 |
| Tourmalina, new to the cage |
You might wonder where the two mother cats got their names. Sparks’ is easy to explain. She has big, bright yellow eyes that just seem to cut right into your psyche. At times, when I was working with her kittens I could imagine sharp electrical sparks shooting from her eyes at me. Thus, I knew her name was Sparks.
Tourmalina is a little more involved. As I mentioned in one of the earlier posts, she showed up soon after Ozma died of multiple myeloma (more on that story at a later date) and her coloring reminded me so much of Ozma. When I first introduced Ozma into the household I had been calling her Splash because of the splash of gold on her face but I always knew that was only a temporary name.
 |
| Ozma |
 |
| Rainbow, when I first caught her |
When Ozma was a feral kitten in the barn I first saw her sister, the most colorful kitten I’d ever seen. She was a brown-patched classic tabby and white with a white tip on her tail and brilliant green eyes. Naturally I knew that her name was Rainbow, long before we really got around to talking to each other. So later when “Splash” came into the household I started looking through my old, very old, Wizard of Oz books. I came across a description of Princess Ozma as having “lips the tint of tourmaline.”
I looked up the meaning of tourmaline and found that it is a multi-colored gem believed to have many uses and powers. Black tourmaline supposedly strengthens one's psychic energy, deflects negative energy, and treats anxiety and nervous disorders things I definitely needed at that time. And Splash was multi-colored, a green-eyed tortoiseshell with pink lips and nose pad. I felt it at once, she was Ozma, my Beauty Queen Ozma.
Then this feral, tortoiseshell cat showed up after Ozma’s death and immediately told me her name was related to her coloring. Tourmalina may not be a princess or a royal queen but she is colorful and will hopefully be a sweet, loving cat someday in the future.
 |
| Tourmalina now at home |
I love to learn how cats get their names! I used to say my Namir had tourmaline eyes for the same reason.
ReplyDeleteBoy do I have a lot of stories about names. My first kitten was named Misty because I was just a little kid when I had her (she was a pedigreed Russian Blue). But since then I been able to listen to my cats and learn most of their "true" names. I'm not always successful though. I do love Namir.
ReplyDeleteloved the story behind the names. If I am not mistaken, Tourmaline also comes in pink. I am born in October and the pink tourmaline is one of October's birthstones, the other is opal which is also said to have magical powers :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it does come in pink. I think each color is said to have different powers. I wonder if the opal tourmaline has the same power as a regular opal. Supposedly wearing opal is bad luck - at least that's what my grandmother always told me. So naturally I inherited her opal ring!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading.
Your Tourmalina is just Beautiful. Thank you for rescueing these sweet babies. I too rescue cats and kittens. Mainly kittens though..as my indoor kitties will not accept a full grown cat. I don't really know you yet but I like you. I can tell you are an animal lover like me.
ReplyDeleteI'm always glad to meet another rescuer. You are doing the right thing though by paying attention to your resident cats' feelings. Keep up the good work!
Delete