THE BLACK MADONNA IS A FEMALE DEITY. SHE SYMBOLIZES EARTH AND MOTHER, DARKNESS, THE UNKNOWN, DEATH, HEALING OF DUALITIES, THE MOON AND THE OWL.

GODDESS WORSHIP PRE-DATES VENERATION OF THE MALE DEITIES. PERHAPS THE OLDEST KNOWN GODDESS, OR BLACK MADONNA DUE TO HER SYMBOLISM OF THE UNKNOWN AND DARKNESS, IS LILITH (2300 BC). SHE WAS DEPICTED FROM SUMERIAN ART FLANKED BY OWLS(1) IN HEBREW, LILITH’S NAME MEANS SCREECH OWL. DEMONIZED IN JEWISH FOLKLORE AS A SUCCUBUS AND MURDERESS OF INFANTS, SHE WAS THE PREDECESSER TO EVE BUT REFUSED TO BE SUBMISSIVE TO ADAM. LILITH WENT ON TO BECOME THE BRIDE OF YAHWEH AND WAS VENERATED IN THE FORM OF THE VIRGIN MARY DURING THE MIDDLE AGES.(1) THE CULT OF THE BLACK MADONNA SURFACED IN EUROPE AT THIS POINT WITH THE ERECTION OF CATHEDRALS AND FORMS SUCH AS THE BLACK MADONNA OF CZESTOCHOWA IN POLAND, OUR LADY OF ROCAMADOUR IN FRANCE, AND OUR LADY OF MONTSERRAT IN SPAIN.

NEW GRANGE, IRELAND: AN EXAMPLE OF AN ANCIENT MONUMENT DEDICATED TO THE GODDESS IS THE NEWGRANGE, A CELEBRATED MONUMENT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD (3200 BC). IT IS A TEMPLE GRAVE (SEE ILLUSTRATION) THE SPIRALS DEPICT THE EYES OF THE GODDESS AND WERE MADE TO GUARD THE ENTRANCE AT BOTH SIDES. EACH WINTER SOLSTICE, A LIGHT SHINES THROUGH THE BURIAL CHAMBER FROM THE SKY ABOVE. IT IS ONE OF THE OLDEST KNOWN STONE TEMPLES. THIS IS ONE OF THE SPIRITUAL SITES THAT I VISITED IN 2012 WHEN I EMBARKED ON MY INDIVIDUALIZED BLACK MADONNA TOUR OF HER SITES IN EUROPE.

EXAMPLES OF THE VENERATION OF THE GREAT GODDESS FROM PREHISTORIC TIMES HAVE BEEN ATTACHED FROM SUMERIA, IRELAND, EGYPT, OLD EUROPE, AND CHINA. (1)

(1) Lady of the Beasts: Ancient Images of the Goddess and Her Sacred Animals, Buffie Johnson, 1988