Lucha Libre Patron Saint, Folk Art

In Mexico, lucha libre -- the masked wrestlers -- recently had a celebration to honor their patron saint of their profession. That patron saint is the Virgin of Guadalupe, or Our Lady of Guadalupe. BBC News - Lucha libre wrestlers pay homage to their patron saint

Lucas Lorenzo, artist. From Sacred Art Pilgrim.

I found the Sacred Art Pilgrim site on Mexican folk art. Artist Lucas Lorenzo, along with family members, are "panel painters" -- painting on Masonite. (When I started painting decades ago I couldn't afford canvas but did have access to a lot of Masonite, which I used for painting surfaces. Both sides: the rough or back side had a texture that was oddly interesting to paint on.)

I wrote about Lucha Libre -- a topic I am curious about but really know very little of -- some time back for Tim Binnall's site. Seeing the Virgin; Tricksters Take it to the People, and Fun with Lucha Libre's Esoteric Side.

Santa Muerte (Saint Death)

One of my favorite blogs, Mystic Politics, has a brief item about "Santa Muerte" the Saint of Death.

"While tens of thousands of Mexicans have lost their lives in the ongoing drug war, millions more have become devoted to death. Saint Death (Santa Muerte) is a skeletal folk saint whose cult has proliferated on both sides of the border over the past decade. The Grim Reapress (she's a female figure) has rapidly become one of the most popular and powerful saints on both the Mexican and American religious landscapes. Although condemned as satanic by both Catholic and Protestant churches, she appeals to millions of Mexicans and Latin American immigrants in the U.S. on the basis of her reputedly awesome supernatural powers. ~ sources: Huffington Post

Santa Muerte, or The Grim Reapress, is a folk image/entity/icon. As such,like many folk images, she is outlawed by authorities and institutions. Since Saint Death is a protectress of the criminal and the murderous, her images, as well as conspicuous homages to her, are quashed:

The current administration of Felipe Calderon has even declared her religious enemy number one of the Mexican state. In March 2009, the Mexican Army bulldozed dozens of her roadside shrines in the border cities of Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros. But providing protection to narcos is just one of Saint Death's multiple roles. She is also a supernatural healer, love doctor, money-maker, lawyer and angel of death. ~ source: R. Andrew Chestnut,Huffington Post.

'La Catrina' by Rodolfo Cartas

The duality is interesting too: adopted by the criminals, the outsiders, but also by another type of outsider: those needing help in every day matters concerning money, illness, love, the law...and, death, which gets us all. It's interesting the saint is a female. R. Andrew Chestnut, author of the Huffington Post article that Mystic Politics links to, addresses this:

No introduction to Saint Death would be complete without consideration of one of her most unique characteristics -- her gender identity. While folk saints abound in the Americas, and other supernatural skeletons work miracles in Guatemala and Argentina, Santa Muerte stands alone as the sole female saint of death from Chile to Canada. Her asexual skeletal form contains no hint of femaleness. Rather it is her attire and, to a lesser extent, her hair that define the saint as female. Devotees and manufacturers of mass produced images of the Bony Lady usually dress her as a nun, the Virgin, a bride or queen.

(I wonder about Catrina, the famous Day of the Dead skeletal figure -- is she as common/popular? It's not quite the same meaning, from my limited understanding; Day of the Dead, while maybe morbid to some of us gringos, isn't a negative celebration, and it doesn't share the same context as Saint Death. While both are female images, both are of the people, and both are vilified by authorities, they aren't the same.)

Another post I found: Pagan Spirits: Santa Muerte -Saint Death with comparisons to other female dieties of death, including, to my surprise, the Virgin of Guadalupe, who one doesn't usually think of in this context:

The Virgin of Guadalupe’s indigenous antecedent is Tonatzin, the Moon Goddess, a milder aspect of Coaticue. Coaticue was the Lady of the Serpent Skirt, the creator-goddess who gave birth to all the deities and to earthly life as well. At death, she swallowed living things back into her body. She was also goddess of the moon and stars. She wore a necklace of skulls (like India’s Kali) and, as her name implies, a skirt of serpents. She is sometimes depicted as wearing a skirt made from the penises of her sacrificial victims.

