St. Barbara is a very well known and popular Saint within the Afro Carribean traditions.  She can be seen all over the islands doing her powerful and magical work.

The feast day of St. Barbara is December 4th.

In Haitian Vodou, St. Barbara is seen as Mambo Lemiye.  The mother of the Nago Nation, or Nasyon Nago.  Here we find St. Barbara as the mother of the Ogous, the warriors.  And as a mother of warriors, you have to be a pretty strong woman yourself!    In Vodou, Mambo Lemiye walks on the shore.  She is a Mystery that works with both water and fire and is able to work in the Sea.

She is called upon for when seeking protection against fire, sickness and when one is struggling with enemies.  She can neutralize those that come to harm you.  We give her a cup and a sword so that she can work.

In the 21 Divisiones, or Las 21 Divisiones, St. Barbara serves to represent the Mystery or Misterio known as Chango.  As a warrior, we know that with Chango’s help we can overcome that which seems impossible.  Chango is the ruler over lightening and thunder and can protect us from these as well.   We can go to Chango when we are facing very strong opposition and can be sure that he will help us in our mission.

In Sanse, St. Barbara encompases a number of different Misterios and Sanses.

In my lineage we recognize St. Barbara as a number of different Misterios that work within that image.  We often say that St. Barbara spends six months as a male and six months as a female.  That is why we also say that St. Barbara protects those that are transgendered or cross dress.

We recognize that St. Barbara as a male is Chango.  And Chango is a spirit of protection, of magick and of wealth.  He can assist us in any battle as he is a very strong warrior.  For this purpose, we use the image of St. Barbara on a horse as seen above.  We will also frequently use the image of Chango Macho to represent this path or punto of St. Barbara.

Chango Macho

As a spirit of luck, wealth and prosperity, we often petition Chango Macho for help in business, employment and gambling luck.  A special punto of Chango Macho is prepared by Sancistas in a small wooden box to bring in luck and prosperity.

In her female form, we recognize her as Ezili Shango Pye.  She is a powerful warrior as usual, but is also able to assist us in attaining love and helping us with issues within our relationships.  She is called upon to bring in passion when a relationship is fizzling or dying out.

Ezili Shango Pye

Above, you will see the image that we use to represent Ezili Shango Pye.  In dreams, she often appear as an Indian woman, who has large round brown eyes, olive skin and wears a long white dress.  She wears a red mantle over this dress and often a crown.

In all of her aspects, she is served with the colors red and white.  She is fond of red apples, bananas, mangos and Papaya.  She also loves red flowers.

Que Viva Chango Senores!

Luck

Papa Hector