Note: This was an assignment for Death and the Maiden
I came to Goddess worship as a recovering Baptist who was tired of being treated like a second class citizen in a church that valued the male over the female. I was tired of being taught that women were the root of all evil, because if Eve hadn’t eaten that apple we would all still be living in Eden. I am not the only modern woman to worship a female form over a distant male God. Women who worship female figures are turning to a deity that looks like them, who has a connection with the body and the earth and who helps women understand that being female is a strength and not a weakness. (Eller 1995, 135).
Although Santa Muerte is a folk saint and not a Goddess, the reasons that women venerate her are similar to the reasons other women worship Goddesses. Santa Muerte is a female figure and unlike the sweet and demure Virgin of Guadalupe, Santa Muerte has not only a sweet and motherly side, but also a “bad ass side” that can protect the women who worship her. Santa Muerte also reflects the entirety of a woman’s life, including her sex life, and not just the pure and passive side that is acceptable to the Catholic church (Kingsbury 2020). As the worship of Santa Muerte is not an organized religion, like the Catholic church, women are able to found their own sanctuaries and take leadership roles that are denied them in the Catholic church. Santa Muerte worship also allows women to find financial empowerment, social prestige, and the autonomy that they often cannot find in the machismo of Mexican society (Kingbury 2021, 245). Santa Muerte is also not a passive Saint who advocates turning the other cheek. Instead, she welcomes prayers for vengeance and women have reported that their rapists and attackers have been punished after they asked Santa Muerte for help (Kingsbury 2020, 57).
Although women make up the predominance of Santa Muerte’s followers, she also appeals to men who are poor and downtrodden. In the tourist playground of Cancun, those who wait on the mostly white tourists, often live on the margins of society facing poverty and physical violence on a daily basis (Kingbury 2021, 246). Among the poorest of the poor in Mexico are the indigenous people known as the Maya and while others in Mexico have profited from tourism, many Maya have become more marginalized, have been priced out of housing in Cancun, and are unable to even afford a trip to the beach (Kingbury 2021, 247). These conditions have led some Maya to turn to the worship of Santa Muerte as Santa Muerte and the women who serve her give the poor and downtrodden a safe space where they can bring their troubles and ask for help. These prayers for help are often for financial stability, love, children, and other simple wants (Kingbury 2021, 248-249).
Santa Muerte is not the only popular lady of death in Mexico as there are several other popular representations of death including Calavera Garbancera, who originated in a 1913 drawing by José Guadalupe Posada, and a portrayal of death as a lover and trickster in the 1792 book La Portentosa Vida de la Muerte by Joaquín Bolaños (OLGUÍN 2014). While death has been called the “National Totem” of Mexico, this does not explain why so many marginalized people are turning to Santa Muerte for aid. One of the reasons is that Santa Muerte is perceived as much more powerful than the gentle Virgin Mary, who is also heavily worshipped in Mexico in her personification as the Virgin of Guadalupe. Folk saints, such as Santa Muerte, who have not been canonized by the Catholic Church, are often viewed as more accessible and easier to petition than official saints (Kingsbury 2020, 48). Santa Muerte is also judged as less judgmental than the Virgin of Guadalupe and other official saints as she welcomes all including people, su.ch as LBGTQ people, who have historically been shunned by he church (Kingsbury 2020, 49)
I do not worship Santa Muerte, although I have a healthy respect for her, but I do worship two deities of death. The first is Anubis, the fierce Egyptian deity who is the lord of the dead and the protector of lost souls. Anubis first came into my life in 1993 at the Parliament of World Religion’s in Chicago where my now ex-husband and I were drawn to a sculpture of him. He became my family’s patron and he has always looked out for us and protected us. The most magical of these experiences was when I skidded out on an icy road and I saw Anubis in the passenger seat and felt a sense of calmness and I knew I would be all right and I was. Nephthys, Anubis’ biological mother and a deity considered a midwife of death, called to me soon after and she has given me strength and courage throughout the years. It may seem odd to worship deities of death, but they bring me comfort and strength and I know that I always protected with them by my side, similar to how devotees of Santa Muerte know she will always protect them.
References
Beavis, Mary Ann. 2016. “Christian Goddess Spirituality and Thealogy.” Feminist Theology 125-138.
Eller, Cynthia. 1995. Living in the Lap of the Goddess: the Feminist Spirituality Movement in America. Boston: Beacon Press.
HerChurch. n.d. “Our Purpose.” HerChurch.org. https://www.herchurch.org/about-us/our-message/.
HerChurch.org. n.d. “The Divine Feminine.” HerChurch. https://www.herchurch.org/divine-feminine/.
Kingbury, Kate. 2021. “At Death’s Door in Cancun: Sun, Sea, and Santa Muerte.” Anthropology and Humanism, 244–265.
Kingsbury, Kate. 2020. “Death is Women’s Work: Santa Muerte, a Folk Saint and Her Female Followers.” International Journal of Latin American Religions 43–63.
OLGUÍN, SALVADOR. 2014. “Empress and Lover: Personifying Death in Mexico.” In Morbid Anatomy Anthology, by Joanna Ebenstein and Colin Dickey, 330-349. Morbid Anatomy Press.