BOOK REVIEWS

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This book focuses on the Bible woman named Mary Magdalen. Starbird has taken the position that Mary Magdalen, or MM, was the wife of Jesus and they had a child. Like Dan Brown's "DaVinci Code," this bloodline was secret and suddenly discovered in France. I found her writing to be easy enough to read, but for me, it is missing lots of timelines, some items have 400 or more years with unexplained blanks. She uses lots of exclamation points (!), which for me, takes away from any scholarly value. There are times her writing shows lack of knowledge about Jewish laws and customs at the time of Jesus, which makes it less credible. I have marked my copy  with many questions and comments. Overall the book left me unsatisfied. 

This book is referenced many times by researchers of the Black Madonna. One thing the reader needs to understand is that this book focuses on the idea of archtype from the work of Carl Jung. While he touches religion, culture and other items, archtypes are related to one's inner journey not necessarily the final word on these images. I understood archtypes better after taking some classes from www.jungacademy.com. This book is good and compares the image of Mother Mary to other Black Madonna images. It is not the only or final word on the image

This is source used by a number of writers, including Dan Brown in his DaVinci Code novel. Here is the problem with this book: it seems the Priory of Scion was established in 1956, not in the 1200's and a lot of their work was a hoax. So what happens to the scholarly work afterward that used this book as a reasonable source? Good question. I would suggest the book be taken more as fiction than fact and we should worry more if we are living right lives instead of arguing if Jesus was married.

This book is the book that taught me, when it was first published, there is more than one Black Madonna. As a Polish person, I thought, mistakenly, that there was only one. China brought to my attention several Mother images known as "black." It is a good read.

While this is a novel for pre-teen or early teens, I found it delightful and interesting. A granddaughter of the artist Matisse visits him, she gets some art lessons and the housekeeper teaches her a Black Madonna story. 

The thesis of this non fiction book is that for the first thousand years of Christianity, women were priests. The main example is Mother of Jesus, Mary. Sometimes the author switches to Mary Madelene if it suits her argument. The author is outranged by this & this outrage overwhelms her thesis to the point it loses its power. The citation method is not well done, some paragraphs do not fit the chapter or the paragraphs before and after. It needs some serious editing. The author quotes second sources: that is "this person said that the other person said" rather than the actual source she is quoting. 

This is a novel and a delightful one I will read again. Mary comes to visit the main character (or is Mary the main character?) for a rest. They have some great conversations & we see Mary in a new way. It is written well, the ideas are easy to follow and I love Mary even more for having read the book/

This is the 3rd book by this author that is autobiographical. It stretchers across many years and focuses on her experiences with Mary Mother of Jesus. I really enjoyed her honesty & stories, & yes, she speaks of her encounters with the Black Madonna. I read it twice I enjoyed it so much.  She is self-reflective, can laugh at herself& can admit her shortcomings. She was lovely when I sent a note of gratitude for the book: she responded & was kind & genuine.

This is a great book; it's non fiction and compares the Black Madonna of Poland and Mexico. It's where I learned the word Syncretism. It's an important word to fully understand cultures, how they morph & change & how we have to look backward, sideways and forward to understand our lives in full context.

This novel is well written. If you like some adventure and history and archeology, this is for you. A piece of art is found and Mary is dark skinned as we image she must have been. The adventure begins there with a satisfying ending.

This is another novel that I really enjoyed. The protagonist is an orphan who finds out secrets about her parents, their death and who is really on her side. It touches on a possible history of the Tarot cards, the Black Madonna and faith. It was not religious; it is an adventure and a good one.

 This is non fiction, speaking to pilgrimage in general and the value one gets from trekking to sacred and perhaps remote places that are known to have special powers and/or energy. He writes about the wonder as well as the hardship and even boring parts of pilgrimage and how we can find meaning in the mundane travel if we fix our minds on our inner experience. I really enjoy reading his work & like his writing style.  

This is a memoir of a Black woman who discovered the Black Madonna & took herself on a walking pilgrimage in a section of France. Since memoirs are very personal, I cannot critique her experience. I would have liked a small map, listing of the sites she visited & a full bibliography of books she read. She did list end notes, however, she also referenced books she read but did not list. I do hope she finds more healing; it seems her journey is just beginning. For me, I do say her image of God is too small. I was taught humans were made in the image & likeness of God, so I always imagine God as all colors, androgynous & full of all personalities & attitudes.

This is a printed book of a thesis written for a BA degree. The author was an art student & this was a requirement for her degree. She compares images in 2 different time periods. I did find a new resource -  Michel Pastoureau . He writes about the historical significance of a color during different times. Yes, he wrote about the color black. Reading his book reminds me we must look at life in context or the "temper of the time." Back to the original book: it's okay, I wasn't overly impressed. It's a compare/contrast paper of very disparate times. It's not a long book & not deeply fleshed out, but again it's a compare/contrast paper. 

