The Black Madonna

This is an extraordinary overview and guidebook to the Black Madonna that includes short descriptions of 450 Black Madonnas in France -- there is even one in my village church. Annine began her studies with the great Gnostic scholar Prof Gilles Quispel and has since made an in-depth study, as is evident from more than 100 notes and references following each chapter. She explains the symbolism of black and its association with the earth, chaos, night and descent into underground caves along with the historical evolution of the Black Madonna. There are associations with many folk tales and legends, megaliths, Celtic tribes, Mary Magdalene and especially the Romanesque era. The Virgin Mary represents the idealised White Madonna, but the Black Madonna is more ancient and primal, associated with both darkness and light as well as Sophia and Wisdom -- also connecting the visible with the invisible. Many sites, including Chartres, were associated with pre-Christian shrines and sacred places. Indeed, the name Chartres comes from Car or Carn meaning holy mountain. There are Black Madonnas in the crypt, preserved from the 1194 fire (she is wearing a crown of oak leaves, sacred to the Druids), and another in the main cathedral. Then there is Notre Dame de la Belle Verriere (1150), which also represents a Black Madonna, while Mary Magdalene representing the Black Madonna was known as Notre Dame de Lumiere.

A whole chapter is devoted to the Black Madonna and Mary Magdalene, who gave rise to many such statues in the south of France where she taught, even though some were whitewashed (!) or have just disappeared. Annine illustrates the closeness of Mary Magdalene with Jesus depicted in a statue from Foix where she is seated on the left of Jesus at the Last Supper, and there is a stained-glass window of them together in Limoux. Later this year, Annine's major book on Mary Magdalene will be published in English and she is giving us a webinar in October. The study continues into the 11^th^ century Romanesque period and the later Gothic cathedrals dedicated to Notre Dame, which Annine interprets as the Triple Great Mother in her white, red (bride) and black aspects. There is a special connection between Mary Magdalene and the Cathars, who recognised her as the wife of Christ and whose main text I believe to be the Gospel of the Beloved Companion that purports to be the complete Gospel of Mary Magdalene, where the Spirit is feminine. All this heralds an era of potential spiritual awakening, especially to the Divine Feminine. A vital and definitive reference work.