Catholic Saint Magic
Introductory Guide to Saint Veneration & The Role of Saints in Folk Magic
Foreword
The magical capabilities of saints are an integral part of Folk-Catholic Mysticism. Saint Magic is demonized by the church and most Christians, who fail to grasp the cultural nuance of the practice.
Folk traditions that incorporate Catholic saints with magic are abundant and span a spectrum of different practices. Some adhere to doctrine, while others disregard it almost entirely. Many are rooted in an ancestral tradition or religion. Most don’t even use “magic” to describe their beliefs. In many cases, Catholic Magic is a gateway for lapsed, converted, and recovering Catholics to reengage the faith.
Feeling marginalized by the church makes much of Catholicism feel inaccessible. Reconciling the Church’s history of conquest, colonization, conversion, and abuse is often a major contributor to that inaccessibility.
The church’s stance on things like abortion, queer marriages, and women clergy are the most visible and vocal divisions between doctrine and devotee. It’s led to an overwhelming majority of cradle Catholics leaving the church in adulthood. Some find their way back, most look for an alternative. I found a comfortable home in a catholic inspired folk practice.
Folk-Catholics practice their faith with a unique balance of doctrine and defiance. The differences arise from cultural influences, the interweaving of an ancestral religion, and/or some flavor of animism. Most cultural nuances are considered Orthodox and accepted by the Church as valid forms of worship. Many more are not.
For folk practitioners building their spiritual praxis without a direct ancestral connection to a religious framework or cultural identity, figuring out how to pray to or invoke the aid of saints can seem complicated or too churchy to approach.
In solidarity with that struggle, I’m offering you a guide to Saint veneration, encompassing sourcing prayers, best practices, and how to incorporate magic, if you so choose. Add or remove what you like, tailor this guideline to fit your beliefs. Do not tailor your beliefs to fit this guideline.
Saint Veneration Made Simple
Saints are not holy in the same way that God is. While they are to be respected and held in high regard, they are not to be misattributed worship.
In doing so, we are mistaking a lightbulb for the sun. Or the Son, I guess.
Canonized Saints are innately human, and in a spiritual sense are on equal ground as us livings.
Because we’re equals, they do not receive worship from us, and even in veneration, only receive minimal offerings. In prayer and petition, we ask for their intercession, asking them to add their spiritual influence to our prayers in order to magnify them before God.
From some perspectives, Saints become regional managers who each oversee a specific department. They are experts in their field, in charge of daily operations, oversee complaints, and manage others under them. I find this overly corporate perspective a good gateway framework, but ultimately flawed. Interpreting God as a far-away CEO, disinterested or too self-important to intervene on the ground level, disregards the purpose of prayer entirely.
Our prayers, with or without a saintly cosign, are received by God and answered by God. Reclaiming this idea starts with reclaiming the details.
All methods of prayer unite the one with the many and the many with the one.
Steps to Saint Veneration
Have a need
Match your need with the patronage of a Saint
Search for prayers that speak to your needs and ask for the saint’s intercession.
Tell God what you need
Optionally, light a candle and read a Psalm or 2
Thank God, thank the saints for their assistance
Saint veneration is simple at its core. As we add more folksy or magical elements, it can become more complicated, but the essence of prayer is intentional connection to and vulnerability with the Creator.
The majority of your preparations will be in sourcing appropriate prayers and discerning the line between veneration and worship.
“Saints” that aren’t Saints.
These spirits may be referred to as a “Saint” by the general public. From the strictest Catholic perspective, beings such as angels, folk saints, and syncretic saints are distinct from Catholic saints.
I highlight them here not to disrespect these spirits, but to explain that the guidelines I present do not necessarily apply to them.
Angels
While some angelic beings like Michael and Gabriel are referred to as saints, they technically cannot be canonized because they predate the church and weren’t human.
Folk Saints
Folk saints are spirits honored as saints by a cult following. While often retaining Catholic elements, folk saints can develop their own religious practice. This religion is often influenced by indigenous or magical practices, frequently interwoven with catholic prayers, spirits, or ritual tools. These religions are often diminished by the church and demonized as evil.
Folk Saints are frequently the center of their belief system, thus receiving worship rather than veneration. Folk Saints often work in realms that are taboo to the church. Their patronages often care for the most marginalized of our society. Queer people, women, sex workers, and victims of sexual violence are often held close by folk saints. These spirits are special and deserve to be respected.
