China Galland
Experience the Black Madonna’s profound spiritual impact, which spans cultures and time — to help restore the connection between nature and the sacred, and to strengthen our bond with one another in these pivotal times.
The scriptures tell us that without a vision, the people perish.
In these uncertain times, we’re being called to renew our vision, become clear on our life intentions, and summon the courage to put it all into action.
Who better to inspire and guide us on this journey than the Black Madonna, the patron of transformation herself?
The Black Madonna has long held the archetypal energies of all the world’s goddesses — and the capacity to nurture, love, heal, and be reborn.
She represents the deeper dimensions of the Sacred Feminine — instinct, sensuality, and connection to nature, drawing from the energies of earlier representations of the Holy Virgin and Mother found in cultures around the world.
The Black Madonna sees with the eyes of a mystic, beyond the material world, to help you more fully experience the presence of the divine in all things.
In a fascinating new course with celebrated author, wilderness guide, and teacher China Galland, you’ll discover how the many forms of the Black Madonna function as portals through which the unseen world reveals itself.
Venerated for centuries in great cathedrals around the globe, Black Madonnas have long been proclaimed to be especially powerful miracle workers and healers.
Whether she appears as Virgin, Mother, Crone, Queen, or Orisha, she’s found in traditions that circle the globe and span different eras as:
- The Aztec goddess Tonantzin, at whose site Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patron of All the Americas, appeared in Mexico
- La Pachamama, the source of all life beloved by the people of the Andes
- Maria Lionza, the mountain goddess of Venezuela
- The Egyptian-African goddess Isis, whose worship spread throughout Europe up until the second and third centuries
- The Hindu Kali, carried from India by the Roma people, the Gypsies, on their migrations
- The Orishas, brought from Africa to Brazil, who are both the Earth itself and the roots below
- And more...
However she appears, the Dark Mother gives us the depth we’ve been seeking and the balance of hope and adversity that we need to grow.
According to China, the image of the Dark Mother is arising in the human psyche right now because we need her more than ever...
As you’ll discover, what we need now is an awareness of the indivisibility of our relationship with each other — people of all races, nationalities, ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds... and with the Earth and all her creatures.
Join us on this journey through the Black Madonna’s history as China weaves connections for you from her pilgrimages around the globe.
You’ll see how the Black Madonna has always been right there, ready to show you how it feels to be connected to God, deeply empathic toward your fellow human beings, infused with respect for the Earth — and courageous in your actions.
During this heart-opening video course, you’ll:
- Follow along as China shares powerful lessons from her pilgrimages around the globe and helps you apply them to your life
- Explore the meaning of the Black Madonna as a symbol, an archetype, and the psyche’s shadow
- Discover how the Black Madonna can help you find ways to generate the courage you need in the midst of the upside-down world of today
- Turn within to discern what the Black Madonna in all her forms has to teach you
- Explore the ways in which the Dark Mother inspires people (including you!) to take compassionate action
- Reflect upon the relationship between compassionate action and personal accountability for the current state of the world
- Delve deep into this question: What does it mean to have courage in your convictions?
- Build your own altar to the Black Madonna and activate it along the way
- Create your own devotional image of the Black Madonna to add to your altar, using a creative medium of your choice
- Look for the ways in which life presents you with opportunities to say YES — to a request to serve, support, take action, or contribute
- Write your own prayer book, songs of praise, thanksgiving, and devotion — featuring images, quotes, prayers, and reflections that help you sit with, and be with, the larger spirit of goodness... and the greater self within you
What You’ll Discover in These 7 Modules
In this 7-part transformational intensive, China will guide you through the fundamental body-mind-spirit skills you’ll need to draw on the liberating powers of the Black Madonna, the divine healer, as you serve, transform, and take action.
This course will feature recorded teachings, training sessions, & experiential practices with China. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to connect with the Black Madonna as a symbol, an archetype, the psyche’s shadow, and more.
Module 1: Who Is the Black Madonna? (March 16)
Have you had moments in your life when, just when you needed it, a healer arrived?
