black madonna for palestine prayer card
this piece was created in solidarity with palestine & the palestinians who fight against occupational Israeli forces — especially those tumultuously affected by the recent bombings in gaza (october 2023). this piece is available for free - my only request is to share it amongst the collective for the innocent souls who tragically lost their lives in the recent bombings caused by the israeli goverment.
if you feel called to pay for my labor of this piece and would like to donate to my creative business, my venmo is: @raphdraws.
below is more information about the black madonna, my personal connection to her, her history, and influence on the world:
about the black madonna:
the black madonna is the sacred feminine rooted in the body living on the earth. she is both a living reality and an archetypal embodiment of human behavior. she is both paradox and ambiguity. she can be viewed quite literally and symbolically. through her loving acceptance of all and valuing the interrelatedness of all life, the black madonna brings us to wholeness. at this time of world upheavals, she reminds us of the sacredness of life, for the need to care for and nourish the earth, and ourselves, and all sentient beings.
although the black madonna is commonly associated within christianity, she has many various incarnations including: the roman goddess ceres, the anatolian and roman cybele, artemis in ancient greece, kali in india, and the ancient egyptian mother goddess isis. each iteration of the madonna is “crowned, seated on a throne, with a divine child on her lap.”
“along with her mystical and agricultural connotations, the black madonna alludes to an ancient cultural memory of the african origins of humanity, representing the original mother of earth’s children. “it is a memory that people all over the world carry. because of this, blackness has a very strong symbolic meaning connected to love, nurturing, protection, transformation, power, wisdom, fertility, and justice.” perhaps this collective memory contributes to the fact that the dark-skinned representations are the most revered icons in mariology, and that the darker the skin, the more devotees and the higher the number of miracles associated with the icon.”
source: “The Black Madonna: An Ancient Tradition in Modern Times.” PATRICK COLLINS, https://www.utsa.edu/ovations/archives/pdf/ovations_v8.pdf.
about the prayer & background story:
this black madonna prayer was gifted to me by my mother when i moved to Vermont, September 2020. she advised me to keep it on top of my car dashboard for protection. i kept the prayer card on my dashboard and never moved it. fast forward to to june 15th, 2022, i rediscovered the prayer card on my car dashboard following the installation of my first mural of the black madonna, located on the fletcher free library in burlington, vermont. it was in that moment i realized i was creating for something much bigger than me and that i was a vessel of expression for the black madonna.