Syncretic Saints
In this context, saint syncretism refers to the intentional mixing of religions, likely as a result of forced conversion. They may share prayers, images, and names of catholic saints, but have their own rules regarding worship and veneration.
In all cases, practitioners who venerate these spirits may still identify as Catholic. It’s important to be sensitive to the cultural nuances of this religion and the wide impact it’s had on spirituality. Some Syncretic Saints are born out of preservation and necessity, others out of a need for safety; regardless, the faith people have in their spirits is to be held sacred by all of us.
Don’t be a dick in my comment section about this either.
Sourcing Prayer
This is an entertaining part of Saint research! Finding prayers always feels like combing through ancient magical tomes. When it comes to sourcing prayers, we have 2 options: find them or write them.
Finding Catholic prayers is quite easy; the most common prayers are widely available. You’ll likely have to search through poorly organized piles of prayers or search for a specific prayer based on the saint or patronage you’re working with. My favorite tool for finding prayers is an app called Laduate.
Written prayers primarily benefit from being adaptable. They’re fluid. You can use an established prayer as a template or create one from scratch that’s all your own. My only tip regarding rewriting an established prayer is understanding the intent and cultural context of a prayer before you alter it. Prayers like the Hail Mary seem straightforward, but have a lot of subtextual meaning and cultural context. If you’d like to explore the meaning of the Hail Mary, check out my micro lecture, Magnifying Mother Mary!
Don’t get too hung up on finding the perfect prayer. There are thousands of prayers out there, most saints have an abundance of prayers dedicated to them and their (sometimes many) patronages.
Discerning Patronage
Most catholic saints have a specific patronage, or sphere of influence. Typically, a saint’s patronage is dictated by the works they’ve done in life, the miracles they've performed, or their method of death. This patronage typically also upholds Catholic doctrine.
In folk traditions, we see those patronages expand to better suit the lives and needs of practitioners. St. Anthony is traditionally regarded as a patron saint who helps find lost things, such as lost faith, hope, or car keys. Yet, the folk tradition of St. Anthony finding a romantic partner is heretical and considered witchcraft despite being done with the aid of a saint and in the name of God.
We stumble upon an interesting paradox here. If the magic is done with saintly intercession, does its power come from the divine or the devil? Is anything shy of 100% dogmatic adherence truly evil?
It doesn’t matter, but asking this question is a great avenue to deconstruction.
When expanding past a prescribed patronage, we have a few tools. Practical association, wordplay, and reframing saintly patronages are typically the most accessible.
Practical association requests that we think critically about the intersection of our life and god’s will. Recognizing that St. Peter holds keys symbolically, we can take a sympathetic approach in asking his help in attaining keys of our own. When clients need help with housing, St Peter is the first saint I turn to.
Wordplay is the most fun. Dive into the multitude of writings about saints and holy figures, then use that liturgical language to suss out which saint can help. Asking the Sacred Heart of Jesus to soften or pierce the hearts of others is an immediate example. Tapping into your culture can also provide some good inspiration in this case.
I think the most effective method is reframing “patronage” as either “wheelhouse” or “sphere of influence”. Using some more woo-woo language can help break down religiously inspired rigidity. The goal of doing so is to more easily extrapolate the given catholic patronage. This type of expansion is commonly experienced in magical or mystical practices adjacent to Catholicism proper. St. Michael is accepted as a guide to the dead. You can expand that and ask him to help you develop mediumship or communicate safely with the dead.
Catholic Magic
Church-Approved “Magic”
Mysticism is the closest the church gets to magic. It’s an intentional and critical exploration of the faith’s core mysteries, like the resurrection of Christ, Mary’s perpetual virginity, and the intercession of the saints. It involves prayer, ritual, and meditation. While underutilized, mysticism is a core of the religion.
Folk Catholicism
While seen as heretical, Folk Catholicism is, in my opinion, the only true form of Catholicism. It’s authentic and unique to each practitioner while unifying them to the history of the church and the religion. I am, admittedly, skewing the line between “Folk Catholicism” and “Folk Catholic Magic” a bit here. I use them interchangeably, despite the nuanced differences. Not all folk Catholics practice magic.
That being said, if you are anti-folk magic, here’s where you jump off. We’re going to dive into methods of infusing magic into catholic mysticism. This is a heretic-only checkpoint.
Heresy
Defined by canon law #751 “Heresy is the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”. I take this as a very particular challenge to technically skirt by heresy while doing as much bruja shit as I can. I find the idea of heresy to be filled with hubris. To assume any congregation of men can fully and authoritatively dictate what is and isn’t god’s will is laughable. I fully don’t think our almighty creator cares all that much about the details of how you worship or find your destiny.
