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Milagros Love Amulet Most spells that are used in Mexican magic are love spells, and a lot of them involve such elements as amulets, milagros, and the belief in the powers of saints and folk saints. This is something that is part of the folk religion of Mexico, known as curanderismo.
This amulet uses the powers of two popular saints in Mexico. One is Santa Elena de la Cruz, and the other is La Santisima Muerte.
The concept of this magic is that one symbolically takes one of the three nails from the True Cross, the one that Santa Elena did not use for another purpose, and one nails it through the heart of her lover to make him loyal, or to make him come back when he has gone astray. There is a milagro - a Mexican religious charm, that shows a heart with a daggar in it, and this is associated with this same concept. Its roots go back to the Roman god Cupid, who shoots an arrow through a person's heart to make him fall in love.
My friend Manuela is a curandera who is really a priestess of the Santísima Muerte - the sort of “Mexican Kali”, whose roots are firmly planted in Mesoamerican culture. The main function, so to speak, of the Santisima Muerte is to bring a man back to his owner - his wife or girlfriend, that is. She taught me part of this business. The rest I learned from another curandera named Cuquita.
In this charm, there is employed the heart milagro with a daggar through it. This symbolizes the ritual that the woman does of symbolically nailing one of the nails from the True Cross of Santa Elena in the heart
of her man, to make him come back and kneel at her feet. The head of the figure swings to one side to reveal a skull, which is carved from real bone. This invokes a notion that is linked to the Santisima Muerte. It is a symbol of the soul and of eternal life, because it is believed that, just as your skeleton remains after your flesh has rotted away, your soul remains after your body dies. This is an ancient concept inherited from the Mexican Indians, before the arrival of the Spanish, that the skeleton would have a connection to the soul and symbolize it. This connection had its counterpart in Europe, and these beliefs and practices reinforced themselves and each other in Mexican cosmic understanding, such that appeals to the soul of a person would be symbolized also by skulls, bones, and skeletons. This is why there are prayers to the soul of the person in the the prayers or spells of these folk saints.
Translation into English of the prayer:
Prayer to Santa Elena of the Cross
Most loving Mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine
Daughter of King and Queen
To the Mount of Olives you went
Through you overwhelming love
Thus to Divine Jesus
The three nails of Our Lord Jesus Christ
One you threw into the sea
For the salvation of sailors
Another you nailed into a dedicated object
The third I drive into the heart of (name of person)
So that he may not be able to eat
Nor in a bed sleep
Nor in a chair sit
Nor with men nor women converse
Nor have even one minute of rest
Until he is surrendered at my feet.
If this which I desire were to me conceited
I will be your most loving and sincere devotee. Amen
Original prayer in Spanish:
Oración a Santa Elena de la Cruz
Madre Amantísima de Constantino Emperador Romano
Hija de Rey y Reina
Al Monte de Olivete Fuiste
Por vuestro entrañable amor
Así al Divino Jesús
Los tres clavos de nuestro Señor Jesucristo
Uno lo tiraste en al mar
Para la salvación de los navegantes
Otro lo clavaste en un objeto dedicado
El tercer yo lo clavo en el corazón de fulano
Para que no pueda comer
Ni en cama dormir
Ni en silla sentar
Ni con hombres ni mujeres hablar
Ni un solo momento de reposo
Hasta que se rinde a mis plantas
Si esto que deseo me fuera concedido
Yo seré tu más amante y sincero devoto. Amén
Santa Elena was the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, who declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire, after he won a major battle before which a cross appeared in the sky over the battlefield with the words “In hoc signo vencis” (In this sign you shall conquer - the same as the slogan on a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes). After this miraculous event took place, Constantine converted to Christianity and required that all of his subjects do the same, and the world witnessed a watershed event. After that, being concerned now, especially with the subject of the Holy Cross, Constantine’s mother, Santa Elena, set out to find the One True and Holy Cross (“Veracruz” in Spanish), and when she succeeded, and brought it back to Constantinople, where it would become one of the symbols of temporal power of the newly sanctified by God Roman Imperial throne, she paved the way for her own sainthood, and thereafter, in any Holy Images of herself, one would see the symbol of her own contribution to Christendom, the presence of the Holy Cross. She has been a popular saint in Mexico, and near our own town of Ojinaga is the village of Santa Elena, where she is the patron saint, and near to that, Santa Elena Canyon in the Big Bend, which also gets it name, ultimately, from this saint.
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From Fausto's Art Gallery in Ojinaga, Chihuahua.
(Shipped from Presidio, Texas)
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$10.00 dollars plus $3.00 shipping and handling |
