Our Posts–Education, Faith, and Feminine Spiritual Transformations
Joan of Arc by the Author via Generative AI
Every topic we’ve explored—economics, faith, women’s financial autonomy, the politics of truth—has really been a study in memory. Who remembers. Who forgets. Who gets written into the story of a nation, a family, a church, an economy. And who has to fight to be seen. At its core, this work is about how memory shapes identity, and how identity shapes the choices women make in a world that is always negotiating power. Truth is one of the most powerful forms of currency.
What looks like separate topics between economics, Catholic spirituality, women’s financial literacy, truth and transformation, has always been one conversation. We’ve been studying the point of convergence: where memory becomes identity, where identity becomes history, and where history becomes story. At that crossroads, women make choices that reveal who they are and what they believe. This is the terrain where truth is chosen, not inherited. Therefore, when you understand the world, you can make choices in it. Also, there are so many women that have been martyrs and leaders, and they go unnoticed and unwritten about today.
Edessa, Upper Mesopotamia, St. Barbea
Convergence is the moment when spiritual truth, political pressure, and personal identity collide — and the choice you make reveals who you are. Few places in the ancient world embodied this collision more fully than Edessa. Born from the collapse of empires, it rose on a fault line of history a frontier city where Arab kings, Roman legions, and Persian armies contested not only territory but allegiance. Perched between worlds, Edessa functioned as both buffer and battleground, a place where control depended less on walls than on the loyalty of its people. Shifting between Parthian, Armenian, and Roman rule, the city learned early that power here was provisional: armies could occupy its streets, but belief determined whether authority endured. January 29th is the feast day of St. Barbea who is honored here today.
Saint Barbea of Edessa: Holding To Conviction
Saint Barbea of Edessa was an early Christian martyr from Syria, remembered primarily for her courage during the persecutions under Emperor Trajan. She was the sister of Saint Sarbelius and was converted to Christianity through the influence of Saint Barsimeus, a prominent Christian leader in Edessa.
St. Barbea image by the author via generative AI
Once she embraced the faith, Barbea practiced it openly despite the intense hostility toward Christians at the time. Her refusal to renounce Christ led to her arrest and brutal torture. According to tradition, she endured:
burning with hot irons
severe scourging
and ultimately death by spear
Throughout these ordeals, she remained unwavering in her devotion.
Barbea is considered a pre‑congregation saint, meaning her veneration predates the formal canonization process of the Catholic Church. She has no specific patronage or iconographic symbols associated with her, but her legacy endures through the commemoration of her feast day on January 29. She is honored as a model of loyalty, courage, and steadfast faith, especially among those who look to the early martyrs for inspiration. Her story stands as a testament to the strength of conviction and the power of belief in the face of persecution.
Epistemic Memory
This is interesting because where your epistemic memory is matters. I included this in my graduate school thesis, and I will share it here on the site. It is all about memory and story and it is key to any people’s and nation’s survival.
I was thinking of the Yoruba Goddess Oshun today. Whenever I am facing intense challenges, I like to destress with painting and reorganizing. I was painting my bathroom wall this afternoon and her beautiful essence came to mind. Oshun’s story begins in the sacred cosmology of the Yoruba people of Nigeria and Benin, where she is honored as the orisha of sweet waters, beauty, fertility, sensuality, and emotional healing. She is the spirit of the river—flowing, generous, and deeply restorative. Her presence brings sweetness back into difficult seasons, and her energy is often invoked when someone needs softness, joy, or renewal.
The Origins of Oshun
In Yoruba tradition, Oshun (also spelled Osun or Ochún) is one of the most beloved orishas. She is associated with the Osun River in Nigeria, where her sacred grove remains a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major pilgrimage destination. Her colors—yellow, coral, and gold—reflect her essence: joy, vitality, sensuality, and the shimmering movement of fresh water. As a healer, she supports emotional balance, fertility, creativity, and the gentle clearing of stagnant energy.
How to Bring Oshun’s Spirit Into Your Home
Inviting Oshun into your home doesn’t require elaborate ritual. It’s about creating a space where beauty, warmth, and emotional ease can flow freely.
Use Her Colors With Intention
Yellow: Add throw pillows, candles, fresh flowers, or ceramics to brighten your space and lift your mood.
Coral: Use coral textiles, bowls, or artwork to bring warmth and emotional grounding.