The Great Heresies are 13 examples of beliefs the church has condemned over the centuries. Often, these are disagreements between sects of Christianity that go unresolved and continually diverge from orthodoxy. I find most of them petty, so I’m not covering them here, but it’s interesting lore.
I find heresy to be a toothless accusation in almost all cases. Maybe this is the American in me, but I refuse to be told how to practice my religion. I believe that whatever practices support you best, you should continue.
Catholicism, while doctrinal, is a spectrum of belief and practice. Add or remove what feels good. That’s what every denomination has done since Jesus allegedly walked the earth. Everyone and their moms thinks they have apostolic succession and that this 2000-year-old religion is wholly unique and perfect. As if it’s not yet another Mediterranean Mystery Cult.
Evangelism & Malicious Compliance
Who can call themselves Catholic? Who gets to claim the faith made famous by stamping out other ways of life? Who dares to bear the name “Universal” while excluding another? It doesn’t matter. It’s just a name. It’s just a history. A legacy. A burden. Take up the mantle if you deem yourself strong enough.
My honest opinion is that Catholicism is inherently a semi-open religion. Evangilism (the spreading of the gospel) is a core tenet, with the goal of converting all souls. If they want to share so freely, we as their targets can lay equally free claim to the religion.
I specify Catholicism as semi-open because it does require a series of initiations: Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation. Each of which come with education, practice, ritual, and community support.
Fun fact, anyone can perform your baptism if it’s a matter of “necessity”.
I’m encouraging a malicious compliance with evangelization. An intentional reclamation of the catholic faith. Reverse colonization? IDK. You do you though. Initiation isn’t necessarily required to receive saintly intervention, especially when we are talking about something heretical like practicing magic. I wouldn’t worry about the church’s approval too much.
A saint’s role in magic
Archetypal - represents energy or goal of petition
In this case, the saint you’re petitioning is the goal or represents it. Commonly used when calling upon the saints for an amplification of our spiritual abilities. They can also represent your ideal, perhaps you aim to embody the qualities of a certain saint, so you emulate them ritually.
A guide - a model of behavior or spiritual ally
This particular role is most often fulfilled by the practitioner’s Guardian Angel. In a more personified way than previously, the saint becomes a tangible presence in the ritual. Either guiding your actions, encouraging you, or observing your behaviors. Many Christian mages treat St Ciprian as a guide in this way. Unconsciously, this happens consistently in Christian ritual. The Holy Spirit is thought to be present and actively guiding the ceremony in all cases.
A Ritual Component
This context gives a saint (or many) a singular purpose. They step back into more supportive roles. This framework gets a lot of shit for disrespectign the saint. Dectraters will claim that these spirits are being treated like spell ingredients rather than receiving due veneration.
An example from ceremonial magic: you can evoke each apostle to stand guard around your ceremonial space. Calling each of their names, assigning them a job, and reminding them of either their abandonment or adoration of Christ. With this approach, it’s important to reinforce the saint’s motivation or to assign one. (Scroll down, we talk about guilt trips & Saint punishing).
Purpose & Punishment
A Saint’s Motivation
Why do they aid in ritual and answer petitions? Rather than having individual motives, the church upholds that intervention is implicit to sainthood. They spent their lives in service to others, and they spend their afterlife similarly devoted to doing good in God’s honor.
When it comes to the expectation of an answered prayer, most saints are considered “good-natured”. Answering prayers based on the degree of sincerity or faith a prayer is offered with. Most folk practices are too grounded in necessity to accept that stance.
When relying on the kindness of saintly strangers fails, folk magicians have ways to force the saint’s help. Imploring good ole catholic guilt, shame, praise, adoration, and yes, punishment to demand a saint’s intervention.
When a Saint Refuses
In the strictest catholic sense, a rejected petition is signified by silence. In that space, you’re expected to take the loss on the chin and move on. We’re supposed to trust that, with their heightened foresight, the saint you petitioned thought answering your wishes would result in a worse outcome than ignoring it.
When we talk more spiritually, petitioning a saint is a perk of a developed relationship, not an exception. It’s the Holy Homie Hook-Up. A rejected petition may be a rejected relationship. The distinction is usually made with the aid of divination, but is easily discerned by examining the material tools of your ritual. A candle that refuses to light, self-extinguishing incense, or compounding chaos are the most common signs of a saint refusing to answer your petition. They may not align with your needs or temperment, may not like your ass, or may be aware of the biases youre bringing to the table.
