Black Virgins

7/28/2019 Black Virgins

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Black Virgins/ Black Madonnas

Explore the mystery behind enigmatic dark figures of Mary scattered throughout Europe. Are these dark-skinned figures Goddesses, secret symbols of heresy, remnants of Pagan Cults?

Black Virgins/Black Madonna

Alternative Religions Resource GuidesAlternative Religion/ Resources

There are almost five hundred so-called "Black" Madonnas scattered over Europe, the

highest concentrations appearing in France and Italy. Many are believed to havemiraculous powers of healing and protection.

While many of these dark-skinned Virgins are explained away as the result of candlesoot or age, most appear to be deliberately created with black skin. Some bear

reference to the Song of Songs from the Old Testament:

"I am black, but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem. Like the black tents

of Cedar, like the pavilions of Solomon."

The Black Madonnas are associated with the earth, with darkness, mystery, and most

importantly, miracles. Many have theorized that these images and statues hearkenback to the worship of the ancient Goddesses Isis and Demeter; indeed, some of the

statues themselves are believed to be pre-Christian. Certainly, the image of the

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divine mother and child-god are older than Christianity, and the tendency of the

Catholic Church to borrow, consciously or subconsciously, the iconography ofwidespread Pagan cults at the time of it's founding is well known.

The statues have also been connected to Mary Magdalen, who is often seen as the

counterpart of the Virgin "Goddess" Mary- an emblem of fertility and sexuality, asubstitute for the missing "Goddess consort" to Christ.

Articles and Essays on the Black Virgins:

A Reflection on Black Virgins

Some musings on their origin and meaning.

Isis, the Black Virgin

Selected quotes from a variety of sources.

Black Madonnas: Still Black and Still Venerated

Lists locations of dozens of examples.

The Black Madonna: Primordial Ancestress

As an archetype of earth. The Black Madonna and Mary Magdalen

Connections between The madonnas, Isis and Mary Magdalen

Return of the Black Madonna

Images and Galleries: The Black Madonnas of France

A Small Gallery with several good examples.

The Black Madonna Gallery

Madonna and Child Gallery

Goddesses with Child, from Christian and Pre-

Christian Icons
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Other "Black" Madonnas:

Mexican Black MadonnasThe Madonnas of Mexico and their Aztecorigins.

Black Madonna del Tindari

An American Black Madonna

Related Resources:

Mary Magdalen

Rosslyn chapel

Priory of Sion

Rennes-le-Chteau

Religious symbols

Gnosticism

Sacred Geometry

The Holy Grail

Merovingian Dynasty

Black Virgins Black Virgins
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Black VirginsBack to Last Page Full Glossary

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Rennes-le-ChateauMary MagdalenGnosticism

Definition:A large collectionof Madonna and Child

statues found mainly in theSouth of France.Mysteriously, they are allblack in color, and manybelieve they represent Isisor Demeter, and are acover for medievalGoddess worship. Stillothers believe theyrepresent MaryMagdalene, and supportthe notion that she borechildren with Jesus, a

common Gnostic belief.

Related Resources:

HistoricalOdditiesReligiousmysteries atAlternativereligions.

GnosticismGnosticism atAlternativeReligions.

Elsewhere on the Web:

Black Virgins-A shortessay.

The God-idea of the

Ancients, Or Sex inReligion

Related Subjects

The God of the Witches Jesus Mysteries

Mandeism

Buy the Book:

The God-idea of the Ancients Sex and Religion

Eliza Burt Gamble
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selfishness had been

denied expression.

When we remember thetenacity with which the

human mind clings toestablished beliefs and

forms, it is not perhapssingular that in a

comparatively short timethese principles were

lost sight of, and thatthe entire system of

corrupt paganism, withChrist as the New Solar

Deity, was reinstated;neither is it remarkable,

when we reflect uponthe length of time

required to bring aboutany appreciable change

in human thought andaction, that the

principles which thisGreat Teacher

enunciated are at the

present time only justbeginning to be

understood.

To one who carefullystudies the history of

Christianity by the lightof recently developed

truths, the fact willdoubtless be discovered

that the fundamentaldifference existing

between Catholic andProtestant sects is

grounded in the old feudarising out of the relative

importance of the sex-principles. From the days

of Zoroaster to the finalestablishment of

Christianity by Paul, thetendency--although

slight--had been toward

the elevation of woman,and consequently toward


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a greater

acknowledgment of thefemale element in the

god-idea. Considerableimpetus was given to the

cause of woman'sadvancement throughthe doctrines of the

various schools ofphilosophy in Greece,

and subsequently by theefforts put forth by the

Roman lawyers toestablish their equality

with men before the law;hence, during the first

hundred years of theChristian era the "new

religion" seems to havecontained much of the

spirit of the ancientphilosophy.

By several of the earlyChristian sects, the

second person in the

trinity was female, aswas also the Holy Ghost.

In a "fragment of a

gospel preserved by St.Jerome, and believed to

have been from theoriginal Aramaean

Gospel of St. Matthew,with additions, the Holy

Ghost (ruach), which inHebrew is feminine, is

called by the infantSavior, 'My Mother, the

Holy Ghost.' "142

142

Barlow, Essays onSymbolism, p. 135.

