Santa Muerte

Santa Muerte

 

   The ‘white girl,’ Saint Death, has had an ever-growing popularity in society as the years have progressed.

  I’d like to try and present some material here of factual information which is different from some of the other articles available on this Mesoamerican folk saint.  This article will be informational; without an understanding or true knowledge of something it is difficult to relate to it.  I hope I may be able to describe the Muerte in such a way that the concept and understanding of it may be of some value.

  Santisma Muerte is a the saint of death in Mexico and some other Latin-American countries.  Like Fidencio and some other folk saints, Muerte is not recognized by the church.  Shrines to the saint may be found, however, in homes, country road-side shrines, and major cities like Mexico City and Monterrey. 

  In Mesoamerica, death and the devil may be found in sculptures dancing together.  I never really understood why this was, nor found it written in any book, why the spirit of death should be tied to what is a personification of evil.  I received this answer in a dream: Because the devil does not like God’s creation; he wishes to see all in the spirit world and not manifested--it better suits him.  Most souls have no means of altering the physical world, and they can’t make a difference or impact any longer.  I believe this to be a reasonable answer.  However, I personally would like to see these two powers in different perspective, and set apart. 

  Holy Death as a saint is a powerful force which can do great good and bring spiritual enlightenment.  Sadly, like many magico-religious practices today, people use this force to break the law or hurt, entrap or enslave humans and spirits.  This greatly saddens me and I will not spend any more time on this subject.  I will say, though, that many criminals here in my general area of south Texas will carry images and wear rosaries with Muerte in order to appear intimidating and empowered.

  Holy Death can bring a person closer to the world of departed souls.  It is a discipline and a practice which opens doors to healing, peace, understanding, and progression of the human spirit and spirits of the departed.  Santa Muerte can also bring information about other lifetimes, or how our souls were expressed in physical form during that lifetime.  God hushes memories of other lives in his great love for us so that we don’t have to suffer taxing memories of things before and can complete our missions when we come into new lives.  He has given us free will, though, and allows us to seek at our own peril memories deep within the soul.  It is our choice to explore these things and try to use them to better ourselves along the path. 

  Because peace is a concept that comes with death, Santa Muerte can bring energies of tranquility to a troubled soul.  During times of peace, a person can gather their thoughts in a better way so they can decide upon what direction to take in life.  We all make mistakes and most people need time to reflect on what was learned, process it, and move on.

  One of the greater tasks of Santa Muerte is to assist in helping souls who have already passed on process through grief, the loss of their own lives, traumatic illnesses, or who have been done away with due to murder or spiritual sabotage.  These spirits are angry, traumatized, and can cause trouble for the living.  They seek help, in most cases.  Trying to work through our own lives is one task; working through the life of a troubled spirit can be a time-consuming and dangerous task for a spiritist, even with the help of Muerte.

  Holy Death is not a force to be tampered with.  She requires nine consecutive nights of devotional prayers, and nine weeks of subsequent devotional prayers.  Altars to the Santisma Muerte may have many colors which represent various things—altar cloths in basic may be black and white.  Black is for the mysteries of life transitioning into what lies beyond and for being committed to the earth, and white for the peace and light, and ascending to the sky.  Other colors include red for the blood of life, and purple, for all things spiritual and the power within.  These are just a few brief examples. 

  This is all I have for now—later I will add some of the prayers in English and Spanish. 

At last--here is an example of an altar to muerte.  

Spanish Prayer

Oracion a la Santisma Muerte

La guadana protectora Senora Blanca, Senora negra, a tus pies me 

postro para pedirte, para suplicarte, hagas sentir tu fuerza, tu poder y tu

omnipresencia contra los que intenten destruirme.  Senora, te implore seas

mi escuedo y mi resguardo contra el mal, que tu guadana protectora corte los

obstaculos que se me impongan, que se habran las puertoas cerradas y se 

muestren los caminos. Senora mia no hay mal que tu no puedas vencer, ni

imposible que no se doble ante tu voluntad a ella me entrego y espero tu

benevolencia.  Amen