain, to allow intuition more rein (and reign). The mission of Brazilian Lygya Maya (see her profile) is to bring the right brain creative joy of Carnival! to workaholic Americans. At the same time, she is grateful for my left-brain organizational skills that help her put her books together. As Shona points out (check her profile), Einstein and other geniuses first came to their brilliant new theories while daydreaming with the right brain, mind you. Then they had to figure out how to translate their visions into intellectual left-brain language for the "scientific age" pragmatic mindset. You will discover that most of the visionaries with me on this website have learned how to do that---to integrate right and left, masculine and feminine aspects of themselves to become whole and functioning on a different and deeper level of combined understanding and intuition, employing this in creative action in the physical world. I hope it is inspiring for you to read about how all our stories weave together in a tapestry of collaboration and discovery.

What makes it possible for me to "read soul purpose" in a sense, as they say in generous testimonials to me? It is simply the pleasure and preference of looking for the good in people, in you. When your magnificence is mirrored back to you, you shine, too, and rise to your greatness, do you not? It's a choice. We can choose to look at the "bad" and what's wrong with life and point out the faults in people. In which case, it becomes a pretty depressing scenario, would you not agree?  Or we can choose to focus on what's wonderful and good and be grateful for what's going right. Which is more fun, do you think? I, for one, am eternally grateful to those people in my life, especially my daughter Dawn, who have believed in me and saw the good no matter what, even in the face of what seemed to be going "wrong." They chose not to worry about me (a misguided form of "caring") and helped me see beneath the façade to really see the beauty of who I am, expressing confidence in me, which enables me to do that for others. Did I pop out of the womb with 60+ years of knowledge? Of course not. I've been through rigorous trials and tribulations, as have you, designed to bring to light the hidden knowing within. Misery encourages seeking.

Back in the '80s and '90s, to get away from misery and the human race, I would run up into my beloved Northern California foothills in Almaden Valley every chance I could get. I was excruciatingly disappointed in two-leggeds, myself included. Paula Munier, long-time friend and magnetic catalyst for writers (her page to come) asked, Mardy, when are you coming down from that mountain? We're worried about you!"  "We're" was our "Scribe Tribe," our friends-for-life bevy of writers who support each other, critique each other's work, and occasionally commiserated about life over Margaritas on the beach in Capitola. At that time, I preferred the company of the Great Spirit and four-leggeds, so this ordinary housewife embarked upon a suburban Vision Quest. I was totally rewarded when one day a young bobcat hopped out of the bushes and ran in front of me along the trail for a ways, hence the delightful epithet bestowed upon me by my tribe, "Woman Who Runs With Bobcats." Almost 20 years later the first week in February, 2006, our Tribe flew in from many states for a joyous reunion. One afternoon that week, I returned to my hills with my running buddy, Susan. I swear to you, I had just enthusiastically told her what they call me, when a very large full-grown bobcat crossed the trail a ways in front of us, sauntering up the hill, turning around to watch us several times, welcoming me home.

One morning, when my youngest daughter Dawn was about 18, she ran to me and said, "Mom, I had a dream! A huge ferocious lion crashed through our fence in the backyard and you were afraid for us. But the minute I woke up, a voice said to me, 'Tell your mother not to fear. The lion is not her destruction; it is her salvation.'" I then proceeded to have a sequence of dreams in which I became closer and closer to the lion-my fear--which culminated in conquering my fears. I rode upon the back of a huge mountain lion as we bounded up a mountain and leaped off the cliff soaring into the air! Exhilerated, I trusted the lion. After all, don't cats always land on their feet? Black panther has also come to me in dreams with very important messages that transformed my life. Look for those stories and more when my book comes out. :) When people ask me if it's fiction or nonfiction, I laugh and reply "It's nonfiction, but my family will think it's fiction!" Maybe magical realism? One brilliant beautiful young man said matter-of-factly, "You're a medicine woman." That delighted me. Come to think of it, because of my insatiable curiosity, I have attracted into my life many amazing visionary wise "women who run with wolves" and have had access to such incredible knowledge and had so many unofficial "trainings," I'm surprised I'm not an Ascended Master by now! Still working on that one. When I was a young woman, I wanted to be Joan of Arc, except for the burning at the stake part. I take encouragement from the fact that I share my January 15th birthday with Martin Luther King, Jr. and my mother's maiden name was even King. I should be so lucky to write something so grand and challenging that I am assassinated. Whoops, cancel that thought. Thoughts became reality, you know, quicker than you can even imagine these days.

It used to be easier for me to write about other people than to write about myself. One of the ways we learn about ourselves is through relationship and defining who we are by what people are mirroring back to us, then choosing what we wish to own. Paula once said something else to me. We all pay attention to her astute observations of the human condition. She has an amazing impact upon all who know her. This woman sees so clearly! (She would laugh and say, sure, about everybody but herself!) She said I have more physical courage than any woman she's ever met. I think she's referring to the time I gave myself the present of skydiving on my 52nd birthday. Well, what do you expect, when a little pigtailed girl from 7 to 9 years old grows up at Ft. Benning, Georgia, watching the boys have all the fun jumping off the towers and out of airplanes? Paula has more courage than anyone I've met in plunging in to take on new jobs in publishing, be it magazines or books!

Others have said they did not know how I could live so on the edge in a freelancer's life of uncertainty and insecurity with such abandon and without worrying. I think I do like to take risks, but it's more than that when some people exclaim, "How do you do it? We've never seen a happier person, no matter what horrible stuff is happening!" Didn't a great teacher once ask if the birds of the field do not worry where their next meal is coming from, why do you? Faith. It also has to do with a decision I made at the age of 38: I made up my mind that I was through with suffering and self-flagellation and life was going to be fun from now on! I decided that life wasn't hell, it was a mystery to be solved, an adventure to be lived! I'd be happy if my epitaph read "She lived with gusto and made a difference!"

A fabulous male friend, a prophet of a man, used to continually ask the question, "Which is more important, Mardeene? To live? Or to write?" Well, you can't write if you haven't lived. On the other hand, if you live too much, you often don't discipline yourself to write. So far, I must confess to have been concentrating more on the living part. The year I turned 63, 2005, a talented young musician, a former rocker, 37, said to me, "Mardeene, you're younger than I am! I swear you're the reincarnation of a 16-year-old. I want what you have!" Music to my ears. Maybe now it is time to do more of the writing.

Perhaps if we take away the judgment quotient and believe there is no such thing as "failure," rather only "experience," we'll be free to fly. Add to that our ability to make choices and shift our thinking to create a different reality, we have the potential to create heaven on earth. Welcome home to the world of vision and visionaries.