My Javanese Keris Collection

Keris collection is very popular in Indonesia and Malaysia. In ancient times, keris used to be weapon for self-defense. Now keris becomes symbol of power and has become objects of collections. Some people believe that ancient keris house khodams and different type of keris has different functions. There are many types of keris with different names, I am not an expert in keris so I will not be able to tell you the differences between keris.

Below are three very interesting keris in my collection, given by friends during quite unexpected occasions:

The above is an old keris, there is a 'hole' towards the hilt. I called it the smiling and angry keris as one side of the face seems to be smiling and the other side of the face with wide open eye as if scolding people.

This is the most interesting keris in my collection. It is said to be from a royal pawang from Java and  has a fragrance smell, looks very ancient as it is almost black in colour.. Sorry for my foto taking but I guess you can sense the presense. I seen a princess dressed in yellow gown. My friend says she is 875 years old and her name is Puteri Nasuha.

This is yet another interesting keris. said to be of the same origin of the above. To me its body seems to be a big head jinn or a trisula. It also has fragrance similiar to Jasmine.


Vicky gave me the reading for this khodam:

- The being in this Keris is a male warrior. He wears headband with purple stone on the 3^rd eyes region. He was a warrior during the reign of the Sailendara Dynasty during the time of building Borobudur.

- He died at the age of 35 years old and being binded into this Keris at the year of 865.

- The being has influenced of Hinduism, Buddhism and native Javanese (Kejawen)

- Both of his wrist wear metal hand cuff warrior bangle.

- His right hand holds a trident

- His left hand holds a spear

- He has strong muscles on his body

- His height is 7 feet.

If you can sense any presence of the keris, kindly do let me know. I learnt more on them as time gets by :)))

Wai Khru Ritual (拜师法会)

The picture shows an offering of "phapa tree" (money tree) in Wat Sungai Siput during Wai Kru ceremony.

The Wai Khru ritual is not confined only to the spiritual circle; it is also practiced by any experts to make the annual offering of respect and thanks to the teacher or Khru. We find that the performing theatre, massage, the Thai kickboxing, the school children, arjans and spirit mediums also take part in Wai Kru ritual. This is similar to the celebration of Teacher’s day in Malaysia and the rest of the world.

We will just limit ourselves with the Wai Kru ritual carried out by the spirit mediums or the like. Usually, the Wai Khru ritual is organized in April or May; however the date of the Wai Khru ritual is not assigned precisely. In normal circumstances, a date is chosen by a temple committee and proposed date is posted in notice board or newspaper.

Wai Kru rituals are big events at certain places. Sometimes the number of arjans and mediums can go up to 120 heads. The cerebrations can last for few days depending on the financial ability of the community.

                  
The first day of the ritual begins early in the morning. Food and beverages will be provided to all participants. After that preliminary prayers by arjans and spirit mediums started to be possessed by individual patron spirits. Then the mediums started to dance accompanied by music.

On the second day, the first half of the day begins with inviting monks are to the Wai Kru ritual to bless the ritual. In Thailand, a Buddhist monk has highest status compared to arjans and mediums.

After the monk left, arjans and mediums entered into possession and start serving the participants: perform blessing, remove black magic, binding their wrists with color cords and to sprinkle holy water on them. New spirit mediums will be receiving the bowl from their seniors. Other participants bought their own bows filled with flowers, eggs, candles, raw rice and bananas as offering to their teacher. After the offerings, each person will take back their individual bowls.

After the food offering ritual, arjans and mediums would start to dance together. While the group were dancing, people can chat with them, consult them about their life problems, and ask for blessings. And these dancing sessions can go on till mid night.

Different places have different types of Wai Kru rituals, above just one example mainly done by arjans and spirit mediums in Thailand. The Wai Kru for Sak Yant will have a very different scenario however.

Pra Phrom (Brahman/四面佛)

In Thailand, you will notice Pra Phrom or Brahman is worshipped in many prominent places, amongst those, the Bangkok Erawan shrine built in 1956, part of Erawan Hotel. Now you can probably find Pra Phrom everywhere in South-East Asia regions.



