Alessandra Belloni - Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna: Chants, Music, and Sacred Practices of the Great Goddess

This book is dedicated to the memory of my dear mother, Elvira Rossetti, a true, living example of compassion and unconditional love.

She encouraged me to be an artist and follow my dreams.

She was an empowered woman from a generation when there was no womens liberation.

She was truly nonjudgmental and accepted everyone, no matter what color, sexual preference, or gender. She embodied the unwavering love of the Great Motherthe Black Madonna.

Grazie, Mamma Elvira!

HEALING JOURNEYS
WITH THE
BLACK MADONNA

In her book Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna, master musician, dance and music historian, and imaginative storyteller Alessandra Belloni captures the magic of the feminine soul of Southern Italy. She explores the origins of the Black Madonna from the ancient goddesses of Greece and North Africa to the syncretism with Catholicism in Italy. With brilliant storytelling, she shares of the spirit of the Black Madonna as she is experienced in modern Italy. Most importantly, this book transports readers on an inner journey in which they experience the archetype of the Black Madonna within, so they may continue to keep her mystery and healing alive in todays world. Read this book and be transformed!

DR. GABRIELLE FRANCIS, AUTHOR OF THE ROCKSTAR REMEDY

Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna is an emotional tour de force that will leave you astonished by its power. But I warn you, this is not a book for those who are not ready to reflect deeply on their wounds, how they were created, and the path of recovery. The honesty within these pages is rare and appreciated in a world that often thrives off of gilded artifice and the excuses it often births. Do yourself a favor and purchase two copies of this book, one for yourself and one for someone else. The Black Madonna will let you know who is in need.

TAYANNAH LEE MCQUILLAR, AUTHOR OF THE SIBYLS ORACULUM

Alessandra Belloni weaves a magical web, enabling readers to feel as if they are traveling alongside her. We share her profound experiences as she visits Black Madonnas and communes with goddesses. Packed with music and art, Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna is simultaneously memoir, spiritual guide, travelogue, and a shamanic document that serves as a reminder that rhythm is the cure. This is a book to read not once but again and again.

JUDIKA ILLES, AUTHOR OF ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPIRITS AND ENCYCLOPEDIA OF 5000 SPELLS

Alessandra Belloni is an international living treasure. Her deep and profound knowledge of the Black Madonna is unsurpassed, and her sacred performances are literal transmissions of numinous truth to the audience. She brings us all gems of timeless spiritual knowing. Those passionate about the Black Madonna and the eternal Goddess can find no better guide to the inner esoteric awareness and hidden secrets than Belloni. She is the carrier of magic, which she shares generously with us all.

AVA PARK, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM OF WOMAN AND PRESIDING PRIESTESS OF THE GODDESS TEMPLE OF ORANGE COUNTY

Alessandras superb book is a surprising revelation and a powerful reminder to many of us who lost touch with the rich shamanic heritage of the Old World. She is a real passionate pioneer in the revival of this universal divine Earth Goddess archetype, a tradition from the remote villages of Southern Italy. This personal and illuminating book is an essential addition to the modern shamanic renaissance.

ITZHAK BEERY, AUTHOR OF THE GIFT OF SHAMANISM, SHAMANIC TRANSFORMATIONS, AND SHAMANIC HEALING AND PUBLISHER OF SHAMANPORTAL.ORG

As a drumming and dancing shaman, Alessandra Belloni embodies everything that the Black Madonna represents: entering the depths of self for healing and transformation, honoring the earth and the rhythm of life, finding balance and wholeness, interconnection, reclaiming the power of the Divine Feminine, embracing the mysterious to find awe and wonder. She guides us to enlightenment.

AMI BELLI, VICE PRESIDENT AND INTERNATIONAL LIAISON FOR HEALTH RHYTHMS AT REMO, INC.

People have been trying to find a cure for their anxiety and depression since the dawn of time. Today we might consider psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, or psychopharmacology, but in Southern Italy they have been using erotic dance, chants, sensual shamanic drumming, and songs for centuries to accomplish a cure. Alessandra takes us on a journey back in time to Southern Italy to reveal the rituals of the Black Madonna where she experienced the cure firsthand. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in learning alternative ways to relieving anxiety and depression.

JOSEPH V. SCELSA, ED.D., LMHC, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF THE ITALIAN AMERICAN MUSEUM IN NEW YORK CITY

Acknowledgments

I KNOW THAT I HAVE BEEN BLESSED with a special lifestyle, both as an artist and as a woman. I chose a difficult path, combining spirituality and devotion to the Black Madonna and the ancient Earth Mother Goddess with music, theater, dance, and ritual drumming, an art form that is not commercial, particularly in New York City, where I livea place that is extremely competitive and difficult on many levels. I think it is a miracle that I have been able to live my dream, perform, and teach around the world. Writing this book about my lifes work and my personal healing story has also been a dream, and I am very grateful to many people around the world; without their support, I would have never been able to achieve this goal.

I am honored and proud to be part of Inner Traditions Bear and Company Publishers and their family of authors. I am especially grateful to the great writer and visionary Matthew Fox, who is one of my mentors and a source of inspiration.

I have been blessed with other amazing mentors, and I thank the Very Reverend Dean James Parks Morton and his wife, Pamela, whom I consider my spiritual parents and who gave me the possibility of being artist in residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. I also want to honor the memory of Remo Belli, founder of Remo, Inc., who believed in me as a percussionist and teacher and opened the doors to the world; thank you to his wife, Ami, and the entire Remo family.

Special thanks to New York Citys Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, First Lady Chirlane McCray, for their support, endorsement, and belief in my work and mission. And for their hard work to make New York a place of equality and justice that embraces artists like me.

A special thank-you to my sister, Gabriella, for being a role model in womens right to freedom and for bringing me to New York, and to my brother, Muzio. To my friends and family in Hawaii: Shayla Spencer, for giving me a place to write in paradise; Father Phil Harmon and Jsus Puerto of Kahumana Farm and Retreat Center; and Professor Apela Colorado in Maui with the Indigenous Mind Science Program. Thank you to Mel Bay Publications and William Bay for letting me use the