Mother Church * Church of the Mother
The Cult of the Black Virgin
After the first crusade several so-called Black Virgins turned up in Western Europe, especially in Spain, France, Switzerland and Poland. It was said, that the Knights Templar found them through connections in the Holy Land with secret Gnostic groups. The peculiar thing about them was their intense veneration. Black Madonna's had a special status and were said to have special healing powers. Later scholars wondered why these Madonna's were black. The explanation is, that above mentioned groups had kept their devotion of the old Mother (Isis) secret, only handling it over to the Templars, who were searching for the stone of wisdom, the eternal shrine and the holy vessel respectively, which were the attributes of the original Great Mother.* The fascination with her blackness was remarkable, since it did not comply with the (dualistic) doctrine of the Church, in which "Christ is the Light who has overcome Darkness". The truth is, that people understood that Darkness was the color of the primordial Mother, which therefore was considered to be of greater power. Hence, the inscription in the altar of the Salerno cathedral: "Darkness precedes Light and She is the Mother" (...). It is the confirmation of the fact, that the original wisdom was dark and feminine, characterizing the essence of the Eternal Womb. It is this that St.John of the Cross is referring to, when he speaks of "Darkness containing Light". NB. The Black Virgin is the patroness of the Reborn Order.
* Note that the Templars were sent out on their mission a.o. by Bernard of Clairveaux, which underlines the "rumors" that he and his Cistercienzers were aiming at "esoteric knowledge", which in turn stimulated the former in his adoration for the (black) Virgin.
Going deeper into:
Read:
E.Begg "The Cult of the Black Virgin", 1996 Arkana
"The Poems of St.John of the Cross", 1972 Willis Barnstone