The Passion of the Madonna

Madonna speaking to her dance troupe...
M: "What's the difference between a pop star and a terrorist?"

"You can negotiate with a terrorist".

It is one of the many telling lines from "I'm Going To Tell You A Secret," the behind-the-scenes documentary of 2004's Reinvention Tour.
The last time M created a behind-the-scenes film of her traveling circus was 1990, and a lot has changed since those days. Fortunately for this fan, much too has not changed. Madonna is still mother hen of her flock, still requires royal treatment, and still shows all of us how hard work, attention to detail, and expecting perfection... creates perfection.

Madonna admits to having an enormous ego as she gushes with self-reproach. Of course, this is no secret to any of us, but it is the point. In this documentary she proclaims she has found a new way forward and that she is striving, that we all should be striving to take responsibility for our lives, actions, and speech. She espouses the basic tenants of all spiritual paths: faith, forgiveness, loving kindness, and both the crucifixion and the resurrection—a not so subtle nod to her Catholic roots.
As aware as I am that many think Madonna is the last person to be dispensing pearls of spiritual wisdom to the masses, I am utterly transfixed by her evolution. Madonna is a Leo. I am a Leo. I come from a family of mostly Leos. I GET Leos. We need to communicate our insights, share our trivial revelations, be understood, and look hot doing it! It is natural for us to take our journey public.

And so she does. Just look at her podium! Center court at Madison Square Garden, a full-on production in which she and her dancers become tiny beams of light at the altar of her mega-church. They are there to touch off a fire storm of good will and radiant energy. This is their prayer.

As the disciples stand frozen before the altar, a platform begins to ascend slowly from the bowels of the stadium. A light beams down on a tiny glowing figure resting comfortably on her forearms, sustaining with apparent ease an upside-down Sirsasana yogic pose. The figure shifts slightly, looks directly into the eyes of her followers, sixty-seven thousand of them—and strikes a pose. Vogue.