Brujeria

The Brujeria are a fictional coven and secret society featured in comic books published by DC Comics. They are associated with the Swamp Thing and Hellblazer line of comic titles and first appeared in The Saga of the Swamp Thing #37 in June, 1985. The Brujeria also played a large role in the 2014 television series Constantine.

Overview
The Brujería were a secret society of male witches whose origins date back several centuries to the forest of Patagonia at the southern tip of South America. The highest ranking members of the Brujería, called the Council of the Cave, lived in Chilóe. Initiation into the Brujería was a harsh testament to an individual's commitment to the society's goals. Applicants were forced to stand under a waterfall of the Thraiguan River for a total of forty days and forty nights. According to Brujería lore, this symbolic hazing effectively washed away the significance of a Christian baptism. Following this, the selected applicant must catch a skull thrown at him by his instructor from the crown of a tricorn hat. The third phase of the initiation process required the applicant murder their closest friend. This was to show the elders that one was completely free of human compassion. Following which, the initiated would sign a contract written with blood from their own veins.

Members of the Brujería wore specially designed waistcoats culled from human fat and skin. To acquire the "fabric", they flayed the skin from the breast of a recently disinterred Christian corpse. As human fat is slightly phosphorescent, this provided members of the Brujería with a gruesome appearance, enabling them to glow in the dark as they conducted their rituals.

The Brujería also engage in the process of creating a monstrous creature known as an Invunche. An Invunche is regarded as the "Guardian of the Cave" and also serves as the Brujería's secret assassin. To create an Invunche, they kidnap a six-month old infant, disjoint the head, arms and legs, and imbue it with certain mystical properties.

The objective of the Brujería was nothing less than the utter destruction of Heaven. To accomplish this, they sought to bring forth the primordial "Darkness", the living blackness that comprised all of existence prior to God gracing reality with the gift of light. They instigated a series of events to increase humanity's belief in the supernatural, specifically, those elements of the supernatural commonly associated with darkness and evil. As the psychic faith of humanity's belief strengthened, the power of the Darkness became more pronounced. The Brujería used the multiversal catastrophe known as the Crisis on Infinite Earths as a stepping stone towards the final phase of their plan.

Combating the Brujería's efforts was the hedge mage John Constantine. Constantine was very schooled in Brujería lore, and the Brujería created an Invunche in order to assassinate Constantine's closest allies. The Invunche succeeded in killing the American artist Emma, the stuttering Benjamin Cox, British nun Sister Anne-Marie, and biker Frank North.

Members

 * There are no named members in the Brujeria.

Notes & Trivia

 * The term Brujeria is pronounced "Broo-her-ee-ah".