Responding to Rejection
In the case of the rejected petition, you really only have a few options:
Adjust & try again
Give your petition a second thought, tweak some things, and try again.
Acceptance & Appreciation
Understand that the universe is conspiering on your behalf and that your petition would fuck up the grander shceme. Pack it up, say thank you, and move on.
Anger & Domination
Refuse to take no as an answer and fight. Force the saint’s hands through coercion.
Saint Coercion
Clutch your pearls, girls. Saint punishment is abjured by the church and the overwhelming majority of Catholics (folk or not). It’s the practice of mutilating, damaging, or harming an icon of a saint as retribution for ignoring or denying your petition. Punishing a saint can also be done through prayer. All Coercion isn’t the same; it spans a spectrum of violence, damnation, and compensation. Saints have a lot of patience and understanding.
Guilt & Shame
Guilt is no stranger to cradle catholics. The “Jesus died for you, the least you can do is go to church” mentality starts young. Within the context of saint coercion, our goal is to turn the tables on them to convince them to work for us. I earlier mentioned calling upon apostles to stand guard on the edge of a ritual circle. You go down the list from Peter to Bartholemew, remind them how they fell asleep in the garden, failed Jesus, or fled into hiding during Christ’s execution. The conjure will sound something like, “ I invoke St Peter the apostle to stand guard, defending me and my ritual from all evil… Do not deny me as you thrice denied Christ.”. Pretty tame, right? If you do your research, this kind of “little reminder” is pretty frequent in official prayers. Tailor it to the saint but use it with a gentle hand. Really compliment sandwich this one.
Inversion
Probably the most societally acceptable form of saint punishment. The immediate example is burying St Joseph upside down when you wish to sell a property. Inversion typically is done to a statue and involves the burial or suspension of the icon until your petition is answered favorably. The aftermath is apologetic and love-bomby. In the St Joseph example, once the house is sold, you’re to dig him up, clean him, and place in in an honored spot in your new home. This is usually paired with an offering of yellow and green flowers.
Mutilation
The intentionally violent destruction of an icon or image of a saint. This is straight up a threat. “Answer my petition or I’ll burn your face”. Many of these practices have a hidden cost. Often, a punished saint will seek retribution in kind. Burn an icon’s eyes with a cigarette? Expect to lose your eyesight or be spiritually blinded. It’s not immediate nor necessarily equal, but quite common. Plan around it.
Removal or Separation
This one is less common, requiring an icon with movable parts. Taking baby Jesus out of a saint’s arms is typical. Mary & St Anthony are the most common targets for this. You take their baby until they give you what you want. Another example is separating the Holy Family or turning Mary & Joseph back to back. In all cases, the punishment is temporary and intended to make the saint feel the same pain of loss you feel.
Appeal to Authority
Ask for a manager, Karen. This method uses the heavenly hierarchy against saints, who are placed above angels and below Mary. You very simply threaten to report them to their superior for not fulfilling their purpose. Often implored when petitioning demons or angels, but it its effective on some saints too. Threatening a “lower spirit” with the power of a “higher spirit” is common in a lot of European-influenced folk practices.
Damnation
Almost on the opposite side of the spectrum, threatening a saint with time in hell or purgatory is rarely used, but not unheard of. It’s usually very impassioned, desperate, and cunning. As living souls, we have power over the dead, including the saintly dead. We threaten them with their own failures, reminding them of the cost of denying the authority vested in us by God. It’s pretty fucking metal.
Payment
The best form of coercion isn’t coercion at all. It’s compensation! Offering an appropriate gift for the favor you ask is an extremely effective tool. This payment can be split, half upfront and half upon completion. Or solely after your petition is answered. Common offerings are prayers for the dead, holding group ceremonies, making pilgrimages to a holy site, public thanks, or making charitable donations in the saint’s name. Offering to pray for the saint or those affected by their patronage is the easiest choice (donate to an orphanage in Guadalupe’s name because she’s the patroness of children). The only downside to striking a bargain is forgetting to uphold your end.
You can also go more physical with your offerings, the most common (and Catholic) being candles, flowers, and incense. In a spiritual context, using divination to clarify the terms of the deal is very helpful for ensuring success. Matching your offerings to your petition is a learned skill.