Mary and Buddha in Cellophane, and a New Tradition

The Virgin, Buddha, silver sequin, conquistador

I bought this a few years ago during Dia de los Muertos. It's very small, about 2 1/2 inches all around. Inside the little cellophane packet is an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, what I think is a horse shoe, a Buddha, what looks to be a conquistador, sequins and glitter.

I found this tucked away in the room of doom that I'm cleaning out. Glad I found it; I started a new tradition for myself last year, and am already working on it for this year. It started out with an altar during Dia de los Muertos , but then I extended it and ended up keeping the altar -- which I turned the whole mantel piece into -- through to Hanukkah-Christmas. This year, I'll have my altar up Oct 1st, and take it down when Hanukkah starts.

Back: "Hecho en Mexico: made in Mexico"

The elements in my altar are from many traditions that I either grew up with: Roman Catholic, Latino, Jewish, Celtic, or later discovered as part of my heritage: Native, pagan-Wiccan... and a bit of Halloween motifs thrown in as well.

Last year, having the altar gave me a peaceful, connected feeling. I was surprised at that, I didn't expect to have the altar up for so long or to have it resonate so deeply with me.  I'm looking forward to assembling the altar again this year.

9 Approved Apparitions

The nine Vatican approved Marian apparitions, according to this site.

Taking it to the People, Tricksters ...

My new Trickster's Realm column for Binnall of America will be up sometime tomorrow: Seeing the Virgin: Tricksters Take it to the People.

Mexican Wrestlers and a BVM Image

There's a great post over at Cabinet of Wonders about Mexican wrestlers visiting a "shrine" of the BVM, who appeared on a griddle at the Las Palmas restaurant: Masked wrestlers declare BVM appearance a miracle. This has a lot of Fortean juxtapositions and history here; goes beyond a mere image of Mary on a potato chip kind of thing.

Visions Of The Virgin Mary by Courtney Roberts,takes an astrological journey into BVM apparitions.

The Growing Latina Population; What Does This Mean For Non-Latino Women In the Womens Spirituality Movement?

The Growing Latina Population; What Does This Mean For Non-Latino Women In the Womens Spirituality Movement. from the Mother Lover Goddess blog.

Slightly Revised UFO Mary Download

It's still free, and it's still available, just a different color cover and the addition of Richelle Hawk's photograph that accompanies her article. Click on the BVM image in the menu on your right to get there.

Nude Virgin Mary on Playboy Cover Offends

(Er, I kind of can see why it would . . .)

This isn't paranormal or UFO related in any way, but it's still odd:

Nude Virgin Mary cover prompts Playboy apology

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A nude model resembling the Virgin Mary on the cover of the Mexican edition of Playboy magazine, published only days before a major Mexican festival dedicated to the mother of Jesus, prompted the company's U.S. headquarters on Friday to apologize.

The magazine, which hit newsstands on December 1 as ceremonies began leading to Friday's pilgrimage to the Mexico City shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, showed a model wearing nothing but a white cloth over her head and breasts.

Project Gutenburg: Free e-book on Mexico and Religion

image: TEMPLE OF THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE

The Project Gutenburg site (a fantastic site) has the following offering:MEXICO AND ITS RELIGION;WITH INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN THAT COUNTRY DURING PARTS OF THE YEARS 1851-52-53-54,AND HISTORICAL NOTICES OF EVENTS CONNECTED WITH PLACES VISITED, By
ROBERT A. WILSON, 1855. It's free to all, in e-book form: click here for details.

