The Black Madonna Freedom School
is co-creating a world in which
all people are truly sacred and free
Enrollment for the inaugural cohort of the Black Madonna Freedom School is now closed.
Join our interest list below to learn more about the school and be the first to hear about future enrollment opportunities.
The Pillars Guiding our Vision, Community, and Curriculum:
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The Black Madonna is a portal into ancient worlds, diasporic worlds, and “beyond the horizon” spiritual realities that we cannot even begin to imagine. The Black Madonna is an imagination expander who liberates us from our addiction to certainty and emboldens us to follow her into the dark forest where her alchemical magic is made. In her sacred forest, we become magicians too.
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Liberation doesn’t have to be lonely. We agree with bell hooks who said “Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion” (All About Love, 1999). Thankfully, the Black Madonna offers us a matriarchal way of relating, where everyone is welcome at the table and there are no hierarchies. Even more, the Black Madonna is a deeply relational being. She longs to intimately connect with us and she often expresses her power through community connection and action. As we follow her lead and become transformed by her, she empowers us to heal our societal divides. In accordance with this pillar, we ask all members to embody the BMFS Community Agreements.
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Black Madonna spirituality is an embodied spirituality; she connects our heads (thoughts/beliefs/stories) with our bodies (emotions, action). As the holder of the birth/death/rebirth life cycle, the Black Madonna is all about helping us die to our false selves and be reborn in our true identities as cherished and empowered.
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The Black Madonna is a change-maker. The Black Madonna is an empire-assassin. The Black Madonna is a restorer of life. In her ever generative lap, we can nurture an abundant spirituality that reliably generates hope and creativity no matter what is going on around us. As Black Madonna kin, we have the capacity to sharpen our understanding of the social realities that maintain injustice while also stimulating our soul’s enormous capacity to resist and transform those realities.
The Frameworks Supporting Our Learning Journey:
Wisdom from Black feminism and mutuality-based matriarchal communities
With a focus on bell hooks’ trilogy of books on liberating relationships and community, as well as anthropological research on matriarchal societies that value mutuality over hierarchy, and connection over production —we will identify the principles and practices that empower us to affirm the sacredness of each and every person we encounter.
Radical reconciliation and restorative justice frameworks
Drawing from the vast world of peace and justice studies, we will examine evidence-based models for community and organizational change. As we sharpen our understanding of the social realities that maintain inequity, we will also engage in numerous rituals and practices that nurture our sacred imagination and stimulate our soul’s enormous capacity to resist and transform those realities. By studying the lives of inspiring mystic-activists, learning how to transform collective anger, grief, and lament into powerful winds for community transformation, and exploring rituals and practices for creative leadership, we will discover how to implement the Black Madonna’s restorative vision in our existing communities.
Social science research and somatics: Liberating the Mind-Body-Spirit from White Patriarchy, adapted from Dr. Cleveland’s acclaimed curriculum
We will explore the 5 stages of liberation from white patriarchal conditioning. At each stage, we will uncover how internalized white patriarchal conditioning (fear, shame, and control) holds us back at each step of our liberation journey. And at each stage, we will also explore and ground ourselves in divine feminine/matriarchal principles and embodied practices that can liberate, heal and embolden us at that particular stage in our journey.
Sacred texts of the divine feminine: poetry, story, myth, and mystical and alchemical works
Through our Embodied Book Studies, we will explore the Black Madonna through the lenses of Buddhism, Islam (Sufism), Hinduism, Afro-diasporic religions, and the Christian mystics. Together, we will spelunk the depths of the Black Madonna’s Blackness and discover ways to encounter her in our everyday lives.
The Black Madonna Freedom School curriculum follows an exhilarating and easeful four-year timeline. Each year is designed to build upon the previous year. Years 1 and 2 are designed to nurture personal transformation, Year 3 nurtures interpersonal transformation, and Year 4 nurtures leadership and collective transformation. Though multiple years of enrollment are not required, community members who successfully complete all four consecutive years are eligible to receive the BMFS Intersectional Spiritual Leadership Certificate.
YEAR 1: EARTH
This is a year of earthing and unearthing.
Of becoming and unbecoming.
Of examining how we relate to ourselves.
Of claiming our inheritance as Black Madonna kin.
We will forge our kinship through weekly gatherings and connection points, as well as one in-person retreat in St. Paul, MN and one pilgrimage to the Haitian festival of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa in the Philadelphia, PA metro area. These gatherings are only open to BMFS community members.
Through the Earth Year capstone project, we will be guided and supported through the process of writing a Black Madonna Autobiography which meticulously and creatively tracks her liberating presence in our personal story.
