Santa Muerte Devotion 101: Answers and Explanations for Curious Readers and New Devotees
Digital Web Book by Arnold Bustillo
Buy the paperback at https://amzn.to/41gmMKg
Digital Web Book by Arnold Bustillo
Buy the paperback at https://amzn.to/41gmMKg
How to Petition the Santa Muerte
For Santa Muerte devotees, a petition is a request. Anyone can request anything they want from the Santa Muerte, but those who work on building the strongest relationships are often those who have the best results. It is not unheard of for Santa Muerte to grant miracles for non-devotees with no history of a relationship with her, which is why many in Mexico refer to Santa Muerte as the Saint of Last Resorts - the one who can be petitioned when gods and other spiritual forces fail to offer results. If I had to guess, I would say this was a tactic by Santa Muerte to show her power to the world, as many non-devotees who are granted miracles tend to become devotees once they see that Santa Muerte listened when all others did not.
The Santa Muerte is all around us, and nothing more is needed to petition the Santa Muerte than your own intent and your ability to articulate what it is that you want. On my website, SantaMuerteMagick.com, I offer full rituals that often involve colored candles, herbs, and special prayers, but these are not the only way that petitions can be made.
One of the hardest things for humans to do is focus in on exactly what it is that they want. If we do not know what we want, how can we expect Santa Muerte to deliver? This is why the petitions on my site include so many corresponding factors, like colors, herbs, and prayers - to help us focus in on what we want so we can make our intent absolutely clear when we offer the petition to Santa Muerte.
Remember that the power of Santa Muerte does not come from any physical item or string of rhyming words, it comes from our relationship with her. If you want to petition the Santa Muerte, you are free to use any of the rituals on my site, or you can simply close your eyes and pray something like, “Santa Muerte, please bring X into my life,” or “Santa Muerte, please bless me with X”. These are both examples of simple petition requests that you can recite. So long as your intent is made clear, then your petition can be delivered.
The reason why the petitions shared on my website are more elaborate than a simple prayer is because part of the ritual process is an offering of time and effort. By taking the time to gather the ritual supplies, and then taking the time to conduct the entire ritual, we show the Santa Muerte that we are serious about our intent and that we are serious about our devotion to her. Not everybody has the means to perform an entire ritual complete with burning candles and herbal offerings, and the Santa Muerte will not fault you if all you are able to do is offer a simple prayer for a petition, but I have found that people who are lazy about performing magick generally receive lazy results. In other words, are you offering a simple prayer for a petition because it is all you can offer? Or are you offering a simple prayer because you don’t want to go out and buy the necessary herbs or candles? Are you putting all the effort you can into your petition? Or are you taking the easy way out and looking for a quick fix? These are answers you do not have to justify to anybody but yourself, and you will know in your heart of hearts whether or not your effort is true.
What follows is a simple petition outline you can use to build your own petition rituals. It is intended for when you are in a best case scenario - meaning when you can afford the ritual tools and have access to them, and when you have a place where you can make the petition. In the next chapter, titled “Santa Muerte Petition Rituals”, is a collection of magick petition rituals that are included as an example of what is possible by implementing the outline that follows.
Step 1 - Define the intent
Why are you petitioning the Santa Muerte? What exactly is it that you want? Who is the target of this petition; yourself or someone else? You should be able to articulate your intent in a single sentence. For example, “I want to deliver healing energy to person X”, or, “I want person X and person Y to divorce”, or “I want to attract more clients to my business.”
Step 2 - Write or Find a Prayer
Whether you write a prayer of your own or find a prayer written by somebody else, there are a few pieces of advice that I would offer. First is that the prayer does not have to be very long - I find that prayers between four and 10 lines are the perfect length for a petition ritual. Next is to ensure that the prayer clearly embodies your intent, the intent you settled on in Step 1. The prayer should also invoke the name of Santa Muerte, so there is no confusion about who you are petitioning and who the prayer is intended for. Finally, I find prayers that rhyme are both easier to remember and more helpful for entering into a magickal state of mind - but this is a personal preference.
Step 3 - Select a Candle
Many of the petition rituals I share on my website feature a candle color-coded to the intent of the petition - red candles for love, gold candles for business, et cetera (see the chapter titled “Santa Muerte Color Correspondences” for more). The candle serves to illuminate your intent and to ensure that Santa Muerte will see your efforts. I also like candles because they offer a clear way to tell how long the petition should remain at your altar - which is until the candle burns to completion. In the event that you can’t color code your candle to match your intent, a white candle may be substituted. Since the purpose of the candle is illumination, a wax candle is not necessarily required, and an electronic LED candle will work just fine. If using an LED candle, then leave the candle on for three to seven days, depending on how much power and effort you wish to commit to the petition. Generally, the bigger the ask, the more power and effort you should incorporate into the petition.
