About the Film
This film project reveals the extent to which Donohue will go to unearth a tenuous, yet powerful story about the so called ‘heretical’ traditions – what they are, where they come from, and the nature of the Sacred Union. The black virgin, sometimes called, black madonna is a an initiatory figure, a key for unlocking a powerful mystery buried outside the construct of Christianity and history. The [Terrible] Secret of the Black Virgin documentary film turns ‘controversial’ theories about the history of Christianity on their heads and is a cypher that reveals a potent secret rooted in the most ancient of days.
A road movie of sorts, it is a Quest through the landscapes, symbols, icons, places important to the Sacred Feminine revealing important information for a fulsome understanding of contemporary spiritual, religious and secular life.
Filmmaker Statement
I first saw a black virgin at Rocamadour, France in 1979 while doing independent study of Northern European iconography for my art history degree. I was haunted by this strange, gaunt figure for years. And, after years of poking around and research, she finally made the connection. The more I immersed myself into the work, the deeper the questions became. How far back in time does she go? Is she rooted in ancient Egypt or Babylon? Who brought them to France, and why? Or, does France have its own ancient indigenous sacred feminine/ maternal protectors? Why were they considered heretical by the Roman Church? 
Why is Mary Magdalene associated with them? Why did Muslim women in North Africa consider her precious? Why do thousands of Romanii people gather every year in Les Saintes Maries de la Mer to deliver “Black Sara” to the sea? Why was France key in the early appearances of the black virgin? My studies in Druidism, Arthurian legend, the Western mystery schools, and wandering, I was finally shown the connection between the black virgin, Isis, and the deeper mysteries of the Sacred Feminine.
“What does the black virgin have to tell us?”
A winding, labyrinthine path, the documentary was actually started in 1997 with a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Ohio Arts Council. These funds allowed me to spend time in France for extended periods of research, invaluable for forming the foundation of the project. One winter in 2000, I felt an urgency to track down Ean Begg, the researcher and author of “The Cult of the Black Virgin.” The grail for understanding the black virgin. By tracking his lectures and appearances at the Jungian societies, I finally realized he most likely lived in Edinburgh, Scotland. And, just in time, he and his wife Deike were packing up their household to move to Devon, England. I’m not sure I could have been able to locate him after this move. A few months later Fred, my partner, and I met up with him to interview the most erudite scholar on the black virgin. This interview has laid the foundation for what is to come for this project.
Jean Donohue
