Twelve Days of Mary – Day 7

Our Lady of Loreto

Icon of  Justice

In the Mysteries of Mary I shared the Mariamic tradition of 

 alchemy,  prophecy and vision starting

with the lineage of Miriam.

The Black Madonna symbolizes this prophetic tradition carried

by all women, starting with Miriam, and continuing through

the sybils, who were prophetesses before and after the

christian era.

At the sanctuary of Loreto, in Italy, the very black madonna

and national icon of Italy, stand the statues of

ten sybils in front of the ten Jewish prophets.

I also share images of the ten sybils on the facade of the

church of the oldest black madonna in the world, in the

Santa Maggiorre church in Trastevere, Italy on my Patreon.

www.patreon.com/thefrenchmadonna

The sybils of the black goddess Cybele is said to have prophesied

the birth of the Christ child.

The casa or house of Mary which is enclosed in the sanctuary of Loreto

can be seen as a metaphor the ‘enclosed garden’ and the ‘Shekinah’,

the feminine in-dwelling divine presence of the Jewish god as told in the Kabalah. 

 In Prague there is a little known exact replica

of the House of Loreto with a magnificent copy of the statue of

the Black Madonna of Loreto enclosed into an alcove in the wall of the little house.

Elizabeth Fiorenza uncovered the significance of the sybils in the sanctuary of

Loreto.  She discusses in detail in her book ‘In Memory of Her’ their significance.

In August 2017 I spent two weeks in Bologna visiting the tarot museum but also

participating the in the important 15 August celebration and pilgrimage

of the Black Madonna de Luce.  I shared many pictures on my IG feed

of how similar the sculptures of the sybils inside the Italian churches

are to the cards of the Mysteries of Mary tarot deck.

The litany of the black madonna of Loreto refers to the ark of the covenant.

Fiorenza interprets the story of Jesus and his mother, that his mother

sent him to do her work in the world.  She explains her theory that

Sophia was the god of Israel expressed in the language and imagery

of the goddess. Sophia’s messenger and son came with a message of

equality and justice for all outcasts, minorities and the oppressed :

women, the poor, the old, the sick and all living creatures.

The celebrations of the Black Madonna L’incoronata outside Foggia

takes place on the May 1, known as Mayday, the international

holiday of workers and also communist celebrations.

and its higher spiritual colour is golden-white

Meditation

Mother,
Make of my heart
A vast bed of peace
Where you can lay down your heart
and rest from the agony that harrows it
From all we are and continue to do,
As you comfort me, so may I comfort you
–  Andrew Harvey

blessings

Hettienne