Below are some tips for worshipping Pra Phrom I collected during my trip to Bangkok:

1. Pra Phrom has 4 faces so if you are from 'special' professions, then go by the counter clockwise direction. But before that, first consult your astrological charts for your personal auspicious time. If the timing is not auspicious, not only you will not be blessed, but bad luck follows. For ordinary good people, then go by the clockwise direction.
2. The best timing to start worship Pra Phrom 3 am in the morning. But then and again, if you are sincere; any time is good.
3. You will need to prepare the below items:
1. 4 sets of 7 color flowers
2. 4 pieces of yellow candles
3. 12 pieces of joss sticks
4. 4 pieces of wooden elephen
5. Some donations
4. Now, you may offer 1 set of flower, 1 candle, 3 joss sticks and 1 piece of wooden elephant to one face of Pra Phrom. As a rule, once you have started with one face, then you must perform offering to all four faces equally.
5. After the offering, you can make a wish. But remember, where ever you are in the world, once your wish is fulfilled; you must return to the same place to thank Pra Phrom. As a reminder: what is given to you can be taken back easily.
6. Standard way to thank Pra Phrom is to hire a Thai style life band to perform a dance. You have a choices of 2 dancers, 4 dancers, 6 dancers or even 8 dancers. Please refer to the picture below:

If you have any success stories, kindly do let me know.

Thai Medium & Receiving Bowl Ritual

Spirit mediums are everywhere, in every culture and in every corners of the world. Basically as I see it, the medium in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are quite similar. The main difference is that the Datuk worship is unique to Malaysia and Singapore.

Although there are efforts to suppress the activities of spirit medium activities by Thai government and Buddhist groups, but spirit mediumship is still very hard to curb till present days.

There are two types of mediums:

1.      Natural

a.       Illness

                                                              i.      Many people became mediums after recovering long or life threatening illness.

b.      Visions/Dreams

                                                              i.      Spirits come to a specific person expressing the intention of using his/her body to service mankind.

c.       Hereditary

                                                              i.      Mediumship is inherited from mother or father to their children.

2.      Trained

a.       Formal training

                                                              i.      Receive a teacher spirit through “receiving bowl” during the yearly Wai Kru ritual.

Let us explore the Receiving Bowl Ritual “Rub Khan” in more detail:

In order to be formally become a spirit medium, the individual must participate in “Rub Khan” or “Receiving bowl Ritual”. The individual must prepare a bowl or “Khan” in the Thai Language.

Khan Ha, is the sign of the five moral precepts in Buddhism.

To continue to spirit medium status, the individual must pledge to follow the five moral commandments of Buddha strictly as follows;

1.      Abstaining from killing

2.      Abstaining from stealing

3.      Abstaining from sexual misconduct

4.      Abstaining from telling lies or dalsehoods

5.      Abstaining from taking intoxicants

The commandments specified in the above must be followed for the purity of body and mind of spirit media. So, they must follow strictly the moral standards of Buddhism. Furthermore, to maintain purity is the only way to create miraculous power, such as walking on hot charcoal and climbing the knife ladder etc.

A bowl for offering is composed of rice grains, sesame, beans and popped rice, embellished with flowers, candles, joss sticks, areca nuts, betel leaves, cigarettes and three colored fabrics. 

To begin the receiving bowl ritual, the spirit medium who is the teacher and the new spirit medium enter into possession and then the teacher bestows a bowl on the recipient. After the ritual, the new spirit medium brings “Khan Ha” to put on the altar in his living room or “Tam Nak”.  This bowl or Khan symbolizes the formal identity as a spirit medium.

(Just a side note on the Khan/bowl: I have noticed that the Taoist Mao Shan stream, especially the Miao ethnics also use bowl extensively. And a bowl is an important ritual item in Mao Shan practice. As to whether there is a connection of bowl here, that would take further research.)

Thai mediums can then be categorized into 3 types:

1.      Thai style

a.       Mediums of Thai heros/gods such as King Rama V, King Naresuen etc.

2.      Chinese style

a.       Mediums of Chinese/Taoist gods: Kuan Yim, Sam Poh Kong, Monkey God etc.

3.      Indian style

a.       Mediums of Indian heros/gods: Narai, Shiva, Phra Phorm, Kali, Umadevi

A new medium must observe the below taboo:

1.      To consume vegetarian food on Buddhist holy day.

2.      To observe the 5 commandments of Buddhism.

3.      No spirit possession on the Buddhist holy day because the medium must make merit by offering food to monks and by meditating.

4.      To have ablution to purify the body before spirit possession.

5.      For female medium, straightly no possession during menstruation.

6.      Forbid to eat shellfish, fish, eggs, chickens and ducks. Some spirit medias also cannot eat any foods at a funeral house.

7.      Forbid to attend funeral services or the power would be reduced.

With this, we have reviewed a major part of spiritual practice in Thailand.

 
 

Social Escorts' Secret Weapons

Men in Singapore and Malaysia likes to visit Thailand and enjoy the night lives and entertainment widely available there, besides delicious foods and interesting local cultures... Of course, not forgetting the warm and beautiful hot chicks. Many of my friends are still frequent travellers across the boarders. Some even travel 2~3 times in a month.

