“The approaching great epoch is associated with the ascendency of woman.
As the best days of humanity, the future epoch will again offer woman her
rightful place alongside her eternal fellow traveler and co-worker, man.
You must remember that the grandeur of the Cosmos is built by the dual Origin.
Is it possible, therefore, to belittle one Element of it?”
Helena Roerich - 1929
At the start of Christianity, there were many different groups, all with competing belief systems: Ebionites, Nazarines, Essenes, Manichaeism and Gnosticism to name just a few. Gnosticism eventually became the esoteric or “hidden” Christianity whose leadership in the Christian Era began with John the Baptist (hence the name Johannite Christianity). Following his death, Jesus became the leader and then following his death, his brother, the Apostle James, led the group known as the Despioni, which indicates the family or bloodline of Jesus.
All of these many groups vied for existence until 325 CE when the Emperor Constantine, by decree, consolidated them at the Council of Nicea. He basically backed the Pauline, apostolic succession group of Christians and made them the official church of the Empire. This group was the one that chose the books to be included in the Bible. All other groups joined or split off, as did the Greek Orthodox, or were persecuted out of existence or driven underground, ie. Gnosticism. Gnosticism became a philosophy/religion that followed the path of Jesus and the second branch of Christianity. This path was called Monotheistic Dualism or Hebraic Christianity because Jesus and the leaders were Jewish.
The Pauline, apostolic succession church led by a Pope became the Catholic Church. It is this stream that follows the traditional story and dogma of the Christian churches today. I call this branch the Masculine Principle version of Christianity that marginalized women, selected the books of the Bible and had Christ on the Cross and the Virgin Mary as the most prominent symbols of their Theology. The T-shaped cross is their Christian symbol.
The second branch of Christianity that was driven underground following Christ’s death was the Gnostic branch which became what I call the Feminine Principle version of Christianity, led by Jesus, Mary Magdalen, and James, Jesus’s brother. The equal-armed cross or cross patee are the prominent symbols of these Hebraic Christians (Monotheistic Dualist) with the Gnostic philosophy who wrote the Gnostic Gospels. Their beginnings are linked to Egypt. The latter is a less well-known story within Christianity, but it is as large and complex as the traditional Christian story. It has remained alive but hidden for centuries in order to survive and is associated with certain families and groups in history that are still in existence today. Richard Smoley’s book, Forbidden Faith, is an excellent summary of these groups that have carried this second stream of Christianity over the centuries.
After much thought and study, I have come to believe that we need both the masculine and feminine streams of Christianity in order to create a M/F balance within the Christian belief system which I think the original intent of Jesus. The religion that became dominant, however, declared that all other belief systems were anathema and were deemed heretical. It is interesting to note that in early etymology of the English language, a heretic was defined as someone in possession of the facts who is able to choose. Within the masculine principle Christian story, it is defined as a person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted. (from Freddy Silva’s video, The Nine Hundred Year Secret.)
Now onto the story of the Black Madonna and its relationship to Christianity. Black Madonnas are found throughout France, particularly in the south, and throughout continental Europe, Italy, Sicily, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Germany, Switzerland and in the Middle East, Egypt, Russia, Poland, Brazil and Czechoslovakia. They are found basically anywhere the Knights Templar were present which covers a great deal of territory back in the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries. The symbols of their order and beliefs are:
Architecturally round, eight-sided, solidly built churches
The equal-sided cross which was red and worn on their uniforms
The grape vine
The bee
The Black Madonna which represents the wife of Jesus (Mary Magdalen) and the bloodline succession of the royal House of David that their union created.
Some of these Black Madonnas and other statuary as well, are portrayed as pregnant indicating the perpetuation of Jesus’s bloodline. This second, feminine principle stream is based on this hereditary family line and is called the Despioni or family of Christ. It is a stream that is denied and ignored by our traditional, masculine-principle story which is based on an all-male succession beginning with possibly the apostle Paul and the apostle Peter, which is the one most familiar to our culture. This is a very brief summary of a very complex, but little-known story.
Black Madonna statues are generally found in very hidden, out of the places. Some were literally buried under the earth and one in Chartres Cathedral is “sous terre” in the basement near the sacred well over which the church is built.
Ian Begg, has written a book entitled The Cult of the Black Virgin and gives the locations of some Black Madonnas. It is not, however, a comprehensive list. Some of them are more visible and some require an effort to find as we discovered on our Black Madonna trip to France 1996. In spite of Begg’s title, we discovered that the Black Madonna is not really a cult, but an alternative belief system within Christianity. Six of the more well-known ones today are in Marseille, France, Montserrat, Spain, on the main floor in Chartres Cathedral, in Barcelona, Spain, Einseiden, Switzerland, and Rocamadour, France. This latter Black Madonna was a favorite pilgrimage site for Eleanor of Aquitaine. Many others require a true quest which brings me to the story of my personal relationship with the Black Madonna.
Over the years, I have seen more than 20 Black Madonnas. My quest started in 1996 when my friend Diana and I took a trip to France with a Shaman named Lorna. It revealed a many layered but little-known story of the Black Madonna. The whole time it felt as though we were in search of the solution to a grand mystery within Christianity. It is, in fact, the opposite story to the one that surrounds the white Madonna which is a symbol of the Virgin Mary. This Black Madonna image and energy, over time, became linked to my bodywork profession.
