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Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna: Chants, Music, and Sacred Practices of the Great Goddess
Paperback
Overview
An experiential guide to the ancient healing rituals of the Black Madonna
• Reveals the practices and rites of the still-living cult of the Black Madonna in the remote villages of Southern Italy, including the healing rites of the tarantella dance
• Details shamanic chants, rhythms, and songs and how to use them for self-healing, transformation, and recovery from abuse, trauma, depression, and addiction
• Explores the many sacred sites of the Madonnas and connects them to other Great Goddesses, such as Isis, Aphrodite, Cybeles, and the Orisha Yemanja and Ochun
• Includes access to 12 audio tracks
The mysteries of the Black Madonna can be traced to pre-Christian times, to the ancient devotion to Isis, the Earth Goddess, and the African Mother, to the era when God was not only female but also black. Sacred sites of the Black Madonna are still revered in Italy, and, as Alessandra Belloni reveals, the shamanic healing traditions of the Black Madonna are still alive today and just as powerful as they were millennia ago.
Sharing her more than 35 years of research and fieldwork at sacred sites around the world, Belloni takes you on a mystical pilgrimage of empowerment, initiation, and transformation with the Black Madonna. She explains how her love for Italian folk music led her to learn the ancient tammorriata musical tradition of the Earth Goddess Cybele and the Moon Goddess Diana and discover the still-living cult of the Black Madonna in the remote villages of Southern Italy. She vividly describes the sensual shamanic drumming and ecstatic trance dance rituals she experienced there, including the rites of the tammorriata, the transgender rite of Femminielli, and the erotic “spider dance” of the tarantella, which has been used for centuries in the Mediterranean for healing. Sharing chants, rhythms, and sacred songs, she details how she uses these therapeutic musical and trance practices to heal women and men from abuse, trauma, depression, and addiction and shows how these practices can be used for self-healing and transformation, including her personal story of using the tarantella to overcome cervical cancer.
Revealing the profound transformative power of the Black Madonna, Belloni shows how She is the womb of the earth, the dark side of the moon, and the Universal Mother to all. Truly alive for all to call upon, She embraces and gives everyone access to Her divine strength and unconditional love.
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781591433422 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Inner Traditions/Bear & Company |
| Publication date: | 04/02/2019 |
| Pages: | 432 |
| Sales rank: | 299,266 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d) |
About the Author
Alessandra Belloni is a world-renowned percussionist, singer, dancer, and actress born in Rome. Voted one of the best female percussionists in the world by Drum Magazine, she designed a signature series of tambourines for REMO, Inc. She is the founder and lead performer of “I Giullari di Piazza,” an Italian music, theatre, and dance ensemble, and is an Artist-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. She teaches workshops and healing retreats around the world and lives in Edgewater, New Jersey.
Read an Excerpt
Chapter 6
The Devotion of the Black Madonna of the Poor
I drove down the road toward Reggio Calabria. It had only two lanes and was pitch dark. As I approached the exit for Seminara, I was astonished to see the giant olive trees; they seemed to be thousands of years old.
I thought that here is the earth at its best, so rich in her gifts to us! The word Seminara comes from semens (Latin for seed.) From the trees and the name of the town it was very clear to me how this Black Madonna must be connected to the earth.
I had to park far from town since the whole town was closed for the procession. As I walked on the narrow cobblestone streets, people looked at us a little cautiously, but when I asked about the feast and showed my tamburello, they all laughed and said, “Benvenuta figghia! A Madonna t’accumpagna.” “Welcome daughter, the Madonna accompanies you.”
As I was getting closer to the church, the street decorations and vendors of local craft were extremely festive, as was the local food being cooked in the street. The air was filled with strong smells of goat meat, sausages, and sweet almond pastries.
Then suddenly, I heard very powerful loud drumming. Snare drums! As the sound got closer I started running up the hill.
So taken by the music, I felt I was in Africa and not in Italy! At the top of the hill was a group of twenty snare drummers, marching and playing the bass drum and cymbals, at an obsessive, loud, fast 6/8 rhythm, which was a tarantella, but felt very African and tribal. The leader of the team was a tiny man with a thick moustache, playing super-fast. He had a beautiful, proud face as he directed the group of drummers.
I also saw the most beautiful giant puppets, called I GIGANTI, dancing toward us in a sensuous tarantella. One of the puppets was a stunning black African king, the mythological Grifone. Dressed with green, red, and gold, he wore a crown and was courting in a dance the beautiful white Italian Queen, the mythical Mata, smiling in a gold cape and a red and blue dress.