Well just name it: Night clubs, a-go-go bar, body-to-body massages, the 'aquarium', Kara OK, 'tiger show' and many more to be listed. I have an originally quite decent homely friend who had vowed not to step his foot into these entertainment areas, and for his whole life he only loved his wife. Hmm... that was last year he told me that. After he had an initiatory tour to Hadnyai, Southern Thailand; his view changed completely. Now he has fallen in love with a Thai female masseur and as his wife told me that her hubby even murmering the masseur's name! So much for the home sweet home eh? Wonders what has made this once loyal husband to change so fast?

Let us have a quick look at those secret weapons of social escorts:


Lup Yong Twins

This is quite common amongst the lady social escorts. Basically there are two tiny wooden idols dipped in magic oil. The purpose is of course to attract more customers and the customers will be willing to spend more on the lady. Mainly for good business and not to harm. However, some may contain spirits for faster results and can cause harm.



Palakit

A palakit is used mainly to attract good business and good fortune. I saw one inside the so called 'aquarium' in Hadnyai. If opportunity allowed, then I will write more on Palakit later.

Love Oil

On first thought, my friend may be the victim of love oil.

There are many types of love oils: the corpse oil, the flower oil, the coconut oil, perfume etc. Most of the oils are applied on one's brows so that potential customers will find an escort extremely attractive and willing to spend on her. Another type of love oil such as that of the corpse oil will need to be applied onto the body of her client. This type of oil is more powerful and lasting, the purpose is not to attract customers but with an intention of mind control.

Well, frankly folks: the locals just treat the above workings common affairs, no harm done although a little evil is still acceptable. The Lord Buddha is all compassionate. What say you my friend?



Easy Come, Not So Easy Go

Prior to my travel to Thailand in search of trail of magic, my mother; and even all my friends said the same thing: “Becareful of kong tau (black magic)!” So you can see how deep rooted is the phobia about kong tau in South East Asia region. Thanks to the influences of movie series in the 70’s to 80’s, people take it for granted that kong tau is very popular in Thailand. Whatever you do, you will be hit by kong tau.

It is a matter of fact that kong tau is not as popular as portrayed in horror movies; as well as not so easy to be hit by kong tou. While we can’t deny that there is no kong tau in Thailand nowadays, black kong tau really exists in Northern Thai mountain ranges. A seasoned arjan will only need a person’s photo, finger nails, hair or even clothing to perform the kong tau.

The signs and symptoms of kong tau is intermittent loss of consciousness or memory, in this case it is almost similar to mental illness. Only an experience arjan will be able to differentiate whether it is indeed a mental problem or the working of kong tau.

I don’t want to repeat my old kong tau rituals has said in previous posting. I just want to share a real kong tau story:

A lady suspected her hubby was having an affair, after some persuading, confrontation and even death threats to find no avail. So as a last resort, she went to consult an old arjan. Her intention was quite harmless: let her hubby suffers strange skin disease to scare away her opponent, then provide a simple remedy that only the old arjan would know.

True enough, within 3 days the hubby felt his body itchy all over, and he begun to scratch his body until blood oozing all over. The other lady as expected left this hubby to his lawful wife.

Now this lady happily went to see the old arjan again for remedies, but this time to her horror; the old arjan has passed away due to heart attack! This lady came and see me but I can only shake my head because as a rule: whoever releases the kong tau, the person must provide the remedy. It is said that his poor lady still wandering about to seek remedy for her husband.

Well, the morale of this story so that: do not give in to the believe of our love ones are hit by kong tau and simply waste our money or worse still, abused by those so called ruthless arjans. Please take it from me that kong tau is not so easy to get and it is not everywhere! Peace J.

The Princess Suphankalayar

According to Thai history, at the fall of Ayutthaya in 1569, Thai Princess Suphankalaya together with her younger brothers (among them Prince Naresuan) was taken to Hansawaddy ( Bago ) as hostages  by Myanmar King Bayinnaung. There, she became King Bayinnaung's royal consort.

Suphankalaya is the granddaughter of the famous Thai Queen Suriyothai of Ayutthaya who died in 1548, defending Ayutthaya against the invading Myanmar forces of King Tapin-Shweti.  Suphankalaya is also revered as the elder sister of Prince Naresuan, a 16th-century Thai prince who killed an invading Myanmar prince in the battle. When the dead prince's father, King Bayinnaung, heard the news, he demanded revenge. He ordered that Suphankalaya, his hostage and consort, be tortured to death.

The princess appears in no school history books of Thailand. Up to very recently, she has been forgotten by the public and historians for over 400 years. Not until a few years ago, a monk in Phichit province claimed he met the spirit of the princess in his meditation.

