The cathedral of the Black Madonna : the Druids and the mysteries of Chartres / Jean Markale ; translated by Jon Graham.

Orig. pub. in French under the title Chartres et l'enigme des Druides by Editions Pygmalion/Gerard Watelet, Paris. Translated by Jon Graham.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part 1: The sites. -- 1 The entrance to the labyrinth. -- 2 The vibrating stones. -- 3 Chartres over the course of history. -- Part 2: The Virgin's great shadow. -- 4 The mother of God. -- 5 Worship of the Virgin. -- 6 The Black Madonna. -- Part 3: - The mystery of the Druids. -- 7 The forest of the Carnutes. -- 8 Gargantua's itinerary. -- 9 Our Lady of underground. -- 10 The Virgin of the Druids

'...exhaustive examination of the site [of Chartres Cathedral] traces the appeal of the Black Madonna back to the ancient, widespread worship of mother goddesses such as Cybele and Isis. In fact, Markale contends that the mother and child depicted by the Black Madonna are not merely descendants of the Druid's spiritual image of the virgin forever giving birth, but that the statue seen in Chartres today represents a theological notion of great refinement: The Virgin gives birth ceaselessly to a world, a God, and a humanity in perpetual becoming.'

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