For me as well as many others, the Black Madonna represents the embodied, earthy, procreative, grounded, real woman aspect of the Feminine Principle. Where the Masculine Principle Mary presents a more idealized, less likely to be achieved image of a woman. The two versions of the Marys, Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary, represent the Feminine and the Masculine and thus have very different images and stories behind them. Two other authors who have written about their personal experiences with the Black Madonna are Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Black Madonnas, feminism, religion and politics in Italy, and Alessandra Belloni’s, Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna, who links the Black Madonna to the original Black Mother of All, found in Africa.
From the very beginning of our first Black Madonna trip with Lorna, we regularly encountered obstruction, chaos, confusion, which is found at the extreme end of the FP continuum (which is chaos as the extreme end of MP continuum is destruction). We quickly adjusted and became accustomed to dealing with chaos for the duration of the trip. For example, immediately upon our arrival in Paris, our minibus got stuck in the parking ramp which caused havoc and a delay. Once extracted from the structure, our group’s (mis)adventures began.
We visited Black Madonnas in France at Puy de Dome, Rhiom, Marsat, Clermont/Ferrand, Besse, Geneste and Puy where we found two very Egyptian looking Black Madonnas in a church with many steps. It felt like a true pilgrimage. We discovered my favorite Black Madonna at the top of a beautiful, quiet, small mountain covered in wildflowers. It had originally been found buried in the ground and the local people built a special chapel for her. Her statue was surrounded by an arch of golden bees, one of her many symbols.
The planned highlight of the trip was to be able to watch the Black Madonna procession that the Gypsy community creates in Saint Marie De La Mer every year. Another trip glitch….. we arrived on the day before it was supposed to happen! We had to leave before it occurred, but we did have a chance to visit their Black Madonna, Sara, in an underground chapel in the middle of the town, so all was not lost. From this place in the Camargue, land of the Gypsies, we proceeded to Alet les Bains at the base of a small mountain upon which the community of Rennes Le Chateau is perched. This small town up the mountain has a mysterious history, a remarkable chapel of clues to the mystery, and a specially built tower honoring Mary Magdalene. In the garden, I found a brick in a wall with the name, Paul, on one of the bricks, but curiously the name was placed upside down. We met with one of the local inhabitants who said the Black Madonna mystery was just the opposite of the traditional story of Christianity. This was our first foray into the story, so it took several years to actually understand what he and the brick being upside had meant.
In Alet les Bains, we discovered a crumbling medieval church, but it had a stained-glass window with a six-pointed star at the top of its entry which is also an alternative story symbol. In another church in this same small community, as we wandered around, we spied a black Madonna placed behind bars in a strange cage-like structure. We speculated that it was for her protection, perhaps from the ravages of the French Revolution.
Another personal story event occurred before we arrived in Marsat. I had been sitting on the bus watching the raindrops slide down the window and just casually put out the thought, “I would like support for my bodywork endeavor when I returned home.” Much to my surprise, I received an almost immediate response once we were in the church where the Black Madonna was located. I was looking at her, studying the symbols around her, when a trip member, Sandra, came up to me and asked if I would be willing to work with her sore shoulder which I did right then and there in the church. We both noticed a distinct feeling of mutuality or connection which is the best way I can describe it. When we finished, a woman from the village who had been visiting the church and watching us came up to me and asked, “Are you a healer?” I took that to be a very large affirmation of my bodywork, for it is very unusual for a local to approach traveling Americans!
Years later, after giving and receiving bodywork, I have come to more deeply understand the meaning of the embodied sacred feminine that the Black Madonna has taught me in so many different ways. As such, I call her my energetic muse who has supported my bodywork profession ever since. My knowing of the embodied divine feminine has counter-balanced and redefined the sacred feminine within traditional Christianity. From the beginning, the Magdalene was basically designated a whore which is the far from the truth. Having experienced a much greater depth of knowing her through my Black Madonna quest, however, I have reclaimed her earthy, grounded, sensual and sexual aspects which are the exact opposite of the Virgin Mary! The Magdalene or “tower” was an esteemed and active apostle and teacher who worked in partnership with Jesus. I am hopeful that one day traditional Christianity will claim its other half.
Through this experiential knowing, I could more easily reconcile the real experience of my body as a woman and my experience of giving birth as a positive, sacred and celebratory event. I also gained a deeper connection to the earth and became more grounded within my own personal life which allowed me to then more easily share with others through bodywork. The Black Madonna has come to symbolize “all of that” and so much more in my life. I have learned to always “look under and behind” when searching for answers in my life, whether looking for my glasses or the hidden mysteries of the FP.
These words from The Pilgrimage, by Paulo Coellho, p. 35, were very helpful and supportive on our first and other succeeding Black Madonna trips to the South of France:
“When you travel, you experience, in a very practical way, the act of rebirth. You confront completely new situations, the day passes more slowly, and on most journeys you don’t even understand the language the people speak. So, you are like a child just out of the womb. You begin to attach much more importance to the things around you because your survival depends upon them. You begin to be more accessible to others because they may be able to help you in difficult situations. And you accept any small favor from the gods with great delight, as if it were an episode you would remember for the rest of your life.
At the same time, since all things are new, you see only the beauty in them, and you feel happy to be alive. That’s why a religious pilgrimage has always been one of the most objective ways of achieving insight. The word peccadillo, which means a “small sin” comes from pecus, which means “defective foot,” a foot that is incapable of walking a road. The way to correct the peccadillo is always to walk forward, adapting oneself to new situations and receiving in return all of the thousands of blessings that life generously offers to those who seek them.”
In conclusion, the presence of the Black Madonna in my life has opened many new doors to understanding my own spirituality. It has allowed me to keep a promise to myself to “think outside the box,” an idea I have reaffirmed in these tumultuous times as a particular goal for my 77th year.