The mission of Christwas that of a

Regenerator of mankind,an office which had been

symbolized by thepowers of the sun. He


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of the obnoxious works

of the opposite sex. Thewritings of Marcellina

have perished."143 Notonly did women teach

publicly, and write, butaccording to Bunsenthey claimed the

privilege of baptizingtheir own sex. The

reason for this isevident. Before baptism

it was customary for thenewly-made converts to

strip and be anointedwith oil. After the

establishment of Paul'sdoctrines, however, "the

bishops and presbytersdid not care to be

relieved from thepleasant duty of

baptizing the femaleconverts."144

143History of the Christian

Religion, p. 405.

144Ibid., p. 23.

Although the utmostcare has been exercised

to conceal the fact thatwomen equally with

men, performed theoffices connected with

the early church, yet bythose who have paid

attention to the truehistory of this

movement, there can beno doubt about the

matter. Notwithstandingthe early tendencies of

the "new religion"

toward the recognition ofwomen, and toward the

restoration of the female

principle in the Deity,the policy to be pursued

by the church was soon


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apparent, for Paul, the

real founder of thesystem calling itself

Christian, and a manimbued with Asiatic

prejudices concerningwomen, arrogantlydeclared that "man is

the head of woman asChrist is the head of the

Church." Women werecommanded to be under

obedience. Neither wasthe man created for the

woman, but the womanfor the man; thus was

re-established andemphasized the absurd

doctrine of the Lingaites,that the male is an

independent entity, thathe is spirit and superior

to the female which ismatter. After this

indication of the policy tobe pursued under the

new regime, it wouldscarcely be expected

that theefforts put forth

by the various sects

among the Gnosticstoreinstate the female

element either on theearth or in heavenwould

be successful, and asmight be anticipated

from the factsalreadyadduced, as early as the

year 325, at the councilof Nice, a male trinity

was formallyestablished, and soon

thereafter, the

Collylidians, a sect whichrigorously persisted inthe adoration of the

female principle, werecondemned. At the

council of Laodicea, A.D.365, the 11th canon

forbade the ordination ofwomen for the ministry


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and the 44th canon

prohibited them fromentering the altar.

The devotees of female

worship, although for atime silenced, were

evidently not convinced,and to force their

understanding intoconformity with the

newly established order,the Nestorians, in the

year 430 A. D.,reopened the old

dispute, and formallydenied to Mary the title

of Mother of God. Theirefforts, however, were of

little avail, for in theyear 451, at the council

of Ephesus, the thirdgeneral council, the

decision of theNestorians was reversed

and the Virgin Mother

reinstated. Upon thissubject Barlow remarks:

"Well might those who

made this symbolical

doctrine what it now is,at length desire to dotardy justice to the

female element, bypromoting the mother to

the place once occupiedby the Egyptian Neith,

and crowning her Queenof Heaven."145 The fact

will doubtless beobserved, however, that

by the Romish Churchthe idea of the god-

mother differs widelyfrom the Queen of

Heaven--the original Godof the ancients. Mary the

Mother of Jesus is not aCreator, but simply a

mediator between herSon and His earthly

devotees--a doctrine


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only a trifle less

masculine in texturethan that of an Almighty

Father and his victimizedson. The worship of Mary

was adopted by the so-called Christians inresponse to a craving in

the human heart for arecognition of those

characters developed inmankind which may be

said to contain the germof the divine. The

masculine god of theJews was feared not

loved, and his son hadalready been invested

with his attributes. Hewas all powerful, hence

a mediator, a mother,was necessary to

intercede in behalf offallen man, and this, too,

notwithstanding the factthat woman had become

the "cause of evil in theworld."

145Essays on Symbolism, p.

134.

The Great Goddess of

the ancients, PerceptiveWisdom, the Deity of

giving, she whorepresented the purely

altruistic charactersdeveloped in mankind,

and whose worshipinvolved a scientific

knowledge of theprocesses of Nature,

when engrafted upon theso-called Christian

system, althoughindicating an important

step toward the

recognition of thegenuine creative

principles, was not

understood. Although


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her effigies were brought

from the East and madeto do duty as

representations of Mary,the Mother of Christ, a

knowledge of her truesignificance lay hurledbeneath ages of

sensuality andselfishness.

By those who have madeit their business to

investigate this subject,it is observed that there

is scarcely an old churchin Italy in which there is

not to be found aremnant of a black virgin

and child. In very manyinstances these black

virgins have beenreplaced by white ones,

the older figures havingbeen retired to some

secluded niche in the

church where they areheld especially sacred by

the ignorant devotees

who know absolutely

nothing of their originalsignificance. We areassured that many of

these images have beenpainted over, ostensibly

in imitation of bronze,but the whites of the

eyes, the teeth, andcolored lips reveal the

fact that they are reallynot intended to

represent bronze, butfigures of a black virgin

goddess and child whoseworship has been

imported into Europefrom the East. I had

been told that one of theoldest of these images

extant was to be foundin Augsburg; a thorough

search, however, in all


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the churches and

cathedrals of that cityfailed to reveal it, but in

the museum at Munichsuch a figure is to be

seen. It is in a state ofdecay, one arm of themother and a portion of

the child's figure beingworn away. Upon this

subject Godfrey Higginsremarks:

"If the author hadwished to invent a

circumstance tocorroborate the assertion

that the Romish Christ ofEurope is the Crishna of

India, how could he havedesired anything more

striking than the fact ofthe black virgin and child

being so common in theRomish countries of

Europe? A black virgin

and child among thewhite Germans, Swiss,

French, and

Italians!!!"146

146Anacalypsis, book iv., ch. i.,p. 175.

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