In this dancing courtship, Mata and Grifone fall in love, and their union represents the coming together of the African culture with the Southern Italian. Spurred on by the rhythmic beat of drums, the dance is then sealed with an embrace and a kiss symbolizing peace among our cultures and races.
It is interesting that this puppet tradition is found not only in Calabria but is also popular in Sicily for the feast of the Assumption of Mary on August 15th, and even in Spain, Malta, and Belgium. (Later, I found this same tradition during Carnival in Recife, in the northeast of Brazil.)
The drums got louder, and I saw a man dressed in white and blue dancing with a Palio (large flag) in a very unusual way. The dark-skinned man looked very proud as he held between his legs the huge blue Flag with golden stars and performed a sensuous dance with the pole tied to his arm. He danced in a circle and also dropped down on his knees in a circular motion, whirling, as if caressing the earth, to the loud 6/8 rhythm of the tarantella played on the snare drums. I jumped up and decided to follow this wild man and his team. He had a lovely, benevolent smile and nodded to me to follow him through the streets toward the procession of La Madonna Nera.
Feeling the fast rhythm inside my bones and pulsating in my heart I began dancing in circular motion, following the steps of the flag bearer and I Giganti, through the winding streets, up and down, not thinking at all that I could break an ankle or fall on the cobblestones. I was feeling deliriously happy and light as I spun around in circles.
As I danced to this African-accented rhythm, I arrived in front of the beautiful Basilica, where a huge crowd was screaming, EVIVA MARIA, crying and sobbing, as the stunning Statue of the Black Madonna dei Poveri was coming out of the Church! The Madonna of the Poor! There she was, unbelievably powerful and mysterious.
Feeling complete ecstasy, I saw Her. Finally a beautiful black statue, which looked very ancient, with a strange enigmatic smile and face that seemed so alive, staring at all of us, with no real eyes, yet, looking alive.
Dressed in an ancient looking tunic, She was the color of the earth herself, dark brown and adorned in gold decorations. And astonishingly, She had blond hair! Wearing beautiful silver jewelry, large earrings and necklaces, She looked North African and even Gypsy. Her black son, Jesus, was standing on Her lap, holding a globe in His hands.
Carrying Her out of the church was a group of twelve men dressed in white and blue. It was clear that the statue was very heavy, as the Queen of Heaven’s incredible throne is made of solid silver and gold. Two golden angels perch above her on each side, were holding the Canape with elaborate decorations.
I stared at Her and wondered why it is that this Black Madonna wears a very simple earth-colored tunic with no other colors on Her, but is surrounded by a heavily decorated and precious throne, Her own altar. She was an unusual, ancient looking, mysterious, and enigmatic statue, almost one meter tall; yet she looked bigger. She seemed to be staring at me from above Her throne, smiling as if she were happy I had finally arrived. . . . This was my feeling, again to be welcomed by Her as Her daughter.
Table of Contents
FOREWORD
The Return of the Archetype in Times of Need
by Matthew Fox
PREFACE
Four Mystical Experiences That Led Me to the Black Madonna
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
Mamma Elvira’s Miracle
CHAPTER 1
Who Is the Black Madonna?
CHAPTER 2
Drumming in Honor of the Black Madonna
CHAPTER 3
The Prophetess, the Poet, and the Pagan Goddesses
CHAPTER 4
The Throne of the Madonna in Montevergine and the Legend of the Seven Sisters
CHAPTER 5
Unveiling the Powerful Black Madonna of Freedom and the Egyptian Goddess Isis
CHAPTER 6
The Devotion to the Black Madonna of the Poor
CHAPTER 7
Nigra Sum Sed Formosa: “I Am Black but Comely”— The African Mother
CHAPTER 8
The Black Madonna of the Sacred Mountain of Viggiano and the Greek Myth of Demeter and Persephone
CHAPTER 9
The Black Madonna Incoronata and the Madonna of the Seven Veils
CHAPTER 10
The Haunting Image of Madonna dell’Arco
CHAPTER 11
Rhythm Is the Cure: The Shamanic Power of the Tarantella
EPILOGUE
The Black Madonna as Patron of All Humanity
APPENDICES
Music and Lyrics for Chants to the Black Madonna
Bibliography
Index