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Waking Up to the Dark: The Black Madonna's Gospel for An Age of Extinction and Collapse
2022 Foreword INDIES Award Winner | Body, Mind Spirit
2023 IPPY Award Winner | 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.
2023 IPPY Award Winner | 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.
126 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 6, 2022
74 people are currently reading
515 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 12, 2023
Ecological, spiritual, emotional.
I have never walked in absolute darkness, but Clark makes it sound intriguing. He believes that there are times in the night when mankind should be quietly awake, listening and praying, and that we have lost that link with rhythm and reality because we have artificial light.
He also believes that our modern lifestyle will end one day (sooner or later) because it rests on an unnatural desire to live in perpetual light.
Light is masculine, dark is feminine. The Dark is a place to meet the Black Madonna, the Great Mother, the Divine Feminine. Clark writes that She is calling us to recover from our addiction to light, to call her and to be with her.
This book won't suit everyone: it's very alternative religion, a little disjointed in parts. It's not a practical manual for recovering from light overexposure, but a personal plea to find a way. It's a seed, and we need to find a darkness to let it grow.
I have never walked in absolute darkness, but Clark makes it sound intriguing. He believes that there are times in the night when mankind should be quietly awake, listening and praying, and that we have lost that link with rhythm and reality because we have artificial light.
He also believes that our modern lifestyle will end one day (sooner or later) because it rests on an unnatural desire to live in perpetual light.
Light is masculine, dark is feminine. The Dark is a place to meet the Black Madonna, the Great Mother, the Divine Feminine. Clark writes that She is calling us to recover from our addiction to light, to call her and to be with her.
This book won't suit everyone: it's very alternative religion, a little disjointed in parts. It's not a practical manual for recovering from light overexposure, but a personal plea to find a way. It's a seed, and we need to find a darkness to let it grow.
February 17, 2023
Just couldn’t get over his nightly visions of a 17-year old girl, “this girl, who was my mother, my daughter, my sister, and my lover”, with sentences like “when I noticed her presence, I would immediately be seized with an overpowering longing for her embrace”, or describing his experiences of lactating at her breast.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2023
An interesting perspective but I was hoping for something more. I forced myself through this one.
November 15, 2022
Profound, paradigm-shattering…
A paean to the Dark Goddess in her multiple manifestations. A sobering look at the world we have created, while blinded by the light. A gaze into a narrowing future, where the precarious balance teeters on the edge. A tender lullaby from The Mother.
A paean to the Dark Goddess in her multiple manifestations. A sobering look at the world we have created, while blinded by the light. A gaze into a narrowing future, where the precarious balance teeters on the edge. A tender lullaby from The Mother.
September 20, 2023
I- wow. This, this was incredible, especially the second half. I will be returning to sections of this in the future.
March 30, 2023
THIS. Floated me into deep time. Hopeful in the most frightening way. Must read.
November 24, 2023
"Waking Up to the Dark" by Clark Strand is an exploration of the mysteries that unfold in the silence and obscurity—maybe privacy is a better word— of the night, Hour of the Wolf = Hour of God. Strand proports that early humans slept for four hours entered a state of wakefulness/dreaming/meditation for a couple of hours and then returned to sleep. The premise is what has happened to human biology and culture because of the introduction of light.
Strand weaves personal anecdotes, spiritual reflections, and historical insights to illuminate the transformative power of embracing darkness (and light both literally and spiritually) and its inherent wisdom (is that why owls are nocturnal animals or is that why we perceive them as wise?) concealed in the quiet hours before dawn.
The narrative attempts to draw the reader into a contemplative journey through the connection to the natural rhythms of the cosmos all the while knowing modern humans will not be turning off their lights voluntarily. Do we fear the dark as Strand suggestions because we lose the distractions of daylight? Something to consider as are his ideas of the evolutionary effects on our culture that light has had.
Having recently read The Book of Hope from Jane Goodall, this reviewer saw many parallels between the two authors’ messages. There is hope (meaning an emotion in which we can take action) we can affect our climate crisis, protect the human rights to women and the scarcity of resources.
Best Advice: Don’t let your worries overtake the peace of the night.
Best ‘Deep’ Observation: Strand is saying if we go into the light/culture we lose dark/death although we enter and leave this world in the dark.
Best Example of Thought Not Fully Shaped: Strand encourages us all to go walk at night---some of us would be in such danger and many municipalities have curfews—heck even parks only open dawn to dusk, this is not feasible.
