My name is Tristan Mercure, and I am making my first public appearance with the Santa Muerte after 25 years during which I kept my real identity a secret. I am a student of the great Abigaël de Kerowyn, who initiated me into Druidism and the Jewish tradition of Qabbalah. I have revived many ancient occult orders and mystery traditions in France. I split my time between Paris and the forest of Brocéliande in Brittany. I am also the author of the first biographical Tarot of Aleister Crowley.
Death has accompanied me since my childhood. I have always collected skull symbols, had a skeleton puppet named Belphegor at the age of 8, and wanted to live in the Paris Catacombs. I now reside predominantly near the famous Parisian cemetery, Père-Lachaise, in the city of Scorpio-style sex and death.
During a professional trip to Mexico in 2019 I naturally wanted to visit one or more Santa Muerte shrines but unfortunately only stayed for a few nights. I was poorly advised and even prevented by the security teams at the Four Seasons Hotel, Mexico City, where I was staying, from visiting the shrines due to safety concerns.
I was able to negotiate and visit the famous Sonora witchcraft market, with an escort, and many precautions, which I thought were ridiculous. There, I had an intimate encounter with Santa Muerte that deeply frightened my local guide and driver. I brought back a red statue from one of the many stalls and instantly installed it in my home, gifting several other statues to acquaintances.
This marked the first time devotion to her was brought to Paris and France, and I have since dedicated daily love and devotion to her at a private altar. Multiple tangible manifestations have occurred, and it has become a family devotion, including with my children. I dedicate daily love and devotion to her at a private altar.
During a subsequent communication with Santa Muerte in a dream that occurred in May 2021 in Paris, I received a direct request to create a chapel for Santa Muerte in France, and I decided to share this with the public to allow participation.
This direct request from Our Lady allowed me to create a website the next day in a few hours: and an Instagram page: @oratoire_de_santamuerte.
I knew there were various organizations in Mexico and the United States and a few initiatives here and there but nothing official in France or Paris. To start, and with all humility, the goal of the website is to allow all those interested in Santisima Muerte to get to know her better through individual practice and to support people of goodwill.
The idea is to provide access to a virtual altar dedicated to the glory of Holy Death but also to facilitate access to a decidedly post-modern transcendence, a public point of reference in a desacralized and senseless world. I see it as a sacred space dedicated to devotion to Santissima Muerte and a means of making Our Lady of Holy Death known.
On February 20, 2022, during a private trip, I met Arely Vasquez, the founder of the oldest chapel dedicated to Santisima Muerte in New York City, in the borough of Queens. I received a blessing there, and we agreed to collaborate, with many projects to come!
In April 2022, I visited and attended a ceremony at the Templo Santa Muerte de Melrose Place, in Los Angeles, and received permission to translate their Santa Muerte Rosary into French, along with my personal recommendations. So I wrote and released a book on Amazon, the first in French, “Le Rosaire de Santa Muerte: Le rituel principal des dévôts de la Santa Muerte”
I am happy to see that the Chapel is gaining more and more devotees, offering Tarot readings, candles, and ceremonies.
I would like to thank Dr. Andrew Chesnut whose brilliant work guides us all and who recently published the first academic book on the Bony Lady in French.
Contact for the Santa Muerte Chapel, a sacred space dedicated to devotion to Santissima Muerte in Paris, France: smuertefr@gmail.com
Most Holy Death 