Black Madonna

Hey friends. 

Today I'm sharing an experience. This experience was when we visited the Black Madonna altar in Le Puy, France. This happened when I was on a pilgrimage to connect with the divine feminine over the summer.

I'm sharing this with the intention of inviting you to look inward and reflect on a situation in your life when you connected with the divine feminine. And then be in that memory and recollect all that was shown to you from your experience. Allow that memory to be the bridge to your inner world.

Okay, so over our family's summer travels, we each had our own pilgrimage of what we wanted to see or do, or experience. Along my pilgrimage, we visited Le Puy, France - located in southern France, somewhere between Lyon and Montpellier. We visited the Cathedral of Notre Dame du Puy to be in the presence of the Black Madonna shrine. 

I'll admit there are many Black Madonna shrines around the world. But based on my research, this is one of the oldest Black Madonna pilgrimage sites in Europe, and it holds a strong presence of her spirit. 

I learned from our travels to this site that it's believed a pagan cult of Celtic origin developed on this mountaintop well before the spread of Christianity. And it dates back to ancient times, as far back as the Bronze Age. It remains a mystery when Christianity established it as a sanctuary. Some say that happened in the fifth or sixth centuries. I share this to give you a sense of how old this cathedral is and how it existed before Christianity. 

So that said, this church radiates femininity. So to get inside, we had to climb up this steep staircase. And as you're traveling up, you can see a Virgin and Child statue on the left. And on the right, you see the Transfiguration of Christ, where he's manifesting his divinity. So I thought it was interesting as the energy that flows through your left arm symbolizes the feminine energy coming from your heart, whereas the energy flowing from your right arm represents the masculine energy. So I found the positioning of the statues intriguing. 

As you continue up the stairs and enter through this pathway, they call it entering in the maternal bosom or the bosom of the church. Some even say you enter the uterus of the divine feminine or the uterus of this church. And even others say you enter through the heart of the church. I found this super fascinating because, in our travels, I learned that the entrance is always on the east in traditional churches. This was certainly not a traditional church. So that was one thing I noticed. 

And then, once you arrive up those stairs, there's an altar with a subtle cross. The cross was lit with white light and without Jesus hanging on it - as you see in a traditional church setting. Instead, this cross seemed to radiate passion over the resurrection of Christ - not the suffering and pain. So I embraced the celebration of the victory of that experience and not the death of his life. Another thing I noticed about this altar with the cross is that by not having Christ hanging on it, it's like we know he's a part of the divine glory, even though we can't see it with our eyes. So I felt like it was a beautiful, symbolic way of reminding us of that. So that was the entranceway.

Then there was a supporting altar slightly more predominant, where the Black Madonna shrine existed. So I will come back to that and give you a brief tour.

What I noticed most was the level of femininity in this cathedral. So along the walls were paintings where the women were honored and celebrated for their divinity. It wasn't your traditional stations of the cross that carry a heaviness of the end of one's life.

One of the paintings was the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which celebrates the risen Mary and her glory in the heavens. Another one that I found striking was the Vow of the Consoles. And that painting showed the consoles, being male officials, surrounding the Black Virgin praying for her support. That so moved me. 

Then there was a statue of St. Anne with Mary Magdalene. I sat there staring at the figure and feeling the power of the maternal energy we carry as women and portrayed by this statue. So whether you have kids or not, there's maternal energy about the divine feminine that I experienced at that moment.

And then I found my way to what they called the Marion choir, where the Black Madonna altar was. So above the altar was this beautiful stained glass, which showed the story of the angel coming to Mary and the humble acceptance of her being the one who was to become the Mother of God.

In churches I've visited over my life, there wasn't a strong feminine presence on the walls or even in the church itself - from my personal experience. So I was genuinely moved by this cathedral, especially by the Black Virgin herself, bringing Mary's joy in presenting her son Jesus.

And when I sat there in the small wooden pew looking at this altar, I was instantly flooded with emotions. It was overwhelming the amount of love and acceptance I was feeling. So I sat there and just cried. And I cried. I mean, I sobbed. I was trying to keep it in. I remember my family walking away and letting me be in that moment. And I can't even explain why I was crying. 

I was so moved, and it wasn't a sadness whatsoever. Instead, it was like something within me softened. It was like I let go of something and opened up to what I could best describe as my holy center. And the tears seemed to wash away and clear any personal, ancestral, even cosmic mother lines of guilt for wanting or desiring to be sensual or attractive.

It was like I was in the universal womb of a cosmic mother. She was so expansive, and it was so unconditional. It was like she was there with me, and I just sat there in tremendous acceptance of all my beauty and femininity. I thought of my daughters and how they're also fully accepted for their beauty and femininity - along with all feminine beings.

It was a feeling of returning home and returning to Source or even the truth of knowing the power I hold. I don't know how long I was sitting. But I could have been there for hours. Instead, I was pulled between two places. I wanted to stay there in the Black Madonna's presence and continue receiving what she provided me. Yet I knew my husband's pilgrimage that day was to experience the Tour de France, which meant we needed to be in the car and on the road really soon. So I knew my time was limited with her, yet I somehow knew there was no sense of time. And because of that, I could remain in her energy and be in the car with my family. 

So this brings me back to the present time here with you, with me in your ear - and yet still in her loving and accepting presence. So I have to say, I've jokingly said I'm a recovering Catholic. I grew up with Catholicism, and I would even say today that I'm not a religious person - I'm a spiritual person. But now, after this pilgrimage - with a couple more stops that I'll share in future episodes - I'd say that I found my religion. I found infinite love and acceptance when connecting with the energy of the divine feminine.

So to come full circle, I hope that by sharing my experience with the Black Madonna while I traveled along this pilgrimage to connect with the sacred feminine, you'll find something here. Just one thing in here that resonates for you. Maybe there's something I share that you can connect with or relate to. Or something that sparked a memory for you that reminds you of your divine femininity. 

That's it for now. 

See you in next week's episode. 

I honor the Divine in you.