La Santa Muerte: Unearthing the Magic & Mysticism of Death, by Tomás Prower
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La Santa Muerte: Unearthing the Magic & Mysticism of Death, by Tomás Prower
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This is the first book written by a practitioner that presents the history, culture, and practical magic of La Santa Muerte to the English-speaking world. As the patron saint of lost causes, the LGBT community, addicts, and anyone who has been marginalized by society, La Santa Muerte has a following of millions―and she’s only becoming more popular. Join author Tomás Prower as he gives step-by-step instructions for spells, magic, and prayers for practical results and long-term goals, including money, love, sex, healing, legal issues, protection, and more. La Santa Muerte also includes detailed information on:
Her Names • Tools • Altars • Offerings • Spells • Prayers • Rituals • History • Myths • Symbols • Meditations • Ethics • Colors • Correspondences
Praise:"Tomás Prower takes those curious to know more about the spirit of death taking shape as La Santa Muerte on a deep ride through history, tradition, folklore and first hand experience. He deftly balances the aspects of practical folk magick . . . with the deeper mystery tradition of her cult involved in facing the reality of death directly. A wonderful education in a figure that is fairly unknown and misunderstood."―Christopher Penczak, co-founder of the Temple of Witchcraft
La Santa Muerte: Unearthing the Magic & Mysticism of Death, by Tomás Prower- Amazon Sales Rank: #313317 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-08
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.80" h x .80" w x 5.80" l, 1.00 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 264 pages
About the Author
Tomás Prower (Los Angeles, California) has lived and worked in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Tijuana, Reno, Long Beach, and Los Angeles. He is fluent in English, French, and several dialects of Spanish. While in South America, he worked for the French Government as a cultural liaison between France, the United States, and the South American member states of Mercosur. He has worked as External Relations Director for the American Red Cross.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. This book has its good points. I liked reading the philosophy of Death ... By Karen Shaw This book has its good points. I liked reading the philosophy of Death throughout Part One. A lot of the book was another "Magic 101", actually more like a "Wicca 101", and unrelated to La Santa Muerte. The single most surprising thing about this book to me was the several references to the work of author and Witch Christopher Penczak, and sure enough there are eight books by Christopher Penczak in the bibliography. Penczak is a very accomplished man, but an authority on La Santa Muerte is not something he presents himself as. Using Penczak's book, The Witch's Heart, a somewhat "light read", as the source for some of the magical uses of the herbs was surprising. In another passage on page 159, Prower uses Penczak's book "Instant Magic", when describing essentially the traditional old "Witches Pyramid", and seemingly crediting Penczak with it's creation. A different reviewer said this book has a lot of "new age" added to it, and I definitely agree. The inclusion of various crystals and gems as some of the "tools" is very "new age", as is the content in the many guided visualizations included with the spells. As I read this book, I was struck with the thought that Tomas Prower was intentionally making the book very New Age maybe with the intent of reaching a larger audience. This book is very eclectic indeed, with a mixing of a fairly shallow knowledge of Wicca with The Holy Death. A reader would definitely need other Santa Muerte books on hand to learn much about this path, but this book does have a lot of insightful information on death and philosophy which I enjoyed learning.
37 of 50 people found the following review helpful. Pure appropriation and a lack of research. By Cearan McGrath "La Santa Muerte: Unearthing the Magic & Mysticism of Death" is a disappointment, to say the least. Santa Muerte is a Mexican folk saint who is the personification of Death. That is the most basic definition- and the author, Tomas Prower, doesn't even get that right. What is presented in the pages of this book are a web of white-washed New Age appropriation, untruths, and nonsense- without basic knowledge or respect for history or origins, a do-it-yourself daydream for the crystal wizard and young goth crowd.Prower makes early reference to "her dark philosophy," and makes the quasi-racist statement of, "until now, the history and magic of La Santa Muerte have been kept buried underground, shrouded in a black veil of esoteric Latino mysticism." That's quite melodramatic, not to mention a bit of a stretch. Moving forward, the title of chapter 1 is, "The Patron Saint of Sinners;" here is a tired, stereotypical statement echoed on misguided and sensationalized news stories about her. La Santa Muerte is referred to as a "deity," this is not so- she is a folk saint, as in Catholic. Prower boasts his knowledge of faiths and philosophies "while staying away from anything that smelled of Christianity." This is under the sub-chapter "Santa Muerte Philosophy 101." It's just silly. He tries to connect an idea of "karma" to Santa Muerte devotion through an ideal of connecting other religious tenets that aren't relevant to this study. It then says here that "she interacts with humanity without a set agenda;" her "supreme nuetrality," she's called "nonjudgmental" a couple of times- is this not entirely at odds with her stated "dark philosophy?"Then we move on to "Mystery Schools of the Classical Age" and how they are "early equivalents to our modern mystery school of La Santa Muerte." Santa Muerte devotion is an outgrowth of curanderismo- the term "mystery school" is both inaccurate and inappropriate. this stuff is just mind-boggling; on pages 27-28, "The reason why much of the modern devotion to the magic of La Santa Muerte is associated with Christianity and Roman Catholicism in particular is that the majority of devotees come from and live in a Catholic landscape." Absurd! It is because she is a Catholic folk saint- she is not a "deity" existing outside of this tradition, nor is it a "foundational faith system" as stated on page 30. Chapter 3, "Her Story," is little