La Llorona, Weeping Woman

The legend of La Llorona has been a part of Hispanic culture in the Southwest since the days of the conquistadores. Though the tales vary from source to source, the one common thread is that La Llorona is a woman named Maria who is always dressed in a white gown, the spirit of a young Mexican mother who drowned her children in the river in a moment of rage or abandonment by her lover and then took her own life in her deep shame and sorrow. La Llorona’s disembodied spirit is said to haunt the rivers at night – especially the Rio Grande – where she can be heard weeping in remorse for her dead children. Children are cautioned not to go out after dark because La Llorona might murder or drown them too. Because the tale of the Weeping Woman originated with the Patriarchal Spanish conquest I have always been suspicious of the various versions of this story believing that its meaning has been distorted.

Immediately what comes to mind is the Mater Dolorosa, Our Lady of Sorrows, or Mother of Sorrows. All refer to the Virgin Mary, the only goddess left in Christianity. Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows is another name used to refer to this goddess. The Mater Dolorosa is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.

In common religious Catholic imagery, the Virgin Mary is portrayed with seven long knives or daggers piercing her heart, often bleeding. Devotional prayers that consist of elaborate meditations on her Seven Sorrows are based on the prophecy of Simeon:

“And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary Jesus’s mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and a sign shall be spoken… a sword shall pierce through thy own soul so the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (my italics – if this isn’t an expression of an archetype I don’t know what is – an archetype is above all a container and paradoxically an empty pattern waiting to be filled)

La Llorona and Mary seem to have a lot in common. They even share the same name! Both lost children or a child that was ‘the son of god’. Both become an archetype for all women embodying the agony of “mother loss.”

This archetype from a Jungian standpoint is both a force of energy, an empty form that embodies information that any woman suffering the loss of a child may be drawn towards, often against her will. Archetypes need to be lived through.

Another way of expressing this notion is to state that an archetype is a pattern of energy that pulls a person who is experiencing the effects of a particular ‘field’ (like that of loss) into alignment with that field in either a positive or negative way. The sorrowful mother is one aspect of this negative field, and the “good mother” is the positive side of the archetype or field. Both comprise one whole.

I think the Spanish conquistadors (who were an unspeakably cruel people to those they oppressed) chose to put this dark twist on a heartbreaking story that does not originate with Christianity but stretches back to ancient goddess worship where goddesses include, but are not limited to, the weeping woman-mother.

I also think La Llorona is an aspect of the goddess that sorrowing women might find comforting in times of intolerable loss.

Just why the Spanish would turn this weeping woman into into a seductress and killer of children forcing her to suffer for all eternity is also one way to destroy the power of women by blaming and shaming all imperfect mothers, making them evil, and teaching children and adults to fear (and hate?) women, the spirit world, the Powers of Nature as rivers and bodies of water, especially at Night.

Water has everything to do with the power of the feminine, and the Powers of Night are traditionally associated with “witch women.”

It is particularly sad that La Llarona is portrayed as a very young mother because it is often these child- women make the worst mistakes and end up paying for them over a lifetime. I certainly fall into this category having become a mother at 20, two decades before I developed into a person.

Recently, a young Mexican poet and performer, Israel Francisco Haros Lopez (I have written about him elsewhere on this blog) put a new twist on the La Llorona legend that moved me and explicated the potential power of La Llorona. What follows is his poem:

“ la llorona found her wail song

along the rivers of full moons remembering she was born to sing and breathe the songs of all the forgotten women

la llorona found refuge in knowing

soon many warrior women would remember

to sing cry to the full luna

the waters of the women would become balanced again

la llorona was full of broken mirrors, drenched in her throat drenched alongside her chest. Drenched along side her bloodied white dress drinking the blackened hearts of Spanish conquistadores

la llorona was full of broken light. Ripped through her chest the glowing white of coyoxauhqui’s* fullness. Dripping through her body. wailing the light of her children, and all her grandmothers all the way back to the first light.

*In Aztec mythology, Coyolxauhqui “Face painted with Bells” was a daughter of Coatlicue (Earth Goddess) and Mixcoatl and is the reigning goddess of the (southern) stars. She killed her own earth mother, Coatlicue.

