Author & Activist
Dr. Christena Cleveland
Learn how you can co-create a spiritual experience with the Black Madonna — and discover the truth of who you are as you create your personal name for Her.
What is your truth? About who you are, your authentic beliefs, the deeper meaning behind your life’s happy and painful moments... and how you’re called to impact the world at this pivotal moment?
If you’re not quite sure of the answers — and long to find out — you’re certainly not alone.
In our society, we’re often told what to believe, and conditioned to conform to what’s expected of us. As a result, knowing your truth can be difficult, much less speaking your truth.
Yet, you’re a sacred being, and whatever your truth is, it’s sacred as well — even if it ruffles feathers...
Now is the time to embrace transformative spiritual practices that can embolden and center you — so you can experience the freedom that’s possible when you accept and love yourself for exactly who you are.
The sacred figure of the Black Madonna, a Black female image of the Divine who draws seekers of all religions and spiritualities, is known for meeting people precisely where they are on their life’s journey — especially when all hope seems lost, says Dr. Christena Cleveland, public theologian and activist.
The Black Madonna reveals truths about your own sacredness and gives birth to a new understanding of God, one in whom we can find hope.
What’s more, She longs to connect with you.
Instead of taking over as a top-down, authoritarian deity who swoops in from afar to “save the day,” the Black Madonna is inviting you to practice mutuality, to co-create your experience of Her — and even give Her a name that expresses what you need from Her.
Join us for a brand-new hour-long event where Dr. Cleveland will guide you through a practice in which you’ll give the Black Madonna a name that reflects your personal need, and the way you want Her to powerfully show up in your life.
As Christena will explain, there’s a reason that Black Madonna shrines are some of the most popular and powerful in the world. She’s seen it all, and you can turn to Her with your most hopeless situations, your longstanding wounds and burdens, and your most hopeful longings for the future.
Join us and discover how the Black Madonna has always been right there, ready to accompany you, guide you, and empower you as you move toward healing for your life and for our world.
In this hour-long free online event, you’ll discover:
- A guided, embodied meditation practice in which you’ll co-create a spiritual experience with the Black Madonna — and identify your personal name for Her
- How the Black Madonna longs to transform your relationship to the people in your life by helping you release others to Her loving, expansive, and watchful care
- Five little-known names for the Black Madonna that illuminate Her desire to dwell intimately with you — so you can learn more about Her as She fuels your quest to find your truth and speak it boldly
- Fascinating social science research on how your identity is shaped by your closest relationships, and what’s possible for your life when you welcome the Black Madonna into your inner circle; as a powerful example, Christena will share how the Black Madonna famously guided Joan of Arc in 1429 as she fought for her truth, freedom, and the wellbeing of others
- How your connections to powerful beings (including divine beings) can empower you to align your beliefs and actions so you’re living your truth at all times
Christena is beloved by students and readers around the world for her candid, courageous telling of her story and the discovery of her own truth.
“The Black Madonna chose well when she picked Christena Cleveland to tell her story,” says theologian Matthew Fox. “Thanks to Christena, the Black Madonna stands up and sings anew... and comes to life.”
When you join us, you’ll also be among the first to hear about Christena’s new 7-week course where you’ll discover and experience the Black Madonna as the miracle worker She’s always been, transforming your beliefs about yourself and others along the way.
During the course, Christena will guide you through embodied and somatic practices, including guided meditations, singing, movement practices, play, and more. You’ll explore the interspiritual history and meaning of the Black Madonna and why She urgently matters in our contemporary world.
Sign Up Now
Join this FREE video event with Dr. Christena Cleveland and learn how you can co-create a spiritual experience with the Black Madonna — and discover the truth of who you are as you create your personal name for Her.
Free Video Event
What People Are Saying About Dr. Christena Cleveland...
“Theologian and badass activist Christena Cleveland journeys through liberation and deftly reveals a path for each of us.”
Theologian and badass activist Christena Cleveland journeys through liberation and deftly reveals a path for each of us. In doing so, she joins the lineage of sister-friends like Hurston, Walker, Lorde, Shange, and more, that do it fiercely.
— Rev. angel Kyodo williams, writer, activist, ordained Zen priest, and the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace
“[Christena is] offering liberation to Black women like me and all who would be free...”
[Christena is] offering liberation to Black women like me and all who would be free, delivering us at the feet of the Black Madonna, and to our better selves.
— Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, author, activist, preacher, and public theologian
“The Black Madonna chose well when she chose Christena Cleveland to tell her story.”
— Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox, renowned spiritual pioneer and author of more than 35 books
“I really believe Christena Cleveland’s work is going to save lives.”
— Cole Arthur Riley, writer, poet, and author of This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us
“Christena Cleveland’s work is both soul-satisfying and brimming with deft research.”
— Dr. Moya Bailey, feminist scholar, writer, and activist
“Liberation for BIPOC and White people who get that there's more freedom beyond the effects of white supremacy.”
“Amazing! Liberation for BIPOC and White people who get that there's more freedom beyond the effects of white supremacy. Christena shares timely wisdom and care as she dismantles the effects of racism from our spirit, soul, and body, just when it seems so prevailing and never-ending. There's a place for freedom and abundance beyond what we've been led to believe.
— J.B.
About Dr. Christena Cleveland
Christena Cleveland, PhD, is a social psychologist, public theologian, author, and activist. She is the founder and director of the Center for Justice + Renewal and its sister organization, Sacred Folk, which creates resources to stimulate people’s spiritual imaginations and support their journeys toward liberation. A weaver of Black liberation and the Sacred Feminine, Dr. Cleveland integrates psychology, theology, storytelling, and art to stimulate our spiritual imaginations.
She recently completed her third full-length book, God is a Black Woman, which details her 400-mile walking pilgrimage across central France in search of ancient Black Madonna statues, and examines the relationship among race, gender, and cultural perceptions of the Divine.
Christena holds a PhD in social psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara as well as an honorary doctorate from the Virginia Theological Seminary. An award-winning researcher and author, Christena is a Ford Foundation Fellow who has held faculty positions at several institutions of higher education — most recently at Duke University’s Divinity School, where she led a research team investigating self-compassion as a buffer to racial stress.
Though Christena loves scholarly inquiry, she is also a student of embodied wisdom. She recently completed the Art & Social Change intensive body wisdom training for millennial leaders, and is currently deepening her mind-body-spirit integration in a year-long embodied leadership cohort for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