more than a summary of the history section of R. Andrew Chesnut's book, "Devoted to Death." Though credit where credit is due, he does address that NAFTA was disastrous for Mexican society, and the chart showing the differences in ideology between the Roman Catholic Church and the Iglesia Santa Catolica Apostolica Tradicional Mex-USA Church was a nice touch.Then there's more New Age jargon that has nothing to do with Santa Muerte- "the Hermetic Law of Correspondence; as above, so below." You could take this stuff to somebody who learned and grew up with Santa Muerte devotion from their grandparents, who got it from their grandparents, and they wouldn't know what he's talking about- they wouldn't have a clue. On page 80, Prower states, "For those who are serious in becoming professional level experts in Santa Muerte magic, I highly suggest doing individual research into Hermeticism."A couple of things are wrong with this statement. First of all "Hermeticism" is a Western tradition and has nothing to do with Santa Muerte devotion. Secondly, most devotees of Santa Muerte do not see themselves as magicians. The only ones that could be considered "professional level experts in Santa Muerte magic" would be curanderos (folk healers), hechiceros (sorcerers), or brujos (witches). Any of these would be adhering to traditional Mexican techniques that have been handed down, though the author seems unknowledgeable and/or dismissive of this.So much in this book is unnecessary. There are sixteen different "Deities of Death" listed here, with a paragraph for each. At least one paragraph for each nickname, symbol, and herb. Five pages for the different colored robes. He states that the traditional devotees only regard three robes: the white, the red, and the black; though the reason why (Nahuatl ontology) is not explored. Neither is the reason why there is now a statue for sale of every color of the rainbow, including a rainbow-robed figure (capitalism).More on material culture, there are about three pages on candles, about five pages on incense. Prower gets into plants and herbs and lays down this quasi-racist gem on page 109, "In the Latino community in particular, pseudo-scientific herbalism is accepted by the general public to be valid." As if only a white man's herbalism is valid, and these savage innocents couldn't possibly have figured out what herbs are good for what. It's unbelievable. There are twenty pages for forty plants and herbs, again, each one with a little essay unto itself. Not surprisingly at this point, most of them have nothing to do with Santa Muerte devotion. There's no mention of even the most commonly used herbs such as basil, mint, or rosemary. Then there's nineteen minerals and stones listed- it's just nonsense.In chapter 7, on page 145, "Unique to the Santa Muerte tradition, devotees will often offer wilted and dried flowers to symbolize death." That is preposterous; nobody does that! Then on page 148, the author speaks of his friend, "who first dared me to walk into a Santa Muerte church..." I mean, really, "dared?" This seems to convey a hundred-year-old racist mentality, such as when there would be wide-eyed mention of "darkest Africa" or other mysterious and remote locales, brimming with bizarre and unknown dangers. To make matters worse, Prower claims to be half Mexican and to have lived in Mexico!The third part of this book, "Spellwork," begins chapter 8. I'm just going to gloss over it because frankly it's just as maddening and tedious as the rest of it. Rife with New Age jargon: "manifesting," "The Hermetic Law of Vibration," "The Law of Equivalent Exchange," "there's no such thing as coincidence," "ascended masters," and oddly "meeting Santa Muerte halfway," which sounds exactly like something I've heard Christian youth group leaders say many times before, "meeting God halfway." It seems as though Prower's stated disdain for Christianity is just as dubious as his claim of Mexican roots. The nonsense continues, from a "lack of central theology," to the claim that Santa Muerte devotion lacks a "host of pre-made prayers on hand" (unlike Catholicism), to this humdinger on page 169, "Interestingly, though, it is not uncommon to come across prayers to God and Jesus within the Santa Muerte tradition." No kidding! Of course you do- what do you think!?To wrap things up, I'll state this: the unbelievable lack of any kind of critical research, paired with simply making things up, throwing together some New Age whatnot and saying it is tradition is inexcusable. It shows a complete lack of respect for the people, history, and culture that Santa Muerte comes from, and Prower does so under the pretext of being a harbinger for the Santa Muerte- but this is a Santa Muerte repackaged for the New Age crowd, those who would enjoy the novelty of a spooky new imaginary friend to do magic with. Not to mention the insecure white liberals who would gladly pick what is presented as a low-hanging fruit of apparent "multiculturalism," with the convenience of not having to actually interact with someone outside of their own ethnicity or culture, or do any research, for that matter. Prower incredulously spends the entire book trying to distance Santa Muerte from Catholicism (he doesn't use the term "folk saint" even once) and it just simply isn't honest. In honesty, a picture of this book ought to be in the dictionary next to the word "appropriation." I've never seen a more shameless and blatant example.If you want to learn about Santa Muerte, look up "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, The Skeleton Saint," by R. Andrew Chesnut, and "The Santisima Muerte: A Mexican Folk Saint," by E. Bryant Holman. Those two will give you a good basic understanding. This book is a waste of time and money.
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful. Enjoyable and informational! By Neil Hajba I picked up and read this book cover to cover in one sitting! Tomas Prower has written a nifty little primer in English on "La Flaca". The first half of the book tells you a little of the history and magick associated with practitioners of this particular cult religion. The other half of the book is a spell book which was nice but not to useful to me.....there is one page that is in color and is nice....I wish that there were more! The very basics of building an altar and rites/rituals. I would recommend this book as long as a companion book to R. Andrew Chesnut's book, "Devoted to Death".
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