The Black Madonna is famous for being a miracle worker and healer — and her specialty is “impossible” cases that seem far beyond help or redemption.
In this opening session, you’ll explore how, while the Black Madonna is little-known in the United States, major centuries-old shrines to her exist throughout Europe — from Einsiedeln in Switzerland to Montserrat in Spain, Chartres in France, and Loreto in Italy.
While she’s hidden in plain sight, people are now discovering these images of Mary and her child — and the parallels to her in other cultures.
From the Americas — with Indigenous deities Guadalupe-Tonantzin in Mexico and Aparecida in Brazil — to the female Buddha Tara in India and Tibet, the Hindu deities Durga and Kali, the enlightened feminine Kannon in Japan, and others...
... awareness of this loving, all-compassionate, wise feminine presence is growing by leaps and bounds — and this session can launch the deepening of your journey with the Black Madonna, too.
China will guide you to invoke and increase this astonishing feminine presence in your daily life.
In this module, you’ll:
- Follow along as China shares powerful lessons from her pilgrimages around the globe and helps you apply them to your life
- Discover how the Black Madonna is related to the stunning, all-powerful female deity who rides a lion and defeats any forces that seek to destroy the world
- Discover how the Black Madonna can help you find ways to generate the courage you need in the midst of the upside-down world of today
- Explore ways to bring the Black Madonna into your daily life
- Learn how to build your own home altar to the Black Madonna
- Receive China’s teachings and guidance for using sound as one of your offerings at your altar throughout your journey with the Black Madonna
Module 2: The Power Is in the Root — The Black Madonna at Einsiedeln, Switzerland (March 23)
What would you like to heal in your life?
During this class, you’ll explore images of the magnificent Black Madonna of Einsiedeln — and discover her role in helping you heal.
At Einsiedeln’s ancient pilgrimage site, a black Mary and Christ child are venerated and cherished.
Set on an altar against a magnificent backdrop of gold clouds and lightning bolts, the Madonna reveals clues to one of her origin stories — when lightning struck that chapel and set it on fire.
Somehow, the Madonna survived. Was she blackened by fire and smoke as some say, or was she always deliberately black? (The original statue was removed centuries ago.)
As you bathe in the glorious Salve Regina hymn, chanted daily for centuries by monks, China will guide you to consider your own associations with blackness.
In this module, you’ll:
- Explore how the Einsiedeln basilica is a beautiful fountain that pours out waters on all sides — and why so many have claimed to have experienced miraculous healings here
- Ask for guidance about what you might add to your altar to the Black Madonna, if you’ve chosen to build one for your own healing
- Delve deep to remember something that almost destroyed your life — a symbolic fire you’ve already lived through
- Learn how the Swiss Madonna may also be a fire survivor
- Turn within to discern what the Swiss Madonna has come to teach you
- Discover what you and your fellow participants can teach one another about surviving life’s fires
- Meditate on receiving the waters of the fountain — and let yourself write down your vision, an illuminated manuscript, for yourself
Module 3: The Mother of the Excluded — Our Lady of Aparecida (March 30)
During this session, China will share a story from the depths of the waters of Brazil...
… the story of three poor fishermen who had been unable to catch any fish for days — until their net pulled up a statue of a Black Virgin Mary. Soon they brought up so many fish that their boat almost capsized.
This was the first miracle of Aparecida — the one who appeared when they were in need. In twentieth century Brazil, Aparecida became the patron of the Black intellectual movement that set out to defeat the military.
You’ll revisit the miracles you’ve witnessed in your own life...
In this module, you’ll:
- Learn more about the excluded — the marginalized ones protected by Aparecida, the Mother of the Excluded
- Explore the ways in which the Dark Mother inspires people (including you!) to take compassionate action
- Clarify how Spirit (God, the Divine), or a sense of the sacred manifests for you
- Write your own prayer book — featuring images, quotes, prayers, and reflections that help you sit with, and be with, that larger spirit of goodness... and the greater self in you
Module 4: The Black Madonna of Poland, Our Lady of Częstochowa — The Unofficial Patron of the Solidarity Movement (April 6)
During this class, China will tell you of her pilgrimage in 1987 to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, the patroness of Poland…
… where she discovered that this Madonna was also the unofficial patroness of the Solidarity movement.
