It was the darkest new moon of the year and I had traveled to Belgium to meet my women’s group that evening for chanting. We sang Ave Maria over and over again until our voices began to weave into a haunting drone. The evening was good but the next day’s meeting was equally rewarding.
A group of 11 women rode in a caravan to our Lady of Halle, the Black Virgin I had visited a few months before. When I first had visited Belgium, the land spoke to me with visions of swan maidens, spinning flax the color of moonlight and the Goddess Freya and her enchanted cats. The forgotten memories lay dormant in the earth. But also the face of the Dark Madonna of Halle came to me through vision.
The women gathered just beyond the doorway of the church, preparing themselves to enter the sanctuary of the Madonna, for there are two Madonnas in the Basilica of Halle. I looked down the isle of the church to see the oldest icon of our Lady of Halle hovering high above the main altar of the church. It was hard to make her face out from such a distant but with the help of my trusty digital camera I could see her ancient face clearly. She was old and the wood of the icon was weathered like an old woman who had seen many moons. She was the dark goddess, suckling the baby Christ child at her breast. She did not look like the Virgin Mary but something that dated before time itself.
But who was this ancient Goddess behind the Black Virgin of the Catholic Church? It was the Mother Holle, the old pagan Goddess. Mother Holle was associated with the darkest nights of winter. She rode on the winter winds bringing purification to the land. This winter purification caused the land to bear good harvest and brought abundance to the people. Frau Holle name means Beneficent One.
She was the protector of the hearth and was gifted at spinning of flax. Her sacred objects were the distaff, flax, coal, the goose and a feathered quilt. The distaff, a tool of spinners, was used to keep the flax in place before it was spun into wool. Many times the distaff was used by wise women as a magic wand to bring good blessings to one’s life.
The face of the second Black Virgin of Halle is smooth as glass and black as the coal. She resides in a small nave that is enflamed with votive candles too numerous to count. Her coal blackness kindles the memory of the gifts of the Goddess Holle.
The sacred time of the Old Goddess Holle was winter, when it was time to honor ancestral roots. She could be found in the forest, grottos, fountains and cross roads. She brought her blessings to the new-born and to the dead that were leaving this world. You could see her Presence in the Icon above the main altar. Her face was ancient but she suckled the babe in her arms for she cradled both birth and death. She flew across the skies at Winter Solstice nights with her spiritual host who rode brooms and carried the harvest sickle shaped like the crescent moon.
But she also appeared as the Virgin in the holidays of Saint Lucia when young girls dressed in white with a crown of evergreens and candles balanced on their heads. They served sweet breads to their family and neighbors, bringing the light on the shortest days of the year.
The Goddess Holle was known to initiate young women into the mysteries of womanhood. She brought blessings to those who proved themselves from their acts of compassion, generosity and forgiveness.
Grimm’s fairytale connects Mother Holle with the old woman who lives in the forest with her flock of geese. She is associated with Mother Goose and Goosefoot Bertha. When she shook her goose feather quilt the snow would fly. An old proverb says “The Old woman is feathering her geese” when the snow falls.
Mother Holle brought blessings to the fields of flax and the Spinner. Goddess Holles power of Spinning reflects the creation of matter and what is the Black Virgin. None other then atoms of light that have awaken in Matter. Consciousness that have awaken in our human form.
The women walked to the nave which housed the Black Virgin of Halle. We gathered together and huddled as a group around the Black Virgin. We raised our voices together singing Ave Maria, honoring her Presence as deep as our ancestral memories in our bloodlines. Each one of us found our place in the wooden pews and sat in the silence of our own experience before the awesome presence of the Virgin.
One by one I took the hand of each woman and stood her before Our Lady of Halle. Tears of remberance flowed down many of our cheeks. The Sacred Presence surged through our bodies as the purification of the Goddess worked her magic of initiation. We released what was not needed any longer in our lives. This looked different for each woman, according to her soul’s needs. Letting go became easy - our hearts softened in the Black Virgin’s Presence.
The Black Goddess teaches us the way of trimming our lives of unwanted habits or belief systems that no longer serve our growth. Just as the winter wind releases the leaves of autumn from the trees. Her voice can be gentle when we listen to her closely. But when we ignore the gentle voice of the Dark Goddess she comes as a strong winter storm into our life experience. Her violent storms removes away the dead wood from a tree.
Mother Holle hides her memory under the robes of Maria in the Catholic Church in the Black Virgin of Hale. But you can still feel her presence in the coldness of the winter winds on a dark Solstice Night. You can make offerings for Mother Holle for Solstice Night.
You can leave small pieces of Flax, honey, bread or a chunk of coal to bring the blessings to the spirit of the land.