Compensation & Offerings
Somewhere between adoration and transaction, making offerings to a spirit when asking a favor is inherent to human religion. The type of offering, its spiritual and sympathetic associations, and the correlation to the spirit being petitioned are important considerations. Generally, offerings can be broadly categorized for easier compartmentalization. Here are some common types of offerings to consider within your practice.
Plants
This category includes botanicals like herbs, essential oils, living plants, and ornamentals like cut flowers. Generally, they serve as a sacrificial offering. Feeding the spirit(s) by offering their life. This can be done in two ways: an offering of the plant’s life (think the wilting of flowers) or as a dedication of their growth (planting a tree or caring for a potted plant as a devotional act). Plants are easy to find, often inexpensive, and frequently associated with saints, and thus are easy to pair.
Animals
Animal offerings most traditionally refer to animal sacrifice. More than likely, this doesn’t apply to you. In many cases, animals can reference an aspect or behavior of a spirit. Serving as a natural metaphor and reminder of those aspects. For example, if you’re working with a spirit like Mother Mary, images or figurines of doves can serve as a reminder of the holy spirit, the annunciation, and Pentecost. While animal sacrifice is a valid form of worship, most Christian-influenced practices will avoid it, citing Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice. Let’s not make the mistake of dismissing or diminishing animal sacrifice as a practice.
Planets
Planetary influences are commonplace for modern magical-religious practices. Tracking celestial bodies, timing rituals appropriately, and amplifying specific archetypal energies are the main purposes. When we speak of planetary energies, we’re describing specific energies: the dominance of Jupiter, the inevitable change of Saturn, and the lovey-dovey war cries of Venus. When it comes to saints and their intersection with astrology, it’s both heretical and unhelpful to attach each saint to a particular energy. Rather, we use those astrological influences to describe the abstractions of a saint’s spiritual wheelhouse. Unpack the potential of your saint by exploring their interactions with common planetary influences. How does Mary interact with Venus, the Moon, and Jupiter?
Days
Similarly to Planetary influence, serving a saint or performing a ritual on a certain day can amplify the effectiveness of a ritual. Frequently, practitioners assign or associate days with a single planetary ruler. The easiest examples are the Moon ruling Monday and the Sun ruling Sunday.
In a ritual practice, days of the week are mostly utilized for planning auspicious starts or timeframes for a ritual. Where and how you source these associations depends on your praxis. Days and planetary rulers vary across practices.
Feasts
Arguably, feast days are some of the most essential aspects of saintly ritual. For me, the most accessible way to think about this is as the Saint’s birthday party. Feast days are typically sourced from the liturgical calendar; however, folk saints are not included in this. Feast days are celebrated with an abundance of offerings, prayers, and veneration of the saint. They’re an excellent opportunity for starting a devotional relationship, strengthening one, or showing love for a full year of blessings.
Colors
The association between color and saints is often subtle, frequently going ignored. In ritual, color helps to set the tone, establishing and maintaining a specific energetic current in order to effect change. The ways to incorporate color are endless; most commonly, a saint’s favorite color determines the color of flowers and candles they’re offered. It doesn’t have to end there; applying things like color theory to a ritual practice enhances our understanding of the magic at play. Figuring out a spirit’s favorite colors is a pretty straightforward process. Looking at popular images of them is the most accessible method. Other than that, attending feast day celebrations in churches or homes can also give insight into how others view a spirit. The colors you use to venerate a spirit should speak to that spirit’s energy, purpose, and your petition.
Sympathetic Offerings
Sympathetic offerings are the most magical of the bunch. They are miscellaneous items that are special to a spirit. They can reference a great achievement of the spirit, remind them of a hardship, or just be pleasant. There’s a huge intersection with the purpose of your ritual. For example, St. Peter can be petitioned to help release someone from jail. In these workings, St. Peter is offered sympathetic symbols like chains, which are broken during the ritual to symbolize the release from bondage.
Conclusion
The practice of saint veneration offers a pathway for individuals seeking a deeper connection to their faith, bridging the gap between traditional Catholicism and personal spiritual exploration.
Integrating magic honors the legacies of the saints. It inspires individuals to reclaim their spiritual potential.
We find our home in the liminality of dogma and defiance. Catholic folk magic exists as an act of resilience. A desire to live good lives and die good deaths.
Folk magic is sincere. It's personal.
If you’re curious about constructing a folk-catholic ritual, check out my previous post! I offer 1:1 consultations for recovering catholics & queer mystics in need of spiritual guidance. I also teach a full course dissecting the Catechism and reframing it for the modern mystic, aptly called Mystic Catechism!
This post could make a great zine!