The Spiritual Significance of Art

 The Divine Sophia and the World

“Art is the creation of organs through which the gods are able to speak to humanity.” Rudolf Steiner, 1861 – 1925

The Black Madonna is an art form, taking shape in Icons, paintings, stained glass windows, statues and mosaics. In a wonderful book Spirit and Art, Pictures of the Transformation of Consciousness, Author Van James shows a tapestry of how the visual arts have been a window on the relationship between the Divine and Humanity since our inception. The word Icon comes from the Greek word "eikon" which means "image." In Eastern Christian traditions, Icons  are seen as a window, a portal into the spiritual world. The Sacrament of Confession in these traditions is done kneeling before an Icon in the presence of a priest. When parishioners receive Communion, they kiss and venerate the Icon before receiving the bread and wine.

Our Lady Chapel at the Shrine of Czestochowa, Poland

When I visited the shrine in Czestochowa Poland on All Saints Day in 2008, it was the first time I truly experienced what the quote from Steiner about the nature and purpose of art meant. Our Lady of Czestochowa is one of the most recognized Black Madonna's in the world. When I sat in the small chapel before the Icon Altar, I truly felt like I was looking at a threshold into the Cosmos. From my vantage point, I could barely make out the image behind the golden Riza, or cover over the Image. The devotional atmosphere felt like I had entered into a tunnel in between the worlds, almost like a palpable velvet in the air. My deepest questions revolved around whether it was the devotion that created this threshold image, or the image was actually the threshold between the worlds.

“Thus behind Matter, within matter, the creative Spirit is concealed.” Wassily Kandinsky,  1866 - 1944

I am trained as a scientist. For me, delving into the the mysteries of nature, of space and of the workings of the body only deepened my faith. Creativity, sleep, emotions all have explanations that can be partially presented with only material facts, the spark behind them is Spirit, the Divine.

I stumbled on an incredible video the other day. It shows the vastness of the Universe.

Another graphic video, shows how our little "corner" of the Universe is in constant motion, in a spiral.

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name  Isaiah 45:3

What these videos illustrate, but do not name is vast, they in essence show the miracle of love that exists in the universe.

What keeps all of creation going? What enables the stars, planets and galaxies to coexist and not either crash or disintegrate? Science has been grappling with this since the invention of modern telescopes. With the Hubble space telescope we have been able to peer into the depths of space as never before, only broadening the mystery and beauty of creation in the imaginations as well as tangible experience of Humanity. It is fitting that a woman astronomer, Vera Rubin, was the first to articulate the material science behind this phenomena. She called it "Dark Matter" This substance and it's sister "Dark Energy" make up most of the universe. It's defining quality is that it holds everything together in this ever expanding embrace, allowing creativity, birth, death and the cycles of time to exist. Dark Matter allows creation to be in balance, in community, to express the Divine Justice that permeates the entire universe.

I would call Dark Matter the scientific description for the Divine Sophia. In order for the Logos, the creative Word of God to unfold creation, he had to first create a container for his expression. It was the Sophia. The Sophia is a being that was the first of all creation by the Logos. The Logos is the powerful word, the inspiration and catalyst for creation. But a context, a matrix for creation needed to be created in order for it to be manifest. Therefore, the Logos created the Sophia, Wisdom, to be the container and matrix for the creative impulse of the Logos. Sophia is also known as the Divine Feminine Wisdom of God.

The Sophia is articulated in the cornerstone of the Wisdom Scriptures of the Bible: Proverbs. We are told about this being, this Divine Wisdom of God in Proverbs 8: 27 – 30:

When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:  When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;

To contemplate our place in the Universe, within the heart of creation, we have been given Imagination by the Creator. This Imagination is our personal portal into the Cosmos, where the Divine can express itself through the Arts. 

One of the most magnificent works of music is the Ode to Joy by Beethoven. This music has inspired generations of people, often in the darkest hours of their struggle. This is a clip from a movie about Beethoven, and the scene is one of the cosmic joy he experienced, his inspiration for this music, which came out of suffering but healed not only himself but countless souls afterwards.

