There's a reason, from what I've gathered, that many (most) people don't know about the Dark Madonna (a term used interchangeably with the Black Madonna).
And if it does come to you, and it does intrigue you, well that's interesting, too.
When you read about 'the Mysteries', such as the Eleusian mysteries, Orphic Mysteries, Delphic Mysteries, and so on, they all contain elements of the Dark Feminine, and the Dark Feminine is the only route to the wisdom of and in the Mystery.
The Dark Feminine is that which can't be accessed by our rational, linear, 'five senses', supposedly 'concrete world' processes. It's the territory of the other senses, seeing with your 'other' eyes, and becoming a traveler between the worlds or dimensions. The calling almost always, no, always, includes some sort of initiation. The old mysteries had rituals for that; in Western culture, we have the dark night of the soul, for a lot of reasons.
How this manifests is unique to each person. What the Black Madonna means to each person, and how different people experience it/her, may differ somewhat. Shamans and mystics know it, the priestesses of old knew it, the modern day priestesses know it, and their brothers -- fellow children of Sophia -- know it as much as they can know it.
Many believe that the Dark Feminine comes to light (yes, I chose those words purposely) when the conditions of the world are on the brink and in a greater need of the deep wisdom, and the passion and purpose it feeds or breeds. One might use the metaphor that if the unbalanced Masculine has run amok, as Patriarchal culture most assuredly has, then the need for the visible and whole Feminine becomes all the more vital. And here we are; now is such a time.
From what I can see -- what I've learned from others, and what I've gleaned from my own experiences -- the 'Black madonna' or Dark Feminine is really the WHOLE feminine -- all of it, including both the 'sweet, compassionate, all-suffering' qualities attributed to the Virgin Mary, AND the often frightening (particularly to certain types of men) unbelievably powerful Black Madonna, the Virgin Mary's alter ego. Other names used over the years and in various cultures are Sophia, Isis, Inanna, Kali, Prima Mater, Tara, the Great Mother, Grandmother Spider, and many more.
The Black Madonna, by any of her names, if you're called, leads (or drags) you out of the safety zone and into the whole of your gifts and purpose and potentials in a world that really, really needs that full, whole expression and the courage required for it. It stands up, speaks out, in whatever ways are appropriate to the person called.
In my case, I'd heard of the Dark Mother, the Dark Goddess, Isis, Inanna, and Sophia, but not the Black Madonna. And when I became more acquainted with that tradition, I got conked on the head, first literally, and then, several years later, metaphorically. Enter a mystical experience while visiting Vezelay, France, in late 2006, followed by the coup de grace in Barcelona. There was no going back. As they say in Lord of the Rings, The way (back) is shut. You can go forward, or stand there turning in circles until you realize you have to go forward -- to find doorways you can't see into a 'forward' you don't yet know intellectually. I've turned a few circles... :)
While visiting various sacred places where the dark goddess and Black Madonna have been 'protected' and beloved, I started hearing what would become a pattern of observation about how the former Sacred places of the goddess cultures, the Nature-connected cultures, were 'marked' and overtaken by the Church -- Patriarchal culture, in which, by the way, the former had Her protectors and devotees. So you have these enormous stone buildings set right, squarely on top of these places, which often had deep wells where people gathered. The wells, and the Black Madonnas, were often deep in the bowels of the churches, accessible only for very short periods of time with a chaperone, or accessible only to certain priests. The power of the Feminine Wisdom being hoarded.
In Turkey in late 2000, I experienced for the first time in memory a radical awareness of being 'outside of time' and completely in the present moment. Then, in Vezelay in late 2005, I once again experienced first-hand and without expectation -- though in a slightly different way -- what it is to be fully present. And there, I heard in no uncertain terms that that was where the power of the Sacred Feminine is. Right in the place between a healed 2nd chakra and a healed, or opened, heart. Right at the Womb, which is the 'center of power' or 'sea of chi' in various long-standing traditions. And so there, in Vezelay, I was initiated into the path of sensuous presence. Full-sensory presence.
Moving on to Spain from France, I went to Montserrat, where access to a very famous Black Madonna is very controlled, almost hilariously so (given where my mind was). I was aware that I needed to notice this, and that's why I was there.
Then, while wandering the older section of Barcelona, I suddenly started walking very purposely. I had no idea where I was going, but something did. I really felt like I was being reeled in. I walked in this way until I came to an old and very modest basilica, where as soon as I arrived someone standing near the door opened the door for me. I didn't even stop. I walked half-way down the center aisle, turned left, and found myself face to face with an 'off the list' black madonna. Right there, hidden in plain sight in the midst of what was humble, and accessible to whomever found their way. It blew me away.
And as I've written in my journals and in private communiques to several friends, by that Black Madonna I sat down and cried.
And I heard, "Your work is to help free me from the prison of Patriarchy, so that I'm once again accessible to any who seek me."
I get chills even now, because that's how powerful and clear it is. Needless to say, that's a question that I've been living into since. It really is living into the mystery. I have no clue where it will lead me, but leading me it is, as it's leading and calling to many -- calling us, awakening us out of our path of destruction, out of our torpor, and into a new engagement, a new full-sensory presence.
Blessings,
Jamie
* Photo taken at Montserrat Abbey, Barcelona, Spain
* Magdalene at the Cross, as it appears in the Convent at Le Baume, France
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