They don’t know yet that they’re dead

“I AM still in a state of shock,” said Nica, a nurse in a Quezon City hospital. “I hope you can explain this thing that happened to me a few days ago.”
Nica wrote in her letter to this column:
“Three days ago I met a patient in the hospital named Sarah. I noticed she was always alone. And so I befriended her. Sarah was different from an ordinary 12-year-old child, because she talked like an adult.
“She told me she wanted to be a ballerina when she grew up, but she lost her leg in an accident. Whenever I had free time, I would see her in Suite no. 4.
“Whenever I was there, she would always ask me to get her music box inside a side drawer and play it for her.
“This evening, at exactly 7, a woman came and asked a male nurse if she could get something her daughter had left in Suite no. 4 which was very important to her. The male nurse instead requested me to accompany the woman, since I often visited that room.
“I thought the occupant of that room would not mind if we just went to check something that was left behind by another patient.
“When I opened the door, I was surprised that Sarah wasn’t there anymore. The room was clean, as if unused. The woman who followed me went directly to the side drawer, opened it, and found the music box. She said it belonged to her daughter, who was released from the hospital on May 14.
“She said her daughter had an accident while riding with her uncle on his motorcycle, which hit an electric post.
“When I heard that, I couldn’t speak. As the woman left, I rushed to the morgue downstairs and asked the man in charge if there was a 12-year-old girl named Sarah who was brought there. I was shocked when I saw the file that Sarah was declared dead at 2:30 p.m on May 12.”
Nica, what happened to you is not really strange or impossible. I would not even say that it is rare. Similar things have been experienced by many people, but they don’t talk about these things for fear that people might think they are making things up or imagining them.
Catapulted
People who die suddenly and unexpectedly also get into a state of shock. They are suddenly catapulted from the physical to the spiritual world without any warning or preparation. They are not aware that they are already in the spirit world. They still act and behave as they did when still alive.
They may visit the usual place where they used to live, work, or play. It would take some time for them to realize and accept that they have already left their mortal bodies, and that they are no longer on the physical plane.
It is not true that the spirits of the dead stay for 40 days on earth, then go elsewhere. This period varies from person to person, depending on his state or level of consciousness. Some may linger on the earth plane for years, like Elvis Presley, who was still being seen in Memphis more than 20 years after he died. Some spirits ascend to the higher planes immediately after death, and are seen or heard no more.
The fact that you saw and talked to the dead Sarah as if she was alive and in a solid form means that your clairvoyant vision, or what is popularly called the Third Eye, is open. You are a medium or channel of the spirit, whether you believe this or not.
My opinion is bolstered by the story you related in your second e-mail to me before I could even answer your first one. This was about the time you were on a bus on your way home, when you blacked out (actually you went into a trance state) and found yourself in a strange place with horse carriages. Then a man approached you and called you Corazon. Immediately you went back to your normal self in the present time, still on the bus riding back home. You had a glimpse of your past life.

Source: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/2297/they-don%E2%80%99t-know-yet-that-they%E2%80%99re-dead

My new book on ‘Everything You Want to Know About Ghosts (But Were Afraid to Ask)’

