Prower - La Santa Muerte: unearthing the magic & mysticism of death

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

La Santa Muerte: Unearthing the Magic & Mysticism of Death 2015 by Toms Prower.

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First e-book edition 2015

E-book ISBN: 9780738746708

Cover design: Ellen Lawson

Cover illustration: Sam Guay, additional imagery: iStockphoto.com/25314496/bennyb

Editing by: Lunaea Weatherstone

Interior photographs by Anthony Louis of Twenty-Deux

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Prower, Toms.

La Santa Muerte : unearthing the magic & mysticism of death / Tom?s Prower. -- First Edition.

1 online resource.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-0-7387-4670-8 () -- ISBN 978-0-7387-4551-0 1. Death--Miscellanea. 2. Death (Personification) 3. Grim Reaper (Symbolic character) I. Title.

BF1442.D43

133.43--dc23

2015021777

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

: History and Mythology

Chapter : The Patron Saint of Sinners .

Chapter : Lets Talk About Death

Chapter : Her Story

: Tools of the Trade: Deaths Magical Correspondences

Chapter : The Look of Death

Chapter : The Colors of Death

Chapter : The Tools of Death

Chapter : The Veneration of Death

: Spellwork

Chapter : The Anatomy of Santa Muerte Spellwork

Chapter : Money Magic

Chapter : Love Magic

Chapter : Lust Magic

Chapter : Healing Magic

Chapter : Protection Magic

Chapter : Hexes

Chapter : Legal Magic

Chapter : Create Your Own Magic

Chapter : The Beginning

: Santa Muerte Locales in the United States

In t r o du ct io n

Death has always been the single greatest motivating force in all of human history. Whether it be our basic instincts of hunting and gathering to fend off starvation or an ultimatum of war that serves as a rallying cry to unite us for the cause of the greater good, nothing has shaped the history of humankind like death. Moreover, many of humankinds greatest cultural and architectural wonders have been created in honor of death: the pyramids of Egypt, the mausoleum and terra-cotta army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the Taj Mahal, St. Peters Basilica, Westminster Abbey, and much more. Even if not directly dedicated to death, many of the greatest books, songs, and achievements throughout the ages have been the result of a single person, aware of his or her own inevitable mortality, who wanted to make a mark on the world and leave a legacy by which they would be remembered.

As humans, one of our greatest powers over all other living beings on earth is our foresight, but this evolutionary gift comes at a great cost. Yes, we are the only animals that possess advanced logical reasoning skills and can envision far beyond our current reality, but we are also the only ones that know that we are destined to die. While many people, unable to cope with this predetermined fate, paralyze themselves with fear and anxiety, a growing number of people see it as an ultimate source of power.

These people are the devotees of the Spirit of Death herself, La Santa Muerte. Rather than shy away from thoughts of our impending mortality, those who are devoted to Death utilize this uncomfortable foresight, like the greats of history, to make a difference in the world here and now. Thinking we have forever might be more cheerful, but in no way does it compare to the motivational power of were only here temporarily.

Understandably, the modern veneration of Death (the Spirit of Death with a capital D, not the physical act of death with a lowercase d) is a type of faith that is still mostly underground and in the shadows of society. This is because death makes people uncomfortable, especially in the Western world. With medical breakthroughs and stronger environmental laws, infant mortality rates are at an all-time low while the average life-span continues to rise, thus making death all the more unfamiliar. And even when a death does occur, we have an entire funeral industry to take care of all things postmortem so we never have to interact with death or see it on a daily basis. In the not too distant past, it would have been very difficult to find someone who wasnt well familiar with death and their own mortality, but nowadays, the first time many of us confront the reality of our own death is at the DMV when we have to check that box deciding whether or not to be an organ donor.

Death has become so unfamiliar to us that it is seen as almost unnatural, when it is the most natural thing in the world. Not too long ago, I was also a death denier. I had graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in global socioeconomics and another degree specializing in Latin American studies. My life focus was on living people and how they interacted with other living people. Even when I lived in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and the Amazon jungle, Westernization was everywhere. Death was hardly ever present to inconvenience the lives of the living, let alone openly venerated by a group of devotees. It wasnt until I returned to Los Angeles that I came face to face with the mystery school of La Santa Muerte on a dare, no less.