Mary Magdalene Lives in Santa Barbara, California
Posted by Joan Norton at 5/16/2009 5:05 AM 
Categories: Goddess and the Sacred Masculine
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Categories: Goddess and the Sacred Masculine
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
I found Mary Magdalene in my own backyard. She's disguised as the town of Santa Barbara and she lives just a little bit north of Los Angeles. The ocean carries her name as the Santa Barbara Channel, the islands there were originally called the Santa Barbara Islands, the mountains were earlier called the Santa Barbara Mountains, and of course, Saint Barbara is the "Queen of the Missions" and her likenesses are all over town. It was from Margaret Starbird's Woman With The Alabaster Jar that we learned that Saint Barbara was likely an early conversion of the lost story of the "lost Bride", Mary Magdalene. The word Barbara means a woman who doesn't speak Greek, a woman from another land. Lots of fairy tales start off that way, "there once was a woman from another land who....". When people can't talk about something directly they always find a way to create a story about it anyway, because wisdom must be passed along . The story of the wife of Jesus, the woman with a chalice, the woman with long hair, the woman whose name symbolizes "protectress", the woman who was present at the Resurrection, the woman who represents the Sophian Goddess wisdom, the woman who disappeared; this part of the Christian story has always pressed itself into expression despite the Church Father's official version. 
Saint Barbara's story is so valuable because it's so early, she was said to have lived in 290-320 A.D., not that long after the Gospel tales were written down. Not too long after what Margaret calls "the great divorce", the forced separation of the Beloveds. Saint Barbara's story which arose in the collective mind at that time, gives us the continuing saga of the fate of Mary, called the Magdalene. The story is that a young marriageable age girl , whose father is a high official in government, is locked in a tower to protect her and she converts to Christianity. Her jealous father doesn't approve so he cuts her head off. He separates her head from her body. This is metaphorically what happened to the feminine spirit when the sacred partnership of Jesus and Mary Magdalene was demoted. It became a fairy tale where a woman's head and her heart are separated.
There are many tales which are told as folk wisdom which involve the father dismembering his daughter in some fashion, selling her to the devil, purposefully or accidentally cutting off her hands. "The Handless Maiden tales" all carry the truth of the devastating effect of unbalanced masculine influence over women, namely that it renders us unable to handle our own lives effectively. No hands. No body with which to feel our own instincts. Poor Barbara, her own father cuts her head off. Poor Mary Magdalene, the Church Fathers separated her head from her body. Trying to make her the "head apostle" only restores that part of her anatomy.
So here comes a Spanish Carmelite monk in 1602 sailing up the gorgeous "beautiful lady" California coast on the eve of St. Barbara's Feast Day of December 4, and he said they should surely name this beautiful place for her. That's how the earliest known figure of Saint Barbara in the New World came to sit on the main altar of the Santa Barbara Mission in 1793.
Saint Barbara's iconography is long or braided hair, a tower, a palm leaf, a peacock feather, a book, a crown, and royal clothing. Sounds familiar. In the Santa Barbara Mission statue she's holding what looks like a round mirror (Aphrodite). In some statues and paintings she holds peacock feathers. Peacock feathers represent the Resurrection's message of cyclic renewal of "life in the garden", which has been the Goddess' message forever. More evidence that the naturalness of the Sacred Union's love story will come through people's hearts is found in one of the customs related to "Saint Barbara" in eastern Europe. Young women there pray to "Saint Barbara" to find them a suitable husband. Why would they pray to a woman who's father chopped her head off if she didn't also mysteriously mingle with the earlier story of the Bride and the Bridegroom and "happily ever after"? We also know from The Woman with the Alabaster Jar that it's a "Saint Barbara " custom to put a fruit branch in water on December 4 and hope that it bursts into bud on Christmas Day, for that means you will marry in the following year. This poor martyred saint has been carrying the natural fecundity of the Goddess Bride Magdalene for century after century.
By the way, the Church Fathers finally completed her beheading by removing her from the official saints calendar in 1969, saying that she probably wasn't a real woman . I guess they're entitled to their own opinion. I still have her in Santa Barbara, and I know she's Mary Magdalene.
