A sign of healthy masculinity is welcoming the strong feminine, as I point out in my book on The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine. This was in evidence at the DNC where so many men were respectful of and excited by Harris as a strong leader.
There, Kamala Harris’s many accomplishments as lawyer, prosecutor, district attorney, attorney general, senator, and vice president were on full display. And celebrated as much by both women and men.
Healthy men are not threatened by strong women (Donald Trump, take note!). Unhealthy men are.
In Saturday’s DM, I made reference to Kamala Harris and the Black Madonna. For decades I have been in league with the Black Madonna, and convinced that she has a large role to play in waking up humanity today, and urging us on to our next stage of evolution.
Also see this song by blues singer Keb’Mo,’ “Put a Woman In Charge.”
Indeed, over the years we have celebrated a number of Cosmic Masses with the Black Madonna as the theme; one we called “It’s Time to Honna’ the Black Madonna.”
I have been blessed to work with and encourage others to call in this archetype so fit for our time. I was honored to be invited to write the Foreword for Alessandra Belloni’s book, Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna: Chants, Music and Sacred Practices of the Great Goddess. Alessandra is artist in residence at St. John the Divine Cathedral in NYC, and conducts many workshops in the US as well as pilgrimages to southern Italy where Alessandra was born, and where the Black Madonna tradition is still very much alive.
I also salute the work of Christena Cleveland, whose recent book, God Is a Black Woman, brings the Black Madonna into today’s consciousness in a special way. Christena is a specialist in the French tradition of the Black Madonna, having made numerous pilgrimages to countless shrines in France on her own. Recently she led 30 black women to join her in such a pilgrimage, and she and Alessandra have met and joined forces as well.
Carl Jung says that archetypes return when we need them—and we do need this archetype today, for she represents the strong and healthy and even fierce Divine Mother who knows all about Joy, but also Justice, and who defends the poor and all those who suffer.
For her, justice serves the poor, not the powerful and well placed. It is said, “Her sympathy was with people who suffered under law.”* Is this pertinent to today’s Supreme Court or what?
Kamala Harris carries in her story and purpose many of the values of the Black Madonna. Also, since her mother comes from India, she also bears the history of the Great Mother so strong in that culture which also birthed Andrew Harvey (though of English parents), whose book on the Great Mother is a classic.
To be continued.
* See R. P. Blackmur, Henry Adams: A Leading Critic’s Account of a Great American Figure, p. 203.
See Matthew Fox, “The Sacred Marriage of Masculine and Feminine” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 221-248.
And Fox, Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, pp. 99-104, 81-84.
And Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 221, 281, 311, 356, 419.
And Fox, “The Feminine Face of Divinity,” in One River, Many Wells, pp. 117-143.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: “Notre Dame du Port,” a Black Madonna figure (c. 1185) in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Not only is its Madonna black, so is the entire church, being made of volcanic lava rocks. Photo from the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt University. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Are you in touch with the Black Madonna? If so, what does she represent to you? Do you sense her rising in our time? If you are not yet in touch with her, maybe it is time.
Recommended Reading
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
5 thoughts on “On the Black Madonna in a Time of Kamala Harris”
Is Mary the fastest way to Jesus? St. Louis de Montfort believed “there is no surer or easier way than Mary in uniting all men with Christ.”
Read about de Montfort’s 33-Day Preparation for [and] Consecration to Mary [Jesus]. What surer way to honour Mary than this life-long devotion. It is of supreme value to our souls and has nothing directly to do with the temporal colour, race, creeds, governments and candidates of our day.
I would not post this without having committed myself to have already done this. It is a difficult task, the devotion that is, beyond the 34 days to Consecration. You would have to be a saint already to believe it to be easy. ‘If you are not in touch with her, maybe it is time.’ Mary bless you. — BB.
https://www.livefatima.io/consecration-to-mary-st-louis-de-montfort/
Yes, I seem to be more of the Divine Feminine in my life, in humanity, and in Beautiful Sacred Mother Earth. In my personal spiritual relationship with Her, I call Her my Beloved Sofia. As I mentioned last week in one of my comments to the DM, my hope is that Kamala Harris, as our possible future Black Female US President, is another sign that humanity and our Beloved Sacred Mother Earth are going through a spiritual transformation of the Divine Feminine with Her Spirit and values of LOVE, Truth, Peace, Justice, Healing, Strength, Transformation, Freedom, Creativity, Beauty, Joy, Compassion, Service, Diverse Wholeness~ONENESS… PRESENT with-in, through, and among Us in our daily lives with one another in the Sacred Process of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT….
On the ground of St.Christopher’s Mission Church In Bluff, Utah (which is on the Navajo Reservation) there is a statue of the indigenous Madonna and child, carved out of wood and painted. I was magnetically drawn to it 2 years ago while working with the Episcopal Church in Navajoland. The statue was created over 60 years ago by a Navajo woman. I’d like to share it but this space does not accept images.
Years ago I made 2 life changing trips to Haiti where I spent much of my time in the beautiful slum of Cite Soleil. There an idea was born to make an exchange of some of the material resources from the U.S. for some of the spiritual resources of the Haitian people. Small examples are before me now where I connect each morning- hand carved statues of Mary and Jesus on the cross with African Haitian facial features. Mary’s hits home even more with your comment. Thanks.
Very Much Feeling Mary’s living loving presence in our world right now.
Once upon a time, there was a demon whom no God could defeat — and they all tried. But then they realized they were trying to do it individually. They got together and created a Goddess with 20 arms and a different weapon in each hand, combining all of their powers. Only she could defeat the demon. The sudden galvanizing of the DNC around Kamala, sounds uncannily like this myth of Goddess Durga. And when she describes her experience as a prosecutor going after “predators, fraudsters, and cheaters,” she even sounds like Durga.