Myriam’s Series

In the winter between 2023 and 2024, I felt a strong inner calling, as a result of some very vivid dreams, pushing me to create images in memory of my maternal grandmother: Myriam Le Mayeur de Merprès de Meerandré, wife of my grandfather Guillaume Verspeyen; they were the parents of my Belgian mother. The series spontaneously titled itself as Myriam’s Series. My grandmother, affectionately called “Nonnina” (little Granny) by my sister and me, lived in a small house in southern Spain, which she, a poetess and writer with great mystical fervor, had named “Turris Eburnea“(Ivory Tower, in Latin). The dream that started the series was indeed about an ivory tower: I woke up to a voice clearly pronouncing the words “Turris Eburnea,” in Latin. In the following days, almost daily, I woke up with other Latin expressions in my head, in this chronological order: Ianua Cœli, Stella Maris, Rosa Mystica, Domus Aurea. I noted them down, and through a quick online research, I discovered that they are names given to another Myriam, originally from Nazareth according to Christian tradition; names that are sung or recited in litanies – in Loreto, for example – in homage to the One whom Christians celebrate as the Heavenly Mother.

After this simple research, the images came to me with extreme naturalness, though not without intensity, as I often woke up at night with a sense of unstoppable creative urgency. Even the regularity of meals and other normal daily commitments went somewhat… by the wayside for about three months.

The chosen technique is collage, made with pieces of monotypes in acrylic colors, which I tore with my fingers; I used the Gelli Plate as a printing base, applying various techniques. To achieve interesting textures, I used, among other materials, scraps of lace and embroidery I had inherited from my family.
The choice of lace and embroidery came from a deep sense of being enveloped in an unmistakably feminine atmosphere during all the phases of imagining and creating this series. Below, I have added some evocative words that arose after completing the entire series.

IANUA CŒLI
It could be the Gate of Heaven within us; it is an inner threshold that we cross every time we are enchanted by Wonder. Whether contemplating a work of art, a being, or an event particularly full of charm in nature, and even in the presence of some human beings – especially children – we may happen to find ourselves suspended (it actually feels like falling upward) outside of time, in a vast and radiant space, a beyond (or within) that precedes words and emotions, and opens us to Being. A silent Angel welcomes us.

What about you? What opens your Heart?

STELLA MARIS
The stars in the sky have guided sailors across ocean waves since time immemorial. But the Sea of Emotions is the most perilous to cross. The high waves of Anger, the terrifying abysses of Fear… Who among us has never faced them? And yet… And yet… There is within each of us a living anchor, beautiful like a starfish, that can guide us through inner storms. Perhaps it is the Kindness of the Heart? Perhaps it is She, the North Star of the Navigators of the River of Life?

What would you call her? What would you call that blissful harbor, that cove of the Heart where the Waters are always calm, clear, and welcoming? What anchors you in the storm?

TURRIS EBURNEA

She became a Vale,
before rising as a Spire.
Then, He could be born.
                                                         (Haiku written by Panna)

It is the open and welcoming space of the Vale, not the valley itself, that is the womb of Life. It is its Emptiness, between Heaven and Earth, that can be fertilized. What is already full cannot be filled.

The Spirit of Emptiness is immortal.
It is called the Great Mother
Because it gives birth to Heaven and Earth.
                                                                  (Dao De Jing, Laozi – Chapter IV)

Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low; the crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth; and all people will see God’s salvation.  (Luke 3:5-6)

The Ivory Tower is a safe refuge for the Soul; it can be seen from everywhere, even though it is diaphanous, as light as lace. Only those who have smoothed out their conflicts, their valleys and their mountains, can see it with the eye of the Heart. It is a place of Peace that is not of this world, even though it pounds within each of us.

The spirit of the Valley never dies,
It is the Mysterious Female.
The gateway of the Mysterious Female
Is the source of Heaven and Earth.
                                                                            (Dao De Jing, Laozi – Chapter VI)

ROSA MYSTICA

I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys.
                                                     (Song of Songs 2:1)

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom like the rose. (Isaiah 35:1)

Countless are the petals that form the Heart/Flower of those who no longer seek glory and success in this world. This Flower emits an intoxicating fragrance, the scent of the Liberated, Free Soul. The One Consciousness, the Cosmic Consciousness, spreads its spring-like fragrance only by passing through the Empty, Silent, and Transparent Space of those who have stepped out of their own way, who no longer impede their Eternal Heart with a mind trapped in the past and future. The attentive, curious, wondrous and present Mind is instead the handmaid of the Heart, helping it to bloom again and again until it embraces both this world and the other. Gentleness and docility are Strength. The Mystical Rose is the receptacle of Heavenly and Earthly Dew.

What within you is Silent and Fragrant like a Rose?

DOMUS AUREA
The Sancta Sanctorum of our Heart is mysterious. It is the most sacred Temple within us. When the Shadow has no more hold on us, we walk straight down the Central Nave that leads to the Spirit, and nothing can distract us anymore. Indestructible trust. Adamantine faith. With the corner of our eye, we still glimpse abysses, aimless paths, monsters… But the Gold that awaits us calls out: it’s impossible to look away from its glow.

Doors and windows are made to create a house,
but it is in their non-being that the usefulness of the house lies.
                                                                                Dao De Jing, Laozi – Chapter 11)

What treasure shines in the depths of your Heart?