#magical practitioner

Pursuing a magical interest in the study of death may present additional problems. The practice of magic is already dogged with cultural misconceptions. Even those practitioners whose magical style is utterly benign and filled with good intentions can face accusations of demonolatry and black magic. Admitting a magical interest in death can be easily interpreted as the desire to harm others. This misconception may make it difficult for a practitioner interested in forming a balanced perspective on the powers of life and death. Information can be hard to find, as can likewise-minded individuals with which to study and practice.

Despite these issues, learning to work with death has many advantages for the magical practitioner. Great understanding and power can be gained from working with life and from within the earths natural fruitful cycles. However, growth and generativity are only half of life's greater cycle; the other is occupied by death. Understanding both halves leads to a complete understanding of the whole. Of course, death's capability to confer wisdom is especially useful in this regard.

Death's culling power is also of particular interest for the magical practitioner. Death kills in order to create fertile ground for renewal. The devotees of Santa Muerte see beyond literal death to the death of our behaviors and values that are rooted in fear. We are all bound by these shackles of belief. Although these shackles may bind us, they do not define who we are. Death acting in the role of the transformer takes to the burial ground all of our false values and all of the things to which we egotistically cling. By accepting death as part of the natural transformative cycle, devotees are free to devote themselves to their own becoming. Our habits are the ties that bind us, and some would argue that they bind us eternally to the cycle of reincarnation. Allowing death to transform the ego breaks these shackle directly, leading to the real possibility of escaping the reincarnation-cycle altogether. Thus, Santa Muerte becomes the grand gatekeeper of initiation as well.

We already are experiencing an aeonic turn toward the recognition and veneration of the divine feminine Why would we seek the influence and power of Santa Muerte in particular? In our modern times, we have come up with a fantastic number of ways to exploit and kill each other, and far fewer ways to work in peace and solidarity. With an overall turn toward embracing the divine feminine current, it is no wonder that we long for a figure who can bring about an abrupt end to this cycle of suffering. Yet, this impulse is not suicidal. Sometimes a field must be burned before new crops are sown. Because Santa Muerte embraces concepts of growth and renewal as well as death, she represents the ending of the now and the hope for a brighter and greener future. This is key to Santa Muerte's powerful appeal.

Analyzing the role of Santa Muerte as she relates to your personal paradigm is key to successfully working with her as a magician. If you adopt the point of view that she is an unofficial saint working on behalf of God, this is usually a relatively simple matter because she fits easily into that predefined role. In other words, your view of her is likely to be similar to that of another Catholic saint. If your magical practice already involves another death patron, such as Hades, you may wish to consider how Santa Muerte relates to these figures. For example, what are Hades and your understanding of Santa Muerte? How might your thinking be different working with the classically dour and taciturn Greek Lord of the Underworld, Hades, instead of the vivacious and friendly figure of Santa Muerte? If your view of spirits is that they do not exist separately from yourself, what aspects of Santa Muerte appeal to you the most or the least? As you understand yourself now, how do you hope that working with Santa Muerte's concept will affect you? What impulse does it serve, and what lesson does it teach? These are the sorts of questions that are key to working with Santa Muerte, or indeed, any spiritual personality because they help define your relationship with that spirit. By keeping a record of how the answers to these questions change over time, you also can develop a much better understanding of yourself.