Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Earth with China Galland.

One of the most important features of a pilgrimage is its intimate association with nature through the kaleidoscope of changing weather and landscape that one experiences along the way. Fellow pilgrims, strangers at the start, may feel like old friends by the end of a long journey made sleeping under the stars, walking through rain and sun together. All difficulty and differences are endured in service of one uniting spiritual goal: reaching the shrine and receiving the blessings of the deity therein.

Many contemporary pilgrimages to the Black Madonnas in Europe and Latin America echo the earlier, pre-Christian veneration of the earth as the Great Mother. In India and Nepal, Nature herself is still worshipped. One of the greatest tasks before us today is to understand “what it means ‘earthwise’ to be human in the world today,” as Michael McElroy, atmospheric scientist, told the United Nations.

This presentation explores how the experience of pilgrimage and the growing awareness of the Dark Mother can help us to understand more deeply “what it means ‘earthwise’ to be human in the world today.”

China Galland is the award-winning author of Women in the Wilderness and Love Cemetery: Unburying the Secret History of Slaves, internationally recognized authority on the Black Madonna, leader of pilgrimages to sacred sites, wilderness guide, public speaker, and professor-in-residence at CARE/Graduate Theological Union. More information can be found at her website chinagalland.com.

Related talks include:

Episode music is by Michael Chapman

Edited by Ben Law