A to Z: Cult of Santa Muerte

Cult of Santa Muerte: Lady Sebastian, Lady of the Shadows, Lady of the Night, Lady of the Seven Powers.These are some of the names attributed to a female folk saint from northern Mexico on which are based some of the ideological underpinnings of the gang in SAVIOR, Los Santos Muertos or LSM. 

The LSM have managed to infiltrate most governments in the Western Hemisphere through the influence of their vast riches, but they want more, they actually desire a breakdown of western civilization in order to further the power and aims of their cult. Some of their practices include cannibalism, sadism, ritual drug use and ritual sacrifice. and their leader, Samael Chagnon, desires to impose a new historical age in which the cult of Lady Death forms a central piece.

Actual Santa Muerte practitioners may have none of these conceptions. Instead we know their beliefs are an outgrowth of indigenous pre-Columbian reverence for death as a part of life. Symbols of death and similar folk beliefs can be seen in the Mexican traditions of the Day of the Dead. But the Santa Muerte cult takes these a step further. Followers of Santa Muerte build altars to the figure of Lady Death and ask her for favors in return for their ritual worship. US officials have warned that drug cartel members have recently taken up the Santa Muerte cult in significant numbers, and there is a feeling that the cult may promote greater criminality and levels of violence among warring cartels. It is believed that Santa Muerte followers number in the several million in the US, Mexico and Central America.

SAVIOR will be published April 18th on the Amazon Kindle platform by Harvard Square Editions. Visit the SAVIOR page on the HSE website, and then check back here throughout the A to Z challenge month to learn more about SAVIOR and publication launch details.

August -- Body Surfing

With the summer drawing to a close, these last family days together are like the fruit of the season, ripening nicely. The Atlantic water was 67 degrees, still bone chilling, but we stayed in for twenty minutes at a stretch, catching some nice bodysurfing waves, maybe 4.5 feet with the tide coming in at Wallis Sands. There's something exhilirating and refreshing about the ocean water, even when your teeth are chattering you feel like it is high adventure to be out there diving through the breakers, and the last thing on your mind is the summer drawing to a close and all the things you might have done, should have could have done. When time stops for you, that's the definition of feeling young. At the top of one curling wave, Michael and I were side by side, swimming to get out ahead, and as it broke, it sent us down with a clap into the sand. When we shot back up we both had ear to ear grins. As far as I'm concerned it's better than any water park.

That's our president body surfing on a Hawaiian vacation above. If I'm jealous, does that mean he's an elitist? Yes, of course it does. But you know what? I like a president who can body surf. That's a first for this country. It means he's in touch with things deeper than any polling could tap into. His position on the Ground Zero mosque has got him wading into the buzzsaw of class and race and religion and he's just riding through it like you would want your president to do. Hats off once again brother Barack, is all I can say. Just light the fuse and let the bigots blow themselves up with the hot air while you turn to the horizon, looking for the next set.