The earliest known reference to the dark goddess/Black Madonna was Lilith. From Lilith, we can trace the influence of the Black Madonna through the ages to Sumeria (3rd Millenium BC).

Inanna, the Sumerian Goddess, was “the universal goddess of fertility, war, and healing, whose throne was the world tree. When the hero, Gilgamish, cut down her tree, She became a homeless exile, like Lilith.” (1)

(1) “The Cult of the Black Virgin, Ean Begg, Pg. 41

Kali, the goddess of time from India, evolved from Inanna. ” In Hindu mythology, Kali is the fierce, dark dimension of the Shakti feminine energy.”(2) She is ugly with bloodshot eyes, matted hair, and black skin and is wearing a necklace of human skulls. “She is a trickster, sexual teacher, power holder, and compassionate Bodhisvattou as she awakens us through sacred play.” (3)

Isis hales from Egypt and evolved from Inanna and Kali. She symbolizes the unconscious that seeks healing, restoration, and new life. “This mourning is a cyclical psychological point, and it implies striving after and searching for a new life. Such a birth is essential to healing.” (1)

Demeter, the Greek goddess, evolved from Isis. Demeter possessed the transformative properties of the moon. According to Greek myth, she was carried to the underworld by Hades, but is resurrected each spring when she returns to the surface. Demeter is the “dark side” of the Great Mother while Persephone, her mother, is the “light side”. They were celebrated in the yearly ritual of the Eleusinian Mysteries in Greece. From these ancient goddesses, the Blessed Virgin of Christian origin evolved and was celebrated in the 12th century with the construction of many cathedrals throughout Europe. The Black Madonna is the “dark side” of the Blessed Virgin.

In modern times, we can visit Black Madonna Pilgrimage sites through out Europe and around the world. I did this in my trips to Europe to experience the Black Madonna. Of the many sits located through out the world, I will present three that I visited:

OUR LADY OF ROCAMADOUR, FRANCE

“Rocamadour, a well known destination, is quite exceptional. It was the ancient Vallis Tenebros, the “dark valley”, a sheer drop of 650 feet that suddenly opens in the limestone plateau, with a fortified castle at the edge of the abyss, a bouquet of churches and chapels on the side of the rock, and, farther below, a medieval village. At the bottom of the valley, the Alzon River twists and turns through what was once a dense forest. Here we have water, rock, and tree. These are the customary companions of the Marian Cult (this is also true of Lourdes). The pilgrimage to Rocamadour was one of the most famous in the Middle Ages. Henry Plantagenet 11 went to atone for the murder of Thomas Becket. Numerous chapels bearing the name Rocamadour were built throughout Europe as extensions of that devotion originating in the Dark Valley.” (4)

The Black Madonna of Rocamadour is a Majestic Virgin from the end of the twelfth century that has been crudely carved and blackened, then partially covered with silver plate. It sits on a hollowed-out block in a reliquary. Tradition maintains that the publican Zaccheus brought a statuette carved by the Evangelist Saint Luke to Rocamadour.”(4)

(2)”The Black Madonna”, Fred Gustafson.1990

(3)”Shakti Woman, Feeling Our Fire, Healing Our World: The New Female Shamanism”, Vickie

Noble, 1991

(4) “Cathedral of the Black Madonna, the Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres”, Jean Markale, 1988

“A local legend tells how sacrifices were once made to a black mother-goddess known as Sulevia or Soulivia. This black mother-goddess’s sanctuary was located in a cave, the same cavern where Zaccheus hid the statuette carved by Saint Luke. This is the realm of Gallo-Roman religion. The Sulevias were goddesses of uncultivated land, which accords perfectly with the nature of the Rocamadour terrain. These goddesses protected the dead and were guardians of the sacred waters. This ancient worship of the waters can be viewed in context with Our Lady of Rocamadour and nearby Lourdes. They are in the vicinity of a well , spring, or pond. (4).

Our Lady of Rocamadour remains an ancient symbol of healing through nature.

The second Black Madonna site that I visited in Europe was Our Lady of Montserat, Spain.

