June, 17 to 24, 2025

Why a pilgrimage to Mary Magdalene in Provence and Burgundy ?

A brief historical review
Although John Cassian established the first monastery dedicated to Mary Magdalene in the 5th century at Ste Baume, the craze for pilgrimages dedicated to the Saint first developed in Burgundy, in Vezelay from the 11th century. At that time, the monks of the abbey claimed to possess the relics of Mary Magdalene and the pilgrims flocked. But when in 1279, Charles 2 discovered the body of Mary Magdalene in St Maximin, pilgrimages in Burgundy were abandoned in favor of Provence.
More details here.

Black virgins, witnesses of forgotten spirituality, the continuation of a pagan cult into a Christian one.

In very remote times, the black color referred to positive and favorable symbols, beneficial and regenerating, as we can see with the iconography of the dark-tinted Gallo-Roman goddesses. People venerated them in underground crypts for their specific powers related to fertility and childbirth. Furthermore, people think that Christians are at the origin of Black Virgins, but the truth is quite different. Indeed, the worship of the Black Virgins is much older, since it descends from the worship of mother goddesses.

A black stone represented the Great Mother, which confirms the ritual and symbolic values of this color. That is why, in the Druidic shrines, this black-faced female figure was a gift giver. Indeed, they represented the different aspects of nature and its destinies: storms, shortages, drought, but also the great harvest and abundance of Earth. Her half-white, half-black face represented her duality.  Thus, her cycles encompassed all phases, all states of mind.

Their location

We can find them on intersections of telluric currents, sacred and divine, which are often symbolized by a snake. To renew their fruitful relationship with the land, the Celts used to make pilgrimages to these vital points. They soaked up its beneficial impulses and filled up with new energies.

In addition, the Virgins of the pagan and druidic tradition are also assimilated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, emblem of Mother Earth. At the beginning of the Christian era, the statues of Isis were in caves. They represented both Virgin goddess and mother goddess, holding her son Horus in his arms; these effigies became the Romanesque Black Virgins.

Provence and Burgundy shelter an impressive number of places with Black Madonnas.

As we walk in Mary Magdalene’s footsteps, we will also find beautiful Black Virgins on our way. We will evoke the history of each through the legends attached to them and the particular devotions to which they are the subject.
With this journey, you will better understand how the cult of the Black Virgins developed from the Mediterranean Basin and ancient rites dedicated to Isis, Cybele or Artemis.

What Mary Magdalene and the Black Madonnas is about ?

This is an intimate contemplative journey for 12 people (women and couples) who wish to drink deeply of both the beauty of the historical sites and the transformative potential of the spiritual practices associated with Mary Magdalene and the Black Madonnas. We will go to meet the Magdalene to obtain an experience of the sacred through contemplation and contact, physical presence in the places where she lived. Like the ancient pilgrims, we will be sheltered in old monasteries, we will perform ritual gestures, we will walk on paths taken by famous and anonymous pilgrims for centuries in Provence and Burgundy.

The highlights of this journey

• The St Baume mountain and the hike to Mary Magdalene grotto through the sacred forest of Artemis
• The fishermen village of Les Saintes Maries de la mer where Mary Magdalene and the companions came ashore. There, Sara, in the crypt of the church, is the Black Virgin of the Gypsies who come from all over the world to pay tribute to her every 24th of May.
• Abbaye de St Victor:. Refuge of the first Christians guided by Mary Magdalene and Lazarus and the magnificent Black Madonna “Our Lady of Confession”.
• Summer solstice at the basilica of Vezelay.The sun draws a sumptuous path of light in the central aisle of the nave up to the altar
• The Cathedral of Puy en Velay: its two Black Virgins and the miraculous healing stone
• The Cathedral of Clermont Ferrand with the beautiful stained glass windows dedicated to Magdalene and the two romanesque Black Madonnas.
• Discovery of ancient megalithic places, churches and old sacred sites with very strong vibrations