Santos & Signs Oracle Cards: Reclaiming the Heart of Devotion

Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash yesterday. My prayers go out to the entire family for the grief they are no doubt experiencing, and this event is also an opportunity to discuss something our culture avoids at every turn. Death is sensationalized in our popular media and …

EVENT: Santos & Signs: Holy Intermediaries for Sacred Journeys Online Workshop

The two new Santos and Signs—Holy Intermediaries for Sacred Journeys divination decks are modern prayer cards for all your pilgrimages of the soul. Whether your quests are within or without, these portable icons offer divine guidance for all of your voyages between the worlds. This new online course is a perfect introduction to working with the decks …

Mother Mary Cemented In: New Mexico Cemeteries Part 3

How does it get any better than this, brilliant beaming New Mexico skies, ravens chattering away, and the absolute perfection of the imperfection in the Ojo Caliente cemetery? This is my third blog post on New Mexico cemeteries, and there were a few new finds today, including multiple Mother Mary forms cemented into the hand-made headstones …

Santa Ysabel Mission Cemetery & Salton Sea Mary in a Temple Cage

Bondage Angels and Disintegrating Saints-New Mexico’s Wild Cemeteries

New Mexico in October may be as close to heaven as we will ever get. The light and colors, the earth and the sky all conspiring to blow your mind with its vast, mysterious beauty. This is my third post about the gaudy and glorious cemeteries here and I hope you enjoy the riotous devotion …

Mary and Jesus Made My Day: More New Mexico Cemeteries

Continuing the adventure joy of the last post here on Traveling Tintypes, Cosmic Caves, and Barefoot in the Bosque this was a single day filled with northern New Mexico's gloriously gaudy Catholic cemetery culture. And I say gaudy with great respect. The ability to layer different colors and textures in an explosive, wild, devotional manner is …

Cemeteries for Recovering Perfectionists: God I Love New Mexico

I must have had some very good lifetimes as a Latin Catholic. My ancestors were German Lutheran preachers, but somehow I have always been in love with Mary, Jesus, and Our Lady of Guadalupe. My German grandmother had a bust of Mother Mary that she would stroke with a vaseline covered rag every day to honor …