YEAR 2: FIRE
This is a year of sacred alchemy.
Of forging healing magic out of our deepest pain.
Of becoming people who cannot be burned by the fire because we are the fire.
Of claiming our birthright as healers too.
We will strengthen our kinship through weekly gatherings and connections, as well as one in-person retreat in St. Paul, MN and one pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln shrine in Northern California's wine country. These gatherings are only open to BMFS community members.
Through the Fire Year capstone project, we will be guided and supported through the process of creating a Forged by the Fire project – performance piece, art or essay which creatively builds upon our Black Madonna Autobiography, alchemizes our pain into purpose, and declares how we desire to be forged by Black Madonna’s fire.
YEAR 3: WATER
This is a year of movement and form.
Of examining how we relate to the world around us.
Of liberating our interpersonal beliefs and relational patterns.
Of snapping back into form after the world has bent us.
We will strengthen our kinship through weekly gatherings and connections, as well as one in-person retreat in St. Paul, MN and one pilgrimage to La Negrita, the Black Madonna in Cartago, Costa Rica. These gatherings are only open to BMFS community members.
Through the Water Year capstone project, we will learn how to carefully craft and tell our liberation story in a clear, non-judgmental, and compelling way that beckons people to awaken and into liberation. And we will practice sharing our story and holding space for challenging but liberating conversations with people in our lives.
YEAR 4: WIND
This is a year of breath and gust
Of mysticism and leadership
Of finding our drift in the regenerative winds
And ushering our communities into liberation and abundance
We will deepen our kinship through weekly gatherings and connections, as well as one in-person retreat in St. Paul, MN and one pilgrimage to the Auvergne region of central France, the magical and volcanic land of the Black Madonna. These gatherings are only open to BMFS community members.
Through the Wind Year capstone project, we will be guided and supported as we craft, lead, and implement a Black Madonna-inspired restorative justice project in our communities.
Curious about the full arc of the learning journey?
Share your email with us and we’ll send you an overview of the curriculum for each year!
Transformational Outcomes
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Discover the interfaith, global, and ancient history of the Black Madonna and her iterations in African diasporic religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and mystical Christianity
Discover the principles and practices of divine feminine spirituality and how they differ from and liberate us from white patriarchal religion
Develop a robust spirituality of the Black Madonna that reliably liberates, guides, and infuses you with hope
Encounter Black, Latine/x, and Asian spiritual principles and social science research that help you awaken to the ways in which your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors have been conditioned by white patriarchal religion
Learn the 5 stages of liberation awakening and development, explore how fear and shame collude to hold you back at each stage, and discover how divine feminine principles and embodied practices transform your fear and shame and empower you at each stage of your journey
Encounter embodied practices and rituals that foster hope and abundance within yourself and your community
Develop and complete your Black Madonna Autobiography which meticulously and creatively tracks the divine feminine’s liberating presence in your personal story, and helps you identify and claim your sacred inheritance in the Black Madonna.
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Encounter Black, Latine/x, and Asian, and Palestinian liberation theologies and social science research that uncover how white patriarchal religious conditioning produces an impoverished spirituality of darkness that falsely asserts that God is absent in the midst of pain
Encounter Black Madonna history, stories, and principles that liberate your spirituality of darkness and deepen your intimacy with the divine during times of disillusionment, chaos, pain, and uncertainty
Learn embodied rituals and practices that powerfully affirm the divine’s presence in the midst of pain, loss, and uncertainty.
Discover Black feminist and divine feminine principles and practices to transform grief, lament, and pain into power and purpose
Identify how your specific pain points illuminate your innate and unique medicinal offering to yourself and to the world
Develop and create a Forged by the Fire project, a performance piece, art or essay that alchemizes your pain into purpose
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Explore matriarchal societies that offer relational models based on mutuality rather than hierarchy, and connection rather than production.
Encounter embodied rituals, practices, and litmus tests that help you consistently dismantle fear, shame, control and hierarchy in your interpersonal relationships, and nurture mutuality and intimacy.
Learn how to carefully craft and tell your liberation story in a way that beckons people to awaken and into liberation
Explore classic and contemporary Black feminist wisdom on love, community, and relationships and encounter frameworks that illuminate how you have been conditioned to maintain hierarchical, invulnerable relationships and offer liberating relational models
Study matriarchal societies across history that honored the divine feminine, and identify the principles and practices based in mutuality, community care, and the gift economy
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Undergo an in-depth, research- and community-informed discernment process that helps you claim, and embody your unique role in the Black Madonna’s restorative work
Explore practices and principles from the fields of peace and justice studies and restorative justice to nurture your skills as a mystic and leader
Explore evidence-based models for community and organizational change and abundantly and strategically apply them in your specific community context
Explore the lives of inspiring mystic-activists within divine feminine history and apply insights from their lives into your everyday life.
