As I explored in my previous article, “What Is Samhain?”, the October 31st/November 1st festival was ancient Ireland’s pagan New Year celebration.

Samhain (“summer’s end”) marked the conclusion of one pastoral year and the commencement of the next. As an ancient Celt, you would have been keenly aware that the days were noticeably shorter during the Samhain season, as if the sun itself were in retreat.

The world was darker.

The harvest, over.

Samhain was a liminal time. A time when worries spread and imaginations ran wild.

So the ancient Celts did what any sensible people would do in the face of encroaching darkness:

They shined a light.

To quote Scottish scholar and folklore researcher J.A. MacCulloch:

As the powers of growth were in danger and in eclipse in…

Dr R. Andrew Chesnut:

So Cressida you just published this new book on Santa Muerte, can you tell us who it is for, and why you wrote it?

Cressida Stone:

This book is about Santa Muerte, the Mexican folk saint of Death and is for devotees or people who are interested in learning how to work with Santa Muerte. To quote you Andrew, in your endorsement of my book, it “is the most complete of the spiritual guides on devotion to Santa Muerte”, including innumerable prayers, spells, rituals, omen guides, ceromancy and much more. I was compelled to write it following a beautiful dream of Santa Muerte in which she appeared in a gown of purple, whispering to me in the way only Death can that she wanted this book to be written, for me to share the beauty of her mysticism, her magic to others so that they too…

The English translation is followed by the original French text.

It was on a hot summer night that my second dream took place. In the first one, the Lady in Black had appeared to me many years before, but I was so terrified that I didn’t actually respond to her call. I was scared to death, but I felt protected too, it was a funny feeling!

The second time was different. I was terrified too but it seemed to me that she was telling me of her impatience. She needed an answer and right away! Once that I had more or less recovered from my emotions, I called the chapel dedicated to her in France and there was a nice surprise, I was told that it was a good omen and a very powerful dream. This dream changed my life… well rather my death…

So I started to gather objects…

It took 13 years but I finally made it to the most impressive Santa Muerte temple that I have ever visited in over a decade of research. Founded 20 years ago by the charismatic devotional and political leader Oscar Pelcastre, the Catedral de la Santa Muerte Sonorita in Pachuca is a sprawling three-story complex which used to be a local popular market before the Black Bishop (Obispo Negro) converted it into a Santa Muerte worship center.

While the name of the temple reflects the origins and first 16 years of the Cathedral, it no longer is dedicated exclusively to worshiping the White Girl. Four years ago the enterprising Santa Muertero felt it was time to introduce another even more controversial spiritual figure to the temple. Among the hundreds of life-size statues of Saint Death are scores of effigies of the Devil, often referred to as the Angelito Negro (Little Black…

I’m Coni and I’m here to describe how my PTSD affected my Santa Muerte-centered spiritual practice and how She has augmented my treatment. Growing up in an older family plagued by chronic illness and sudden passings introduced me to heartache and instability beginning at the age of three. It wouldn’t be until my mother’s traumatic death in my early 30s that I would stop trying to outrun Death. This led to me turning around to face my fears and slowly walking toward Her in search of understanding. 

A few years prior, I had started drifting away from Catholicism again when my mother’s doctors explained the gravity of her condition. Thus began my reexploration of syncretic systems like Santería, which allowed me to call on others for help. Syncretism was necessary because of my family’s roots in Catholicism and Pentecostalism, but also I continued to struggle with whether I was risking…