This is a lovely book about Mary Mother of Jesus. The author has a great overview of Mary through history, using some very reliable sources. She talks about her journey to understand Mary personally and within her faith. I have used it as a reference. 

This is a delightful novel, set in Italy, about a Black Madonna in a cave. There is a mystery, a difficult way to find this Madonna and a satisfying ending to the story. A good read.

This is part memoir, part pilgrimage and part experiential. The author is passionate about the Black Madonna & relates her experiences to many villages in Italy, mostly southern Italy. She is a drummer & ecstatic dancer & relates some of the events she has held & participated in. She has a Facebook group to follow her & find out when & where she will be holding an event. I hope to attend one some day. I enjoyed her descriptions, passion & the way she honors our Madonna.

This is a novel; the 3rd of a trilogy. I like the style the author writes in; his books have a Christian POV, and I like it. His story lines are personal & relatable; I like his characters. The Black Madonna in this book is the one from Poland. He has a great command of history; his stories come alive & I root for the protagonist.

It has been a while since I read this. The first thing I remember is I bought a Kindle version, and I liked it so much I bought a hard copy so I could underline, take better notes & keep it close to me to read again.

Sally Kempton used to write articles for Yoga Journal magazine. She wrote about Kali once, which endeared me to her style of writing & her approach in self-healing. She encourages us to look at our shadow self & meet that head on & take the step to heal ourselves.

This author, a female, took a trip & found many images of the Black Madonna. Her books are the photos of the Black Madonna & her at the various locations. She is enthusiastic & happy to be at each location. I really like her happiness & joy from her pilgrimage.

This book explores all the claims & "mysteries" connected to this church in France. The author debunks most of these claims & shows their is little to no documentation to prove any of the claims & stories connected to Fr. Sauniere. Basically it is all made up. To me this shows how one story can change over time to create a big stinking mess & we just simply believe without verifying research. That is why I this section on resources. There may be a lot, but are they valid? This book helps dispel myths.

Per Wiki "Lilith, also spelt Lilit, Lilitu, or Lilis, is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon." You need to know that to understand why this author calls her the Black Madonna. The author has published a small book of poems to Lilith, adoring her dark side, her serpent she-demon side. It's okay; I am rarely impressed by shock value work. 

I do not know who the author is, nor could I find out much about the Order of  Antrustions (sic) were. This book needs some very serious editing. It is not well presented, the thesis/point is unclear, the grammar, punctuation and syntax are poor. I am sorry to have such a report. It's not a long book, but felt like reading a huge boring tome.

Code-Switching, it's a thing. Deborah Tanner writes about this & points out the different way men & women communicate. I think code-switching is important to understand (and more than between men & women, it's cultural, educational, many places...) because we can be better at understanding someone else's point of view. Understanding this book could help.

This is a master's thesis which is more like a memoir & person journal to Black Madonna shrines in Italy. She was lovely to chat with briefly through email. She's gone on to a PhD & continues her personal & professional pilgrimage.

I am just finished with this novel. It's set in France about 900 AD. The main character is a young man who has been tasked with carving a new Black Madonna for his village as the old one was burned in a purposely lit fire. There is some clash, of sorts, between Romans & Druids. The term Black Madonna is used as though is was used at this time; I've never found it in my research, but I am not the authority. It's an interesting story. 

This is non-fiction. The author is trying to combine mythology, astrology, movement of the moon to the earth & women studies into one book. She focuses on the Dark Goddess in myth from the Eurasia area. For me, her historical statements are not clear & correct; she uses lots of repetition, her sources are rather biased. I would agree with the 1 & 2 star reviews on Amazon. Many loved the book, just not me. 

I know, religion seems to be a taboo idea these days. Many believe themselves too sophisticated or educated to follow any religion. Religion & belief systems beyond our human understanding have been around since we have evidence of "modern" humans. There is something good (and yes bad things have happened) about the discipline of a religion or practice that put the ego aside & explores a deeper meaning to life besides gaining money & goods & social standing. Durkheim explains this well

What does spirituality & art have to do with this page? A whole lot! Kandinsky was an art in the early 1900's. He writes about how art can lead us to an inner life; he writes how the eyes, seeing the art, can pluck something inside us, pushing to explore more in those dark places of our soul. That is what led you here to begin with.

This is a sort of memoir from the author about her discovering the goddess Kali in a trip to India. I found it very readable, interesting and a good read. She has become so devoted, she set up a Kali shrine in California and it has recently celebrated a 30 year anniversary.

This non fiction book is an excellent read about how we use language. Please read it with the temper of the times it was written, not in the 2023 temper of gender dysphoria & other gender issues. You will miss important information.

I really like this nonfiction book. It's part of my bibliography because today, we seem to think women, for all time, were thought of as crazy and less than men. It's not true. Like many things in life, there has been ebb & flow to this notion. I found this book to show me that in the last 100 years, a number of ideas about women's bodies comes from this period of time & the change in medical care & mental health.