Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres

Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres
by Jean Markale

Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres
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Book Summary Information

Author: Jean Markale
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-10-27
ISBN: 1594770204
Number of pages: 312
Publisher: Inner Traditions

Book Reviews of Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres

Book Review: Full of grace
Summary: 4 Stars

The title of this work is a bit misleading. Rather than being about Chartres Cathedral itself, it focuses upon the development of the cult of the Virgin Mary, from the Roman and Celtic eras to early modern times. Author Markale has skilfully presented and examined the available historical evidence that pertains to the enigmatic Black Madonna statues and paintings that exist by the dozens throughout Europe, particularly in France. This is an engrossing and valuable study, but readers looking for specific information about the iconography contained within and without this most mystical of Christian cathedrals would do better to look elsewhere.

Summary of Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres

Explores the connection between ancient druidic worship of a virgin at Chartres and the veneration of the Black Madonna.

. Examines the Virgin Mary's origins in the pagan worship of the Mother Goddess.

. Identifies Mary with the dominant solar goddess of matriarchal societies.

The great cathedral of Chartres is renowned the world over as a masterpiece of High Gothic architecture and for its remarkable stained glass, considered alchemical glass, and its mystical labyrinth. But the sacred foundations of this sanctuary go back to a time long before Christianity when this site was a clearing where druids worshiped a Virgo Paritura: a virgin about to give birth. This ancient meeting place, where all the druids in Gaul gathered once a year, now houses the magnificent Chartres cathedral dedicated both to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and to one of the most venerated Black Madonnas in Europe: Our Lady of the Pillar. Coincidence? Hardly, says Jean Markale, whose exhaustive examination of the site traces Chartres' roots back to prehistoric times and the appeal of the Black Madonna back to the ancient widespread worship of Mother Goddesses such as Cybele and Isis.

Markale contends that the mother and child depicted by the Black Madonna are descended from the image worshipped by the druids of the Virgin forever giving birth. This image is not merely a representation of maternal love--albeit of a spiritual nature. It is a theological notion of great refinement: the Virgin gives birth ceaselessly to a world, a God, and a humanity in perpetual becoming.

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