By: Jaime T. Licauco
Philippine Daily Inquirer

“I’m sure you know there are already so many books written about ghosts,” said a wide reader and scholarly friend of mine. “So why write another one?”
“I know that,” I replied. “But most of the books available locally are written by Western authors relating experiences with ghosts in their own countries. No doubt many of these books are interesting, too, but they are nevertheless foreign to us.
“I wanted to write about things that happen to our fellow Filipinos in the Philippines and provide answers to the numerous questions I have been asked by readers of this column and by listeners to my weekly radio program over DZMM during the last 15 years.”
I realized that our people’s fascination with ghosts and other inhabitants of the spirit world has not waned. On the contrary, it has been increasing. Many questions keep on being asked of me year in and year out.
And this is what gave rise to the idea of writing my latest book, which I called “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ghosts (But Were Afraid to Ask).” This 17th book of mine is published by Anvil Publishing Inc., which has also published most of my previous books. And it will be launched today, July 19, 6 p.m., at the National Book Store branch in Glorietta 5, Ayala Center, Makati City.
Two parts
The introduction was written by my fellow PDI Lifestyle columnist and good friend, Cory Quirino.
Tonight’s book launching will consist of welcome remarks by Anvil’s assistant general manager and CEO, Karina Bolasco, and an invocation to be read by well-known celebrity dermatologist Vicki Belo, who is also a graduate of my courses before she became a household word.
This will be followed by Cory Quirino, who will relate her many encounters with spirits of the dead since she was 12 years old. Movie actor and environmentalist Roy Alvarez will introduce yours truly. Lastly, it’ll be my turn for a brief speech. During the book signing, cocktails will be served, courtesy of Annabel Tanco of the famous Bizu restaurant in Makati.
The book consists of two distinct but complementary parts. The first consists of commonly asked questions about ghosts, and the second contains true stories and personal encounters with ghosts by ordinary individuals, some of whom didn’t believe ghosts existed before their extraordinary encounters with them.
Questions
Some of the questions answered in this book are:
1. “Do ghosts have emotions?”
2. “Do they grow old?”
3. “Is it true the newly departed person stays for 40 days before he leaves?”
4. “Is it possible for ghosts to make a phone call?”
5. “What does the afterlife look like?” etc.
Part 2 of the book consists of 20 amazing stories and essays, such as text messages from the dead, inanimate objects coming to life, paranormal happenings in the work place, spirits that have sex with humans, my own encounters with ghosts and many more.

Source:  http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/5991/my-new-book-on-%E2%80%98everything-you-want-to-know-about-ghosts-but-were-afraid-to-ask%E2%80%99

When our astral body travels ahead of our physical body to a place

By: Jaime T. Licauco
Philippine Daily Inquirer

“Can a person be in two different places at the same time?” This has puzzled reader Eric Pernito after what happened to him.
“This morning, July 20, 2011,” wrote Eric in Filipino, “something weird happened. When I entered our office, my officemate told me he’d already seen me 15 minutes before I actually arrived. He was then eating in the pantry when he saw me but did not greet me. Then, shortly afterwards, he was shocked to see me entering the office again. He said I was wearing the same clothes. I shall appreciate it if you could explain what happened to me and my officemate.”
Nothing unnatural
Eric, there’s nothing to worry about. Your officemate simply saw your astral body (sometimes called inaccurately the “etheric double” or “doppelganger”) which went ahead of your physical body.
There is nothing unnatural about this. It happens to many people, but very few talk about it because they feel it is a bad omen. This is not true at all.
A human being is composed of seven different energy bodies that vibrate at different frequencies or planes. The most dense of this vibratory levels or energy bodies is the physical body. And the most subtle is the spirit, which is normally invisible to our naked eyes.
In sleep, our astral body goes out of our physical body usually without our conscious awareness or knowledge. When we happen to awaken while still on the astral plane, we may see ourselves hovering or suspended in mid-air above our physical body. And when we see our physical body lying down while we are in the ceiling, the natural tendency is to panic and rush back to our physical body, only to find it is difficult to do so.
This is because when we panic, the vibrations of our astral body are no longer in sync with our physical body. If we relax and not become emotional, we can easily and naturally reenter our physical body.
When our astral body goes out of our physical body while we are still awake and travels to a different place, sometimes ahead of our physical body, like what happened to you on July 20, we have a case known as “bilocation,” or “being in two different places at the same time.”
Strange incident
I recall an incident which happened in a rubber shoe manufacturing company I used to work with in the early ‘80s. The manager of our Plant no. 4 accompanied to my office one Monday morning his audit clerk named Vivian, who was crying because of a very strange incident that weekend.
On Saturday, Vivian did not report for work because she was not feeling well, and she informed her supervisor.
But on the day she was at home, no less than six of her employees saw her in the factory, including a supervisor. One of the employees she met in the same jeepney she was riding on that Monday morning told her the chemical compound that Vivian was asking about had already been accounted for.
When she learned that six people saw her in the factory when she was, in fact, at home resting, she panicked and thought it meant she would die soon.
Only after I explained to Vivian the nature of the astral body, which is sometimes called the “desire body” and how it sometimes goes out of our physical body without our conscious knowledge, did she stop crying. I assured her that what happened was perfectly natural and did not mean imminent death.
When I asked Vivian what her dominant thoughts were that Saturday morning, she said she wanted to go to the factory because so much work had to be done there. That was her desire. So her astral body went there.