Best Advice from This Reviewer: Read pages 93-97 on the evolution on the treatment of women of this text or read, When God was a Woman by Merlin Stone.
Best Tie-in to Major Religions: Jesus and Moses and probably many other religious men (yes, stress on men being the ones who could go out alone at night) walking at night to pray.
Best Plug for Reviewer’s Theory: Perhaps the female of the species was halted from procreating at a certain age so that her energies and expertise could be focus on the younger women who were giving birth to children. Women entering menopause and babies do happen to wake around the same time in the night.
Best Thought-provoking Line: Electricity is an exercise in our self-importance.
Best Touching Experience Shared by the Author: When visiting a museum, his daughter went up to Lucy (or the replica of the Leakey famous skeletal find) and said “Lucy, “I came. I came.” When they left, the little girl ran to say “Goodbye Lucy.”
Best Shake-up Of Christian Dogma: Jesus last supper was not about his resurrection. It was about his understanding that anything that eats, will be eaten. He felt once we understood that, we would have peace like he did and acceptance of basically death. Here the author discussed the microorganisms in our gut which eat away at us to keep us alive. We all know the close connection between our gut and our emotions. If this gained ground what would happen to modern religions? Is this why Catholics shun cremation?
Best Blending of the Last Two Books this Reviewer Read: An anecdote mentioned in Jane Goodall’s The Book of Hope, explained how Greta Thunberg---said, we did not need hope when our houses are burning and we are in crisis. Jane’s response was “We do need to respond with fear and anger about what is happening. Houses are on fire. But if we don’t have hope that we can put the fire out we will give up. It is not hope or fear—or anger. We need them all.
Best Showcase for What One Ecological Disruption Can Do: Strand shares what fire did to humans with their biology and culture and Goodall explained what the over hunting of the wolf did to the Yellow Stone National Park ecosystem.
Strand weaves personal anecdotes, spiritual reflections, and historical insights to illuminate the transformative power of embracing darkness (and light both literally and spiritually) and its inherent wisdom (is that why owls are nocturnal animals or is that why we perceive them as wise?) concealed in the quiet hours before dawn.
The narrative attempts to draw the reader into a contemplative journey through the connection to the natural rhythms of the cosmos all the while knowing modern humans will not be turning off their lights voluntarily. Do we fear the dark as Strand suggestions because we lose the distractions of daylight? Something to consider as are his ideas of the evolutionary effects on our culture that light has had.
Having recently read The Book of Hope from Jane Goodall, this reviewer saw many parallels between the two authors’ messages. There is hope (meaning an emotion in which we can take action) we can affect our climate crisis, protect the human rights to women and the scarcity of resources.
Best Advice: Don’t let your worries overtake the peace of the night.
Best ‘Deep’ Observation: Strand is saying if we go into the light/culture we lose dark/death although we enter and leave this world in the dark.
Best Example of Thought Not Fully Shaped: Strand encourages us all to go walk at night---some of us would be in such danger and many municipalities have curfews—heck even parks only open dawn to dusk, this is not feasible.
Best Advice from This Reviewer: Read pages 93-97 on the evolution on the treatment of women of this text or read, When God was a Woman by Merlin Stone.
Best Tie-in to Major Religions: Jesus and Moses and probably many other religious men (yes, stress on men being the ones who could go out alone at night) walking at night to pray.
Best Plug for Reviewer’s Theory: Perhaps the female of the species was halted from procreating at a certain age so that her energies and expertise could be focus on the younger women who were giving birth to children. Women entering menopause and babies do happen to wake around the same time in the night.
Best Thought-provoking Line: Electricity is an exercise in our self-importance.
Best Touching Experience Shared by the Author: When visiting a museum, his daughter went up to Lucy (or the replica of the Leakey famous skeletal find) and said “Lucy, “I came. I came.” When they left, the little girl ran to say “Goodbye Lucy.”
Best Shake-up Of Christian Dogma: Jesus last supper was not about his resurrection. It was about his understanding that anything that eats, will be eaten. He felt once we understood that, we would have peace like he did and acceptance of basically death. Here the author discussed the microorganisms in our gut which eat away at us to keep us alive. We all know the close connection between our gut and our emotions. If this gained ground what would happen to modern religions? Is this why Catholics shun cremation?
Best Blending of the Last Two Books this Reviewer Read: An anecdote mentioned in Jane Goodall’s The Book of Hope, explained how Greta Thunberg---said, we did not need hope when our houses are burning and we are in crisis. Jane’s response was “We do need to respond with fear and anger about what is happening. Houses are on fire. But if we don’t have hope that we can put the fire out we will give up. It is not hope or fear—or anger. We need them all.
