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Visit my web site: CateMackenzie.com Newsletter Loving the Creative Feminine
In this newsletter I am writing about the Creative Feminine and my Grandmother Hazel Adair. This is about the feminine art of creativity and relationships and about the soft power of love and nurturing that is coming through in life now. You are probably aware of the changes in society as more women come into places of power and as men connect with their feelings and emotions. We are coming into a time of greater integration where we can create more holistic visions of family, community and work. I hope you are well and enjoying this November! I am recording more meditations to put on my web site and I am also starting a new weekly drop-in coaching group from this Wednesday 18th November 4.30-5.45pm (£12) at www.alchemythecentre.co.uk
My Grandmother Hazel Adair
Jonquil Anthony who devised "Emergency Ward Ten" with my Gran Hazel Adair at the BBC 1950s I am writing about the Creative Feminine in this newsletter. The creative Feminine, for me, is about softening, connecting with my heart, healing with my family, nurturing myself and allowing myself to play and create and open up to birthing my ideas. I love writing and I am attempting to write my ideas in a book form at the moment. One of my biggest tasks is completing chapters and showing them to be read. I suppose I fear that it is not good enough though I know that the only way through is to keep writing and learning. Susan Jeffers the write of "Feel the fear and do it anyway" told me that she edits 17 times and really enjoys the process. Inheriting my Grandmother I am still on a journey to inherit my ancestral gifts and it has been unfolding and opening up in many ways this year. I realise that in order for me to write I may need to inherit the gifts of my Grandmother who was and still is a writer. My Grandmother Hazel Adair originally devised and wrote many of the first soap operas in British TV history. At first I could not see the relationship with her TV writing and what I do for a living and how I could integrate and inherit her gifts but having really looked at it this year I can now see that she was in the forefront of what was seen as television for women or feminine TV and it was ultimately about the home and feelings and emotions and it relates very well with me being a workshop leader and helping people to develop their confidence. Feminine TV Soaps were and still are seen as a lower art form than TV drama and originally was seen as a TV format for women. She wrote and originally devised many early children's programmes in the 1950s and wrote and devised the first daily soap opera "Sixpenny Corner", the first glamorous soap "Compact" (about a magazine BBC1 1960s and she wrote the first story line about an illegitimate baby in a popular drama, and the first regular black actor), "Champion House" (about a mill) and "Crossroads" with her writing partner Peter Ling. "Crossroads" was the first Soap to mix class, culture and race. It featured the first main black character in a British drama and the first disabled character. She was one of the original writers on the soap "Emergency Ward Ten" which was on ITV and was the first soap to really be a success in a big way in the UK. She wrote the first television kiss scene between a black and white person in "Emergency Ward Ten". This was the first televised kiss in the world between a black and a white person (Star Trek's kiss was a year later) and it caused an uproar because it was so radical at the time. She wrote many films and TV shows and was a pioneer in the field of Soap Opera having been a main writer on the radio soap "Mrs Dale's Diary", which was an enormous hit in the 1950s, and then in TV. She also wrote music and had a hit with Cleo Laine with the song "Southend" and wrote novels (like "Blitz on Blalaclava Street" about her experiences as an ambulence driver in the War) and films like "Dentist on the job" with Bob Monkhouse and "Game for Vultures" with Richard Rowntree and Joan Collins about Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe. Victoria Wood Interestingly Victoria Wood is the patron of the "Crossroads Appreciation Society" and wrote "Acorn Antiques" as a tribute to "Crossroads". The Queen Mother was a fan (and visited the set) and many stars such as Larry Grayson and David Jason were in Crossroads. Sue Nicholls, who is now in Coronation St, was in "Crossroads" for many years. She is featured in a BBC documentary series "A night in with the girls" which explains how amazing it was to be a woman and a high achiever in Television which was a male dominated arena. She was Chairman of the Writers Guild, and was on the Executive Council and was one of the leading lights who campaigned to Lew Grade personally to get royalties for British writers (American writers got royalties for shows at the time but British writers did not) and they won. She called a 6 week writer's strike (during the time "The Avengers" was being made) which was a huge thing to do and Lew Grade gave in. Lessons from my Gran It was tough for me having such a Grandmother as she was demanding and exacting . When I was 11 she asked where my first novel was and when I was 13 said I should have written three by now! But she did employ me as a teenager to research film scripts for her and I now realise that she was trying to nurture me as a writer. She also took us to Los Angeles where we met and hung out with Richard Rowntree (who played the original "Shaft"), Joan Collins and the cast of Dynasty (that was thrilling!) and many producers and directors because she was making TV movies for the US.