Step 4 - Find A Target Link
A target link is something in your petition that clearly links your intent to the person or place you want to affect. If you want to send a curse or hex, or if you want to send healing energies and blessings, incorporating a target link will make your petition all the more focused. You have several options for target links. One of the most basic is to get something physical from your target, like a lock of hair or nail clippings. If the target of your petition is someone very close to you, then this might be easy. A good substitution for locks of hair and nail clippings is a photo of the target. In the absence of any of these, you can research any identifying information about your target and write that information onto a piece of paper - like a date of birth, home address, phone number, email address, or even a job title. One or two good target links is all you need, but the more links you incorporate into your petition, the more focused the intent behind your petition will be. Don’t go crazy trying to track down target links - the last thing you want is to be confused for a stalker.
It may be that the target of your petition is a place - such as a home you want to protect or a business you want to hurt. In this case, the target link may be a picture of the place, or a paper bearing the full address of the place. Something physical from the place could also be used, such as a pinch of dirt from the property, or the key to the property’s front door.
If you’re petitioning Santa Muerte for yourself, a target link as described above is not entirely necessary, because you will act as your own link as you perform the rest of the ritual. However, there is nothing wrong with adding more power to a petition ritual, and you are free to incorporate a target link back to yourself if you wish.
Step 5 - Gather The Appropriate Herbs
Herbs have a long history in magick, and I like to incorporate them into Santa Muerte petitions because they can be blended in different combinations to petition for different goals.
For example, ginger is associated with new adventures, and could be added to a blend of rose (for love) and lavender (for lust) to attract new sexual partners. Ginger may also be added to a blend of cinnamon (for abundance) and Irish Moss (for attracting customers to a business) to attract new business clients. There is an entire list of herbal correspondences included in this book which you can experiment with. I like to blend three or four herbs together (usually) in order to create a blend for a specific petition. There is no right or wrong way to blend herbs - the only person you need to satisfy with your blend is yourself. As long as your blend makes sense to you, then it will make sense to Santa Muerte.
If you don’t already have a mortar and pestle, then this would be the time to procure a set. In addition to helping you hone in on your intent, grinding and mixing herbs in a mortar and pestle allows you to focus on your intent and pour even more effort into your petition.
Step 6 - Go To Your Altar
When you have completed the steps above, then you can go to your Santa Muerte altar and begin the petition ritual. Start by lighting the candle so you may work in its light, and recite the selected prayer.
When the candle is set aflame, you may prepare your target link. This could be gathering the hair or nail clippings, or writing the target’s personal information on a piece of paper. When the target link is ready, place it beneath the candle, so the intent of your petition may weigh directly on your target. If the link cannot be placed under the candle, then place it next to the candle in the candle’s light, so your intent may shine directly on your target. Recite again your selected prayer.
Next, combine approximately equal amounts of your herbal ingredients in your mortar and pestle and grind until the mix is well incorporated. If you are working with an expensive herb, like saffron, then add what you can spare. If you are working with a resin, then freeze the resin to make it brittle and easier to grind.
The goal should be to grind and mix the herbal ingredients so there’s a little bit of each ingredient in every pinch. As you grind the ingredients, continue to recite your chosen prayer while focusing on the intent of the petition.
When the herbal mixture is ground and incorporated so that a bit of each herb would be present in every pinch, then slowly begin to sprinkle the mixture, pinch by pinch, around the outside base of your burning candle. Continue to recite your selected prayer, until all of the herbs from your blend are encircling the base of the candle.
At this point, you may recite the prayer one last time, before considering your part in the petition complete. Allow the candle to burn to completion.
Anything remaining from this petition may be disposed according to the suggestions in the chapter titled “How to Dispose of Magick Trash”.
If you are using traditional candles with a true flame, then please extinguish the candle when you cannot supervise its burning, and re-light the candle when you can. Also, never fall asleep with a burning candle in your home, and always keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Devotion takes many forms, but burning down your home is simply not practical.
Notes on Substitutions and Omissions
The outline I have just provided is a great way to petition the Santa Muerte, but I understand that you may not have access to all the ritual pieces as I have detailed here. Remember that the power of Santa Muerte comes from your relationship with her, not from any specific tool. If you do not have access to a physical altar, try conjuring an astral altar in your mind’s eye. If you don’t know how to write a prayer that rhymes, then simply create a statement in sentence form that asks the Santa Muerte to deliver the miracle you seek. If you do not have access to herbs that you can grind, you can still sit before your candle and pray as you focus on your intent.
