Waking Up to the Dark: The Black Madonna's Gospel for an Age of Extinction and Collapse

Name: Waking Up to the Dark: The Black Madonna's Gospel for an Age of Extinction and Collapse
Price: 19.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Strand, Clark
ISBN: 9781948626729

✍️ Strand, Clark

☆ Reader reviews: none yet — be the first

19 $ ~~30 $~~ Discount 11 $

📚 ABOUT THE BOOK

Reclaim the sacred darkness, for within its depths lies the ancient wisdom our modern world desperately needs.

Clark Strand's "Waking Up to the Dark" challenges our light-obsessed society, revealing how our disconnection from primal darkness has led to profound ecological and spiritual crises. This urgent mystical work posits that a primordial Great Mother, long obscured, offers guidance through present calamities. Strand masterfully blends scientific insight, historical research, and personal reflection to illuminate the profound spiritual enrichment found in embracing the night. It's a compelling call to rediscover the foundational power of darkness as the source of life and renewal, rather than equating it with evil or ignorance.

Key themes

{'title': 'Embracing Sacred Darkness', 'body': 'Strand argues that modern society’s relentless pursuit of artificial light has severed our connection to the profound spiritual wisdom inherent in darkness. He redefines darkness not as a void or evil, but as the primordial matrix from which all life emerges, a nurturing space essential for spiritual and planetary well-being.'} {'title': "The Primal Mother's Call", 'body': 'The book unveils the Black Madonna as a powerful ancient archetype, a manifestation of the Great Mother who has historically guided humanity through crises. Strand suggests her re-emergence in our contemporary era of collapse offers a crucial path to healing, representing a deep, forgotten wisdom now resurfacing.'} {'title': 'Crisis and Reconnection', 'body': 'Strand links our societal "light-drunk" state directly to current ecological devastation and spiritual malaise. He presents the reclamation of darkness as a vital step towards addressing climate change and societal breakdown, offering a spiritual framework for understanding and navigating humanity\'s present existential challenges.'}

🏛 Monkfish Book Publishing 📅 2022 📖 150 pages 🌐 en 📐 Paperback ISBN: 9781948626729

In stock — ready to ship

Fun fact

Clark Strand’s "Waking Up to the Dark" is a crucial, poetic exploration for our troubled times, eloquently advocating for the spiritual necessity of darkness. Its strengths lie in its interdisciplinary scope and urgent, lyrical prose, offering a profound re-enchantment of the world. Those seeking a purely academic treatise or a light, comforting read might be challenged by its depth and intensity. This book carves a significant niche, standing alongside foundational ecological and spiritual texts, urging a radical shift in perspective.

📝 Description: Waking Up to the Dark: The Black Madonna's Gospel for an Age of Extinction and Collapse

2022 Foreword INDIES Award Winner Silver: Body, Mind Spirit 2023 IPPY Award Winner Bronze: New Age/Mind, Body, Spirit Hidden in the darkness is an ancient secret suppressed by every aspect of our light-drunk modern world-there is a Great Mother from the bottom of time who has always guided us through perils and calamities. Now is the hour of Her return. "An exigent, affecting summons to rediscover the night."--Kirkus Reviews Is darkness synonymous with ignorance and evil? Or is it the original matrix from which all life emerges, and the Mother to whom it returns? Higher and higher levels of artificial illumination have suppressed our contact with the numinous since the Industrial Revolution, with dire consequences for society, our planetary ecology, and our souls. This mystical testament weaves together paleobiology, memoir, history, science, and spiritual archaeology to lead readers back into the lost mysteries of the dark. Not since The Teachings of Don Juan or Ishmael has a book diagnosed with such urgency and cultural coherence the problems at the heart of modern life. In Waking Up to the Dark, Clark Strand offers penetrating insight into the spiritual enrichment that can be found when we pull the plug on our billion-watt culture. He argues that the insomnia so many of us experience as "the Hour of the Wolf" is really "the Hour of God"--a wellspring of rest and renewal, and an ancient reservoir of ancestral wisdom and inspiration. And in a powerful yet surprising turn, he shares with us an urgent message for the world, received through a mysterious young woman he calls Our Lady of Climate Change (aka THE VIRGIN MARY), about the challenges we all know are coming.

⭐ Reader reviews

The starting rating comes from the team Esoterica Books — add yours →

⭐ Esoterica editorial review Editorial rating 4.7/5

★★★★★

If you feel an unsettling disconnect from the natural world, or question the relentless push for progress at any cost, this book is for you. Seekers of ancient wisdom, environmental activists, and those yearning for a deeper spiritual understanding beyond conventional narratives will find profound…

Reader rating

Reviews yet. Be the first!

❓ Frequently asked questions

While deeply spiritual, Strand's approach is interdisciplinary, weaving together paleobiology, historical analysis, and personal narrative, making it accessible to those beyond traditional religious frameworks.

It refers to our society's excessive reliance on artificial illumination and the symbolic overvaluation of "light" as inherently good, leading to a suppression of the numinous qualities and essential wisdom found in darkness.

📖 Who should read this

🎯 Key themes and symbolism

Embracing Sacred Darkness

Strand argues that modern society’s relentless pursuit of artificial light has severed our connection to the profound spiritual wisdom inherent in darkness. He redefines darkness not as a void or evil, but as the primordial matrix from which all life emerges, a nurturing space essential for spiritual and planetary well-being.

The Primal Mother's Call

The book unveils the Black Madonna as a powerful ancient archetype, a manifestation of the Great Mother who has historically guided humanity through crises. Strand suggests her re-emergence in our contemporary era of collapse offers a crucial path to healing, representing a deep, forgotten wisdom now resurfacing.

Crisis and Reconnection

Strand links our societal "light-drunk" state directly to current ecological devastation and spiritual malaise. He presents the reclamation of darkness as a vital step towards addressing climate change and societal breakdown, offering a spiritual framework for understanding and navigating humanity's present existential challenges.

💬 Quotes from the book

«To deny the profound wisdom of darkness is to deny the very matrix from which life itself springs. Our 'enlightened' age has merely cast a deeper shadow over the essential truths of existence.»

«The Great Mother, long consigned to the forgotten recesses of night, now stirs. Her return is not a gentle whisper but an urgent call, demanding we confront the consequences of our severance from the sacred earth.»

📜 Historical context

This work stands firmly within a lineage of counter-cultural thought that critiques modern industrial society's alienation from nature and spirit, echoing works like "The Teachings of Don Juan" and "Ishmael." It revives ancient goddess traditions and pagan sensibilities, re-interpreting them for a contemporary audience grappling with ecological collapse and a search for meaning beyond the material.

📚 Glossary

Black Madonna
Numinous
Paleobiology

📔 Questions to reflect on

How has your personal relationship with darkness — both literal and metaphorical — been shaped by modern societal narratives?
Consider a time you felt a deep, numinous connection in a dark or wild place. What wisdom did that experience offer?
If the Black Madonna represents a returning ancient wisdom, what aspects of your own life or community might benefit from embracing her "gospel"?