The monk's unofficial biography also claimed the princess' spirit was trapped by black magic and although she wanted to return to her motherland and help her people, she couldn't. Fortunately, the monk apparently broke the spell and at last the princess could return to Thailand.

One of the spots where worshippers pay tribute to Princess Suphankalaya is at the monument of the princess and her two brothers at Wat Ladsing in Suphanburi.

When I was at Suphanburi, a shoe shop’s boss told me his own experience with Princess Suphankalaya. He was having financial problems and as he found no way out, he decided to hang himself in his shop. So he bought himself a piece of rope to hang himself with. As he was preparing to put his head into the loop, he heard some music seemingly from royal orchestra. He was stunt. At this moment, a ray of bright light and very pretty princess enters from his main door and pointed to him a series of numbers before she vanished into thin air.

The shop owner remembered the numbers and went to try his luck. True enough, he got first prize! He was frantic but at the same time wondered on how to thank the princess for her help. It really amazed him when he went to claim his fortune and found a picture of Princess Suphankalaya displayed in a bookstall.

I found the story interesting so I share it with you. Incidentally, I am use to see a princess in my Wai Kru ritual always and I think she is Princess Suphankalaya. I think the princess wanted me to share her story in my blog J!

The Secret Of White String

If you are a frequent Thai blessing ceremonies participant, then you will be familiar with this scene:

You attended a Thai temple blessing ceremony (outside Thailand), and the monk tie a piece of yellow string or seven color strings on your wrist as blessing. But do you also notice that white string is also used for blessing from a senior to a junior person? I have not seen this in Malaysia, so I think this custom is for local Thai only and not meant for tourists.

Besides the above, white string is also used in ceremonies such as house blessing, the making of amulets, Buddha statue blessing etc. You will see on the ceremonial site, a piece of white string is dropped directly to the seat of the participant. It is indeed an amazing view for a big site. The purpose of this string is meant to transfer the benefits of the blessing directly down to each of the participant. You might scorn off such an idea, but the locals have 100% faith on them.

These white stringss will be cut into small pieces after the completion of the blessing ceremony and given to the needed visitors.

As a side note, I was told that it is a Thai’s custom during your graduation, marriage or travelling, the senior will bring you to a temple to be blessed by a monk and then tie a white string on your wrist as a blessing for safety and happiness. Well this white string is as a general rule, taken from prior blessing ceremonies.

Powerful Sak Yant

Thai tattooing is famous throughout the world. In Thailand almost every man at least will have one tattoo. Thai tattoo patterns are quite different from the Western tattoo in that Thai tattooing is called “Sak Yant” or “Yantra Tattooing”.

Yantra tattooing is normally performed by Long Po (Thai high monk) using a 3 feet tattoo needle to and fro poking the requester’s body to form intended patterns. Generally, Thai men like to have the Yantra tattoo on their back and shoulders. They believed that the Yantras have specific power to protect them. Hence, Sak Yant is loved by people in risky business: construction workers, military personals, police etc.

Basically there are two types of Sak Yant:

1.      Inked

a.       For general public

2.      Inkless

a.       For the rich and famous

Incidentally, there are two streams of Sak Yant Arjan:

1.      White shirt Arjan

a.       For decent people as you and me.

2.      Black shirt Arjan

a.       For the hired killers, gangsters and the like.

It is said that the black shirt arjan must go into a trance to perform this type of Sak Yant. This type of yant will protect its owner from all harms. Unfortunately I do not dare to try it out so cannot relay you my personal experiences. However, below is a story told to me by my master:

According to the story, Northern Thailand is the place where all the hired killers congregated. Some are even in their teens. It is said that before these youth go into this line, they will normally go to a black shirt arjan to do an invulnerability tattoo.

A hired killer known by the name Ah Se was a professional killer since he was 15 years old. He has made many kills.

Ah Se got a big case when he was 17 years old; the case was to put down a senior policeman. So Ah Se hid near the policeman’s house one night and waited for the best timing to ambush. It seems that the luck was not at Ah Se’s side that night, he was discovered by the policeman and a cross fire resulted. The policeman was gunned down but Ah Se escaped into a forest nearby unharmed.

A few days later, a farmer found Ah Se’s body and after autopsy, the coroner was surprised that there were no wounds on Ah Se’s corpse but there are over 100 pieces of bullet inside Ah Se. There is also a mysterious tattoo on Ah Se’s back.

People also believe that whatever you tattoo on your body, its spirit will follow you around. So just exercise caution before you go and see a tattoo arjan.

