Images relating to Odyssey of a Creatress 

France – July 1989

Ville Franche sur Mer

Meeting the Vierge Noire at St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, 1989
She stands beside the church and is almost as tall as the steeple
Can you spot my sunhat and shoulder bag resting against her foot.
To the right is a photo of me wearing the same sunhat at a the nearby village of Villefranche-sur-mer in 1989
 Chapter 6- Returning Home
– My first meeting of La Vierge Noire

Arriving at Arles

Rennes-le-Chateau and Mary Magdalene

This church is called at L’eglise de Marie Madeleine at Rennes-le-Chateau.

There are Images of the Madeleine on the altar and a statue of her. There is a skull beside them both.

Her presence is repeated 3 times over in this church.

See the panoramic views of Cathar lands from the tower at Rennes-le-Chateau

Vierge Noire Statues 

La Vierge Noire at Notre Dame de Confession, Marseille

Saintes Sarah – Vierge Noire

in the crypt of the church at Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer

Saint Sarah the Black (above) found in the crypt of L’Église de Saintes, at Saintes-Marie-de-la-Me.
Sara-la-Kali and her child are paraded down to the ocean on the 24 May to celebrate the feast day for the Romany gypsies.
I found the Vierge Noire to the right in the church at Alet-les-Bains, a village near to Rennes-le-Chateau. It sits in a nook that is protected by a metal screen
Chapter 10 – La Vierge Noire: The Black Virgin and child.

Below are two Madonna and Child statues found in Provence. 

One is silver with an older child standing on a ball

The other statue has a black distorted right hand.  I haven’t discovered the symbology of this unusual feature. She stands on a cresent moon as does the Golden L’Encientié statue at Cucungnan 

La Vierge Noire at Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer

She is found in the crypt of the church, surrounded by candles and crutches left behind by those who have been healed by her presence.

France 2011

Chartres Cathedral and the Underground Crypt

The Lady on the pillar in Chartres Cathedral

Below is a woman in prayer to La Vierge Noire

A woman kissing pillar of La Vierge Noire

Below is the same woman walking across the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral

La Vierge Sous-la-terre sits in the darkness of the crypt of Chartres Cathedral

This Vierge Noire is known as Notra Dame de Sous-terre (Our lady underground).

She is an ancient wooden statue of mother and child, she wears a crown and sits on a throne.

There is an altar and chairs before her. They form an underground chapel in her honour

These images relate to Chapter 18 – Honouring the Black Virgin.

Above is the stained glass window in the crypt, to the left of her Altar. 

To the right is an image showing the outline of a person looking into the well and the light hanging above the entrance to the well,

La Vierge Noire and child statue is enthroned at the alter in this mysterious crypt beneath Chartres Cathedral.

The Golden L’Encienté at Cucugnan

L’Église de Cucugnan is a very unusual church, like no other I have ever seen.  The golden presence of the sacred feminine is everywhere.

To the right is a photo of the golden tree beside the entrance to the church.  A hint of the many golden statues to be found within.

The floors are terracotta, the walls the palest pink and crystal chandliers hang from the ceiling. L’Encienté stands in a niche to the right of the altar behind a sheild of protective glass.  She is the Golden statue of a pregnant virgin, known as L’Enciente. She is supported by a cresent moon with an angel below.  These photos relate to Chapter 15 – A Call to Return

Cathar Castles

The castle at Montsegur, famous as the site of the last stand of the Cathars.

The people walking the path leading up to the castle look as small as ants in the first image. 

People arriving at the entrance contrast against the scale of the walls of the castle

Madeline standing in the Cathar Castle at Peyrepertuse.

The sword we found carved into the stone floor in the cloisters of the abbey at Saint-Hilaire

The remains of the Cathar castle of Peyrepertuse

The Sem Stone

Madeline is meditating at the Sem Stone with Diane meditating, lying on top of the stone.

The  Sem Stone with a glimpse of a person standing in the bushes to the left of the stone

Hidden statues of the Feminine

 The Lady of the Mountain sits looking pensively down into a heart shaped pool of water

The Lady of the Mountain found in a dark grotto

Toulouse

La Vierge Noire is openly honoured at the Notre-Dame de la Daurade in Toulouse