There was a bit of synchronicity with the Santa Barbara fire that I found interesting. The fire started on the Jesusita Trail and therefore was named the Jesusita Fire. Jesusita is the feminine name for Jesus--denoting the feminine aspect of his consciousness. And who was the reflection of his feminine side, Mary Magdalene of course. The fire has brought about a great deal of destruction and perhaps was a sign or warning of some sort. Fire also purifies and therefore cleanses the soul. The fire perhaps can be seen as the transformative property of the light. In the case of the Jesusita fire, because of its destructive nature, may be pointing us to reflect a bit on how the feminine has been sacrificed to the masculine and the destruction that has caused to our world. I would like to point you to an article on the mythos of Jesus and Mary Magdalene that I wrote several years ago that you will find interesting. http://newageinfo.com/myth-Jesus-Magdalene.htm
God bless you,
Ariadne Green
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Thank you, Ariadne, for this contribution, it's fascinating that the recent fire was called "Jesusita". Magdalene''s color is red, her heart is passionate, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if she's having "big feelings" about alot of things we're doing. As Protectress of Santa Barbara it seems that she's keeping her people pretty safe, even though she's changing the landscape. Houses burned but I think there were just a few injuries. I'm not completely sure about that, though. Thanks for the link to your article, I'm going to read it now. xoJoan
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Hi Joan - this is a fascinating entry, since I'd never put Mary Magdalene and St. Barbara together. Makes a lot of sense.
In my research St. Barbara is also Shango to many practitioners of Santeria and Iansa to devotees of Candomble. Iansa is said to be a very independent woman who rules over the marketplace. She is outspoken and also considered a loyal wife.
In Candomble lore, Iansa stole the secret of how to breathe fire from her husband Xango and became his indispensable and inseparable female counterpart. Another archetype of the divine marriage.
Thanks again for the interesting read!
Love,
Kris
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Hi Kris, I was hoping you'd comment, thanks. I knew that you living in Santa Barbara would give you an interesting "feel" for it being a Magadalene influenced town. What culture is Shango related to? I wonder what the indiginous (Chumash?) "sacred marriage" goddess character is? According to Rupert Sheldrake's theory of morphic resonance, the "forms" (i.e. stories) in a location actuallyhelp create it's subsequent forms. So maybe the Carmelite monk who fell in love with the beauty of your town was responding to the consciousness of the goddess already there. xoJoan
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Hi Joan,
The many dimensions of information you have provided us in, "Mary Magdelene Lives in Santa Barbara, Ca." is astounding! Going to start printing your blog every week so I can go back for reference work! I was totally unaware of St. Barbara's significance in history , or even who she was.(will be reading Ariadne Green's link as well): so this information is enlightening. It seems whoever named Santa Barbara was knowledgeable of "The Magdelene", bride of Jesus. The more I read and learn the more I am amazed at the ancient's grasp of human psychology; they just didn't have a name for it and of course we do; collective unconscious. The "way of the heart" is gaining momentum I believe every moment. And wasn't 1969 the year the Catholic Church decided Mary Magdelene was a saint? Interesting that was the year they erased St. Barbara. It's almost as if they didn't dare go too far and keep two "stray" women as saints..one was enough!! I doubt they even realized that they were the same person.
blessings...sheila..: )
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Hi Shiela, Thanks, I really appreciate your support and your ongoing participation. I think you'd enjoy reading more about St. Barbara in Margaret's books, she goes into alot of detail. Through us the story of the Beloveds is quickening again. Margaret says this on page 131 of Mary Magdalene: Bride in Exile , " At several periods during these two Christian millennia, the story of the beloveds at the heart of the gospel story was poised to break forth from the underground stream of mystics, artists, and intellectuals who were its perennial custodians. But each time the story surfaced, it was squelched, declared heretical, and again forced underground."
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Dearest Joan ~
Thank You for all of your wonderful postings and work. It is an honor and a pleasure to be co-hosting Our Magdalene Circle with you and Cynthia on line on the 22nd of each month! at
http://www.spirituallyspeaking.webs.com/
With Love, Lerin
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Thank you, Lerin... up there in the "land of the Santa Barbara Magdalene".... you are just great to work with and I'm enjoying what we're bringing to women in our Magdalene Circles online. The Circle widens each time. Love, Joan
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