I haven't read it yet; but plan to. Here's a sampling of topics from random chapters:

Chapter I
Arrival at Vera Cruz.—Its appearance from the Steamer.—Getting Ashore.—Within the City.—Throwing Stones at an Image.—Antiquity of Vera Cruz.—Its Commerce.—The great Norther of 1852.—A little Steamer rides out the Tempest.—The Vomito, or Yellow Fever.—Ravages of the Vomito.—The Vomito brought from Africa in Slave-ships.—A curious old Book.—Our Monk arrives at Vera Cruz, and what befalls him there.—Life in a Convent.—A nice young Prior.—Our Monk finds himself in another World

CHAPTER XVIII
Visit to Contreras and San Angel.—The End of a brave Soldier.—A Place of Skulls.—A New England Dinner.—An Adventure with Robbers—doubtful.—Reasons for revisiting Mexico.—The Battle at the Mountain of Crosses.—A peculiar Variety of the Cactus.—Three Men gibbeted for robbing a Bishop.—A Court upon Horseback.—The retreat of Cortéz to Otumba.—A venerable Cypress Grove.—Unexpectedly comfortable Quarters.—An English Dinner at Tezcuco.—Pleasures unknown to the Kings of Tezcuco.—Relics of Tezcuco.—The Appearance of the Virgin Mary at Tezcuco.—The Causeways of Mexico

Naturally, I'm interested in the last two: Relics of Tezcuco and The Appearance of the Virgin Mary at Tezcuco.

Now here we're getting somewhere:

CHAPTER XXI.
Walk to Guadalupe.—Our Embassador kneeling to the Host.—An Embassador with, and one without Lace.—First sight of Santa Anna.—Indian Dance in Church.—Juan Diego not Saint Thomas.—The Miracle proved at Rome.—The Story of Juan Diego.—The holy Well of Guadalupe.—The Temple of the Virgin.—Public Worship interdicted by the Archbishop.—Refuses to revoke his Interdict.—He fled to Guadalupe and took Sanctuary.—Refused to leave the Altar.—The Arrest at the Altar

From the JREF: The Latest Virgin News

From the James Randi site, The Amazing Randi comments on a letter he received from a fellow skeptic and anti-woo. (Randi comments on a letter: The Latest Virgin News.) The letter writer is astounded by the beliefs of "woos" in regards to a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (For those unfamiliar with James Randi, he is a so-called skeptic, really, a pathological debunker. He's also an author and was a stage magician, and has been around for decades. His site is full of skeptic links and news, including a very busy and popular forum.) The letter writer describes a news item he saw about Our Lady of Guadalupe, where the religious can hear the heartbeat by putting their ear up to the painted pregnant Virgin, or see her eye move.

I'm not sure why this letter writer, as well as Randi's, responses bother me. It's not that I believe that the faithful can hear the heartbeat in the pregnant painted stomach, or that Mary's eye moves. I'm not even a Christian. So what do I care?

Part of it is simply the rude attitude on the part of Randi, the letter writer, and the ones who left comments. Insults and rudeness are a given in that crowd, and they feel perfectly justified, for they will tell you they have the right. When it comes to combating base superstition, anything goes, they say. Another reason it bothers me is because clearly, as with all things like this, things simply aren't so black and white. Much more is afoot, and sometimes it is magic, (or magick) sometimes it's devious aliens with advanced technology, it's a symbiotic dance between ourselves, our inner selves, and out there . . . it's many things, manifesting in many ways, through many things, including icons, religious symbols, . . .

There is a line most of draw in this context. I have no patience, or politeness, for those who use religion to persecute or oppress. Homophobics and misogynists, child abusers, and those who want to impose a theocracy on the rest of us deserve our outrage.

But that's a different context.

Rational explanations are given by some on the Randi forum for this vulgar display of relgious faith. A common one is that in times of cultural or political anxiety, people start believing weird shit. Sigh.

If one believes in aliens, one could say it's the aliens having fun with us. If one believes that the mind and spirit work together in fantastic ways, one could suggest that the eye of Mary really does move -- for them. Who can say?