Any church or art museum is full of paintings of the Madonna and child. But is there an occult meaning or symbolism behind these religiously inspired images and what is the meaning of the black Madonna?
In recent meditations focused on the anima or inner female, the image of the Madonna and child has continually come to mind. Could it be that the Madonna represents the anima, the inner female, the soul? And is the child she bears proudly in her arms the fruit of a union between the outer self of the artist and his inner female. The solar child?
Most of these images were painted in a male dominated society – at a time when males were dominant in society. If it were the other way round, would we see paintings of Father and child I wonder as the female artist portrayed her inner polar opposite and the product of their union? My meditation work has suggested to me that this is worth further research.
To reconcile yourself with your inner polar opposite is a great work of magick. Indeed, it may be the great work itself. From the law of the triangle, we know that when two polar opposites are reconciled, a third point is produced. We see this represented in the Tree of Life through Chockmah, Binah and Tiphareth. Here we have a triangle that is headed by the eternal Mother and Father and the product of that union is Tiphareth – the God child. We are eternal sparks from the fire that is the Creator. In that sense, the Tree is inside of us, the Creator is inside of us. We are co-creators. The inner tree must be balanced and the act of reconciling with the inner female/male is one aspect of balancing our own inner tree. By reconciling the male and female aspects of ourselves are we learning the meaning of love? Are we growing our heart center through this reconciliation and strengthening the Tiphareth center in the process? I think so.
Is it so strange that in the male dominated and religious past, some of this wisdom was represented through the Madonna and child imagery? And, as if to accentuate the concept of polar opposites, why wouldn’t the painter render the Madonna black?