Supporting Black Mothers
The Mt Shasta Goddess Temple is committed to honouring the Great Mother through acts of spirit, beauty, and service, and we embrace opportunities to help shape a better world for women. Our annual devotional cycle dedicated to Goddesses from many world cultures invites our membership to reflect on the diversity of the female divine, and our practices and teachings inspire women of all colors, shapes, sizes, and backgrounds to discover the divinity within. In our Temple, we believe that every woman is an earthly embodiment of the Goddess.
June is the month of the Black Madonna in our Temple, and we are listening with compassion and concern to the cries of Black Mothers who have lost their children to police and institutional violence, to racist medical practices that place communities of color at higher risk during this pandemic, and to the ongoing issues of Black infant and maternal mortality in a nation with the technological and institutional wherewithal to do better.
The Madonna of Black Butte by Priestess Holly DeFount is the Temple’s devotional representation of the Black Madonna. Situated in the Temple’s Siskiyou County landscape, against the backdrop of Black Butte (a satellite cone of Mt Shasta), the image includes iconic details in homage to several different historical Black Madonnas: the scars from the cheek of our Lady of Częstochowa, the rays of light emitting from Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the colourful robes of Sara-la-Kali. At her feet is a rattlesnake native to our region, not being trod upon or treated as evil, but curled in a harmonious infinity symbol at the feet of the Great Mother, symbolising her eternal love for the Earth and all of its sacred creatures. On her right side, red roses grow, and on her left are white Shasta lilies. The two flowers alchemically represent the sun and the moon, or the red and white tinctures that ultimately give rise to the Philosopher’s Stone.
From now until August 1, the Mt Shasta Goddess Temple will dedicate the proceeds from print sales of this image to Black Mamas Matter, an organisation addressing the needs of Black mothers today. From their website: “Black Mamas Matter Alliance is a Black women-led cross-sectoral alliance. We center Black mamas to advocate, drive research, build power, and shift culture for Black maternal health, rights, and justice.”
*Please note: due to COVID-19 labor shortages, print fulfillment may take longer than usual. Current estimate is 2-3 weeks from date or order. Thank you for your patience!