No Gates Kept

      In part one [ link here ] we went over the seven colors or aspects of Santa Muerte (black, white, red, gold, green, blue, and purple) as well as magical color theory. You may have noticed some colors missing from that post like pink or bone color or the 7 color. Let's dive right into it. Brown      The brown aspect of La Santa Muerte is like the trunk of a tree, it's gives strength and stability. Brown is also associated with the earth, that's earth with the lower case e that is to say dirt, the physical world. Because of it's correspondence to physicality it works well to help manifest what you desire especially things of the earthly plane like a house, a car, food, a new computer etc. If you're looking for money then brown may not be the best choice however if you want money so that you can use it to buy a product, brown reminds us that we can skip the middleman and just manifest the item itself.      The brown Santa Muerte is great for growth and developmen

     You may already be aware that magical folk, magic-makers, practitioners, witches, or whatever term you prefer, have used colors as a way to describe different practices throughout history. Modern examples may look like, magia verde for money magic, magia roja for love magic. This is a way to help our conscious and unconscious minds to understand different modalities of magic to better help us focus on the desired  outcome. It is well documented in Psychology the effects of color on the mind and mood. Warm colors are exciting while cool colors have a soothing effect. This is also why different colors are used to impress or manipulate the mind. In terms of magic, some people will call this color correspondences, this term may come from the idea of correspondences or sympathy. That is to say something that is like another has a correspondence or sympathetic link to another similar object. Long ago this would simply mean similar things are correlated, so if I had a doll or poppet th

      To ask if everyone is allowed to worship or if everyone is allowed to work with Santa Muerte may seem a bit strong but I think you get the point. I think it's interesting because I know you noticed this kind of behavior before. Someone questioning your practice, the way you show devotion or if you work with her or do workings with her. Questioning the validity of your choices, your practices even you as a person like your heritage.     I think it's worth pointing out why some people might behave like this. I think people hold Santa Muerte very close to the heart, she really means a lot to her devotees. Some people have been on the brink of death before she brought them back. She's helped so many people to cope with their own existential dread and  helped them off the edge. Naturally, people will take her and anything related to her very seriously and will have a very strict devotion to her. This could lead to clashes when someone else may not able to match or exceed t

      Alright, maybe I have convinced you that Santa Muerte isn't evil, that believing in her doesn't have to contradict with your beliefs, while also giving you a bit of background information and now you're ready to start building an altar and a relationship with her. Let's get into it.     Firstly, I think it's important to note that you really don't need any one particular thing for a Santa Muerte altar. I think it's helpful to have some kind of imagery that will help you connect with her when you visit her altar but that doesn't necessarily have to be a 12 foot statue of her adorned with the most extravagant of offerings. A lot of this is going to depend on a few things such as your relationship to her, what's available to you as well as how much you're willing to offer. However let's talk about some of the basics of building an altar for Santa Muerte.     As I said before, you will probably want something that relates back to her. If y

           I have never actually had anyone ask me this question. However I have come across some people who are locked in a struggle between their faith and their believe in Santa Muerte. Occasionally, I have seen comments online about this being wrong, or "Jesus loves you," or "Find God," or "Only God exists," or "God first," or some variation of that. I can sympathize with those that may have grown up in a religious household. This kind of environments could contributed to a foreboding scene of anxiety around anything that is considered unholy and could contribute to black and white thinking. I too grew up in a household where we believed in an almighty creator that made all. However, other than that my parent's never really pushed any other kind of religious beliefs on me, though that doesn't mean that they didn't instill a healthy dose of moral fiber.     So why is it that I don't have this need to go around policing people&

     Centuries ago, when the Spanish empire was on the rise, the newly formed kingdom of Castilla y León was dominating the Iberian peninsula. These two great kingdoms had come together under one religion and had successfully expelled muslims and jews after seven hundred years of cooperation, coexisting and intermingling. Religious zealousness was at an all time high and at the same time the were sending over voyagers to the "new world" in the name of God, gold and glory. The spread of diseases helped to wipe out large portions of the native population making it easy to overpower and overthrow the native peoples to exploit them and their resources.      After securing these resources in the name of God, the Peninsulares  were now trying to save these poor heathens. Missionaries were coming to the Americas in large numbers to help convert the native people. These holy men force their language and their beliefs onto these indios, reminding them that their pagan views would only