Create a Water-Inspired Corner
A small bowl of fresh water, a fountain, or a vase filled with river stones can symbolize her cleansing, flowing energy. Refresh the water often as a simple act of renewal.
Honor Sweetness
Honey, oranges, and soft fragrances like vanilla or citrus echo her love of sweetness and pleasure.
Invite Softness and Sensuality
Silks, warm lighting, gentle music, and lush textures help cultivate the atmosphere Oshun is known for—one of ease, beauty, and emotional openness.
Before we close, I want to share a story that carries the heart of Oshun’s healing. It’s a reminder that even the sweetest waters can be shaken, and yet they always find their way back to flow. This story captures what happens when love shifts, when heartbreak arrives, and when a woman chooses to return to her own sweetness.
Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove image credited to Thierry Joffroy @UNESCO
After Shango Left: Oshun’s Journey Back to Her Own Sweetness
After Shango left, the world grew strangely quiet.
Not the peaceful kind of quiet that comes after rain, but the hollow quiet that settles in a house when laughter has walked out the door. Oshun felt it first in her chest — a tightening, a dimming — as if someone had placed a hand over her heart and pressed down gently, then harder.
She didn’t rage. She didn’t chase. She simply turned and walked back to her river.
The water recognized her before she even touched it. The surface trembled, shimmering gold, as if trying to rise up and hold her. Oshun knelt at the edge, letting her fingers slip beneath the coolness. The river asked no questions. It only received her.
Days passed. Maybe weeks. Time moves differently when a heart is healing.
Without her sweetness, the world began to crack. Arguments sharpened. Crops withered. Even the other orishas felt the shift — the absence of her laughter, her diplomacy, her gentle way of softening the edges of things. They searched for her, calling her name across forests and crossroads, but Oshun stayed with her river, letting the water carry away what she could not hold.
One morning, as the sun stretched itself across the sky, Oshun rose from the riverbank. Her sorrow had not disappeared, but it had changed shape — from a wound into a wisdom. She wrapped herself in yellow, coral, and gold, colors that reminded her of who she was before love and after it.
When she stepped back into the world, sweetness returned. Flowers lifted their heads. People remembered tenderness. Even Shango felt the shift — that unmistakable glow that only Oshun could bring.
But this time, she did not return for him.
She returned for herself.
And the river followed her, shimmering at her heels, whispering the truth she had finally learned: No matter who leaves, Oshun always comes back to Oshun.
“An Invocation for Balance, Courage, and Love in Leadership”
We are living in a provisional stage. The ground is shifting, the veil is lifted, and the call is clear: leadership must be reimagined—not as domination, but as stewardship. The cross we carry is not defeat. It is the crown of responsibility, humility, and love.
This is my invocation, my prayer, my offering: May those in power bow to the work of right balance and visionary stewardship. May they be endowed with courage when action is required, and with humility when it is time to listen, support, or stand down. May leaders who have sworn the oath of right action become teachers of a new standard of life. May those who struggle to see, see clearly, and grant themselves grace for the deceptions they once believed. May forgiveness take root in every heart. May men and women alike recognize one another as brethren in the fight for equanimity and humanity’s rightful standing. May false notions of correctness collapse before truth. May abundance be revealed as the true inheritance of all. Let love be the standard bearer, not fear, not scarcity, not pride. For God’s spirit is love, not endless pain. And when suffering is endured in God, it is not suffering at all, but glory— a strengthening, a calling fulfilled. The cross is your crown. The burden is the blessing. The trial is the testimony. The stewardship is the light.
Over the past few days I took a break on social media in order to spend some quality time with my family watching movies. I am very into inspirational movies that have a lot of high drama and then wrap up with a happy ending. I must admit, I am a sucker for love and a hopeless romantic.
I watched a really crazy one called The Kept Woman, that I felt I needed to be rescued from. There was so much symbolism in there that was clearly inferencing conservatives vs liberals in a tongue in cheek, Norman Bates meets Laverne and Shirley type of way. The not so subtle politics of it all got me thinking.
An Interesting Politiview
I used to secretly call myself a liberal traditionalist. It’s a name I coined which means, I believe in tradition for me and liberal values for you, if you chose them. But, as a law professor I worked with once said, “you just want to do what you want and have someone else pay for it.” I’d never thought of it that way, but I plead the fifth to that statement. I’ve given this statement a bit of thought over the years and have come to the conclusion that it’s basically a common sense moderate. 