Galland found herself being followed by secret police in the middle of the outlawed Solidarity movement’s most powerful organizing event — the annual walk from Warsaw to Częstochowa, home of the shrine of the Black Madonna.
China will share everything she learned from being one of a handful of outsiders in that million-strong, multiple-day pilgrimage.
In this module, you’ll:
- Be inspired by the faith, passion, and courage of the people making the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Częstochowa
- Reflectpon the relationship between compassionate action and personal accountability for the current state of the world
- Delve deep into this question: What does it mean to have courage in your convictions?
- Learn to work at your altar to ensure that it reflects where you are in your life right now
Module 5: The Dark Mother of the Americas, Our Lady of Guadalupe (April 13)
You’ve probably seen images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a celebrated and powerful patroness of Mexico...
During this session, you’ll deepen your knowledge of the miracles of this Dark Madonna — including her association with roses and her role in history.
You’ll discover how this Dark Madonna’s devotees look to her for protection from oppression — and how she’s the champion of women, especially mothers.
In this module, you’ll:
- Hear China recount her dream of the Black Woman — and explore what you can learn from it, and apply to your life
- Reflect on guidance, reparations, and healing
- Reflect on the role the Virgin of Guadalupe plays for the Indigenous people of the Americas
- Look within to discover how the Virgin of Guadalupe inspires you
- Learn to connect and work with Our Lady of Guadalupe to receive guidance and messages she may have for you
Module 6: Our Lady of Good Deliverance, Notre Dame de Bonne Délivrance (April 20)
During this class, China will share the story of the statue of Notre Dame de Bonne Délivrance (Our Lady of Good Deliverance) dating back to at least the eleventh century.
Until the French Revolution she stood in the ancient church of Saint-Étienne-des-Grès in the Latin Quarter.
Madame de Carignan, a woman of wealth who was imprisoned with a group of nuns, encouraged the sisters to join her in praying to this Madonna of Good Deliverance.
She said if they lived through this experience together and were spared from the guillotine, she would give them the statue for their chapel when they got out...
In this module, you’ll explore:
- How the Sisters of Saint Thomas of Villanova credited Notre Dame de Bonne Délivrance with saving their lives
- Why, as soon as possible, Madame Carnignan sent the statue of Bonne Délivrance to the nuns’ convent
- Ideas for making a pilgrimage to your own community or background to seek out what’s been hidden from you
- What it means to give reverence and devotion to the Black Madonna
- Inspiration for creating your own devotional image of the Black Madonna to add to your altar, using a creative medium of your choice
Module 7: Tying It All Together — What Are You Taking Into the World? (April 27)
At this point in your journey, you know the Dark Mother is found in many different forms, in culture after culture.
China will share the bond the Dark Mother weaves, which reaches beyond cultures, across time — and gives us back our history.
As you’ll explore, the Dark Mother gives us back not only our connection between the sacred and the world of nature — the body, she also gives us back our ground of being — the world body in which we live with all creatures.
The Dark Mother gives us earth, water, air, and fire. She forms in Creation, then goes beyond — helping us cross over to the other side.
Whoever this Dark One is, whether she appears as Virgin, Mother, Crone, Queen, or Orisha, she’s found underlying tradition after tradition.
As China will share, we need only examine our own traditions. Look beneath… she has been there all along, right under our feet.
In this closing module, you’ll discover:
- How the Dark Mother provides a bridge across cultures
- Why the Black Madonna, in all her forms, has long been proclaimed to be an especially powerful miracle worker and healer
- How some say the Madonna’s face is black because she’s survived fires and is forever darkened by candle smoke
- Why China believes the Black Madonna’s face is dark because she has absorbed so much suffering
- The meaning of the Black Madonna as a symbol, an archetype, and the psyche’s shadow
- How to look for the ways in which life presents you with opportunities to say YES — to a request to serve, support, take action, or contribute.
