Chartres Cathedral and Imagery of the Sacred Feminine Encapsulated within Chartres Cathedral are a plethora of features and concepts personifying the Feminine Divine like no other single structure. The very site on which this current cathedral stands, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, has for millennia been a sacred place of the Earth Mother. First called Carnute, Druids were believed to have worshiped here in the sacred grove, practicing their skills of divination and related esoteric powers at the holy well, in close communion with Mother Nature. It is said the local tribes worshiped the Goddess here and whose image was one that depicted her giving birth. Later, as was the case with so many sacred pagan sites, the area was chosen as the location for a grand Christian structure. A Romanesque cathedral was first begun here in 1020, but was subsequently destroyed by fire in 1194. Of this structure, only the west front, the south tower, and crypt survived. Curiously, of all the sacred treasures stored within this wealthy church, the only piece to survive was the Veil of the Virgin. A Gothic cathedral soon rose upon the ashes of the previous church, completed in just 25 years, in 1250 CE. Pressured to adopt Christianity, those venerating Goddess at Chartres simply began to call her by a different name, the Virgin Mary, recognizing her as one and the same. According to authors Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson, Catholic officials actually devised a term for images of Mary previous to Mary’s birth called “prefigurations of the Virgin.” Though not the intent of the Church, this certainly suggests another method by which assimilation of the Goddess and Mary occured.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 03:14:49 +0000
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