Virgo – The Dark Mother and the Dark Son

15 June 2025, coloured pencils and photo work

The World Mother is described as the Mother of Light and the Mother of Night. She presides over the interplay of spirit and matter and engages in the activity of creation. The Father stands as her background and provides support in her activities. Experiencing the Father is beyond consciousness.

The Veda says that the Father is reborn as Son through the Mother. The birth can happen in two ways: The descent of the Divine into a human form is called the principle of the avatar. A human being, a “son of man”, can also become a “Son of God” or a “Son of the Virgin” by purifying and transforming themselves through service and sacrifice to an extent that the Divine can express itself through them. This is the path of the initiates and Masters of Wisdom.

Virgo is symbolic of such a transformation of awakening to the subjective world happening in silence and darkness. Disciples enter into the inner cave of the heart to connect to the Divine in themselves. The Divine might descend into them by the grace of the Mother.

The divine Light has its shine; many images and idols of God are therefore made in white or in gold. The Dark of the Divine also has its shine; the shine of the black is profound. Krishna as an avatar is described as dark, meaning he is so imperceptible and deep that we can merge into him and enter into Samadhi. Black Madonnas have the same shine of the Dark.

For designing the painting, I used the photo of a black Madonna with a black child from the cathedral of Girona, Spain, adding shining eyes. In the background you see schemes of a painting of Gayatri indicating the various shades of divine Light. They are surrounded by a rainbow circle symbolising the seven colours and planes of creation. They are further surrounded by elements of a dark flower and of stars hinting at the work of time in space.