Book dossier

The Cult of the Black Virgin

by Ean Begg

Why are more than five hundred of the Madonna images black or dark? Why is so little known about them? Are black Virgins a resurfacing of the powerful pagan goddesses of sexuality, the underworld, and earth wisdom, or are they are symbols of power and majesty, or the other side of the traditional Madonna: virginity or tender maternity? They personify the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant in a quest for lost feminine wisdom and the search for soul.