Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
7” x 7” vinyl sticker. Sized to wrap around a standard seven day jar candle. These stickers are translucent, allowing the light of the candle to shine softly through as it burns. A green, silver, or white candle is recommended.
Original artwork and design by Heron Michelle.
This original devotional artwork honors Santa Muerte—Holy Death, a beloved Mexican folk saint and personification of Death. I created the original illustration by hand in ink and paint on vellum, building the image in layers that were later integrated using canva digital software.
Santa Muerte appears enthroned within a candlelit shrine, crowned in roses and radiant golden rays and draped in elaborately embroidered robes. She bears her traditional scythe and globe, accompanied by the owl, hourglass, skulls, rosaries, crucifix, and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Her altar overflows with offerings drawn from contemporary Santa Muerte devotion and Mexican traditions of remembrance: candles, copal smoke, tequila, fresh fruit, bread, coins, flowers, roses, and brilliant orange marigolds.
I wanted especially to honor the distinctly Mexican and popular Catholic context from which modern Santa Muerte devotion emerges. Although the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize or approve her veneration, many of Santa Muerte's devotees understand their practice through familiar Catholic forms of prayer, rosaries, saints, crucifixes, candles, and petitions. She has become particularly beloved among people who live at society's margins—including the poor, migrants, prisoners, sex workers, and LGBTQ+ communities—who may find in Holy Death a powerful protector who receives them without judgment. https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/emisferica-13-1-states-of-devotion/13-1-essays/santa-muerte-saint-of-the-dispossessed-enemy-of-church-and-state.html
For that reason, four words surround the candle wrap image: Protection • Justice • Acceptance • Liberation.
The accompanying altar card expands upon her history and contemporary devotional traditions, including her epithets, sacred symbols, traditional offerings, and the meanings of the colored votive candles used by devotees.
Above all, I sought to portray Santa Muerte as Death made holy, rather than frightening or sinister: to me she is beautiful, inevitable, impartial, and welcoming. Before Holy Death, distinctions of wealth, status, gender, sexuality, and worldly power ultimately fall away. She reminds us that Death comes for us all—and that even at the threshold of mortality, we may encounter mystery, dignity, protection, and sacred acceptance.
7” x 7” vinyl sticker. Sized to wrap around a standard seven day jar candle. These stickers are translucent, allowing the light of the candle to shine softly through as it burns. A green, silver, or white candle is recommended.
Original artwork and design by Heron Michelle.
This original devotional artwork honors Santa Muerte—Holy Death, a beloved Mexican folk saint and personification of Death. I created the original illustration by hand in ink and paint on vellum, building the image in layers that were later integrated using canva digital software.
Santa Muerte appears enthroned within a candlelit shrine, crowned in roses and radiant golden rays and draped in elaborately embroidered robes. She bears her traditional scythe and globe, accompanied by the owl, hourglass, skulls, rosaries, crucifix, and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Her altar overflows with offerings drawn from contemporary Santa Muerte devotion and Mexican traditions of remembrance: candles, copal smoke, tequila, fresh fruit, bread, coins, flowers, roses, and brilliant orange marigolds.
I wanted especially to honor the distinctly Mexican and popular Catholic context from which modern Santa Muerte devotion emerges. Although the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize or approve her veneration, many of Santa Muerte's devotees understand their practice through familiar Catholic forms of prayer, rosaries, saints, crucifixes, candles, and petitions. She has become particularly beloved among people who live at society's margins—including the poor, migrants, prisoners, sex workers, and LGBTQ+ communities—who may find in Holy Death a powerful protector who receives them without judgment. https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/emisferica-13-1-states-of-devotion/13-1-essays/santa-muerte-saint-of-the-dispossessed-enemy-of-church-and-state.html
For that reason, four words surround the candle wrap image: Protection • Justice • Acceptance • Liberation.
The accompanying altar card expands upon her history and contemporary devotional traditions, including her epithets, sacred symbols, traditional offerings, and the meanings of the colored votive candles used by devotees.
Above all, I sought to portray Santa Muerte as Death made holy, rather than frightening or sinister: to me she is beautiful, inevitable, impartial, and welcoming. Before Holy Death, distinctions of wealth, status, gender, sexuality, and worldly power ultimately fall away. She reminds us that Death comes for us all—and that even at the threshold of mortality, we may encounter mystery, dignity, protection, and sacred acceptance.