When I turned 18 and was finally able to vote I was an environmental girl. It made sense that I was planning to cast for the Green Party yet I clearly remember being told by a classmate at the University of Michigan that “we” were all voting blue. So I voted for President Clinton, and I didn’t give it much thought because I was not fully invested in politics. Like lot of young people I was concerned about rushing, partying, going to classes and dating. Also, I thought he did a great job. I don’t regret voting for him. My money looked great at the time he was in office. I mean, what was not to love?. I’ve since learned that life is more nuanced than that and I know many people had a fair amount of complaints during that time.
During those years, I was very much into my church. Although I occasionally went to mass by myself, I considered my church home to be the non denominational church, Word of Faith. I was very into my church sorority/fraternity on campus and they thought differently about politics. I simply assumed that my pastor was a Democrat. I learned later that he was not. He was the person that advised me to stay in school and then pursue my acting dreams and I’d be blessed. I wish I listened. I went my own way, only to come back to what he said, and finally get back on track.
In college I was close with his daughter as well. We lived in the same dorm and she was a good friend and even mentor. They were a family strong on family values and adamantly against abortion. At the time, it was not a big deal for me. Again, I was against it, but I also didn’t feel that connected to the issue. I didn’t know anyone that had one. I didn’t plan to get one and I figured that it would all take care of itself. This is the mindset of a lot of wait and see individuals.
I also regretfully condemned people on other issues. Those typical Christian arguments about not being fully submitted to God or who drank alcohol. Ironically, as I began to enter the Feminist arena later in life I took the simple stance of women being equal. Equal pay, equal opportunity, etc. That was until I learned about the movement during the 19th century and the role of African American club women. LThese highly privileged women did not resonate with me at the time, but they would later in my life. They share my values and beliefs and their ideas of advancement work in tandem with men. Yet, I still remained dissociated from my politics, like a lot of people, because I figured it would all work out by the hands of “they/them.”
At some point, that changed. When I grew deeper into my faith as a Catholic, I did not become political but I did have a fire lit for life and service. I also began to think logically about how a non profit could help, or my challenges and losses could benefit others, and myself. Additionally the trials of Women in the Bible inspired me and their stories are not always spoken in the way I’d like to see them. They are juicy, controversial and powerful—they are the blueprint.
I hate to pit one value against another politically because ideally we should all be independent. We should embrace the ideals of charting a new course while giving a portion to those that need it and who are finding their way.
I have spent the last year continuing to create my own new plan. I had to take a step back to take a step forward. I kept asking, “Lord what is your will for me?” Even if it is slower going, I believe when we are given a vision it is to be carried out.
This vision changed how I see things politically. As an entrepreneur, how am I best served? I know that as a person, I will help others. But how can I be in a position to do that? What are my beliefs around food and medicine? Who is aligned with what I actually believe? For many of us, the area is gray. But who is that?
I am not the first to say it, nor would I be the last, but we are more alike than we are different. Which is why we focus on issues that are more personal and make them grand scale. Government should focus on major issues that are often out of our control. They shouldn’t be like a helicopter parent telling us how to live our lives. However, there are times when it has to be. This is unfortunate because we continue to slide back into rhetoric that pulls us back and causes us to behave in a way that is detrimental to our societal civility. I want to be where the rhetoric is for all. Where I feel uplifted and not like a fool. I want to feel like I am moving forward and not stuck and where my difference is ok.
The very thing that makes this country great is its diversity. No one should be minimized or should minimize themselves. If you carry the light of the world in your heart, you don’t want to see anyone abused and downtrodden. It’s like a marriage.
A Marriage of Opposites
In my marriage I used to say, let’s try to give each other the benefit of the doubt. Let’s see the good in each other instead of clinging fast to the negative narrative. The truth is being told to you, right here and right now. Can you see it? Yes. But sometimes it’s hard to feel it. We want to feel the difference and that’s harder.
Friends, I have to be honest. My ideas often did not get through. In a marriage of complete opposites and beliefs in every way, agreeing is struggle on all levels. However, through that lens and challenge came an understanding that for some people it is harder to have them see a new way. Their heart is hardened from hurt and disappointment. They may never recover or believe what they see. They want change but they want the comfort of knowing that the one in front of them is still the boogeyman—then they can be right.