This being said, I always encourage devotees to make substitutions as a last resort, not a first resort. Santa Muerte magick is about devotion and commitment, and if your first instinct is to strip away all the effort to make the ritual “easier”, then do not be surprised if Santa Muerte strips away her effort from fulfilling your request. It is one thing if you don’t have access to candles because you’re dirt poor, in prison, or living with Christians - it’s another thing entirely if you’re being cheap or lazy. With Santa Muerte, it truly is the thought and effort that counts. So long as you make an effort, then you will strengthen your relationship with Santa Muerte and be far more likely to experience her blessings.
The Santa Muerte is all around us, and nothing more is needed to petition the Santa Muerte than your own intent and your ability to articulate what it is that you want. On my website, SantaMuerteMagick.com, I offer full rituals that often involve colored candles, herbs, and special prayers, but these are not the only way that petitions can be made.
One of the hardest things for humans to do is focus in on exactly what it is that they want. If we do not know what we want, how can we expect Santa Muerte to deliver? This is why the petitions on my site include so many corresponding factors, like colors, herbs, and prayers - to help us focus in on what we want so we can make our intent absolutely clear when we offer the petition to Santa Muerte.
Remember that the power of Santa Muerte does not come from any physical item or string of rhyming words, it comes from our relationship with her. If you want to petition the Santa Muerte, you are free to use any of the rituals on my site, or you can simply close your eyes and pray something like, “Santa Muerte, please bring X into my life,” or “Santa Muerte, please bless me with X”. These are both examples of simple petition requests that you can recite. So long as your intent is made clear, then your petition can be delivered.
The reason why the petitions shared on my website are more elaborate than a simple prayer is because part of the ritual process is an offering of time and effort. By taking the time to gather the ritual supplies, and then taking the time to conduct the entire ritual, we show the Santa Muerte that we are serious about our intent and that we are serious about our devotion to her. Not everybody has the means to perform an entire ritual complete with burning candles and herbal offerings, and the Santa Muerte will not fault you if all you are able to do is offer a simple prayer for a petition, but I have found that people who are lazy about performing magick generally receive lazy results. In other words, are you offering a simple prayer for a petition because it is all you can offer? Or are you offering a simple prayer because you don’t want to go out and buy the necessary herbs or candles? Are you putting all the effort you can into your petition? Or are you taking the easy way out and looking for a quick fix? These are answers you do not have to justify to anybody but yourself, and you will know in your heart of hearts whether or not your effort is true.
What follows is a simple petition outline you can use to build your own petition rituals. It is intended for when you are in a best case scenario - meaning when you can afford the ritual tools and have access to them, and when you have a place where you can make the petition. In the next chapter, titled “Santa Muerte Petition Rituals”, is a collection of magick petition rituals that are included as an example of what is possible by implementing the outline that follows.
Step 1 - Define the intent
Why are you petitioning the Santa Muerte? What exactly is it that you want? Who is the target of this petition; yourself or someone else? You should be able to articulate your intent in a single sentence. For example, “I want to deliver healing energy to person X”, or, “I want person X and person Y to divorce”, or “I want to attract more clients to my business.”
Step 2 - Write or Find a Prayer
Whether you write a prayer of your own or find a prayer written by somebody else, there are a few pieces of advice that I would offer. First is that the prayer does not have to be very long - I find that prayers between four and 10 lines are the perfect length for a petition ritual. Next is to ensure that the prayer clearly embodies your intent, the intent you settled on in Step 1. The prayer should also invoke the name of Santa Muerte, so there is no confusion about who you are petitioning and who the prayer is intended for. Finally, I find prayers that rhyme are both easier to remember and more helpful for entering into a magickal state of mind - but this is a personal preference.
Step 3 - Select a Candle
Many of the petition rituals I share on my website feature a candle color-coded to the intent of the petition - red candles for love, gold candles for business, et cetera (see the chapter titled “Santa Muerte Color Correspondences” for more). The candle serves to illuminate your intent and to ensure that Santa Muerte will see your efforts. I also like candles because they offer a clear way to tell how long the petition should remain at your altar - which is until the candle burns to completion. In the event that you can’t color code your candle to match your intent, a white candle may be substituted. Since the purpose of the candle is illumination, a wax candle is not necessarily required, and an electronic LED candle will work just fine. If using an LED candle, then leave the candle on for three to seven days, depending on how much power and effort you wish to commit to the petition. Generally, the bigger the ask, the more power and effort you should incorporate into the petition.
