I had an interesting experience last night. I was just finishing up bedtime things in the kitchen when there was a terrifying bang somewhere down the hall! It sounded like a cross between a gun going off and a wall collapsing. In this particular house a gunshot would be far less likely. Of course, I went running toward the sound.
Turns out it wasn’t so bad. A large, framed, vintage picture had fallen off the wall. It had been quietly resting there for years, but it looked like all that time enduring gradual pressure had finally bent its nail down. I can relate. Anyway, the picture and frame were thankfully unharmed.
I love this picture. I found it at an antique shop ages ago and I love to wonder where on earth it came from. It’s a very interesting depiction given that it looks like it was done in the early to mid-twentieth century, way before speculating about Jesus and Mary’s “special relationship” was cool.
I decided Mary and Jesus (and the two befuddled disciples trying to ease-drop behind them) must’ve taken a rather dramatic dive in order to demand pride-of-place in the recently remodeled living room. I complied.
I’m just superstitious enough of a person that, when something like that happens, I think it over a bit. It just so happens that the Catholic Feast of the Assumption of the Madonna, celebrating Mary the Mother ascending to Heaven, is August 15. Dialing time back a bit, the Gnostics used the same date to celebrate and study their doctrine of the assumption of the black goddess of wisdom, Sophia. On this same range of dates (around August 13 to 15) was the Roman Pagan festival of Nemoralia. This holiday was in honor of the virginal goddess of their pantheon, Diana. August 13 was (and is) a feast day for the Greek goddess of death and transitions, Hecate. Sekhmet, Egyptian lioness goddess, gorged herself unto inebriation on the blood of unjust humans on August 7. A celebration of Venus as protector of crops and groves occurred on August 19, and so on. Yes, Venus. Protector. Moderns like to see her as a featherweight who floats around on a seashell but Venus was the protector of Rome in those days and was known to kick some ass. She was a love and lust goddess, sure, but she’d also rip a new one in anyone accused of being a rapist.
Anyhow, I’m sure you see the connections. As is typical of world religions, the goddess holidays kept piling on top of each other over the ages.
This is all well and good, but you may be wondering where the “black” part comes in. Certainly, goddesses like Hecate and Sophia have lots of black in their symbolic and artistic color schemes. This color goes into the most ancient times of human religion for many reasons. Obviously, the cradle of civilization was in African regions, and early people had dark skin. Black was also associated with good soil and hence fertility and life to the ancients. The black soil of the Nile River, for instance, was revered in the Kemetic practices of ancient Egypt.
It’s kind backwards and an obvious racial appropriation that black became a stereo-typically negative color, especially spiritually. If anything, it’s the other way around. The ancients saw white as a color of death. Think about it…bleached bone, icy snow, and so on versus the black soil from which all life could be seen to spring.
Psychologically we probably all understand the meaning of nighttime and darkness. It’s a time of mysteries, power, and often fear. A dark god or goddess includes these aspects of life. Often their worship is at least partly done through closely guarded secrets, passed on only to initiates. S/he is often associated with death and reincarnation. Yet that isn’t all. Most of these deities, on their own or in combination with consorts, contain a full polarity of sun and moon, light and dark, openness and mystery. They tend to be triple deities…the stereotypical maiden, mother and crone (son, father, and death/spirit).
In terms of magick, black is receptive and white repels other energies (hence the associations with purity or death). This is why witches/magickal folk use a lot of black. At least, that’s how I was taught in one of my major traditions. When you want to do magick (a prayer with punch), you are building a wish battery. Black draws energy in, so why wouldn’t you use it? Still, you may want to rethink wearing black to a funeral. It’s stressful enough with out sucking in the vibes of every grieving person there.
Anyhow, back to Mary. The reasons that a Black Madonna popped up across the globe probably had to do with her syncretization into regional sacred stories. There may have been other theological reasons to represent Mary Magdalene as the Black Madonna if she is compared to the “shulamite” bride in the Song of Solomon (“dark I am, but lovely,” dark as in very tan from working all day in the fields…a poor girl who makes good by marrying the King).
Certainly there are Black Madonnas here, there and everywhere. There are Black Madonnas in Germany, Russia, Czechoslovakia, France, Poland, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain. Certainly the largest collection of Black Madonna shrines seems to be located in Sicily.
The church/es (primarily Catholic, Orthodox and Gnostic) can demure and claim that these statues are only blackened by centuries of candle soot. Yet it’s impossible to hide the ways that local people (particularly women) worship these Madonnas while incorporating many of the “old ways” and old goddesses. Besides the ladies I mentioned, other goddesses with a black/underworld/arcane rep include Cybele, Artemis, Isis, Pele, Nut, Cailleach, Morrighan, Baba Yaga, and more.