- A closing ceremony to activate the altar you’ve co-created during this course
The Black Madonna Bonus Collection
In addition to China’s transformative 7-part virtual course, you’ll receive these powerful training sessions with leading visionaries and teachers to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Black Madonna Mini-Course
3 Audio Sessions From Andrew Harvey
Andrew Harvey, author, speaker, and founder of the Institute of Sacred Activism, describes The Black Madonna as the transcendent Kali-Mother, the black womb of light out of which all of the worlds are always arising — and into which they fall. She’s the presence behind all things, the darkness of love, and the loving unknowing. This carefully curated package from Andrew includes “Mary as the Black Madonna,” “Two Revelations of the Black Madonna,” and “The Dark Gold Crown of the Black Madonna.”
The Black Madonna Climbs Down From the Altar & Walks Out Into the Street
Video Dialogue With China Galland and Mirabai Starr
Awareness of the Black Madonna is arising now because we need her. Many are drawn to this ancient image of the Divine Feminine without knowing why, what she is — or what the mother of Christ has to do with them. In this fascinating dialogue with Mirabai Starr (award-winning author, speaker, retreat leader, and translator of the mystics), China builds a bridge between embracing the Dark Feminine and stepping up to be a force of healing and reparation in the world.
Two New Faces of the Black Madonna
Video Teaching From China Galland
Black Madonnas come in different forms — and many versions are so powerful, they turn the shrines in which they’re housed into truly revered pilgrimage sites. There was so much about the Black Madonna that China wanted to share in this course — unfortunately, she couldn’t include it all in just seven sessions. So in this powerful teaching, China explores two additional depictions of the Black Madonna that did not make it into this course — but that she couldn’t bear to leave out.
China’s Process of Altar Creation & Maintenance
Video Teaching From China Galland
Throughout this course, you’ll be invited to collectively co-create a class altar. In this video teaching, China discusses her process of creating — and also maintaining and refreshing — an altar. You’ll be encouraged to apply these practices to your already established altar if you have one, and to apply them in the maintenance of your Black Madonna course altar during this online community pilgrimage.
What People Are Saying About China Galland…
— Debrenia Madison: “China Is a Portal to Take You to Your Own Heart to Experience the Black Madonna”
— Lara Villarreal Hutner: “China Has an Incredible Generosity of Spirit”
— Ella Rozett: “China Galland Is the Grande Dame of the Field of Black Madonna Research”
— Moriah Salter: “To Be in China’s Presence Is to Come Into More Connection With the One”
— Drew Dellinger: “China is Someone of Real Spiritual Depth”
— Solace Wales: “China Is Able to Bring Vividly to Life the Many Manifestations of the Black Madonna”
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Seven 90-Minute Recorded Classes with China Galland
Experience a unique opportunity to learn from author, filmmaker, and teacher China Galland — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a video option with pre-recorded teachings and Q&A to guide you to experience the Black Madonna’s profound spiritual impact that spans across cultures and time.
Seven PDF Transcripts of Class Sessions
In addition to the high-quality videos and MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each lesson.
The Black Madonna Bonus Collection
- Black Madonna Mini-Course
3 Audio Sessions From Andrew Harvey - The Black Madonna Climbs Down From the Altar & Walks Out Into the Street
Video Dialogue With China Galland and Mirabai Starr - Two New Faces of the Black Madonna
Video Teaching From China Galland - China’s Process of Altar Creation & Maintenance
Video Teaching From China Galland
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Virtual Pilgrimage to Connect With the Black Madonna Online Training
We feel honored that China Galland has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive online training. This is a unique opportunity to learn from an author and professor of philosophy and world religions whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about restoring the connection between nature and the sacred as you strengthen your bond with others in these pivotal times, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind training.
