Given what I’ve shared in recent (and previous) posts, it seems a fine time to have a nice pot of tea and a renewing, revitalizing visit with the Black Madonna.

I’ve written a lot about the Black Madonna over the years, and will link to a couple of those posts here — they delve more deeply into the meaning, the history, and my own journey of introduction to her Mysteries.

In short, the Black Madonna is the Virgin and Child, Mother Mary and the Christ child. With a twist.

Her blackness is multi-level symbolic, but hints at the depths of the Mysteries … in this case, Christian, but connected by an ancient thread to pre-Christian traditions.

In most appearances, the Black Madonna has a different quality than the sweeter, more etheric Virgin Mary depictions do. The Black Madonna has a sense of deep groundedness, a greater fierceness, a fullness.

In the Salisbury Cathedral, the Dark Madonna presides over a chapel for prayer for ‘prisoners of conscience’, for the disappeared. There’s a clue.

Lech Walesa of the Polish Solidarity Movement wore a Black Madonna pin on his lapel and dedicated his Nobel Prize to Her.* There’s another clue.

Our Lady of the Crypt, the Black Madonna in the underground at Chartres Cathedral in France ... closer to the original sacred ground and well that had been used by Druids before the Church was built there.
Our Lady of the Crypt, the Black Madonna in the underground at Chartres Cathedral in France … closer to the original sacred ground and well that had been used by Druids before the Church was built there. Photo October 2005.

The Black Madonna also came to symbolize that which was oppressed, repressed, abused, powered-over, turned-upon, negated, forgotten. But not lost, simply buried away, gestating, waiting for its time of re-emergence from the Chrysalis.

In this case, Wisdom is what got repressed, shunned, negated, and (it was hoped) erased (but she’s persistent, this one, and had her Keepers of the Flame all along the way).

But by virtue of the symbolism, the Black Madonna:

“… has no qualms with standing for humanity, for Wisdom or the Heart, for authentic being, or standing up to power that has been abused and become tyrannical, oppressive, and socio- and psychopathic. That means outside of us, as well as where we’ve internalized the ‘voice of tyranny’.” (Source: my Rilke and the Black Madonna post – link below.)

As within, so without.

So perhaps we begin to emerge from the hypnosis and ensorcelment of archontic tyranny, both external to us and as we’ve internalized it, maybe even over generations, as tyranny is the enemy of creativity, genius, and true spirituality? And, I’d say, tyranny really is the enemy of Life.  Just as the Aquarian Prometheus defied the crusty, power-greedy old-guard and brought fire — Wisdom — to the people.

Dark Madonna at the chapel of The Episcopal Center in New York City. Photo by Jamie Walters, 2010.
Dark Madonna at the chapel of The Episcopal Center in New York City. Photo by Jamie Walters, 2010.

Various times, cycles, astro-energetic portals, and sacred Earthy places can serve as particularly fertile gateways.

But we can, at any time, consecrate space for taking stock, assessing where we are, and very heartfully open to or rededicate ourselves to soul-aligned intentions that can guide us forward with a refreshed devotion and dedication to living into those higher spiritual sensibilities in a very embodied (vs. transcendent, lofty, out-of-body) way.

These are times, and initiations accordingly, to bring us to our senses, into our bodies, and down to Earth … spirit in matter, or Mater, as it were.

But as I mention, too, the Black Madonna, like Durga and other ‘Goddesses of No-Fear‘ before her, is a symbol of the deeper Mysteries of the Feminine and also of the deep, courageous remembering of what has (or who has) been oppressed, suppressed, marginalized, erased (or attempted erasure), and so on.

Here’s a good place to begin in acquainting with or stirring your ancient memory of the Black Madonna tradition (which was as vital in the true core of Christendom as otherwise, for those unfamiliar with the tradition):

The Dark Madonna at Salisbury Cathedral, Salsbury, Wiltshire, U.K. Photo from my visit in 2007.
The Dark Madonna at Salisbury Cathedral, Salsbury, Wiltshire, U.K. Photo from my visit in 2007.

You’ll find the Black Madonna (and other faces of the Great She) in the audio programs of The Feminine Mojo Mystery School.

And find a rich collection of posts in the new Black Madonna & Feminine Mysteries page (you’ll see it in the sidebar, too).

It makes it easier for you to find Sophia’s Children archive posts on the Black Madonna, Sophia, Lilith, Magdalene, Wisdom, and the Way (or Dark Night) initiation into Wisdom. They’re all related, and they’re all re-emerging Mysteries.

And if you really want to delve in and immerse — if you feel the twinge and know or suspect you’re in the initiation path now — send me an email to explore a more personalized curriculum into the Black Madonna, Deep-Feminine Mysteries.

See the recent post, Subtle & Overt Attacks on the Feminine and links within it for more on a few reasons why reclaiming the Feminine really is still an issue, should we need the added motivation (the Great She can be very persuasive, after all!).

And so we remember, we embody, we ‘stand for’ the values and virtues and gifts that bring the ‘medicine for our times’ into being through us.

The adventure continues …

Big Love & Inspiration on the Way,

Jamie

*For more about Lech Walesa and the Black Madonna, see this New York Times article.

Featured Image Credit: Green Sophia, by Daniel Mirante, contributing artist to the Artists Envisioning the Divine project. Learn more about the Artists Envisioning the Divine Project at the link below this post.