Mary has always carried the spirits and (sometimes quietly) the powers of other goddesses. She has long been associated with healing, protection, prophecy, fertility, and interceding in/answering prayers (aka manifesting magicks). When she wears the royal blue robes of the mainstream, she channels high spiritual vibrations and astral communication of all that we need to live good lives. When she wears the dark skin and perhaps robes of a cthonic (underworld) mama, she takes on the role of spirit midwife, guardian, guide and perhaps even judge in the incomprehensible mazes of death. In both roles she brings prophecy and secret teachings. In both roles she is revered and respected.
I have a long history of interactions with Mary. Mostly, they were with Yeshua’s mom. I’ve seen statuary to her in Jerusalem while I was on an archaeology dig for school. Yes, I’ve literally dug up bodies in Armageddon. That’s a story for another time. I’ve seen Guadalupe’s shrines around Mexico when I was on my dad’s missionary trips. I’ve slowly collected or made a ton of art and statuary dedicated to the Marys. Often, it was without even noticing that I was doing it. More recently, I have incorporated the image of the Black Madonna on my altar and in my own spiritual practices.
In modern times, Mary is “back in black” as an icon of inclusiveness and diversity. Mary has always had a role in social justice theology. The Bible records her “magnificat” (song of praise) as (in part):
God’s mercy is for those who fear God
from generation to generation.
God has shown strength with God’s arm;
God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
God has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
God has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
(Luke 1:46-55)
In the introduction to the book, “Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna (Alessandra Belloni, Bear & Co)”, Matthew Fox notes that the Black Madonnas are meaningful inspiration within movements like Black Lives Matter. Certainly, Our Lady of Guadalupe of South America has been connected to “liberation theology” for many decades and has long been honored by Native American and South American believers.
Many of the dark mothers have been associated with social justice and similar. One example would be the widely practiced “Hecate’s supper.” On the new moon (when the moon is virtually dark in the sky), her devotees would place food and other ritual offerings out for her. Though some might be on a household altar, it was the tradition to leave these items at a triple crossroads, sacred to Hecate as the torch-bearing guide through the labyrinths of death. The thing is, anyone who came for the offerings was considered a representative of the dark mother. Therefore, the Hecate’s supper was a way for transient people to get some supplies.
Partly because of her dark, shadowy vibe and partly due to the placement and iconography of certain Black Madonnas, she has sometimes been associated with Mary Magdalene as well as or instead of Mary the mother of Yeshua. This brings me full circle (kind of) to my picture of Yeshua/Jesus and Mary M taking that stroll (and that header off my wall).
I sort of think that they risked denting their frame in order to call my attention to the Mary feast day in a couple of days, and get me to put up some information on this blog. It so happens that I’m aware of an online event that those interested in Mary, particularly the Black Madonna (with emphasis on Mary Magdalene) may find very cool.
On August fifteenth Rose Lineage Priestess Annabel Du Boulay will be putting on an online festival for the Black Goddess. By the way, men, women and all genders are fully included and welcomed. She will give excellent information about the connections between several of these deities. I believe she will have a very special guided meditation included. As a priestess, author and also a musician, she is very good at those (yes, I know her and she’s very awesome). She does a great job of tracing the black goddesses from Ethiopia and through the mists of time, all the way to the mists of Avalon, so to speak. She’s based in England so there’s a time zone hitch for those of us in the US of A. As best I can tell, though, this is at the manageable time of 2pm Eastern, US time on Saturday the 15th. A minimum donation of 13 British pounds (about 17 dollars) is required to get the link. Donations will go to a charity called Project Harar, which does emergency COVID water support and (and some other supplies) in Ethiopia (as Annabel says, the original birthplace of the Black Goddess).
Happy Feast of Mary’s Assumption! If you’re a little witchy, maybe I’ll see you online in British Summer Time.
Here is a link to the online festival:
BY DONATION
References:
Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna: Chants, Music, and Sacred Practices of the Dark Goddess, by Alessandra Belloni (Bear & Co)
Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom, Bride of God, by Caitlin Matthews (Quest Books)
Celtic Lore & Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess: Invoking the Morrigan, by Stephanie Woodfield (Llewellyn)
Hekate Liminal Rites, by Sorita D’Este and David Rankine (Avalonia)
Feast of the Morrighan: A Grimoire for the Dark Lady of the Emerald Isle, by Christopher Penczak (Copper Cauldron)
