Blog Post #3 by China Galland

Dear Friends and Pilgrims one and all,

At eight o'clock last night, the old wooden door to the crypt of Chartres Cathedral creaked and groaned as it slowly swung open for our descent. We made our way down the centuries-old stone staircase, our eyes adjusting slowly from the world of light to the dim lights and flickering votive candles that guided our way through the crypt, the chapel below the cathedral where a second carved wooden Dark Madonna with a crown of oak leaves sits on the wall behind the altar holding the Christ Child in her lap. Though the original ancient statue was long ago destroyed, this carved copy sits with her eyes closed, holding her child, reigning over the silence. Called the Madonna Sous Terre, "the Madonna Under the Earth," or "the Madonna of the Underworld," this Madonna sits where a pre Christian statue was honored by the Druids.

Directly above her in the Cathedral stands the Black Madonna, Our Lady of the Pillar.

Just as our pilgrim's journey required a descent of the old smooth cold, stone stairs, it also required a descent into the mythic realm, into the soul's work of discovering what it is to be fully human. The way to the Divine, no matter by which name it is called, the ineffable Mystery, the descent which takes place on the way to God.

View more information about Longing for Darkness

China Galland

Longing for Darkness

Black Madonna

Cathedral of Chartres

pilgrimage

religion

Penguin Books

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