Learn how to transform collective anger, grief, and lament into powerful winds for community transformation
Discover spiritual and evidence-based leadership practices for implementing the Black Madonna’s restorative vision in your existing communities
Craft, lead, and implement a Black Madonna-inspired restorative justice project in your home community
The Black Madonna Freedom School Offers:
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In-depth teaching sessions - Guided by Dr. Cleveland and guest faculty, these sessions integrate Black Madonna art, research, story, and spiritual principles to awaken, heal, liberate and transform us into people who can co-create a world in which all people are truly sacred and free.
Ritual and practice sessions – We guide you through a practice to strengthen your connection to the Black Madonna in your everyday life and that you can implement among your home community.
Embodied book studies – We glean wisdom from texts on the Black Madonna and divine feminine spirituality using a distinctly decolonial, Black Feminist, and embodied approach to learning.
Reflection and integration practices to help you embody what you are reading, learning, and experiencing
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Racial affinity groups of the 4-5 people to journey with throughout the year — during live virtual gatherings, face-to-face at the in-person gatherings, as well as online group chats.
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Annual BMFS Homecoming Celebration
As Black Madonna kin who are forging a deep community, we will gather in a sacred circle. Through inspired teaching and guided reflection, joyful movement, boundless creativity, and intimate conversations, we will come home to ourselves, to each other, and to the Black Madonna.
What’s included in the annual retreat:
all retreat programming including teaching sessions, a guided sacred creativity practice and all necessary supplies, guided embodiment sessions, and intimate racial affinity group conversations
access to 110-acres of luscious retreat grounds, including four gorgeous labyrinths
water, coffee, and tea throughout the retreat
Dedicated BMFS staff to support your retreat experience
Guaranteed giggles
2. Annual BMFS Pilgrimage
As Black Madonna kin who are committed to exploration and adventure, we will join an ancient lineage of divine feminine devotees who engaged in the sacred practice of pilgrimage. During each pilgrimage, we will visit at least one Black Madonna shrine, experiencing the Ancient Mother and being transformed together.
What’s included in the annual pilgrimage:
All program design and logistics
Guided facilitation and tour(s) of sacred sites
Robust pilgrimage programming including teaching sessions, guided embodiment sessions, and intimate racial affinity group conversations
Dedicated BMFS staff to support your pilgrimage experience
Guaranteed adventure
What’s not included in the in-person gatherings:
Room, board, transportation, and meals.
We estimate that the annual homecoming celebration will incur an out-of-pocket cost of approximately $650-$950+ and the 2026 pilgrimage will incur an out-of-pocket cost of $900–$1,800+. However, your total out-of-pocket costs will vary based on the flights, meals, hotels, and local transportation that you choose.
Please note that Pilgrimages in Year 3 and Year 4 include international travel, which means overall costs will be higher for those years.
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These projects are designed to create space for you to nurture your mystic-activism and implement what you are learning in your home community
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Each year of BMFS is designed to foster skillful intersectional spiritual leadership – the ongoing practice of deftly perceiving and divesting from societal hierarchies, transforming toxic emotions, cultivating abundance and hope, practicing vulnerability and mutuality in intersectional relationships, embodying power with rather than power over as we lead others, and identifying and honing our unique offerings as we co-create a world in which all people are truly sacred and free. Intersectional spiritual leadership begins with us. So, first we become compassionate and insightful prophets and priests to ourselves. Next, we turn towards leading others in both our interpersonal relationships and broader communities. As community members journey through the four year curriculum, they will receive increasingly focused leadership development as well as opportunities to guide others into deeper freedom.
First Sundays: In-depth Teaching Session + Community Connection
Guided by Dr. Cleveland and guest faculty, these sessions integrate Black Madonna art, research, story, and spiritual principles to awaken, heal, liberate and transform us into people who can co-create a world in which all people are truly sacred and free.
Second Sundays: Ritual and Practice Session + Community Connection
We guide you through a practice to strengthen your connection to the Black Madonna in your everyday life and that you can implement among your home community.
Third Sundays: Teaching Session + Embodied Book Study + Community Connection
We glean wisdom from texts on the Black Madonna and divine feminine spirituality using a distinctly decolonial, Black Feminist, and embodied approach to learning.
Fourth Sundays: Integration Week (no live session)
We provide reflection and integration practices to help you embody what you are reading, learning, and experiencing.
Live In-person Gatherings:
Annual BMFS Homecoming Celebration
Annual BMFS Pilgrimage