The arts, music, painting, sculpture, dance, they can not be explained by reducing the process to simple synapses of the brain. Love, courage, loyalty, devotion, these are not experiences that can be reduced to neurochemical transmissions. What is the spark, what is the beginning?

For those of us who have a belief that has been transformed into living knowledge, we see the Divine everywhere, the handiwork of creation is the ultimate art. Is it any wonder that the Madonna's that dot the landscape are Black? From the Blackness of the Cosmos lies the hidden treasures of Darkness. The message from the Divine through Art that there is a cosmic order, a cosmic love permeating all of creation. As we contemplate what the Gods are saying to us through the portal of Art, it is my hope that you see messages of love, hope, encouragement and triumph everywhere, but particularly in the Black Madonna. Love, hope and endurance are the main messages that these Dark Images convey. They tell us of the treasures, the hidden riches that are ours if only we can reach out to them.

These topics and more will be explored in the book, The Black Madonna, Journey of the Human Heart by Stephanie Georgieff. Stay tuned for more excerpts from the book and publication information.

Blessings on your Journey!

The Black Madonna Journey of the Human Heart

Our Lady of Czestochowa, Poland

Please enjoy an excerpt from the soon to be published The Black Madonna Journey of the Human Heart by Stephanie Georgieff

The Phenomena of the Black Madonna

When I first heard of focused study of The Black Madonna, it was part of a masters program in culture and spirituality at Holy Names College. Before this, I really was unfamiliar with what “The Black Madonna” was either in culture or art. My orientation towards the Madonna was mainly through the pink cherubic Madonna’s tenderly caressing the Christ child on Christmas cards. As a protestant raised in an ecumenical household that recognized Eastern Orthodox traditions, I had a full spectrum exposure to images of Mary, but the Orthodox Icons were stiff and inhuman in my estimation. The color of the Mary’s was not in my consciousness, if pressed, I assumed that the original Mary was a Palestinian Jewess, who most likely had brown skin, dark eyes and hair.

One of my classmates in the masters program was doing her thesis on the subject of The Black Madonna, from a racial cultural perspective. We had the author China Galland speak to our class for one of the modules. Her book Longing for Darkness (2) was a biographical sketch of her encounters with the Black Madonna in the Americas, Europe and Asia. She brought slides of numerous Black Madonna’s from all over the world, as well as small cards for us to reflect upon. I chose the Virgin of Montserrat , and dutifully followed the directions for the class exercise to “hear what the image was telling me.” Aside from inviting me to get a snack, the only thing I could decipher from the black image before me, was “I am what I am, stop making me into something I am not.”

Part of my program required a response paper to each module presented. We were to read a list of books and go on to our own research to supplement the assigned texts. What I found in my research at that time was there is very little definitive scholarship of the Black Madonna’s. Much of what is written or discussed I felt was a projection of needs: A need to paganize Christianity, an need to assert feminist principles, a need for the goddess, a need to justify nationalism as a direct blessing from the divine. What is known objectively about the phenomenon of the Black Madonna’s is that they are statues, paintings, and stained glass windows purposefully colored Black or very dark brown. The bulk of these works of art appeared in areas where the only external racial expression was white at the time. The images rarely have an artist associated with them, and are often attributed to the handiwork of St Luke the Apostle. With no documented artist associated with their origins, the exact dates of creation are unknown. Many of the stories of their genesis are associated with their discoveries. Scholars do agree that the majority   of the works of art date from the 5^th  and 6^th centuries up to the 14^th century. Most of the images have legends and history associated with them that date between the 11^th and 13^th centuries. They are scattered through out Europe, with a great number of them in France. Another common theme is that many Black Madonna’s are found in churches along the pilgrim route Camino de Santiago de Compostela. There are a few in Russia, with the most famous image in Czestochowa, Poland. The original Black Madonna of the Americas is The Virgin of Guadalupe, in Mexico. This Virgin is considered to be “Black” because of her mestizo appearance.