Source: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/8077/when-our-astral-body-travels-ahead-of-our-physical-body-to-a-place

PASIYAM

Picture Source: http://www.desktopexchange.com/gallery/3D-wallpapers/Horror_House

             One of my scariest encounters of the unknown was during my grandfather’s wake. It happened several years ago at my mother’s hometown province of Bicol. I have gone on several summer vacations there especially in my elementary school days. Almost every year, I looked forward to spending a month with my grandfather. The very first time I had my vacation there was probably when I was six years of age. I was like, my “lolo’s” favourite “apo”. And so, each year he’d ask my parents especially my mom (who is his daughter) when I or we would be going there for our summer vacation. And ever since, my “lolo” never failed to prepare a lot of things for me.

              He’d always keep a sack of pili nuts (which became my favourite in the long run) which he had picked all the months of the year before my summer vacation so that when I arrive, he’d crack all those nuts open and cook it with sugar, definitely one of the best delicacies from Bicol. I would always have plenty of those to take home after my month long stay and share it with my paternal relatives, neighbours and friends. It has always been like that. We were always treated very special during our vacation there. My lolo would even spray some air freshener in his room because he would want me to sleep in his room.

            Fast forward to 12 years ago, my “lolo” became ill and died. My family arrived on the 2^nd day of the wake. By this time, I had quite grown up. I was already in my freshman year in high school. On the last day of the wake, I asked my cousin who was about 8 years old, to accompany me to Legazpi City because I had to buy something. We left around 4:30 pm. The trip was about an hour so it was starting to get dark already when we arrived in Legazpi City.

           Not having the chance to often go there during my previous vacations, I thought of checking out some establishments there and somehow familiarize myself with the place. It was already dark when we finished going around and I didn’t realize that it was almost past 7:30 so we decided to go home. It would take another hour to go back. In the province, 8:30 is kind of late already to stay out in the night. Instead of taking the usual road we take to get to my lolo’s place which was wide and paved, I said to my cousin that we’d better take the short route. However, the short cut was through a narrow path beside a brook. There was only one incandescent bulb on the make-shift coconut trunk bridge connecting the highway road side to the short cut path and the brook passed under it. Tall coconut trees, grasses and shrubs line up the path.

            There were houses to the right but they were really far apart from each other and from the path we’re supposed to take.  An expansive rice farm and a piggery were to our left. A barbed wire fence separated the farm from the brook and the narrow path. It was dark and only the half moon in the night sky lighted our way. It was creepy and I felt a gush of cool air on my cheek and brushed on my back. I raised the hood of my windbreaker and my cousin, feeling scared, held tight on my waist. It made us walk in a criss-cross pattern. Trying to calm ourselves, I decided to whistle and used my cell phone as a torch light to help us see our way since the moon wasn’t helping that much because the canopy of the trees above us is obstructing it’s light.

             We were midway through the short cut when I noticed that beside a lone coconut tree in the middle of the path were two dark figures standing. I couldn’t recognize their faces nor if they were wearing colored clothes so I turned to my cousin and asked if he knew who those two people were.  The two people seemed to be engaged in a serious conversation that they just stood there. A few meters away from where the stood was our uncle’s house. Their lamp on the bamboo post on the side of the path wasn’t turned on. 

            They must be at my grandfather’s house since it was the last night of the wake and many people have come to spend the whole night vigil.  I got more nervous when my cousin said that he couldn’t figure out who they were nor he could see their faces. They were all black. By around that time, the two should have noticed us and I saw their heads moved a bit to look at us. I and my cousin held each other’s hands tightly, we couldn’t move faster since we were both thinking of stopping and turning back to go the wide road we often take to get there.