This is also our political arena. So, for me faith is very important. You can do and say all that you want, but faith and hope are required for change and that is a spiritual design. That takes time.
I too suffer from my own limited beliefs. I can’t let myself off the hook entirely. You may be like this, “I believe in change and goodness, just not from you neighbor! You are a hopeless case.” Well, that is a little true. And we are all someone’s hopeless case. But the biggest rewards come to those who endure big challenges. Similarly, to take on the Feminist ideology of the personal is political, it all still holds true. Our lives effect our choices depending on the day. I’m also still green leaning. I believe compassionate people care about this earth. Caring about space and nature brings us into the magnificence of creation and a natural connection to each other.
In conclusion, I have changed only in the regard of me being aligned in an intentional and logical way when it comes to how I view politics.
Here are some things to consider:
Do you care about what happens to your immediate life or on a grand scale? Who makes those decisions?
If you are a new parent, changed religions, or identify with the LGBTQ community or have family that is incarcerated how does that affect your decisions?
If you are largely stable and you want as much of a melting pot with shared values within a pluralist society how does that affect your decisions?
These thoughts help to align us with our true selves and allow us to authentically negotiate what is right and true in our lives.
You may lose a lot following your convictions. I didn’t do anything radical but talk about my spiritual walk and it caused my world to crash down. However, that is ok. What is good still stands and old things continue to pass away. This too shall pass.
I woke up this morning with hearing the saying, “After you’ve done all you can, you just stand.” After I heard that, I felt a peace wash over me. Some may or may not know, but I am an intercessor and I proudly stand in the gap for others who cannot pray for themselves. That is all of us some time.
In these days and times that feel very tense, and like we are having a battle between true and false, and light and dark–after we plead our case, it is time to stand. The world right now seems to be fueled by anger. There is a desperate need to stir up a hatred so palpable that if we succumb to this void, it will overtake us. There is a general belief that the truth rings true, and if it does, we don’t need to be cajoled within an inch of our life to receive it. However, there is nothing that we can do about the heaviness that exists. It is by design and has existed from the foundation of the world in an effort to steal your joy, faith, peace, and ultimately your hope. Anger robs us of the promise of happiness and cloaks our inner child with disbelief and agitation. Once this happens, we lack the ability to forgive. Forgiveness is a major conduit of change and transformational energy. It is of the highest vibration we lay hold of when we are able to forgive. When you forgive those who have wronged you, you are rewarded with a gift of youth and vitality because you have made your heavenly Father proud.
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
It is not easy to forgive. This is I know. If it is easy intellectually, we know that healing takes time. But when I really feel stuck, I like to look at my children who sometimes fight like cats and dogs but they could never be apart from each other. Even though my daughter knows that her brother is going to say something mean or do something mean, it never kills her desire to love him. I lived like that for a long time. In many ways I still do. It’s only when my ego kicks in and I worry about looking like a fool or being mistreated do I go down the rabbit hole of hypotheticals and scenarios of what could be instead of what has typically been–God’s protection, grace, and favor over my life.
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven” Luke 6:37
We often forget that everything is actually working in our favor. Every setback, every situation, and burden is strengthening our resolve to surrender. We know that sometimes forgiveness feels like a tall order, but that’s why Lamentations was written, every know and then we are going to complain. That’s ok. But, if you want to experience true freedom, true joy, then you must forgive. It has a way of lightening your spirit and allowing laughter to come in. When laughter comes in, you aren’t taking yourself so seriously. When you stop being so serious you can connect with your inner child and see the good in others. If you are guilty of wearing rose colored glasses, well, I’ m inclined to believe that you still made it out of your past situations ok.
Confession
I am a believer in going to confession. I go once a month and each time I go, I try to go deeper into identifying what my issues and faults are against others. Almost all of them are rooted in pride or unforgiveness and the absolution redirects me towards family time. We have to be thankful for our families. Everything that we are doing is about family. I am a big kid at heart so I play too much with my kids. I like to scare them or roll around my house chasing them. I like to dance and sing loud and laugh. All of these things keep me happy, youthful and young. It also shows my kids that there is a contrast to my seriousness and that I am learning and growing too. If you feel you need permission to enjoy yourself or be a kid at heart, take this as confirmation. Go do something you used to love to do. Get some friends together or go roller-skating. Whatever you do, enjoy your life. It is a gift.