Many theories abound as to why the Black Madonna’s are “Black.” One theory indicates that these dark images are blackened through age and candle smoke. Another theory states that the images are remnants of Goddess worship of the conquered local populations. So, what was the reason there are so many Black Madonna’s placed in a historically Caucasian geography during the early centuries of Christianity up to the age of the Crusades?

The Spiritual Significance of Art

Anthroposophists look at art from a deeper perspective.

Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian painter who lived from 1866 - 1944, states in an essay on The Problem of Form; “Thus behind Matter, within matter, the creative Spirit is concealed.” 

Austrian philosopher and founder of the Anthroposophical Movement Rudolf Steiner, 1861 – 1925, in the lecture cycle The Influence of Spiritual Beings on Man, states that “Art is the creation of organs through which the gods are able to speak to humanity.” 

I interpret from these statements and the works of these two authors, that Art is a medium where the Spiritual World, the Divine speaks to humanity. The reader is invited to keep these basic tenants of art as we delve deeper into the mysteries surrounding The Black Madonna.

You can hear a reading by Stephanie at http://hosts.blogtalkradio.com/blackstefka/2014/09/15/the-heart-of-the-black-madonna and make sure to "like" The Heart of the Black Madonna on Facebook where Stephanie posts beautiful and inspirational pictures of the Black Madonna https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Heart-of-the-Black-Madonna/452078264864169

The End and the Beginning of the Journey

Camino de Santiago de Compostela near Montserrat, Spain

It as been quite a journey these last several years, exploring, studying, speaking and writing about the Black Madonna. I have been all over the world, and explored the dawn of creation to the furthest reaches of the future to answer the questions the Black Madonna engendered in my own soul. The journey was accompanied by the greatest losses and pain imaginable, my soul got to examine all the sorrows of humanity. Such pain opens the heart if you let it, and the presence of the Divine can be felt in ways that are often difficult to achieve when modern conveniences and comforts cloud the view. To be honest, the journey started in the aftermath of the global upheavals after the terrorist attacks on the United States in September of 2001. I was, as many were, truly trying to grapple with why they occurred and what was the proper response. My greatest grief was coming to terms with what many of the world’s people already knew, that my government was not the benevolent idealistic structure I had always thought it was.

One of the positive movements inspired by those terrible events, was a realization that life was very temporary, so one should get busy and do things one had been postponing for one reason or another. For myself, it was to start studying theology. I sent in my application, and started my master’s program only weeks after the attack. One of the modules of the program was learning about the Black Madonna. While the module was interesting, I felt what I was being exposed to was inadequate, just scratching the surface. I decided to go further, and my personal faith journey since those chaotic days over a decade ago, have helped me put into the context the deeply difficult times we in the human community have been enduring these last years.

In many ways we are so weary. I sometimes long for the concerns of the 1980’s and 90’s. With the advent of modern technology, the exposure to the negative is much greater, and seems to be resulting in the numbing of the masses. What I hope to convey through The Black Madonna, Journey of the Human Heart, and the subsequent next book in the series, The Virgin of Guadalupe and the Destiny of the Americas is a way that we can make sense of the challenges we face in these turbulent times. In so many ways, I have come to discover that the Black Madonna’s were designed and placed throughout Europe to be messages from the Divine, for our time, our modern era. These are not arbitrary works of art by any stretch of the imagination. They are windows to the Divine, giving encouragement and direction for how we can not only endure the current dramas but actually thrive.

I am ever grateful to all those who helped me with this book, from helping me research, editing and design. But ultimately I am grateful to the artists that allowed their talents to convey loving messages through sculpture, painting, glass work and mosaics. They give me courage and solace during this time of deeply painful human development. I hope you will gain the same insights that I have, but are also not limited by my research. These insights are my own, and I urge you to follow your own hearts when it comes to the Black Madonna. As long as compassion is the outcome, your insights and conclusions are valid.