            However, it will take us more than 30 minutes to probably go around so I said to my cousin not to look directly at them and bow our heads and just look at our way while we pray. When we were close to passing by them, we both had goosebumps and all the hair in our body seemed to rise out of fright. We took a deep breath, mustered enough courage and said “tabi-tabi po, makikiraan po” in a wobbly low voice and prayed hard in our minds that nothing bad or scary will happen. At the corner of my eye, they seemed to stare at us. I didn’t see their faces or their clothes.  I just saw their lower extremities from the waist down to the feet and they were pitch black figures.

           I almost passed out. After passing by them and we were a few feet away, my cousin looked back and they were gone. I also looked and didn’t see them anymore except for the coconut tree near the side of the path. That was only when we had the strength to run fast to the crowd outside the house of my lolo. We never told anyone there that night except after my lolo’s   “pasiyam”.

Contributor: Allan Antonio

Date: 08012011

The Coconut Tree

     One evening my mom and her friends decided to go to the bakawan [mangrove] as they say in English. My mom can see dead people…… Her third eye was open. She can see ghost, aswang [ghoul], and dewendi [dwarf].

    That night they went to the mangrove, they were looking for some firewood’s because they don’t have any gas stove. My mom lives in a small village. Upon searching they noticed a girl, she’s dancing near a coconut tree. At first it was funny; they realized it was her friend. They called her but it seems the girl was not listening. She’s just dancing near the coconut tree. 

    They continue walking; the girl disappeared in thin air. Shocked and confused about what had happed, they run as fast as they could. 

    The next they people gathered near the coconut tree.  My mom was very nosy, people cried and screaming. It seems that someone died near the coconut tree. She bobs up the area, saw a small cottage. Inside the cottage was a girl, She hanged herself. It was her friend Mina [not her true name].

   

Now she realized why Mina is dancing near the coconut tree.

BARANG

Picture Source: http://amateurdreamer.tumblr.com/post/682864349/the-mambabarang-is-the-filipino-version-of-a

What is barang, I can hear people ask. Well even I myself have obscured thoughts on what it really is. But as many define it "Barang is a type of magick, much closer to shamanism than Kulam, and is quite diverse and High"

One might look at what I wrote and try to figure out why I said High. Well for one thing, barang is really powerful. A witch has no power over a mambabarang. I witch can only harm you if he or she knows you. But a mambabarang can harm you or anyone,  just by merely touching his things.

Now what types of magick can a Mambabarang perform? Well as I said earlier, he has the power to place objects within his personal object and in peoples bodies. And that is really powerful!

In one type of Barang, a mambabarang uses a Pamaham (the name is actually different from tradition to tradition, from other dialects and from family to family so one can only guess what the real name is), a small bottle or bamboo joint, inside it is a spider, a centipede and a roach. Actually the insects are not really insects but small malevolent spirits which the mambabarang caught.

Before he uses the Pamaham, he needs to feed the insects first. Then he uses it in magick. There is quite a diversity on how he uses the pamaham. One method is to use a doll, in which he had placed a personal belonging of his enemy and has recited chants all over it. He will then place the doll inside the Pamaham and control the insects to devour on the doll. But the doll is not merely a doll anymore, it is the Mambabarangs enemy himself. The insects will go deep inside the doll, thus will they also go deep inside the victims body. The victim will then become completely shocked. His skins will flourish with big boils and when they pop, unless treated by a Powerful Mangagamot or another Mambabarang, insects will come out.

Another method is to take one insect and tie a white thread in one of it's feet. The Mambabarang will then release it. It will then go to the victims house. If it comes back with the thread turned red, it means it has successfully caried out it's plans. But if it be a black thread, mission failed!

Now after reading those that are written above, may come to the conclusion that barang is bad or baneful. Well, most of the practices incorporated in barang is bad and is used against defense. You see, before they used it against the Spaniards, The Oppressors. But as time passed, people began to abuse this power. Not only do they use it against their brothers, they ask for money when one wants to have a revenge. In other words, they are paid to kill. Which is of course bad.

