8.5 inches high

$42.00
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Handpainted so each statue is a little bit different.

This is one of the strangest and most interesting of the Black Virgins, according to Ean Begg, author of "The Cult of the Black Virgin." She exhibits the "staring gaze" similar to ancient goddesses like Ariadne who were either in trance, dreams, or altered states of consciousness.

This gothic style icon was found in the French village of Correze. The wooden figure was originally part of a treasure of the Benedictine priory of St. Andrew of the Merovingian period.

The baby holds a golden box or brick of gold and has golden hair.

Black Madonnas are pre-christian archetypes whose child-nurturing focus is the embodiment of the pre-historic Great Mother. Perhaps her black skin represents the "under-earth" or winter/fallow season, emphasizing how death and darkness are an equal part of the wheel of life. Or perhaps she was originally a Goddess of a dark skinned people. A deceptively simple figure with many intricate layers of meaning to explore.

[1100 c.e., Correze, France]

THE FRENCH BLACK VIRGINS

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 centres, enhanced by megalithic ley-lines and sacred architecture.

From ancient times to the 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 places of worship and over 150 Black Virgin statues still in existence.