“La Virgen de Montserrat or La Moreneta, patroness of Catalonia dates from 932 when the Count of Barcelona confirmed and renewed an endowment made to the shrine by his father in 888, soon after the Blessed Virgin was found among the rocks. According to legend, the rocks of Montserrat, formerly smooth, became serrated at the Crucifixion, after which the statue, carved by St. Luke, was brought from Jerusalem to Barcelona by St. Peter. It was hidden on the Sierra de Montserrat to save it from the Moors, and was found by shepherds, guided by a choir of angels, in the 8th century. When the Bishop of Manresa tried to move it to his cathedral it refused to budge. Montserrat is the home of Catalan nationalism and scholarship. The Black Madonna of Montserat is concerned with fertility and marriage. Saint Ignatius Loyola received his vocation here and hung up his sword. Wagner was inspired to compose Parzival there (Montserrat as Grail Castle). Goethe and Schiller both attributed great importance to Montserrat, and the house where Beethoven died was an ancient fief of the Abbey, Former Temple of Venus.” (1)

Another less known legend contends that the statue of Our Lady of Montserrat was carried by the survivors of the Cathar massacre in the 11th century and was the symbol of the wisdom of the dark goddess/Black Madonna through the influence of Mary Magdalene. This is indicative of the Black Madonna”s association with esoteric teaching and schools of initiation. “The idea that the meaning of life has to do with the projection and reintegration of the soul, sketched by early Gnosticism of which the Cathars were a part, was made more conscious with Carl Jung and his principle of the anima/animus. The Black Virgin is a symbol of the hidden Church and of the underground stream.” (1)

“Underneath all our conditioning, hidden in the crypt of our being, near the waters of life, the Black Virgin is enthroned with her Child, the dark latency of our own essential nature, that which we were always meant to be. Sometimes, she comes to us in dreams and visions, in sickness cured, in rescue from catastrophe, and in chance encounters with the numinous. The legends of her shrines are full of such experience.” (1)

Like the shrine at Rocamadour, Montserrat is a place of healing. It has also been the site of UFO site-ings in modern times. One of my “peak experiences” was visiting this mountain top shrine.

My third Black Madonna visitation site is Our Lady of Czestochowa, Poland. She was the Black Madonna of my childhood.

“There can be no image of Our Lady so famous throughout the world as the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, Queen of Poland, who reigns from the Basilica in the Jasna Gora monastery. According to the legend, it was painted by St. Luke on a table made by Jesus, discovered by St. Helena in Jerusalem and taken to Constantinople where it was venerated until 8C when it was hidden in the forest of Belsk in East Poland. After the Tartar invasion of 1382, the Prince of Belsk was told in a dream to take the painting to Czestochowa, where the monks of St.Paul of the Desert have guarded it to the present day. In 1430, during the Hussite troubles, a robber-band removed it, but abandoned it in the mud at the outskirts of the village, covered in earth and blood. A miraculous spring dates from that time. All the victories and deliverances that have occured since are attributed by the Poles to the intercession of the patroness. These include the Swedish invasion in 1655 to World War 11 in 1945 and Poland’s liberation from Communism in the 1980’s. In 1430, the ineffaceable sabre scars were inflicted by Hussite soldiers to her right cheek. She carries the Child on her left arm; he holds a book in his left hand. Algermissen notes a bee and black knight motif on the garment of the Virgin.” (1)

Our Lady of Czestochowa is a patroness of oppressed peoples and She stands for the fight for freedom from domination from seemingly more powerful forces. I will close with quotes from Fred Gustafson as to what She represents:

“These Black Madonnas speak that very deprived area of the soul which hungers for value and hope in the midst of the indefinition and incomprehensibility of life.” (2)

“In dreams and active imagination, with the suffering black goddess, we find enthusiasm and direction for our own spiritual life.” (2)

“Full spiritual development necessitates an experience with the dark side of life, which pushes back superficial responses and makes room for balance, understanding, and compassion.” (2)

“When the ego surrenders, more powerful forces and deeper values can be reached. It is a fact that a touchstone is reached that guides one the rest of one’s life. For those who experienced and survived Dachau, there is no need to re-experience evil.” (2)