Step 4 - Find A Target Link
A target link is something in your petition that clearly links your intent to the person or place you want to affect. If you want to send a curse or hex, or if you want to send healing energies and blessings, incorporating a target link will make your petition all the more focused. You have several options for target links. One of the most basic is to get something physical from your target, like a lock of hair or nail clippings. If the target of your petition is someone very close to you, then this might be easy. A good substitution for locks of hair and nail clippings is a photo of the target. In the absence of any of these, you can research any identifying information about your target and write that information onto a piece of paper - like a date of birth, home address, phone number, email address, or even a job title. One or two good target links is all you need, but the more links you incorporate into your petition, the more focused the intent behind your petition will be. Don’t go crazy trying to track down target links - the last thing you want is to be confused for a stalker.
It may be that the target of your petition is a place - such as a home you want to protect or a business you want to hurt. In this case, the target link may be a picture of the place, or a paper bearing the full address of the place. Something physical from the place could also be used, such as a pinch of dirt from the property, or the key to the property’s front door.
If you’re petitioning Santa Muerte for yourself, a target link as described above is not entirely necessary, because you will act as your own link as you perform the rest of the ritual. However, there is nothing wrong with adding more power to a petition ritual, and you are free to incorporate a target link back to yourself if you wish.
Step 5 - Gather The Appropriate Herbs
Herbs have a long history in magick, and I like to incorporate them into Santa Muerte petitions because they can be blended in different combinations to petition for different goals.
For example, ginger is associated with new adventures, and could be added to a blend of rose (for love) and lavender (for lust) to attract new sexual partners. Ginger may also be added to a blend of cinnamon (for abundance) and Irish Moss (for attracting customers to a business) to attract new business clients. There is an entire list of herbal correspondences included in this book which you can experiment with. I like to blend three or four herbs together (usually) in order to create a blend for a specific petition. There is no right or wrong way to blend herbs - the only person you need to satisfy with your blend is yourself. As long as your blend makes sense to you, then it will make sense to Santa Muerte.
If you don’t already have a mortar and pestle, then this would be the time to procure a set. In addition to helping you hone in on your intent, grinding and mixing herbs in a mortar and pestle allows you to focus on your intent and pour even more effort into your petition.
Step 6 - Go To Your Altar
When you have completed the steps above, then you can go to your Santa Muerte altar and begin the petition ritual. Start by lighting the candle so you may work in its light, and recite the selected prayer.
When the candle is set aflame, you may prepare your target link. This could be gathering the hair or nail clippings, or writing the target’s personal information on a piece of paper. When the target link is ready, place it beneath the candle, so the intent of your petition may weigh directly on your target. If the link cannot be placed under the candle, then place it next to the candle in the candle’s light, so your intent may shine directly on your target. Recite again your selected prayer.
Next, combine approximately equal amounts of your herbal ingredients in your mortar and pestle and grind until the mix is well incorporated. If you are working with an expensive herb, like saffron, then add what you can spare. If you are working with a resin, then freeze the resin to make it brittle and easier to grind.
The goal should be to grind and mix the herbal ingredients so there’s a little bit of each ingredient in every pinch. As you grind the ingredients, continue to recite your chosen prayer while focusing on the intent of the petition.
When the herbal mixture is ground and incorporated so that a bit of each herb would be present in every pinch, then slowly begin to sprinkle the mixture, pinch by pinch, around the outside base of your burning candle. Continue to recite your selected prayer, until all of the herbs from your blend are encircling the base of the candle.
At this point, you may recite the prayer one last time, before considering your part in the petition complete. Allow the candle to burn to completion.
Anything remaining from this petition may be disposed according to the suggestions in the chapter titled “How to Dispose of Magick Trash”.
If you are using traditional candles with a true flame, then please extinguish the candle when you cannot supervise its burning, and re-light the candle when you can. Also, never fall asleep with a burning candle in your home, and always keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Devotion takes many forms, but burning down your home is simply not practical.
Notes on Substitutions and Omissions
The outline I have just provided is a great way to petition the Santa Muerte, but I understand that you may not have access to all the ritual pieces as I have detailed here. Remember that the power of Santa Muerte comes from your relationship with her, not from any specific tool. If you do not have access to a physical altar, try conjuring an astral altar in your mind’s eye. If you don’t know how to write a prayer that rhymes, then simply create a statement in sentence form that asks the Santa Muerte to deliver the miracle you seek. If you do not have access to herbs that you can grind, you can still sit before your candle and pray as you focus on your intent.
This being said, I always encourage devotees to make substitutions as a last resort, not a first resort. Santa Muerte magick is about devotion and commitment, and if your first instinct is to strip away all the effort to make the ritual “easier”, then do not be surprised if Santa Muerte strips away her effort from fulfilling your request. It is one thing if you don’t have access to candles because you’re dirt poor, in prison, or living with Christians - it’s another thing entirely if you’re being cheap or lazy. With Santa Muerte, it truly is the thought and effort that counts. So long as you make an effort, then you will strengthen your relationship with Santa Muerte and be far more likely to experience her blessings.