Hazel as an actress How did she get into writing? Recently I asked her how did she get into TV writing and she told me that it was 1948 and she was an actress in a West End Revue (a bit like "That was the week that was" reviewing the weeks news) she then was in a TV drama and the director said that she needed a script for the following week (TV was a bit like the Wild West then and there were hardly any writers so people could have a go at it) and my Gran said she could do it even though she had no idea what to do. Then as she started her services as a writer came in demand and she was based in a dusty office at the BBC. Somehow she did not think about it but kept writing and pulling scripts together although she was afraid underneath that she was not any good at writing and that someone would "find her out". Daring to express herself She partnered up with Peter Ling and although they never wrote together they would devise the storylines together then write episodes apart from each other. He was much more conservative and she was the radical. When she wanted to write about a single mother having an illegitimate baby she had to fight the BBC Governors to get it through. Peter felt she should back down but she was determined to get this story through. I asked her why she was so bolshy at a time of such conservative attitudes and she said "It was a good story" and she had to get it through. I suspect that it was because she had been brought up by her own mother who had divorced her father when she was 2 and was mainly on her own and she had also experienced bringing my father up on her own as my Grandfather was away for most of the second world war (fighting in Africa and Italy). When he came back they divorced. I have the feeling she knew what it was like to feel different and not have an easy time and she wanted passionately to put these stories across. She says she was not aware of any of these stories being radical and she looked at it as being a job and earning a living to feed her family and her children. Toughness I have learned a lot from this particular inheritance. My Grandmother is tough but she would have had to have been to have been able to do what she did in a time when it was unusual for women to have power. I have also learned that she gave things a go even if she did not know what she was doing and that she was never sure that she was "good enough"but she carried on anyway and dared to express herself. What I am hoping to inherit from this is to dare to express myself and finish my chapters of my book (about love) and dare show people (this is where I can get scared) and realise that it is by daring to do that I grow and that I do not have to be perfect to try this. A miracle birth! Also my friend Jennie gave birth to Victory. Hers is a magical story! When she was 40 she decided that having a child was very important and since she had no partner she was interviewed in a Sunday Magazine talking about wanting to find a compatible man who would like to co parent a child with her. She met quite a few men and was in the process of interviewing them as possible fathers when an old friend of hers said he would be interested. They started spending time together and fell madly in love and moved to New York and (three years later) last Saturday she gave birth to Victory! You see dreams can come true!
Jennie, Graeme and Victory
The Creative Feminine, My Gran and us My Grandmother worked in a time where everything was all so new in television that they were all making it up as they went along. She heard other stories being written in television and felt she could have a go. She was determined to write about people and relationships and, perhaps because she touched a cord with people, she was very successful. But she was also writing in a time which downgraded this sort of writing and she had to fight hard to get her ideas and stories through. We are now in a time when we have no idea what the future is bringing and we are making it up as we go along. There has always been a sense of the great mystery and that we do not know how things will be. And this is a very exciting time, a time in which we can learn about relating well and consciously coming into our truth and our integrity. We are at the beginning of a new era of heart consciousness where we can learn what it means to love, to become whole and to live in community. We may not know how this will turn out as we are in the forefront of this new era but if we listen with integrity to ourselves we can bring forward a new way of being and a consciousness shift which brings us all together. I am hoping that we can learn to be with our truth and also allow ourselves to become who we really are. As we come into connecting with our creative Feminine I believe that we can all become co-creators and connected with our divine purposes. And as women learn how to birth who they are and what they are meant to do they will also support men to do the same. As Barbara Marx Hubbard says we are evolving from ego to essence to becoming who we are and becoming channels so that our gifts may be of service to others. As we evolve we also are evolving the earth and all the structures and institutions! It is a beautiful turning point. Love Cate
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I also have two workshops coming up one on 22nd Nov and one on 13th Dec to help you to Open Your Heart to your greatest dreams and wishes. These workshops involve meditation, dancing, talking, coaching and writing and help you to feel more confident and be able to take that next step in life. You may come out newly refreshed and warmed up and much more in your heart which allows a beautiful flow to happen. NEXT WORKSHOP DATES: "Coaching Group in Alchemy" Wednesdays 16:30-17:45, price: £12, from mid Novemberalchemythecentre.co.uk22nd Nov Open Your Heart £70 London www.catemackenzie.com 13th Dec Open Your Heart £70 London www.catemackenzie.com 24th-27th Dec 09 I am also teaching at www.thegrangebythesea.com at Christmas with the wonderful John Harris. Just to say how much It enjoyed your beautiful workshop yesterday.
I was really impressed with how you varied the pace and kept things moving forward. You created a very loving and trusting space,
and filled it with dance and ritual and meditation and sharing and play.
You were very patient and considerate, made everyone feel included, yet
managed do everything and keep to the time.
It was lovely journey from being first greeted with candles and a carpet
strewn with precious things to choose from,
to finishing by drifting on your fabulous voice with the final guided
meditation, and everyone completing the experience together.
Opening your Heart to the creative Feminine
Make a wish! Listen here to Meditation to connect to your Heart flame(5:40 min) Coaching How about going for some elite life coaching. Six to twelve sessions to connect to your authentic self, to feel more confident, more loving and to create the life of your dreams. £60 per session. Change takes time and commitment but what you give energy to will grow! I see people flourish grow their dreams, create businesses. partnerships and relationships as they commit to themselves and what they want. If you are prepared to make that commitment why not come and see me for an initial appointment and see what you can improve in your life!
My Dad and his parents
My Dad and my Gran
Ronnie Marriott Hazel's second husband and Hazel (he was a big director in Rediffusion and made "Black Nativity" with an all black cast in 1962)
Hazel with her sons
Hazel writing
Me, my sister Tara and my Gran
Me, my sister Tara and my Gran in St Lucia
Me, my Gran and my sisters in Los Angeles "Cate is yummy!" Justin Staunton Theta Healer "Loved the afternoon of love" Viv
Last week I went to the BBC with the media society to see the news being made and a debate on where news is going by the heads of news of the major channels. This photo is of me and Chris Cook the director of BBC's six o'clock news.
Cate in the BBC news centre
Hazel as a young woman |
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