The Real World > Religion
Re: The Black Madonna
aaron r:
Just as an aside, there is a polish order called The Pauline Fathers whose name is taken from St Paul the First Hermit. They "worship" a Black Madonna called Our Lady of Czestochowa. cheers.
transdimensional:
Michael P. Duricy is the Information and Multimedia Coordinator for The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, University of Dayton. He examined the origin of the Black Madonnas.
I extract the most important parts of the text here:
--- Quote ---[...] The meaning of Black Madonna used here refers to a type of Marian statue or painting of mainly medieval origin (12C-15C), of dark or black features whose exact origins are not always easy to determine, and most important, of particular prominence. The latter, the prominence of the Black Madonna, is mostly due to the allegedly miraculous character of the image. [...]
History of the Black Madonna Genre
Important early studies of dark images in France were done by: Marie Durand-Lefebvre (1937); Emile Saillens (1945); and Jacques Huynen (1972). The first notable study of the origin and meaning of the so-called Black Madonnas in English appears to have been presented by Leonard Moss at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Dec. 28, 1952. Amazingly, all the images in Moss' study had a reputation for miracles. Based on a study of nearly one hundred samples from various parts of the world, Moss broke the images into three categories:
1) dark brown or black madonnas with physiognomy and skin pigmentation matching that of the indigenous population.
2) various art forms that have turned black as a result of certain physical factors such as:
deterioration of lead-based pigments;
accumulated smoke from the use of votive candles; and accumulation of grime over the ages.
3) residual category with no ready explanation.
That a certain percentage of black images falls into the first group seems self-evident. For example, negroid features accompany dark color in African images. This trait is also apparent in many of the ethnic crèches in the Marian Library collection. Also, the famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from Mexico [at right], though not particularly dark, was included in this class by Moss.
The second explanation is frequently cited by Catholic non-experts in relation to particular images. Though overused, it certainly applies to a certain percentage of Black Madonnas. The famous statue of Our Lady of the Hermits in Einsiedeln, Switzerland illustrates this phenomenon. After evacuation to Austria in 1798 to escape the designs of Napoleon when the Madonna was returned in 1803, she was found to have been cleaned during her stay in Bludenz. It was promptly decided that she should be restored to her wonted blackness before being exposed once more to the gaze of the faithful.
Similarly, the statue of Our Lady of Altötting was rescued from the ravaging of the church by flame in the year 907. This might account for the darkened features, though Moss has his doubts. If not the image at Altötting, other Black Madonnas were certainly altered in appearance after 'miraculous' rescues from burning churches.
After accounting for images which fall into the first two categories, we are left with a number of black madonnas still requiring explanation. As Moss notes: "It is difficult to rule out artistic license." In the absence of texts stating the artist's intent, only speculation is possible. However, assuming that some of the images were darkened intentionally, we may attempt some explanations.
There seem to be two particularly strong theories.
The first is that the images were darkened to illustrate a text from the Song of Songs: "I am black but beautiful" [Negra sum sed formosa]. In support of this theory, note that many of the black madonnas exist in France, and date from around the time of the crusades, when Bernard of Clairvaux wrote numerous commentaries on the Canticles, comparing the soul to the bride, as well as many on Our Lady. He was also known to have visited several shrines of the Black Madonna, for example: Chatillon and Affligem. In the Gothic period texts explicitly interpreted the Bride in Canticles as referring especially to Mary. Once artistic precedent had been set, subsequent black madonnas may be explained by artistic convention rather than theological motivation. Based on historical correlations, Ean Begg speculates that the genre developed from an esoteric popular religion common among the Templars and Cathars, perhaps as a complement to the impetus from Bernard.
The other prominent theory is briefly summarized by Stephen Benko: "the Black Madonna is the ancient earth-goddess converted to Christianity." His argument begins by noting that many goddesses were pictured as black, among them Artemis of Ephesus, Isis, Ceres, and others. Ceres, the Roman goddess of agricultural fertility, is particularly important. Her Greek equivalent, Demeter, derives from Ge-meter or Earth Mother. The best fertile soil is black in color and the blacker it is, the more suited it is for agriculture. [...]