It seems to me that this young man has tapped into La Llorona in a powerful and most creative way. Here La Llorona finds her voice helping women to witness forgotten sorrowful mothers with compassion. By doing so women can once again support other women redressing imbalances and the woman hatred endemic to patriarchy. In this poem La Llorona is also finally able to integrate the cruelty of those who harmed her (drinking the black hearts). Lopez reminds us that La Llorona is full of broken light like a mirror that has been shattered, and she can be made whole again by recovering her body and by having the courage to deal with internal woman hatred. No longer disembodied she is then able to reweave the Ancestor Thread that attaches her to lost children and grandmothers.

Israel’s words offer us hope as he moves the weeping woman story forward into the present, removing her victim “hood” by suggesting to all women that we can endure our sorrows, become warrior women redressing our imbalances, deal with self hatred, and that even as grieving women we can take back the power that was stolen from us “all the way back to the first light.”

Blessed Be.

Postscript:

After writing this essay last night I had a dream that “The Earth was on Fire” and that La Llorona was weeping for all living creatures and trees. In view of the terrifying fires that we are enduring here in the southwest where trees are dying by the millions the image of La Llorona’s weeping seems especially poignant.

Awakened abruptly at 4:45 AM by a single coyote wailing I was also struck by the thought that coyotes around here routinely howl down by the river’s edge at night. There are many stories of humans hearing Ll Llorona’s wailing by the river and my guess is that the occasional coyote cry is probably what people heard. Coyotes have many songs and I listen to them at night, but only twice have I heard this unsettling wail.

Chamisa

 

Every morning I look for new signs of healthy growth on the devastated rabbitbushes many of which did not survive the construction of this house. I love chamisa and am dedicated to bringing these mutilated species back to life. I water them periodically and watch the slender leaves turn emerald green in gratitude for such meager attention. During the summer and fall these beautiful plants turn the high desert a brilliant yellow and with their soft gray leaves that sway in the slightest breeze they are a joy to behold. The blossoms last so long that unlike so many other desert plants it is possible to appreciate them over a long period of time.

 

Behind this adobe structure there are the remains of what was once a chimisa forest that glows in the evening western light. My neighbor routinely hacks his chimisa down much to my dismay. These living plant beings feel pain, and I try to imagine what it must feel like for a plant to be hacked down mindlessly, ignored by so many, or experienced as a nuisance.

 

I counter this trend with loving attention and delight in the feathery leaves, the cover these plants provide for lizards and mammals, and think about all the good these plants do to help the earth.

 

Without being able to perceive natural beauty in the world we live in a state of profound poverty, and with so many wondrous plants growing wild, how can it be possible that so few seem to be able to SEE?

 

What follows is a bit of information on these denizens of the grasslands (around here), even as I give thanks for these wild plants whose bouquets take my breath away.

 

 

 

Chamisa or Gray Rabbitbush

 

This perennial shrub is a member of the Aster family (Asteraceae) along with sagebrush, with which it is often found. Chamisa has several different subspecies located throughout the western United States. It is typically distinguished by having whitish to green flexible stems, felt-like matted hairs, and narrow, thread-like grayish-green alternate leaves. Shrubs are rounded and generally two to five feet tall, but can reach as high as seven feet. Flower heads are made up of 5 small, yellow, tubular flowers, and are arranged in dense, rounded or flat-topped clusters at the ends of the branches. Flowers bloom from August to October as other plants are fading, providing vivid color and a pollen source for insects late in the summer. The shrubs reproduce via an abundance of small, wind-dispersed seeds and can also sprout from the base.

Chamisa occurs as a dominant to minor component in many plant communities, ranging from arid rangelands to montane openings. It thrives in poor conditions, and can tolerate coarse, alkaline soils. Dense stands are often found on degraded rangelands, along roadsides, and in abandoned agricultural fields. The species is useful in soil stabilization and restoration of disturbed sites. The deep root system establishes quickly and plants produce large quantities of leaf litter, helping to bring nutrients to the soil surface from the deeper rooting profile. Rabbitbrush is also gaining popularity as an ornamental; the white/gray foliage, abundant flowering, and tolerance for poor conditions makes it well suited for desert landscaping.

Native Americans reportedly used Chamisa as a yellow dye, to make a medicinal tea, and for chewing gum. The forage value varies greatly among subspecies and different ecosystems. In some locations, it can be an important browse species for mule deer, pronghorn, and jackrabbits during fall and winter. It also provides cover for mammals and small nesting birds. Livestock generally forage only lightly on this species and it is considered to be of little value to all classes of livestock, a fact that doesn’t bother me at all. We eat too much meat.