MORE ON MY WARRIORS or WHAT'S IN A NAME

The Great Queen Morgaine from which the Morrigu legends arise; Brigid of the early Celts; Boudica queen of Iceni; Joan or Arc...

History has not recorded very many stories about female warriors. That's why when I faced my cancer I was surprised to discover my name conveys the stories or (archetype) of a woman warrior.

Growing up Catholic I was baptized & given the name of a saint. My saint was Barbara. In Catechism I learned the meaning of my name and my saint's legacy was the dark & silent stranger (the barbarian) who gave Jesus water on the way to the crucifixion. There is a strong element of compassion in my namesake, as well as the idea of the dark, misunderstood, displaced person from a another culture, the barbarian. I was not sure I liked my name, but I sure did fit my name. I really was amused as a kid when church authorities removed my saint's venerated status from her by de-canonizing St. Barbara. My cousin Chris suffered the same fate because the church de-canonized St. Christopher about the same time.

Just before I engaged fully in my cancer battle I went back to San Jose, California (where I was born) on vacation. I did not feel good and I tended to stay in in the afternoons & surf the Internet. In email someone told me more about the meaning of my name. I read that St. Barbara was the:

Patron St. of artillery,
artillerymen,
armourers,
against death by artillery;
against explosions;
against fire;
against impenitence;
against lightning;
against mine collapse;
against storms;
ammunition magazines;
ammunition workers;
architects;
boatmen;
bomb technicians;
brass workers;
brewers;
builders;
carpenters;
construction workers;
dying people;
explosives workers;
fire;
fire prevention;
firefighters;
fireworks;
fireworks manufacturers;
fortifications;
founders;
geologists;
gravediggers;
gunners;
hatmakers;
hatters;
lightning;
mariners;
martyrs;
masons;
mathematicians;
military engineers;
milliners; miners;
Montecatini Terme, Italy;
ordnance workers;
prisoners;
safety from storms;
sailors;
saltpetre workers;
Santa Barbara, California;
smelters; stone masons;
stonecutters;
storms;
sudden death;
Syria;
tilers;
Toa Alto, Puerto Rico;
warehouses;
watermen.


Basically, Barbara was Princess sort of character, who for her religious beliefs, defied her father. Her father beheaded Barbara in some stories & in others she was burned at the stake. From my reading St. Barbara was a gentle, princess-like female who turned Christian at the wrong time & not the 1st person to die for religious or ethical beliefs. After she died, military men would call on her for strength during battle.

I think I am going to start praying to or meditating on my Saint! Maybe she is the guardian angel who saved me during cancer by whispering in my ear that I needed to start fighting with the help of a really good cancer doctor? The synchronicity of finding my warrior aspects just before I needed to face my cancer was a another welcome bit of aide that rose impressively from my *DARK* or unknown subconscious self. I can not see DARK as Evil, only as UNKNOWN. Here came stories from my unknown self that provided me with strength when I was in need & the courage to look within.



I love the stories, these stories, my stories!



Websites with more info on the St. Barbara stories

sill-www.army.mil/pao/pabarbar.htm

www.catholic-forum.com/saints...b01.htm

www.newadvent.org/cathen/02284d.htm