I am sharing the introduction to The Black Madonna Journey of the Human Heart, a sort of free sample chapter if you will. In the days to come, I will share other inserts from the book. Thank you again for your kind attention.

The Black Madonna of Czetochowa Poland

Introduction to The Black Madonna Journey of the Human Heart by Stephanie Georgieff

A Passionate Disclaimer

As Atheism is now a cottage industry for books, magazines, Internet chat groups and organizations; it is the belief system of those who claim to be the only sane educated ones on the planet. Atheists would say they adhere to facts, but I beg to differ, it really is a belief system, but it permeates all of modern culture. I am often deeply intrigued by how differently creation and the natural world is understood between those who have a relationship to the divine world and those who do not. When I see a magnificent mountain range or a work of art, I see the Divine manifest. The art and mountains, they are proof to me of the existence of the Love of God for humanity, messages from the spiritual world. An atheist sees mountains or art as atoms, various arrangements of chemicals held together by gravity and mathematical equations. The perception of the mountains, or a work of art, is reduced to hormonal and neurochemical synapses in the brain. My bias is complete, because I comprehend chemistry, gravity and the intricate workings of the brain as incredible mysteries originating and confirming the Divine, I guess I will always be this way, and to be honest it just “feels” good to me. I excuse myself as a hopeful romantic, from Southern California to boot.

Debating the existence of Spirit with a beloved cousin of mine who is an evangelical atheist, I asked him, “Well, what is love?” He immediately, with out any hesitation or consternation, replied, “Oxytocin.” (This is a hormone secreted by the pituitary Gland, involved with labor and lactation, apparently now called the cuddle hormone because rat studies show when mother rats are injected with large amounts of Oxytocin, they exhibit increased grooming behaviors towards their baby rats) My cousin is a Professor of Physiology at the University of Southern California Medical School, and by the way, a loving father. I reflected on his lifetime dedication to his family, his tender affection towards his wife, and I could not help thinking that his behavior was due to more than great pituitary response to stimuli. The conversation ended when dinner I had cooked was served, he of course enjoyed it with gusto.

Since I believe in the spiritual world, I see messages, proofs everywhere of love, of harmony, of relationships, of the Divine reaching out to me; my psyche needs meaning, needs context. I think there is something that inspires the release of Oxytocin beyond my pituitary when I weep for joy at the sight of pilgrims praying before an ancient Icon, I think there is more at work than Oxytocin when these pilgrims bow in prayer asking for a miracle to heal their loved ones. There was more than Pituitary glands at work when villagers came together to dismantle the windows at Chartres Cathedral and hide them in the country side during World War II for safe keeping, more than neurochemistry synapses that caused the Poles to flock to the shrine of their Black Madonna during Communist times, risking their lives so they could pray for redemption. When I see people rally to help disaster victims, restore the land, feed starving children, weep for their dead, rejoice in the birth of a new family member, I just think, I believe there is something deeper and more mysterious to life than the secretion of a hormone that alters brain chemistry, I feel it in my chest down to my tummy, and this orientation colors my experience of the Black Madonna. It is from this perspective that Love is beyond Oxytocin; I comprehend the mysteries that the Black Madonna reveals.

I invite you, the reader to keep this bias of mine, the bias that I see meaning and context inspired by a benevolent spiritual world beckoning humanity towards wholeness and union with God through the Christ, keep this in mind as we journey together with the Black Madonna. Keep this bias in mind that what I am about to share with you is my interpretation of the phenomena I encountered on this path. In no way is my interpretation the end of the story, it is my sincere hope that my experiences and reflections inspire your own journey, your own beginning of sorts, leading you to the peace that passes all understanding.

Tune in Monday, September 15 at 7 pm Pacific Daylight Time http://hosts.blogtalkradio.com/blackstefka to hear a reading from The Black Madonna; Journey of the Human Heart.