If you’re ready to take the next step in evolving yourself, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE A Virtual Pilgrimage to the Black Madonna — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form within 2 weeks of your purchase, and we’ll happily issue you a refund.
More Praise for China Galland…
— Mirabai Starr: “China is the Quintessential Fierce Feminine Wisdom Teacher”
— Chloë Goodchild: “China Is a Pioneer in the Empowering of Women”
“China Galland… leaves our hearts uplifted.”
[China’s work] is stunning... beautifully told... with her powerful and poetic narrative, China Galland... leaves our hearts uplifted.— Isabel Allende, author, inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters
“China… reunites the world in the heart of compassion.”
China Galland’s journey carries you like a boat on the ocean of tears... she reunites the world in the heart of compassion.
— Jack Kornfield, founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center
“[China’s] book became my companion...”
[China’s] book became my companion as I traveled to see the Black Madonna… I love this book.— Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Book of Longings and The Invention of Wings
“China Galland teaches us... that the path of fierce compassion is the only one left…”
China Galland teaches us, with grace and wisdom, that the path of fierce compassion is the only one left if we are to defeat the demons we have let loose upon the planet. A wondrous achievement.
— Victor Perara, author of The Cross and the Pear Tree: A Sephardic Journey
“China Galland offers unexpected and welcome illuminations…”
China Galland’s work is a search for wisdom... [that] is also an enquiry into the nature of authority. China Galland offers unexpected and welcome illuminations on both planes.
— Barry Lopez, author and winner of the National Book Award
About China Galland
China Galland, MA, is a writer, filmmaker, riveting storyteller, university lecturer, pilgrim, and former wilderness guide. She has lectured at Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Prescott College, and others. She has led pilgrimages to Nepal, India, France, and Spain, and traveled in Eastern Europe and Latin America. She has appeared on Good Morning America, Bloomberg TV, PBS, NPR, and PRI’s To the Best of Our Knowledge.
China's book on international women activists, The Bond Between Women: A Journey to Fierce Compassion, was a finalist for the Best Spiritual Book award from Books for a Better Life. A Hedgebrook Institute’s Residency Award for women writers helped her complete the book. China has been a Professor-in-Residence at CARE, the Center for the Arts, Religion, and Education, at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.
China is a native Texan and prize-winning author of nonfiction, including Love Cemetery: Unburying the Secret History of Slaves and Longing for Darkness: Tara and the Black Madonna. She is currently completing a documentary film, Resurrecting Love, sponsored by Fractured Atlas. The documentary grew out of the controversy over access, race, and private property that was ignited by the publication of Love Cemetery. Statewide hearings followed. Though a potent national controversy remains over cemeteries with the remains of enslaved people, Texas cemetery law was changed as the result of her book.
China received the prestigious national Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey at the Harvard Foundation. Students, debaters, and choir members of historically black Wiley College (home of The Great Debaters) and Marshall, Texas volunteers sparked the interest of predominantly white East Texas Baptist University students to join the work. China’s documentary gives us a little-known avenue to work on healing racism and a radically new way to teach American history.
China was also the first woman Assistant to the City Manager of Dallas, Texas, and Director of the Citizen Assistance Office, and she organized the first National Conference of Citizen Assistance Offices in the U.S.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is your refund policy?
A: Your satisfaction with The Shift Network and this course is our highest priority! We offer a satisfaction guarantee for a full two weeks so that you can try out the course risk free. The deadline to receive a refund is 2 weeks from your date of purchase. To request a refund, please click here to submit your Refund Application Form. Your refund will be processed within five business days and we will send you an email confirmation when your refund has been completed. However, we’d love to have a chance to address and resolve your concerns first. If there’s something we can assist you with, please email us at support@theshiftnetwork.com, and we’ll be happy to help!
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A: Please visit our Customer Support Center, where you should be able to find the answer to your question or the solution to your problem. And if you can’t, you can submit an online request form and we’ll get right back to you.
