Santa Muerte rituals and cleansings

These Santa Muerte rituals for cleansing and protection go beyond prayer: for the atmosphere of your home, your body, your vehicle and specific requests. Read each one in full before you begin, gather the materials calmly and, where one asks for it, follow the safety note to the letter.

Santa Muerte rituals and cleansings on this page

• Cleansing ritual for the home and the body
• To protect your vehicle from accidents and theft
• A bath to drive away bad luck
• The hand of Santa Muerte
• The five-pointed star: a protection ritual

Cleansing ritual for the home and the body

When to do it: It is done before any other important ritual or prayer, to begin in a space free of heavy energy.

Materials:

• A white candle
• Cleansing incense in grains: equal parts frankincense, myrrh, rue and lavender, with a pinch of chili powder
• A mortar to grind the incense
• An incense burner
• A glass cup with water and a pinch of salt

Steps:

1. Start by tidying and physically cleaning the space: a spiritual cleansing does little good on top of clutter.
2. Grind in the mortar as much incense as you need to smoke the room.
3. Light the candle and breathe calmly, imagining the heavy energy leaving your body little by little until it burns away completely.
4. Silently bless the water, the salt and the incense, and add the salt to the water.
5. Walk through every corner of the house with the lit incense burner, pausing for a moment in each one and letting the smoke out.
6. Imagine a light that spreads and surrounds the whole house.
7. Do the same in front of each door and window, saying softly: "I bless this door" (or "this window", "this room"), as the case may be.
8. When you finish with the incense, take the cup of salt water and go around the walls tracing a small cross with it.
9. Go back to where you started and check in your mind whether any corner still feels dark or heavy.
10. Let the candle burn out completely and dispose of the remains.

To protect your vehicle from accidents and theft

When to do it: It can be done on any day of the week.

Materials:

• Five liters of plain water
• One liter of Santa Muerte lotion (sold in botánicas and esoteric shops)
• A little holy water
• A jar of success honey with a consecrated stone inside
• A small red pouch

Steps:

1. Wash the outside of the vehicle well.
2. Mix the plain water with the Santa Muerte lotion and the holy water.
3. Take out the stone that comes in the jar of success honey, put it in the red pouch and place it in the glove compartment as a safeguard.
4. Add the rest of the honey to the water mixture and stir well.
5. Clean the inside of the car from the inside out: seats, dashboard, steering wheel.
6. As you do it, entrust your car and your journeys to Santa Muerte, asking her to keep you from all danger.
7. Repeat this cleansing as often as you feel you need it.

A bath to drive away bad luck

When to do it: It is customary to do it on a Tuesday, early in the morning.

Materials:

• A packet of herbs against envy (follow the instructions on the packet)
• Four red roses
• A bottle of Santa Muerte lotion
• A small glass of rum
• A gold candle
• Five liters of water

Steps:

1. Bring the five liters of water to a boil with the whole packet of herbs and the petals of the four roses.
2. Let it simmer for about three minutes.
3. Strain the water and, once it is no longer hot enough to burn, slowly add the rum and the Santa Muerte lotion, mixing well.
4. Bathe as usual and then pour this water over your whole body, from head to toe.
5. Dry yourself and, if you can, dress in white.
6. Pass the gold candle (unlit) over your body, from head to toe, as if cleansing yourself with it.
7. Light it and say this prayer:

If you have an altar dedicated to Santa Muerte, leave the gold candle burning there. Repeat this cleansing as often as you need.

The hand of Santa Muerte

When to do it: On a Friday at noon.

Materials:

• A bone-colored Santa Muerte statuette whose right hand is jointed (it can be removed)
• A sheet of white paper
• Tobacco (a cigar or a cigarette)
• A white Santa Muerte candle
• A new needle
• Wax for sealing (do not use tape or glue)

Steps:

1. With the new needle, write your most important wish on the white candle: it can be about work, money, success, love or protection.
2. Write the same wish on the sheet of paper, in black or blue ink.
3. Place the tobacco on the paper and roll it up like a small cigarette, sealing it with wax.
4. Put that little roll in the statuette's jointed right hand.
5. Light the candle in front of Santa Muerte, say the prayer you prefer and ask with all your heart for your wish to come true.

The five-pointed star: a protection ritual

When to do it: Some devotees do it in the early hours, around three in the morning.

Materials:

• Thirteen white or red candles
• Coarse salt
• A small mirror
• A sheet of white paper
• Cane alcohol
• A fireproof metal or clay plate

Steps:

1. Arrange the thirteen candles in a circle on the fireproof plate and light them.
2. While they burn, make a five-pointed star with the coarse salt and place the mirror in the center.
3. Before the candles begin to go out on their own, say the Santa Muerte prayer of your choice.
4. Write your request on the white paper, along with the name of the person you are asking for.
5. When only one candle is still lit, pour a little alcohol over the salt, always on the fireproof plate, and light it with that last candle.
6. Burn the paper with your request there.
7. Devotees say that if the mirror cracks from the heat, the request will be granted soon.

It is not recommended to repeat this ritual more than three times in a row.

For a specific request without a ritual, see the Santa Muerte prayers, or say one each day with the weekly prayers.