Best Showcase for What One Ecological Disruption Can Do: Strand shares what fire did to humans with their biology and culture and Goodall explained what the over hunting of the wolf did to the Yellow Stone National Park ecosystem.
August 2, 2023
3.5 rounded down.
Possibly the most unusual book of the many that I have read, this is difficult to read without being somehow changed by it. As soon as I finished it, I reviewed the book again, going over the whole thing--skimming some parts & reading faster, but having to deepen my sense of it, of the arc of the writing and where it had been leading, and what this book means for me.
I didn't know anything about it when I found it at a library sale, but the title intrigued me. I used to read a LOT of self-help, metaphysics, spirituality and personal growth but now I find that type of reading often difficult. Thus I was surprised how easily swept up I was reading this; his writing is poetic and compelling.
That being said, the first 2/3 or so of the book, where he tells of his connection with the dark and the benefits personally and scientifically of going to bed at or near dusk, waking up during the night to pray, and so on, turned me off. I appreciated his easy connection with night and the dark, and even his connecting the cultural need for light to an addiction, one which needs the fuel of peak oil. But his rather absolutist ideas about culture and how to fix it, and his romanticizing cave dwellers to have an easier, more spiritually at ease life than modern folks, grated on me. As did his negative visions of where humanity is heading (even if he is correct, prostelgzing rarely inspires anyone to change).
Some of this was later redeemed as he went deeper in the last third into his personal experiences with the Dark Goddess, as he came to know Her. The stories of his experiences, and the messages of healing and renewal possible, strike something so deep that it is hard to turn away.
I just wish it were not couched in the idea that (mostly) all we need is to turn off the lights, "return" to long hours of natural darkness, and then we will find our True Selves, the Goddess, connection to Nature, and all healing. I see how he arrived at his views from his deep experiences and erudite reading, but the book points to a way of life which might not be the sole way that humanity could (possibly) save itself and the planet. And because that is something which all of humanity would need to engage in, the hopeful messages here feel to me as if they are cancelled out by an equally fatalistic world view.
This is the rare book that I will hold onto though, at least for a while. There is something compelling and the message which, equally frightening and deeply soothing, is of import to think about. Also, the bibliography is truly fascinating...more books to consider in this vein from many angles, and which show of the authors' deeper thinking about the subject in concert with his personal experience.
Possibly the most unusual book of the many that I have read, this is difficult to read without being somehow changed by it. As soon as I finished it, I reviewed the book again, going over the whole thing--skimming some parts & reading faster, but having to deepen my sense of it, of the arc of the writing and where it had been leading, and what this book means for me.
I didn't know anything about it when I found it at a library sale, but the title intrigued me. I used to read a LOT of self-help, metaphysics, spirituality and personal growth but now I find that type of reading often difficult. Thus I was surprised how easily swept up I was reading this; his writing is poetic and compelling.
That being said, the first 2/3 or so of the book, where he tells of his connection with the dark and the benefits personally and scientifically of going to bed at or near dusk, waking up during the night to pray, and so on, turned me off. I appreciated his easy connection with night and the dark, and even his connecting the cultural need for light to an addiction, one which needs the fuel of peak oil. But his rather absolutist ideas about culture and how to fix it, and his romanticizing cave dwellers to have an easier, more spiritually at ease life than modern folks, grated on me. As did his negative visions of where humanity is heading (even if he is correct, prostelgzing rarely inspires anyone to change).
Some of this was later redeemed as he went deeper in the last third into his personal experiences with the Dark Goddess, as he came to know Her. The stories of his experiences, and the messages of healing and renewal possible, strike something so deep that it is hard to turn away.
I just wish it were not couched in the idea that (mostly) all we need is to turn off the lights, "return" to long hours of natural darkness, and then we will find our True Selves, the Goddess, connection to Nature, and all healing. I see how he arrived at his views from his deep experiences and erudite reading, but the book points to a way of life which might not be the sole way that humanity could (possibly) save itself and the planet. And because that is something which all of humanity would need to engage in, the hopeful messages here feel to me as if they are cancelled out by an equally fatalistic world view.
This is the rare book that I will hold onto though, at least for a while. There is something compelling and the message which, equally frightening and deeply soothing, is of import to think about. Also, the bibliography is truly fascinating...more books to consider in this vein from many angles, and which show of the authors' deeper thinking about the subject in concert with his personal experience.
February 2, 2024
Thought-provoking, ecological, prophetic, poetic and soulful.
