Saint Martha the Dominator 7 Day Glass Candle

She Walked Out to Meet the Dragon Alone. She Brought It Back on a Leash. That Is the Energy You Are Working With.

There is a version of Martha that the Church teaches the practical sister, the faithful confessor, the woman who worked while Mary sat. And then there is the version that the folk tradition has carried, quietly and powerfully, for centuries: the woman who walked into the wilderness of Provence, found the Tarasque — a dragon so terrible that armies had failed to stop it  and brought it back tame, bound with nothing more than holy water and her own girdle.

No weapon. No army. No fear. Just authority.

That is Saint Martha the Dominator. Not the saint of hospitality. Not the saint of practical household management. The saint of absolute, uncompromising, dragon-taming authority over whatever has been refusing to yield. The saint you call when something or someone needs to be brought to heel and every other approach has failed. She does not negotiate. She does not plead. She dominates.

In the Afro-Caribbean and Latin American folk traditions, Santa Marta la Dominadora is one of the most feared and most petitioned of all the folk saints. Her candle is burned by those who need a straying partner to return and stay. By those who need an enemy to back down. By those who need a boss, a landlord, a judge, a difficult person to suddenly become cooperative. By those who have tried asking nicely and it has not worked. She is the last resort of the person who is done asking and ready to command.

Saint Martha (Santa Marta) is one of the most fascinating and multidimensional figures in the folk Catholic tradition — the practical sister of Mary and Lazarus, the woman who argued with Jesus about the resurrection, and in the Afro-Caribbean and Latin American folk tradition, the tamer of the dragon and one of the most powerful saints petitioned for domination, control, and the bending of another's will. Here's what she's traditionally petitioned for:

• Domination and control – her most powerful folk use; Santa Marta Dominadora is petitioned to dominate a specific person a lover, a husband, an enemy, a boss and bend their will to yours
• Taming the unruly and difficult drawn from the legend of the Tarasque, the dragon she tamed in Provence with holy water and her girdle; she is the saint who tames what cannot be tamed
• Love domination and keeping a partner – one of the most widely used candles in the botanica tradition for keeping a straying partner, controlling a lover, or compelling someone to return
• Household authority and domestic power – as the mistress of the house in Bethany, she is petitioned for authority in the home
• Hospitality and those who work in food service – patron of cooks, servers, housekeepers, and all who serve others in domestic settings
• Practical matters and getting things done – the sister who worked while Mary sat; petitioned for the energy and authority to handle practical affairs
• Commanding and compelling – Santa Marta Dominadora is one of the commanding saints; petitioned when you need someone to do what you say
• The Afro-Caribbean Santa Marta la Dominadora – in some traditions she is associated with serpent energy and the power of the earth, petitioned with specific ritual protocols

Santa Marta walks the line between devotional saint and folk magic powerhouse more boldly than almost any other figure in the tradition.

The Saint Martha the Dominator 7 Day Glass Candle carries that commanding, dragon-taming, will-bending power through seven full days of sustained working.

Traditional Petitions

• Dominating a specific person — compelling them to do what you need, stop what they are doing, or bend to your will
• Bringing back a straying or absent partner and keeping them faithful and present
• Commanding an enemy to back down, leave you alone, or cease their interference
• Compelling cooperation from a difficult boss, landlord, judge, or authority figure
• Taming an out-of-control situation that has resisted every other approach
• Binding someone’s harmful actions so they cannot continue to affect you
• Asserting absolute authority in a situation where your power has been challenged or ignored

How to Work This Candle

Write the full name of the person you need to dominate on a piece of paper. Turn the paper ninety degrees and write your own name across theirs your name crossing and covering theirs, your will over their will. This is the classic crossing petition of the domination tradition. Fold the paper toward you always toward you, drawing their compliance to you and place it beneath the candle. Dress the top of the glass with Commanding oil, Bend Over oil, or Santa Marta Dominadora oil. If you have a personal concern from the target a hair, a signature, anything that links the working to them specifically place it with the petition. Her colors are green and white. In some traditions, a length of cord is knotted around the candle as a binding one knot for each thing you need them to do or stop doing. Speak your command aloud when you light the candle not a request, a command. Martha did not ask the dragon to come with her. She told it to. Do the same.

Each candle is approximately 8 inches tall and burns for up to 7 days.