Black Madonnas

Notre Dame de Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar), Chartres Cathedral 

The Black Madonnas is the mystic secret in the heart of Catholicism. Many Black Madonnas were venerated thousands of years prior to contact with the Christian faith.
These sculptures of dark colour have become considered figures of Virgin Mary, and are associated with healing miracles, pilgrimages and even magical powers. The theorists connect these ancient images of the Goddess with  pre-Christian or even  prehistoric Mother Earth worship. Certainly, that reflects human requirement  for a Great Mother out there in the universe watching over us. Thus, as paganism was replaced by Christianity in Europe, the worship of the Mother Goddess was renamed to the Virgin Mary.
Today there are more than 500 known Black Madonna statues and paintings throughout the world, which are adored and worshiped. And nobody worries about the reasons of their dark colour. "I am black but beautiful", as said in Song of Songs.

Our Lady of Czestochowa, Poland

Often Catholic churches and cathedrals were built on top of former goddess shrines and in the case of at least some Black Madonnas. In France, where the majority of Black Madonnas are found, indigenous mother goddess worshipping traditions date back to the Goddess of Laussel, found in the entrance to an Ice age cave and crafted around 23,000 BCE.  Probably, She is the first representation of the Earth Mother as a lunar deity.

 She holds in her right hand a bison horn, shaped like the crescent-Moon. The horn is divided with 13 marks probably representing the 13 moons in a lunar year. Her other hand touches her womb.

"I stand at the beginning of time
Having risen from the abyss
All I see around me I have created
All that goes before me is mine
I am the nameless one
The forgotten one
But I was there before your named me
I am older than time itself
I am She."

 The cult of Great Mother Goddess is as old as the Earth. Certainly, the religion emphasizes light and reason, but darkness is where creativity and transformation actually occur. Great powers are associated with Black Madonna statues and in general, there is no doubt that the darkness of the Black Madonna symbolizes power. The power of Love.

Black Madonna of Anjony, France