Rev. Anna Applegate (née Urosevich) is a Chicago native and first-generation Serbian American who was taught to believe in the Spirit World and the beneficent intervention of her ancestors in daily life from a very early age. A Queer Witch, certified Death Midwife, and pious Polytheist who tends to roll out a welcome mat to chthonic Deities in particular, she became active in the Chicago Fellowship of Isis (FOI) community in 2002 and received her legal ordination as a Priestess in 2012, chiefly honoring Deities of Death and the Underworld such as Nephthys, Hekate, Hel, and the folk saint of La Santa Muerte. Anna is the founder of the FOI-chartered Iseum of the Rekhet Akhu (rekhetakhu dot com), whose mission is to highlight the interrelatedness of the communities of the living and the dead and to cultivate transfigured spirits (Akhu) in human form through the Egyptian tradition of temple ritual magic. Anna holds an M.A. in English from Loyola University Chicago. A dedicated Muertista since 2013, Anna is the author of the devotional prayer book In Praise of the Lady of Power: An English-Language Booklet of Prayers Dedicated to La Santa Muerte (Nemetona Press, 2024). Read more about this authorRead less about this author