THE BLACK MADONNA: PATRON AND PROTECTOR
THE BLACK MADONNA: PATRON AND PROTECTOR
Available Now! Recorded June 29, 2022
You will receive a viewable and downloadable link .
June 29, 2022 (Wed) Virtual Event: The Black Madonna
—Lecture and Conversation with Alessandra Belloni and Matthew Fox – The Black Madonna: Patron and Protector of the LGBTQ and Other Outcasts of Dominant Society
Today we are wrestling with the traumas of Patriarchal colonialism and racism that affect so many people around the globe and is manifest in the uncovering of state and religious schools and how they oppressed indigenous peoples in North America as well as the evils of slavery.
Join us in this 90-minute online event that offers healing to the LGBTQ community by way of the Black Madonna. Experience Alessandra Belloni, an Italian musician, singer, dancer, actress, choreographer, teacher, and ethnomusicologist and author of Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna. And Rev. Matthew Fox, PhD., spiritual theologian, Episcopal priest, and activist for gender justice and eco-justice and author of 39 books including The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine as they share together the wisdom of The Black Madonna and her healing powers.
From Alessandra:
Alessandra will share a video recording of mysterious Black Madonna of Montevergine --also known as Mamma Schiavona (Serving Mother) and you will be immersed into a powerful world of ritual and magic, offering rare access to the modern-day practitioners of the Black Madonna’s devotional healing, ritual, music, and dance
We will follow an ancient tradition in the region of Puglia when they celebrate the Feast of St Paul protector of the Tarantate. This dance originated with the ecstatic rites of Dionysus, and dates back to the rites of the Mother Earth Goddess Cybele, and is kept alive into the present.
We will feature live music by Alessandra Belloni, and music director John La Barbera, on guitars and mandolin that includes sacred healing chants to the Black Madonna of Montevergine, the ritual drumming of the tammorriata , and original compositions ending with the ritual healing dance of the TARANTATA, the Spider Dance.
Alessandra will tell the story of a Neapolitan legend, of the seven Madonnas that is especially sacred to the femminielli -- a community of third-gender people and transgender women who have worshipped Her since the rites of Cybele and Attis. Today the femminielli and LGBTQ people around the world make an annual pilgrimage to Mamma Schiavona, coming to sing, dance, and heal at the feet of the Great Mother who loves and accepts everyone.
From Matthew:
Alessandra is emphasizing the importance of the Black Madonna (BM) to trans people and to gay and lesbian people. This taps into dimensions of grief and suffering born of oppression and trauma. It echoes teachings of Henry Adams in his classic book Mont St. Michel and Chartres and his other writings on Mary, the symbol of the Divine Feminine in the Middle Ages. And the role of the Black Madonna at Chartres.
He says that Mary was a beacon for those outlawed by the dominant society, she was so popular because she gave a refuge and courage to the oppressed and to those at the edge of society.
This is especially important today as we wrestle with the trauma inherited from colonialism and racism that affects so many people around the globe and is manifest in the uncovering of state and religious schools and how they affected indigenous peoples in North America along with the trauma of slavery. The suppression of the two-spirited peoples by the colonizing of indigenous peoples is also part of the history of Patriarchy.
The return of the goddess as manifest in the Black Madonna offers healing to many, both the descendants of slave masters and the descendants of slaves as well as to those who were deceived by patriarchal values into homophobia. We will explore how moving beyond Patriarchy is part and parcel of that healing process. And how the Black Madonna assists us in that passage.