Initiation
Journeys
(inspired by the Villa of Mysteries)
scene VIII
"So
it begins in the life of a woman who is wanting. She does not
want for a man, nor for a child. She wants to be filled like a
cornucopia past the point of overflow. The issue is emptiness
of the sort that grows from the inside out regardless of one's
productivity, like hunger when it is for love or creative work
or some other soul food."
-Nor Hall
The underpinnings of my work in the studio have
always informed by the basic components of Jungian thought (synchronicity,
the collective unconscious, archetypes, etc.) and particularly
resonant with me is the concept of the cyclical nature of life.
One important aspect of this principle is to trust in the possibilities
that are inherent in rebirth; often symbolically depicted by the
archetypal images of the egg, the serpent, (shedding its skin),
and the waxing and waning of the moon. Another facet of the importance
of cycles is in the endless re-interpretation of the basic questions
of human existence as they have occurred through the ages. These
explorations form a connectivity of both thought and spirituality
throughout time and across cultures. With this in mind, the Jungian
based analysis of the Villa of Mysteries frescoes becomes extremely
potent source material for me.
the orphic egg*
The villa, which was buried in volcanic ash by the eruption of
Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed all of Pompeii, contains a series
of murals that depict a woman's ritual initiation into the cult
of Dionysus and these frescos can be viewed as a representation
of Jung's process of individuation of the psyche. While for some
time, it has been my intention to create a series of paintings
based loosely on the frescos, that was not a conscious thought
when I began Series I. But somewhere in the middle of making this
work, I realized the course that I was on. While I plan to be
involved with this material for some time and do intend to more
faithfully follow the actual progression of the panels, I believe
that with this first series, I have begun what I had set forth
for myself in my original exploration of this subject: to use
the symbols and archetypal imagery of my vocabulary as well as
the emotive capacity of color, to create a template for modern
woman’s quest for and experience of the numinous.
*The ancient symbol of the Orphic Mysteries
(Dionysos is the principle Orphic diety) was the serpent-entwined
egg which signified Cosmos as encircled by the fiery Creative
Spirit. The egg also represents the soul of the philosopher; the
serpent, the Mysteries. At the time of initiation the shell is
broken and man emerges from the embryonic state of physical existence
wherein he had remained through the fetal period of philosophic
regeneration.
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