OUR STORY
Why We Created The Black Madonna Freedom School
A Letter From Our Founder, Christena Cleveland, Ph.D.
In the wake of Trump’s (first) Christianity-supported election and the ongoing state-sanctioned oppression of Black and brown people, it became clear to me that I could no longer drink from the shallow, white supremacy-infected waters of American Christianity. I was tired of trying to remix white jesus into a God who could honor, heal, and empower my Black and female body. I needed a robust, intersectional spirituality that could liberate me, infuse me with wisdom, practical skill, and hope, and guide my diverse community toward healing and liberation. Sadly, even the vast majority of Black church spaces – whose exclusively-male God and refusal to grapple with their patriarchal demons made them unsafe and resource-draining to a woman like myself as well as my many LGBTQ+ siblings. I encountered a similar problem in white “feminist” spiritual spaces, whose refusal to contend with their white supremacist demons made them unsafe and resource-draining to a Black person like me. I was tired of checking part of my identity at the door in order to belong among the “people of God.” I was tired of explaining and over-explaining myself to willfully ignorant communities that were committed to misunderstanding me. I was tired of being lonely and depleted even as I tirelessly served and gave and poured into these communities.
As a lifelong church girl, for the first time, I found myself spiritually homeless. Out of necessity, I had joined the wandering ranks of the “spiritual but not religious.”
I know I am not alone.
Regardless of race, gender, or spiritual origins, many people are looking beyond institutional religious spaces as they earnestly seek a vibrant spirituality that can speak to and heal their experiences of oppression and offer a life-giving path forward. Yes, many of us are desperate for an intersectional spirituality that is truly inclusive, can welcome all of who we are, and is not overwhelmed by complexity, mystery, grief, and doubt.
That’s why we created the Black Madonna Freedom School (BMFS). At BMFS, we are rooted in the Black Madonna’s ancient, interfaith, intersectional, liberating, and diasporic lineage and nourished by Black feminist art, scholarship, and stories. At BMFS, we are nurturing a robust spirituality that can liberate and empower us today.
Yes, the Black Madonna Freedom School is all about finding freedom in the Black Madonna, the world’s oldest deity. The interdisciplinary BMFS curriculum is designed to nurture freedom in every area of our lives.
Freedom FROM fear, insecurity, wounded femininity, toxic masculinity, perfectionism, addiction to certainty, need to control, playing god, shame, binary thinking, fear of death, timidity, disillusionment, internalized oppression.
Freedom TO dream, heal, speak truth to power, live life to the fullest, take up space, lead with courage, break generational patterns, co-create the beloved community, embrace your gloriously imperfect self, make mistakes, be human, join the revolution, be present, love your body, embrace ambiguity, embody the divine feminine, act from a place of love, drink from the well of matriarchal wisdom, embrace death as a pathway to life, fight the patriarchy, manifest your dreams, transform your world.
I hope you’ll journey with us.
Christena
Do these questions live in you, too?
In a colonial society steeped in anti-Blackness and misogyny, is there a divine being that can stand in resistance to all the oppressive forces and energize my efforts for justice?
As institutional religious spaces continue to harm and exclude, where can I encounter a spiritual home that embraces and nourishes my intersectional soul?
In an age of increasing inequality, resource-scarcity, and savage capitalism, where can I cultivate a spirituality that reliably offers a cheer of abundance that muffles the clamor of fear?
As structures of inequity become increasingly disillusioning and complex, where can I develop the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual leadership skills to co-create a world in which all are truly sacred and free?
The Black Madonna Freedom School is for you if:
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Whether you are seeking a new spiritual community to call home, or you are looking for a community that can empower you to be a liberating presence in your existing spiritual home, you are welcome at the Black Madonna Freedom School.
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The Black Madonna’s Black and female body is the antidote to our oppressive white supremacist and patriarchal conditioning. As we follow her nurturing, liberating, non-hierarchical leadership, we unlearn the fear-based and controlling voice that forcefully says, “Do not be.” Do not question. Do not doubt. Do not be too needy. Do not be too Black. Do not be too emotional. Do not revolt. Do not be weak. Do not expand. Do not come out. Do not trust your embodied wisdom. In a circle with the Black Madonna, we hear her singing, “Be, my child. Be you. Be all of who you are.”
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As the Primordial Darkness that birthed life from nothing, the Black Madonna makes even the most barren and rugged places bloom. As her sacred kin, we can cultivate our power to bloom too.
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As the Infinite Darkness, the Black Madonna contains all realities, all people, and all colors. Her Black and female body is sacred and infinitely inclusive. Yes, she powerfully disrupts white supremacist, cisgender, and patriarchal norms while leaving absolutely no one behind. By centering Black women and non-binary people as well as drawing from Black feminist wisdom, we are collectively cultivating a spirituality that simultaneously affirms the Black Madonna’s Black and female body while liberating all people.
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As the Radiant Darkness, the Black Madonna illuminates our way. She holds our hand as we uncover long-buried questions and doubts. She guides us to her sacred river so we can drink from the ancestral spiritual streams that we have been taught to distrust, and she teaches us how to trust our inner knowing. She invites us to sit on her steadying lap while we wrestle with uncertainty and not knowing. As we’ll explore in the Black Madonna Freedom School, as the world’s oldest sacred archetype, all spiritual roads lead through her and to her. She is the portal and the guide that leads us to our spiritual home.
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The Black Madonna is both Mother of us all and a battle-ready Queen. Yes, she has been liberating people and toppling empires since the dawn of humanity, primarily through the work of her people. She sets you free so you can then set others free. Drawing from academic research, embodied wisdom, Black feminist principles, and the arts, the Black Madonna Freedom School curriculum is designed to nurture courageous and compassionate people who are skillfully cultivating liberation in all areas of community life – homes, schools, neighborhoods, cities, regions, institutions, and spiritual communities. Whether you identify as a leader or not, the Black Madonna Freedom School will empower you to transform your world.
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Whether you are a Black Madonna newbie or a longtime devotee, you are Black Madonna kin and you belong at the Black Madonna Freedom School. Through regular and robust virtual and in-person gatherings, we will weave a wonderful and life-giving community.