Who is the Black Virgin?

     Hundreds of icons of Mary have intentionally black faces and hands.  In France they are called "Vierge Noires" or Black Virgins; in other countries they are called Black Madonnas.  Some call her "the other Mary"; Jung said she is Isis; others consider her to be the iconic remains of prehistoric Earth Mother worship.  She is linked with Cybele, Diana, Isis & Venus; cross-culturally she is associated with Kali, Inanna & Lilith. Historically she has ties to the Crusades and the Moorish occupation of Spain, to the Conquistadors, who brought her to the New World, and to the Merovingians and Knights Templars, who saw her as Mary Magdalene.  As Sara-la-Kali she is revered by the Gypsies at Saintes Maries de la Mer. For modern psychologists she is said to express the archetype of the Dark Feminine.

     Whoever the enigmatic Black Virgin may be, she holds a powerful attraction for her millions of devotees around the world.  Her sacred sites stand on highly charged earth energy centers, enhanced by megalithic ley-lines and sacred architecture.  From ancient times to present, people have undertaken pilgrimages to her shrines as a way to explore her mysteries and to enable her to do her miraculous work of healing, transformation and inspiration.  France has more than 300 Black Virgin sites, with over 150 Black Virgins still in existence.