Italy
  Libyan Sybil stands on her double snakes and holds her mystery, wisdom words. Her blackness goes back to the earlier black goddesses. |
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Delphic Sibil |
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Cumean Crone Sibil |
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 Savignano Column of Life A paleolithic small figure embodies both feminine and masculine energies of creation. The Savignano Column of Life is one of the earliest symbols of the sacred marriage of the feminine and the masculine. The tomb door in the background connects to the continuing cycles of life and death. Source: Serpentine Marble Sculpture. Museo Pigorini. Roma. C. 20,000 BCE
Background: Tomb door slab. Castelluccio. Sicily. 3-2 millennium BCE. Syracuse Museo Nationale |
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Mater Matuta is
the Etruscan Great Mother. The Etruscans were one of the early cultures of
the area of Italy which bears their name, Tuscany. Her roots are in the Great
Mother of Catalhuyuk of Anatolia. Both sit on a lion throne, symbol of birth
and rebirth. Mater Matuta is holding a wrapped figure, a soul who has returned
to the great lap of the mother. In art, a wrapped form like a mummy represents
the soul. |
Medusa Trinacria is a winged Medusa. With her
snakes of transformation she emerges into awareness with her legs of energy
running. She is the symbol of the island of Sicily and its many layers of the
divine feminine.
 MaddalenaMary
Magdalene as the companion of Jesus has a long tradition in Christianity. |
 Mnemosyne re-members
Herstory. She is the mother of the nine muses, the source of in-spiration, literally breathing in I-deas, and creative spirits. The Muses were originally a triad - the primordial triple goddess. Muse comes from the Greek word museu - one who initiates into the mysteries.The shrine to the muses in Alexandria was called a Museum, the nearest entity to a modern university that the ancient world experienced. It was destroyed in the 4th century by the Christians who wanted to wipe out pagan learning and traditions. Today, Museums around the world protect the sacred treasures of many cultures. Italia is a rich treasure of museums. Muses and museums are essential in re-membering Herstories of the divine feminine.The frescoed walls of the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompei depict scenes of a womanıs initation into the Dionysian mysteries. |
 Urania with her globe and stylus prepares to explore creative ideas and the worldıs mysteries. One of her names is celestial Aphrodite. Urania is one of the nine Greek muses who preside over the arts and creative spirits. I-Dea, which means from the Goddess, comes from the muses. They join with other feminine creative spirits around the globe, the morgens of the Celtic traditions, the shaktis of Hinduism, apsaras of China, katsinas of the Hopis, kahunas of Hawaii, apus of the Andes. |
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Santa Reparata For several centuries, merchant
converts of Syrian origin settled in Oltrarno, across the Arno, bringing with
them the Christian tradition and their reverance for Santa Felicitas, a Palestinian
martyr to Roman Florentia. In the 3rd Century, Florence's first martyrs were
San Miniato and Santa Reparata. After the Roman empire became Christian with
Constantine, Florence became a bishopric under Santo Zanobius in 393 CE. A
new cathedral was founded in the 5th CE and was named Santa Maria Reparata,
after another Palestinian virgin and martyr. She is said to have appeared on
October 8th 405, the anniversary of her martyrdom, on the hill behind Fiesole
where she helped a Roman general fight off Goth invaders. Today, Santa Reparata's
foundation is the crypt under Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo. Santa Reparta
holds a vessel with new growth sprouting from it. My banner is dedicated to
Santa Reparta International School of Art which I have been associated with
for seventeen years, creating, learning, teaching and witnessing its growth
and flowering. |
Pescasseroli The Black Madonna of Pescasseroli
is Incoronata, crowned. Her sacred son holds a book as he sits on her wisdom
lap. Pomegranites are part of her golden throne. She sits in a niche from the
pavimento floor of the Siena Cathedral.A friend, Mary Beth Moser from Oregon,
did her master's thesis for the California Institute of Integral Studies on
the Black Madonnas of Italy. She sent me this image in March via the Internet.
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Siponto The Black Madonna at Siponto in Apulia
is known as the madonna with gli occhi sbaratti, or staring eyes. The image,
along with many others, is attributed to Saint Luke and came from Jerusalem.
She sits on a simple wooden throne made from a tree trunk. The sanctuary of
Siponto was built on the site of a temple to the Roman Goddess Diana, whose
altar is in the crypt. There are prehistorical caves in the area whose original
inhabitants depicted themselves as pyramidal bodies, the triangle of the Goddess,
with three or four faces. |
 Black Venus guards the entrance to the Uffizi Gallery, home of one of the great art collections of the world. Italian fresco traditions based on those of Pompeii and Rome, reflowered during the Renaissance. Much of the symbolism in the Uffizi ceiling is from earlier pagan cultures. Black Venus stands on her chariot which is drawn by two winged owls of the spirit. Bats fly around her head. She is a strega, witch, wise woman. Harpies, snakes and gryphons accompany her on her journey of the spirit. |
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 HERA |
 Cybele |
 La Madona Nera/Tindari |
 Our Lady of GOZO/Loreto |
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 Artemis / Diana |
 Isis |