There are also good types of magick that barang offers. A mambabarang can break the spells of witches and other mambabarangs, banish demons and heal the sick, because of the tremendous power that lies within them. They can cause field to ripe (and unfortunate to barren), cause thunder to come and cease and other magickal things to happen.

The Mambabarang 

The Mambabarang is the Filipino version of a sorcerer; the witch is a Mamalarang. The the name is derived from the word barang. Other synonymous terms include the Hiligaynon word manog hiwit, which is also synonymous to kulam. The verb barangon or hiwitan means "to place a hex"; a curse in Filipino is a sumpa.
The mambabarang keeps his beetles in a bottle or a section of bamboo, carefully feeding them ginger root. When the practitioner decides to employ his dark art, he performs a prayer ritual wherein he whispers instructions and identifies the victim to the beetles. The insects are then set free and to seek out the victim and gain entry into the body via any bodily orifice: the nose, mouth, ears, anus or dermal breaks such as open wounds. The victim will then feel the effects of the invasion through manifestations depending on the area of entry; hemorrhoids if through the anus, ear ache if through the ears and other similar cases. The resulting illness is resistant to conventional medical treatment and only reveals its true nature when the victim succumbs and flying insects issue forth from bodily cavities.
Superstitious folks still attribute certain illnesses or diseases to barang. This most often happens in the provinces, where an herbal doctor, albularyo or a faith healer, a mananambal or sorhuana (female) / sorhuano (male) treats such diseases. In some rural provincial areas, people completely rely on the albularyo and mananambal for treatment.

Barang (Cebuano term)

 Barang is a Cebuano term taken to mean all forms of malign magic or sorcery. In Tagalog, the word is used to refer to small insects and beetles, especially the fungus beetle. At least one source identifies the specific species of this beetle as Alphitobius laevigatus. These beetles, the size of a common house fly, or other similar insects are said to be employed by Filipino shamans to perform sorcery or witchcraft in order to inflict pain or disease upon a victim.

Source: http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/mdf/barang.htm
            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barang_%28Philippine_mythology%29
            http://amateurdreamer.tumblr.com/post/682864349/the-mambabarang-is-the-filipino-version-of-a

TAWAS: Healing the Pains

Picture Source: http://hubpages.com/hub/Tawas

Tawas as one can define it, is alum, used as a deodorant and used to threat illness, that is singaw. But that is not what I am talking about. The Tawas that will be discussed here is "A magickal practice used to diagnose illness of the supernatural level.

That's right, illness. Tawas deals with dtermining what causes the person to be that way. But unlike true diagnosis or check-up, it deals only with sickness of the "Supernatural Level". When we say Supernatural, it deals with Kulam, Barang, Bati, and Na-engkanto or Enchanted.

Tawas has long been used and practiced in the Philippines. We are not the only ones who use tawas. According to Tony Perez in his book "Tawas", even the Kahunas of the Huna tradition of hawaii have same practices like tawas. and not only Kahunas, even the Chinese and Yorubans have practices quite alike with our tawas.

A person who performs tawas has a variety of Tawas Techniques to chose from. He can Use candles, rice, beans, pendulums, grains, soil, trees and water. But one of the most popular techniques is the Candle Tawas or Tawas ng Kandila:

Tawas na Kandila

Take a new candle and a bowl of clear water.

Talk to the patient until you can sense the presence within him.

Next begin the prayer to the Almighty. (In case you dont know the prayer, just pray to your God to guide you in your undertaking. Almost all forms of prayer are effective)

Then, light the candle and place it over the bowl. Wait until it drips.

While it drips chant a prayer to the almighty asking for help.

When the time is right, an image will form in the wax drippings. Using your intuition, interpret the image.

Sometimes the drippings take the form of monsterous creatures and evil witches or some times they donmt take form at all. It is the interpretation and intuition of the person performing tawas that will tell what is really causing the sickness.

Tawas is also an integral part of a healers knowledge. This way, he can readily know what is really the cause of an illness and can cure it much easier.

Source: http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/mdf/tawas.htm