“What we do to our bodies with antibiotics, we do to consciousness with light. Our souls have become sterile. What was once the realm of the ancestors is now seen only as the grave. In killing the darkness, we have closed the channel that once gave human beings their principal contact with the world beyond. “. P. 33
“What is electricity but an exercise in human self-importance?” P. 46
“In a world where everyone is mad, there is little point in recovering one’s sanity.” P. 58
“The Bible is a thought experiment that shows us what becomes of the species that defines itself apart from nature, imagining a future for itself that is separate from the world’s. Revelation is therefore the natural and inevitable end of Eden.” P. 66
“When the grid goes down, the mythical creatures return.” P. 69
“We have subjected ourselves to a holocaust of the personal, the subjective, and the intuitive, becoming objects, even to ourselves. And that has made us lonely. No wonder we stay up late and keep the lights on all night long. A little more darkness and we might awaken to the question suppressed by virtually every aspect of our light-drunk modern lives : What on Earth have I done?” P. 84
“We live by daylight values like order and efficiency and the ubiquitous bottom line, but those values don’t really serve us. Rather, we end up serving them.” P. 85
“We are about to undergo a “Great Narrowing,” a time when human creativity and ingenuity will be of limited force and effect. In the coming century, economies will collapse and temperatures will rise— and then the waters will. Global agricultural production will level off and then fall. What food remains will be local and not enough. And all these things will come to pass while people continue to argue about them. Until there is no more argument, because there is no more doubt.” P. 109
“What we do to our bodies with antibiotics, we do to consciousness with light. Our souls have become sterile. What was once the realm of the ancestors is now seen only as the grave. In killing the darkness, we have closed the channel that once gave human beings their principal contact with the world beyond. “. P. 33
“What is electricity but an exercise in human self-importance?” P. 46
“In a world where everyone is mad, there is little point in recovering one’s sanity.” P. 58
“The Bible is a thought experiment that shows us what becomes of the species that defines itself apart from nature, imagining a future for itself that is separate from the world’s. Revelation is therefore the natural and inevitable end of Eden.” P. 66
“When the grid goes down, the mythical creatures return.” P. 69
“We have subjected ourselves to a holocaust of the personal, the subjective, and the intuitive, becoming objects, even to ourselves. And that has made us lonely. No wonder we stay up late and keep the lights on all night long. A little more darkness and we might awaken to the question suppressed by virtually every aspect of our light-drunk modern lives : What on Earth have I done?” P. 84
“We live by daylight values like order and efficiency and the ubiquitous bottom line, but those values don’t really serve us. Rather, we end up serving them.” P. 85
“We are about to undergo a “Great Narrowing,” a time when human creativity and ingenuity will be of limited force and effect. In the coming century, economies will collapse and temperatures will rise— and then the waters will. Global agricultural production will level off and then fall. What food remains will be local and not enough. And all these things will come to pass while people continue to argue about them. Until there is no more argument, because there is no more doubt.” P. 109
November 30, 2024
Giving this 5-stars because it could really resonate with someone; it's probably closer to a 3.5/4 stars in my personal system.
I first learned of Clark Strand through a podcast interview with his wife Perdita Finn, about their book The Way of the Rose. Their daughter Sophie Strand has become one of my prominent teachers this year, I loved Perdita's "Take Back the Magic," finally read "The Way of the Rose" in August, and so Clark's book has been back-of-mind on my want-to-read list all year.
It was a very right-timing read, this November, through an interlibrary loan. The book was much smaller than I'd imagined. It was a great book to read each night, a few pages before bed, meditating on the darkness of the season, the spiritual necessity of the dark. Some phrases were especially poignant given all the contexts of November 2024.
I think my reading experience would have been very different if I hadn't previously heard Clark and Perdita talk about some of these experiences in podcast interviews, or if I hadn't read "The Way of the Rose." I appreciated going into this book with all of the extra context.
I first learned of Clark Strand through a podcast interview with his wife Perdita Finn, about their book The Way of the Rose. Their daughter Sophie Strand has become one of my prominent teachers this year, I loved Perdita's "Take Back the Magic," finally read "The Way of the Rose" in August, and so Clark's book has been back-of-mind on my want-to-read list all year.
It was a very right-timing read, this November, through an interlibrary loan. The book was much smaller than I'd imagined. It was a great book to read each night, a few pages before bed, meditating on the darkness of the season, the spiritual necessity of the dark. Some phrases were especially poignant given all the contexts of November 2024.
