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Book Review: Cathedral of the Black Madonna - The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres by Jean Markale. Published by Inner Traditions.
It’s been 50 years since I visited Chartres Cathedral on a road trip through rural France. The countryside was almost mediaeval in those days and Chartres stands out in my mind as place of great peace and holiness. I wonder if it retains this atmosphere! In place of a visit, this book by Jean Markale will sustain you! He describes the site as a Druid grove where the Gauls met annually to honour ‘virgo paritura’, the pure young woman who gives birth to the world, to humanity, to the role of women in perpetuity, a symbolic representation depicted in the black Madonna of the Pillar statue. He describes the Christian Mother Mary with Jesus on her lap as having pagan roots in the solar goddesses and in Cybele and Isis.
The Gothic cathedral of Chartres is in a strategic part of France, a place of crossroads and salt routes and, as an ancient place of pilgrimage, its architecture, stained glass, high masses and singing conjures great beauty which the author brings to us by his descriptions. Markale is a wordsmith and conjures images of the past that are highly believable and exciting!
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