I have been going deeper, and in a new way, with the color aspects of Santa Muerte. Today I had a vision and realization of the Red, White, and Black as it pertains to my own life and path.
As they are personalities aspects of Santa Muerte, I can also see the reflection of my sides. The Healer: The White is a representation of the healer, the nurturer, the gentle mother, the Hope, the water, new beginning/ creator. The Warrior: The Black is a representation of the warrior, the leader, the Tower, the destroyer. The Red is the Guardian/ Warrior of Heart: both sides, black and white, and the measure depends on the situation/ actions, words, moves of another.
Some situations require more warrior – not from vengeance but Justice and protection. Because the movement comes in response to another’s actions, and chosen for purpose, not to just destroy/ hurt/ maim – the scale is tilted more black but the white is still there, a part of it, and mixed with it, just not in equal measure. When healing, you first have to find and clear the wound – thus you need black for some of it, but the white for the majority of it.
Just as I am not one thing, but many blended, so too are these emotions and movements. To be any other way would mean I would have to sit on the extreme side of one or the other – Vengeful and hateful on the extreme black – Denying, head in the sand, oblivious (toxic positivity) on the extreme white. My foundations, my practices, my life is built around my understanding of dualities, the overlaps and measures between the sides to create balance and alignment between them. Not balance in equal measure, but the right balance for the situation at hand.
None of this is new, but the deeper perspective gave this a whole new feel and added meanings for me.
La Roja Santa Muerte, The Red, is the Emotions. The fire behind the movement, the Will. Emotions is what fuels our actions, as well as, the fuel of our magic. It is emotions that shape the frequency and vibration of our energy. It is emotion that drives our magic, that shifts the strings on the Web, to create, alter, or break the cycles or patterns we are focusing on. That is not all She is, but it is a heavy aspect I am feeling.
I would say She even encompasses my Guardian aspect. We guard because of emotion. We protect out of emotion. We guard that which we love, that which is sacred to us, that which is close to our heart. We act based on that.
Emotion may be the energy that moves the world. The fire within us, the spark, the connection, the driving force of life and of living experience.
Women are demonized for it and Men are conditioned to push it down and ignore that they have them. Control the emotion, and you control the world. It is why fear is so important to our opposition. Fear breeds anger, hate, and violence because the flight or fight response is triggered by fear. Long term fear wears us down, wears down the physical body, the mind, and the emotions. We become numb. We turn inward, not to illuminate but to hide and shelter.
I am not all light or all dark. I do not live in extremes, I live in an ever-changing balance and alignment between the two sides. Whether you get more warrior or more healer/nurturer all depends on you and your choices/ actions.
I will say again, this new mode of the Red is very interesting to say the least.