I think my reading experience would have been very different if I hadn't previously heard Clark and Perdita talk about some of these experiences in podcast interviews, or if I hadn't read "The Way of the Rose." I appreciated going into this book with all of the extra context.
January 25, 2023
I read this book as therapy for sleepless nights, and since reading it, I take such comfort in being awake in the dark. When I find myself awake for the "Hour of God"--those early morning hours of wakefulness--I'm able to surrender and just be present to the dark. What used to be a miserable experience has become very comforting.
The book is about so much more than how to deal with nighttime wakefulness, though. In fact, it's really mostly about other things: the simplicity and humility of turning out the lights and embracing the darkness, and the mysterious Dark Mother who reminds us how we are held in something much bigger than we realize.
The book is about so much more than how to deal with nighttime wakefulness, though. In fact, it's really mostly about other things: the simplicity and humility of turning out the lights and embracing the darkness, and the mysterious Dark Mother who reminds us how we are held in something much bigger than we realize.
March 27, 2023
I actually listened to the audiobook after listening to Strand's "Way of the Rose" It is a book for our time and adds to the voices of many who are speaking Her Name. Strand is a great storyteller sharing his direct personal experiences and is supported by solid research.
I listened to this while reading Mother Figured by Deirdre del la Cruz which details some of the Mary apparitions in the Philippines.
I highly recommend Waking Up to the Dark. May it help to give insight, words of comfort, and inspire a daily practice for you to support you in these chaotic times. Peace
I listened to this while reading Mother Figured by Deirdre del la Cruz which details some of the Mary apparitions in the Philippines.
I highly recommend Waking Up to the Dark. May it help to give insight, words of comfort, and inspire a daily practice for you to support you in these chaotic times. Peace
December 12, 2023
“As soon as I’m finished, I’m going to read this again!”
That’s what I thought halfway through Waking up to the Dark.
Paradoxically, this is an illuminating book about an endangered species – Darkness.
Exquisitely written, we are taken on a journey through the history of our relationship with the Dark and our modern-day dependence on, and addiction to, artificial light.
Clark Strand reminds us of what we have lost in body, mind, and spirit by pushing the darkness away. When we turn out the lights we can awaken once again.
That’s what I thought halfway through Waking up to the Dark.
Paradoxically, this is an illuminating book about an endangered species – Darkness.
Exquisitely written, we are taken on a journey through the history of our relationship with the Dark and our modern-day dependence on, and addiction to, artificial light.
Clark Strand reminds us of what we have lost in body, mind, and spirit by pushing the darkness away. When we turn out the lights we can awaken once again.
Read
May 30, 2025I have no idea how to rate this book, but I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s outside of my comfort zone of what I’ve read in terms of spirituality, and it has stirred something in me. I’m compelled and convicted by the through line presented here of our world’s inability to embrace darkness (were we ever supposed to exist under fluorescent lights???), the destruction of our earthly home, and what we inevitably destroy when we attempt to banish maternal images of God.
June 3, 2023
A Truth Validated…
Waking Up to the Dark resonated deeply for me. The words were not only resonant, but felt wise, true and on point to personal experiences. I am grateful for this book and for it’s validating what I have known to be true in my heart for a long time: It is time to Wake Up to the Dark and to who She Is. Thank for these words.
Waking Up to the Dark resonated deeply for me. The words were not only resonant, but felt wise, true and on point to personal experiences. I am grateful for this book and for it’s validating what I have known to be true in my heart for a long time: It is time to Wake Up to the Dark and to who She Is. Thank for these words.
January 11, 2024
This was very good. It raises many spiritual and ethical questions that we need to spend real energy answering. While little of the information was completely new to me, it was quite nuanced, and it really impacted me. I just wish there'd been more!
December 28, 2022
I loved Waking Up to the Dark just as much as I loved The Way of the Rose. It has illuminated a lot of things for me that I will be thinking on for a very long time.
September 25, 2023
Consciousness expanding and exquisitely beautiful writing - if meandering at times. I already know I will read it again.
April 16, 2024
If truth were breathe I'd breathe this very air.
April 29, 2024
Started out very inspiring but then devolved into the author's wet dreams about breastfeeding from a teenage girl about 75% of the way through 🤢🤮
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2025
I absolutely loved this book. What a great companion for the spiritual journey of awakening. Inspired and the gospel of the darkness gives soul tingles. Wow. Thank you.
Read
April 9, 2025Great explanation of how our bodies need the darkness of the night and how it responds to the natural cycles of sunrise.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews