The Great Secret of Holy Death
Sitting on the floor
This image is used as a symbol of humility and devotion. It is placed on simple altars, but it is as powerful as any other figure.
Standing
This is the most well-known position. It is a whole-body figure covered with a robe from head to toe, with a strip round the waist, and the sleeves of the cloak covering three quarters of the body. The figure is holding the world (which represents that the power of God over all life existing in this world is in its hands), a book, a scythe, a torch or a scale.
This Holy Death transmits strength and majesty, it symbolizes protection and sanctity.
This figure can be found in other Catholic altars, since it is the equivalent to the Christian Virgin.
Wherever this skeletal figure is placed, it is always seen with great respect and spiritual firmness. It has been represented with the great mystical depth of the white colour. The robe represents personal progress, health and prosperity in any aspect.
With open arms
It represents the defence, protection and benevolence of a mother. No matter what social class you belong to, you will always be welcomed into her arms. The Holy Death will help you in any situation, no matter how difficult it may be. The robe is baggier. In one hand there is the world, and in the other, a scythe. This figure may be placed with other images as backup.
With an owl
The owl, that symbolizes the bond with the underground force, protects and stops all evil, it rejects and returns the negative energy.
The owl is an animal that warns you when there is hatred or evil in the environment. It is used in altars for protection and rejection.
The owl is usually between the feet.
The owl is a mystical animal par excellence that feeds at night since it has nightlife.
It is an animal that is always vigilant and watching that no evil energy or curse goes where this figure is placed and is one of the most akin to the Holy Death.
With a hourglass
This figure is usually standing and bent a little forward, dressed in a cloak and holding an hourglass.
It represents the time consumed by each living being, on the earthly plane. In the other hand there is an oil lamp, which represents the spiritual light of each devotee so the Holy Death can guide him or her in any situation no matter how difficult it may be.
From papier-mâché
These figures have their own energy because they are true works of art. They are hand-made and they are never the same, neither in size, shape or how they are painted or decorated. Papier-mâché figures are especially unique.
Pious
This form of Holy Death is sitting down, holding or carrying a human being.
This figure is holding the body of a person with one hand and his/her legs with the other. The head is slightly raised and looking forwards and upwards, begging for the Creator’s clemency for the devotees and for a fair trial; this Holy Death is always wearing a cloak.
If you have this figure, spiritual peace, abundance and harmony are granted.
Chapter 4 – Her Symbols
Scythe
The scythe is used to cut off all the negative energies sent by our enemies and free ourselves from any influence or evil sent to us.
Since scythes are also used to till, it symbolizes the harvest of a new hope and brings prosperity. In general, it cuts negative energies and provides security.
The Earth
The Earth represents the physical, economic or material part. It also contains the spiritual images that are concentrated in certain moments of time. It is the representation of the afterlife.
Having the world in the hand of the Holy Death means that you will achieve power in any field, and you will be ensured success in whatever you start. It gives you confidence, security, success, leadership ability, conquest and independence.
Hourglass
It is associated with the god of time in Greek mythology. It is a symbol of investment and the relationships between the afterlife and this world.
It has been linked to the ideas of perpetual movement of magical and divine beings.
The sand governs the time in our lives; we don’t have to live fast, but with full awareness of what we do and without looking for problems or complications. It helps us to have patience and to have confidence that all the proposed goals in life will be achieved, without hesitation.
We ask the Holy Death to have the time in our favour for what we need, whether slow or fast.
Owl
The owl is a nocturnal animal, whose sight is very sharp and has an infallible sense of direction. It represents our eyes and feelings. It helps us to move forward, despite being blind and confused by adversity.
We may not see the way out of a problem, but the owl will help us to stay the course in life and in the right direction.
It is also related to wisdom, helping to overcome your cultural expectations to act wisely. It boosts intelligence.
One of its skills is to act as the messenger of the Holy Death; therefore, it is useful for asking favours. In general, it helps to improve our intelligence, knowledge, ideas, creativity and orientation.
Lamp or lantern
It is a symbol of spirituality and intelligence. Light always shows us the right direction, the clarity and the decisions that will be taken in life. We can move forward if there is light.
It also accompanies us in times of darkness, or when we see that everything is a problem. It lifts us from ignorance and leads us to the truth. It makes us search within ourselves and think about the solutions to possible problems, without losing confidence in solving them.
It helps to have spiritual peace, clarity and harmony.
Scales
It is the mystical symbol par excellence of justice (Themis, the goddess of justice also carries a scale), and is of Chaldean origin. It is the balance between punishment and guilt.
The most common form of scale has two hanging plates -both the same size- arranged symmetrically, indicating that justice is impartial.
If the plates are asymmetrical, punishment and self-destructive forces are triggered, since the balance is broken.
It is associated with our balance, and the achievement of inner peace and happiness. In general, it helps us to have stability, peace, strength, security and self-confidence.
Chapter 5 – The colours of the Holy Death
The colours of the Holy Death’s cloak or robe have a special meaning. If the robe covers her from head to feet, it symbolises the way we try to hide our true personality, what we show is not what we are.
The cloth that covers the skeleton that represents the Lady is what we, as humans, try to disguise.
Our skin and our face is what we show: it’s unique and beautiful. But if we dig, we find the bones, the skull, which makes us all equal before the fate that awaits us which is Death.
White, black and red are the colours mostly used, but I hereby describe in detail all the other colours and their meaning.
Gold:
This colour represents economic power, money, success, liquidity. It is ideal for businesses or shops. The cloak should be all gold to enhance these qualities. It opens the roads in the economic aspect.
Bone or natural:
Natural colour helps to maintain peace, harmony and success wherever the figure is placed.
This colour is highly recommended for homes and businesses.
Red:
This colour has been related with love, sex and passion. It helps to maintain harmony with our partner and the people around us.
It represents emotional stability, it is ideal to have harmony in your family and that all the members of your house support each other.
If the figure is standing and has an owl between the feet, it represents everything related to love.
White:
It represents tranquillity and peace, total purification wherever the figure is placed. It helps to cleanse all the negative energy, mainly in homes where jealousies and family grudges abound.
Green:
This colour is associated with justice or legal issues.
It is advisable to have this figure in law firms.
It is very venerated by this group.
Amber:
This colour is used to treat drug addictions and alcoholism. It can be found in rehabilitation centres. The name of the sick person is usually placed under the image of the Most Holy Death and works wonderful and miraculous results with the patient.
Black:
It represents the total protection in our home or business: it avoids the bad influences of any work, negative energy, black magic, palo mayombe, santería, voodoo, etc. either against your family or in a business. It unlocks any spiritual damage made against you.
It also helps the person who owns this figure to achieve his/her goals and objectives without anybody bothering or finding out, hiding his/her true intentions in the eyes of potential enemies.
Blue:
It represents wisdom. It is the colour associated with studies and people related to teaching, since it helps to understand better and to explain ideas correctly. It enhances concentration.
Purple:
It represents transmutation; it changes negative energy to positive energy. It is also associated with health at any level, both spiritual and physical. This colour was widely used by shamans and healers. Some spiritual brothers also consider white a symbol of being healthy.
Yellow:
It is related to liquidity, prosperity and economic success, ideal for any type of business. It also implies strength and energy.
Pink:
It is related to love relationships, for finding a partner and for emotional stability. It is also associated with pride, feelings, softening hard hearts and everything related to feminine and friendship.
Silver:
Silver is linked to economic situations, considered as the colour of fortune or abundance it helps to bring money and success. People who spend their time and money gambling seek this colour.
Gamblers may sometimes be seen with a malachite stone or a silver-coloured Holy Death. Silver is also one of the best energy drivers and, when gambling, people always look for good energy for good luck.
Copper or grey:
By nature this colour represents firmness, and it is also related to economic issues.
In addition, it is also frequently used in rituals to disrupt any negative energy that may be in our path. It helps to unblock any economic problem, and to conclude or close any pending business. That is why this colour was included in the Holy Death’s cloak.
Coffee:
It facilitates communication with the supernatural, with the afterlife. It improves concentration and telepathy.
7 colours:
The Holy Death usually appears standing, with the position of firmness and security that characterises her, as the great spiritual lady and entity of light that she is.
In one hand, she is holding her faithful and inseparable scythe – so feared by some and so sought after by others; feared because it can end the life of every living being and sought because it cuts all the negative energy that is in our path. In her other hand she is holding the world, our home. This represents that she is a faithful servant of the Almighty Creator. You may also find the Holy Death holding a balance, which represents the balance on both the spiritual and the material plane of humans.
This type of figure is used to combine and boost the 7 colours and to carry out special works. The 7 colours are: gold, silver, copper, red, purple, green and blue.
Gold calls abundance, i.e. money. Red is the ideal colour of love and passion, it represents the image of passionate love and family. Purple is the colour of transmutation, it changes negative to positive and the health of the sick. Silver is linked to economic situations: considered as the colour of luck or abundance, it helps to bring money and success. Green represents justice. Copper disrupts all negative energies and blue symbolizes heaven and ocean, immensity and spirituality.
Chapter 6 – Altars and their Preparation, offerings
To worship the Holy Death you must prepare an altar. This altar represents the door that communicates with her, that attracts the energy of her kingdom to our world. It is a consecrated space where we place the objects and images that underpin our devotion, and fill us at a spiritual level.
However, I must state that setting up an altar in a country such as Mexico is not the same as preparing it in other countries in Europe or in the rest of the world.
To begin, I will describe how altars are prepared in Mexico from where they originate.
First of all, I recommend you to look for a special place that is spacious and comfortable. If you want to set up a private altar try not to show this place to curious people. It is better to keep it hidden, since its effects will be stronger with people who have faith and worship the Holy Death. Conversely, if it is a family altar, it should be set up in a quiet, well-ventilated room in which people can go to pray.
If possible, the walls of the altar should be black to protect the home, office or business, the ceiling purple, and the area of the altar should be covered with a purple veil in the form of a curtain. Set up the altar facing the wall where the sun sets: that is, oriented towards the west. Place a small table at the bottom of the altar and cover it completely with a black cloth or tablecloth (the cloth should reach the floor and cover all four sides of the table).
As far as possible, use utensils that are of natural origin so that the attraction of energy and light is more powerful.
The tablecloth may be changed depending on the colour needed for the requests; thus boosting the attraction of the right energy for each request.
Once you have the place to put your altar, make a box. This box should be a bit smaller than the altar and made of wood, iron, clay, metal or any other product of plant origin. The Holy Death will be placed on top of this box, at our own height or even at a higher position as a clear manifestation of respect. Line the box with a piece of fabric or velvet, – red on the inside and black on the outside-, and add a padlock or a small lock to it. This box will be called the depository. The objects of power that will serve as a guide to the celestial spirits towards the altar will be kept inside this box and the person in charge of the altar will guard its key.
It is recommended to keep in this box the bones of nocturnal animals or –in your case- memories of a deceased person, soil from the cemetery, ashes, or soil from archaeological places with great energy from our pre-Hispanic ancestors.
Quartz, magnets and other crystals should also be stored in this box.
When ready, wrap all these things up in a purple cloth –preferably-, and tie them with a thin black or purple ribbon. Then, put this package inside the depository and cover it with a black cloth.
Finally, place the Most Holy Death on top of the box and put candles on each side, together with the flowers and the incense. It is suggested to also put a clay plate, an ashtray and a crystal glass, which are the exclusive utensils of the Most Holy Death.
Tuesday is the most auspicious day to put up and consecrate this altar. It is perfect to do this in the mornings since the Holy Death has just woken up, she is very strong and has an entrepreneurial energy, and she loves challenges; in the evenings, she is in the fullness of her power, and at nights, the energy of the hidden forces manifest. To set up the altar, the person must be calmed and relaxed, without haste or worries because he or she must dedicate himself or herself in body and soul to the Holy Death.
As for the image of the Most Holy, you may choose any figure you like. They are usually made of clay, resin, fibreglass or papier-mâché with the different symbols that I mentioned before.
You must decide whether you want a full-body image, an image sitting down, or on a throne, etc. and also which colour you want depending on your spiritual needs. You can also put several saints, dedicated to special works and can place them with their own offerings. It is preferable that you choose an image that gives you confidence, faith and devotion.
You can also choose a printed image or a picture of the Holy Death, if you have no space. You should also choose the one that inspires you the most, and gives you confidence, faith and devotion. The way the Holy Death is represented does not matter, since she is in all her different forms.
The advantage of choosing a picture or an image is that you can carry it around, and take it and put it anywhere.
To continue the altar must be consecrated.
This must be done by someone who knows and manages energies in the mortuary theme, and everybody should choose the person they trust the most. However, if it is your own altar and you do it yourself, you can ask for it with a lot of faith, since you will be the one who will attend it and worship it. For this, you will have to clean yourself first and then clean the altar. Before doing any ritual, it is very important that you do this: you must wash yourself and purify your body, soul and spirit. You must take a hot bath to open the pores to help you to receive the energies you are about to generate.
Then, you have to dress in white and while you are getting dressed you must pray:
Oh! Lord, forgive me I beseech you,
I have had mistakes, but I regret,
I ask for your forgiveness, for all the evils
that I have consciously and unconsciously caused,
I offer you good behaviour,
since the forces that I invoke are in good faith
and I do not intend to do any harm,
but I do it because I think
in the happiness of this person and mine,
if You decide otherwise, I accept it.
Pray 3 Lord’s Prayers and 3 Hail Marys.
Cleansing Ritual
This must be done before doing any other ritual, since the environment must be clean from energies to invoke the Holy Death.
Ingredients:
– 1 mortar to mix everything
– 1 white candle
– cleaning mix (as a granular mixture): one part of incense, one part of myrrh, one part of rue, one part of lavender, a pinch of chilli powder
– 1 censer to put the mixture
– 1 glass with salt and water
To begin with, you must wash yourself as I said before, because it is essential that the environment is clean and cleanliness is done on the physical plane.
Use the mortar to mix the cleaning mixture, enough to perfume and purify the environment you want to clean. When you are ready to start, light the candle and relax, visualise the negative energy leaving your body and see how you are washing yourself. Let the candle burn to the end and throw what is left (even if it has not been completely burnt out).
It is important that when you have finished cleaning yourself in the inside, you visualise that all this negative energy burns and disappears.
Bless the water, salt and incense (you may also use holy water), and add a pinch of salt to the water. Then, go around the corners of all the rooms in the house with the censer. Stop at every corner and let some smoke out. Visualise a light that expands and starts to wrap the whole house.
Stop at each door and each window, doing the same thing and saying the following: I bless this… (door, window, room, house).
When you finish, take the glass with salt and water and walk around the house making a cross with the glass on all the walls of the house. Finally, go back to the place where you want to put the altar and mentally check if there was any place or dark space in which there could be negativity or you noticed it somewhere.
Cleansing the Altar
To carry out the spiritual cleansing you must do a rite and a petition to the Most Holy Death. These are the ingredients you need:
Ingredients:
– incense (any you like)
– liquors: spirits, mescal, tequila etc.
– 3 white candles
– flowers and vases
– 1 cigarette or cigar
– wooden matches
Use any flowers you can buy: if possible, it is better that someone gives them to you or that you cut them from your own flowerpots.
First, take a sip of the drink you have chosen. Then, take another sip and spray the drink that is in your mouth all over your site of worship. It is important that you only spread the contents of one sip, and make sure that the altar is in a well-ventilated place and without any flame lit to avoid accidents. Then, pray 3 Lord’s Prayers and 3 Hail Marys.
Fill the glass of the Holy Death with the drink. Then, light the cigarette or cigar with a wooden match and blow the smoke of the cigar on the altar and the image. You must do this nine times and then say the following prayer:
In the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
immaculate being of divine light,
I beg you to grant me the favours I ask,
until the last day, hour and moment
in which your Divine Majesty
commands to take me
before your presence.
Death dear to my heart,
do not forsake me of your protection.
So be it.
While praying, light the candles and the incense, and put the flowers in the vases. It takes 9 weeks to enshrine the altar; every Friday from the first Friday, you will say nine times this prayer or novena, with the candles lit and the incense burning, and changing the flowers when they begin to wilt because they must always look good.
The prayer for the enshrinement must not be interrupted, but if for any reason this happens, you must start again from the beginning; this might be a sign that you are not ready yet, or convinced to start the worship and handle such powerful energies.
In order to begin, the altar must be set up in this order: first the altar, and then the prayer to the Most Holy and some Lord’s Prayers. Once the tablecloth is placed, light a white candle dedicated to the Holy Death and pray again. Light the candle with your right hand. Once the candle is lit, place the image you have chosen on the altar. The image must have been washed one day before and left to dry in the open on the previous afternoon. To enhance her power, you may impregnate the image with the perfume you use. It is important not to do all this in front of people who are not from the house, so they do not disturb the Holy Death’s energies.
It is advised to cleanse the altar every 9, 18 or 27 days. If you miss the date, you can cleanse it on a Tuesday, preferably at noon; never in the early morning, afternoon or evening, or when there is bad weather.