The Cult of the Black Virgin (Arkana S.)

Rating:
Summary: Europe's Hidden Black Madonna Tradition
Review: Christian Europe's ancient artistic interpretations of the Mother of God and the infant Son of God as dark fleshed is vastly too little known. Fortunately, despite the countless loss of such images through the natural ravages of time, church fires, numerous religious wars, revolutions, and also intentional discolorings passed off as "restoration," there are still quite enough of these paintings and statues left to discern that Europe's devotion to a Mary fashioned as a black woman is as ancient as it was widespread. From Spain to Sicily, hundreds of these sacred tools of worship can still be found quietly preserved in churches, shrines, museums and in numerous private collections. In the interest of preserving as much knowledge as possible regarding mankind's most ancient representation of the Deity, Ean Begg has created a priceless volume which dutifully fulfills a most necessary purpose.

Rating:
Summary: More Myth Than Fact
Review: I was disappointed that this short book (the text is only about 150 pp) was more about the myths concerning everything from Sumerian goddesses to Marian apparitions than about history and fact concerning the Black Virgin (BV) sites. The author mixes myth and fact so much that is hard to tell what he believes to be true and real. There is nothing wrong with exploring myths, but it makes difficult reading trying to constantly separate them from any kernels of fact that may be there.

I was looking for more on reasons and history of the BV sites in Europe. Maybe their origins are so obscured in history as to make this an impossible task.

The bulk of the book is a gazetteer of the BV sites in Europe. For anyone who plans to travel in Europe -As I plan to soon, this would be valuable to have along.

There is some information concerning the Templars, Mary Magdalene, Bernard de Clairveaux, and others, but there are many better books on these subjects. I would recommend: Holy Blood, Holy Grail; The Woman With the Alabaster Jar, and The Second Messiah for starters.

Rating:
Summary: All you need to know
Review: The book is very detailed and most informative when it comes to the black madonna cult. It deals with almost everything, if not all, of the ancient goddesses, and some of the gods - from Egypt to Greece. I also got very eerie when I was reading about some of these Goddesses activities. I liked very much the summary on the relevance and relationship of The Templars, Cathars to the Black Goddesses cult! The author also touches the crux of Gnosticism and shows how it relates to the above three Orders. Its conclusion regarding why the statues of the virgin are black, is not that explicit, but during the whole text the author does inform the reader of all the reasons as to its blackness, and indeed you will draw your conclusions! All in all, a very good book on the subject. Get it!