We received the following commentary to add to this information:
"Concerning why is she black--in Aramaic the language of Jesus--black means "sorrowful." It is a language of idioms. This links the Blessed Mother to Isis who was called "sorrowing" in her search for Osiris."
--- End quote ---
For further information on Black Madonnas, refer to The Cult of the Black Virgin (1985) by Ean Begg; Mother Worship:Themes and Variations (1982) by James Preston (ed.); and The Virgin Goddess (1993) by Stephen Benko or to these other Mary Page resources:
_http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/blackm/blackm.html (list of Black Madonnas worldwide & bibliography)
_http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/links/linkdisplay.php3?catnum=19 ("some useful links for those interested in the Black Madonna phenomenon")
source: _http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/blackmdn.html
NewOrleans:
Nephthys:
Isis's name was originally Aset - the Greeks changed it to Isis. Lunar Aset is not a single goddess, but dual. Her sister, Nephthys, was the dark moon. In the ancient Book of the Dead, Nepthys is portrayed standing opposite her sister, like a shadow -neter. In addition to being sister to Aset/Isis, this black virgin Nephthys was sister and wife to dark Set.
The pair - Aset/Isis and Nephthys - were called the weeping sisters. Their tears stream to Earth, just as the tears of sleeping humanity stream towards the moon in the Tarot card. This, it is said, was because they both wept at the death of Osiris, but there is a deeper reason: another, but invisible, moon, not of our dimension, encircling our planet.
mkrnhr:
This is indeed the quotation from "The Zelator" by Mark Hedsel, also cited in the Wave: http://cassiopaea.org/2012/03/23/the-wave-chapter-67-food-for-the-moon-and-the-burning-house/
--- Quote from: The Zelator ---‘The great mother Isis is the womb of all things which come into the light of the Sun, from the preserving darkness of her womb. Yet the lunar Isis is not a single goddess, but dual. Her sister, Nephthys, was the dark Moon: in the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, Nephthys is portrayed standing opposite her sister, like a shadow-neter (opposite). In addition to being sister of Isis, this black virgin Nephthys was sister and wife of the dark Set. Like her sister, Nephthys was a great magician, with a command of the secret words. This may explain why she has been given such an important resurrectional role in certain modern black magic cults, after so many centuries of near oblivion.43 The pair - Isis and Nephthys - were called the weeping sisters. Their tears stream to Earth, just as the tears of sleeping humanity stream towards the Moon in the Tarot card (see figure on page 299). This, it is said, was because they both wept at the death of Osiris, though, as we shall see, there may be a far deeper reason for this description.’
--- End quote ---
dantem:
Fulcanelli the Astronomer :) gives out the last clue. Looks so well related with Clube and Napier's work!
--- Quote ---Black Madonna = Isis before conception is.. in astronomical theogany, that attribute of the Virgin.. that is to say the earth before its fecundation and which the rays of the sun are soon going to bring to life. She's also the Mother of the Gods.. the esoteric meaning of our black Virgins cannot better be defined.
--- End quote ---
Marija Gimbutas:
--- Quote ---The main theme of the Goddess symbolism is the mystery of birth and death and the renewall of life, not only human, but all life on earth and indeed the whole cosmos.. this symbolic system represents cyclical, not linear, mythical time. In art this is manifested by the signs of dynamic motion: whirling and twisting spirals [...]
--- End quote ---
back to Fulcanelli:
--- Quote ---[Black Virgins] represent in hermetic symbolism the virgin earth, which th artist must choose as the subject of his Great Work. It is first matter in mineral state, as it comes out of the ore-bearing strata, deeply buried under the rocky mass. It is.. 'a heavy, brittle, friable black substance, which has the appearance of a stone and, like a stone, can shatter into minute fragments'.
--- End quote ---
Now thinking about cometary fragments (childs?), the twisting into spirals, the Mother of the Gods, and the clue that she out both to fecundate and bring death.. and that many black Madonnas carved on stone look like a christmas tree icons, little head usually crowned, long vest very broad at the bottom and often striped or multicolored, well, heck, this black Madonna looks definitely like a comet to me! :O
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