I first became aware of Santa Muerte in ’06 or ’07 and it wasn’t long before She became a fixture in my spiritual life, gradually growing to encompass a very special and distinct part of my religious experience. There’s much to enjoy about this post though one paragraph stood out in particular:

Despite her ubiquitous presence, the question of ‘what can a gringo know about la Nina?’ remains a legitimate challenge to those who would divorce her from the complex environment of Latin America. Culture and language are intimate partners and no amount of translation can capture the power of Santa Muerte as she lives and breathes on her native soil. This is not to limit her to Mexico, she is the patron of the New World, anyone who approaches her with honesty can quickly enter into a powerful relationship with la Ser de Luz. However, those who approach with the assumption that they can adapt her to their own understanding will quickly find themselves in the midst of a reality that is unpalatable to the mediated illusion of peace that hides the fact that our world is undergoing a massive and unprecedented upheaval. Santa Muerte emerges from the streets, prisons and violent borderlands, she is not safe and she is not comfortable, she is death and death is change.

People sometimes ask me questions about the Saint, trying to make sense of Her complexities and the very visceral qualities of Her presence in this world via Her believers. I always come back to the analogy of gravity: We are all affected by it equally but it is those on the brink of a cliff who are most aware of it.

Gracias, gracias Santa Muerte.

April 29th, 2016 marked the 3 year anniversary of SkeletonSaint.com. It’s been a wild and wonderful journey encountering and engaging the enigmatic Nina Bonita from jail cells in Madison County, Georgia to private shrines in the Philippines – the Americas’ fastest growing new spirituality continues to spread around the world and we’ve been at the […]

via 3 Years with the Empress of the Americas — Most Holy Death