Ilmu Pukau Of Talang Mamak

This “ilmu pukau” or mind control spell is originated from the interior of Talang Mamak, Riau in Sumatera, Indonesia. I got this ancient spell from the said king of Inderagiri in the interior of Riau. Some people say that he is also one of the kings of the weretigers of Sumatra because the king has no notch below his nose.

I have seen him fishing by only murmuring three sentences and the fish would become tame and he would only fetch the fish from river.  

It was on a Friday night of July, 1997 that he has invited me to see him in his dwelling place for a chit chat. According to him that he has foreseen that I will be returning to my home country soon, so the king of Inderagiri indicated that he would like to pass me his knowledge so that he can die in peace. Indeed after that, I have not seen the king since ... until I was visited by a tiger in my dreams a few days back. (So you think I am a member of weretiger huh?)

According to the king, the origin of this ilmu pukau:

“Adam and Hawa were separated for 99 years. At that time, Hawa was buried in a cave in the land of Thursina. The cave was sealed by 3 stone gates. So Adam prayed to God so that he could open the gates. So the God gave Adam the 3 sentences. Adam subsequently was able to open the 3 gates and met with Hawa.”

KAJAMAH KATA BUMI

KASIBUN KATA LANGIT

SINTI RUHUM KATA ALLAH

The ritual:

1.      Recite the above prayer for 999x for 9 consecutive nights outside of your house while facing the night sky.

2.      On the last night, put a napkin on your head while recite the prayer.

3.      Upon completion, throw the napkin into a river while reciting:

a.      “ASSALLAMUALIKUM DATUK RAJA BUJANG YG MERAJA DI HUTAN RIMAB, KABUL ALLAH KABUL AKU … BERKAT PENGHULUKU NABI MUHHAMMAD.”

4.      In order to maintain the power of ilmu pukau you must recite the below key prayer 99x at the moment you are falling asleep:

5.      “Demi ALLAH aku bersumpah bahwa yang menjinakkan dan mengkayakan semua makhluk adalah ALLAH, ALLAH, ALLAH.”

You can test the efficacy of this mind control spell onto your boss. First you kick his ass and see his reaction … But seriously, for your reading only. I don’t want to experience difficulty upon dead, so I open it out for your reading pleasure. This is a dangerous spell, for the sake of all our daughters out there, the empowerment is not given. Unless if you are a weretiger. Hahaha ;-)

A Little About Thai Amulets

Thai amulet market is a billion dollar market, it has made many millionaires. My pal spent not less than USD100k in purchasing rare amulets. He said it is a good investment as the value of his collections has already skyrocketed. I am indifferent as I have seen people losing money by selling their collections cheap below market value to raise funds. So my take is hard cash saving is still the best investment. Oh, please don’t remind me about bond, funds or share market investment.

My Lanna master himself does not wear any amulets. What he has passed to me was a piece of spear, a teacher’s staff and a piece of bear tooth (his familiar spirit). Personally, I do not believe a piece of amulet will have any powers; I believe the power sources of Thai magic are normally manifest by jinn, spirit, gods and the like. This is in line with other practices such as the Kejawen, Malay Magic, Hikmah, Taoist etc.

These amulets are normally made of clay, wood, metals, cremation ashes from famous monks, both animal and human bones, cemetery dirt and many other unspeakable substances.

The Thais believe the older the history of these amulets, the powerful they gets and hence the prices will be proportional higher. The prices of these amulets range from a few thousands Bahts to millions of Bhats.

I have a few pieces of Thai amulets myself, all were presents from friends. I am keeping all amulets in my locker because I do not have the habit to wear anything around my neck. People believe that if you are to wear these Thai amulets, then the number of amulets must be in odd numbers.

It is not surprising that Thais are the main fans of Thai amulet. My Malaysian pal is even more fanatic than the Thais in that he has tattoo all over his body, including his face. He wears a dozen of big and small Palakits around his waist, his right arm is planted with a leklai and on top of that, he has around 9 pieces of big and heavy Thai amulets around his neck. Among those amulets, the biggest one is the Jatukam.

The reasons for wearing Thai amulets are many:

·         Protection from evil spirits

·         Protection from fire arms

·         Protection from mishaps

·         For good fortune and business

·         And many more unspeakable purposes

There are many legends about Thai amulets. Frankly it is quite impossible to list them all. Below is what I have heard from a Bar owner quite some time ago after had a cup too many. So bear with me if I don’t get it right:

It was said that a Thai collector possessed a Thai amulet with amazing power that was 50 years old but within these 50 years, it had saved the life of 40 owners!

The story behind it was that around 50 years ago, a Long Po pass down a will to his disciples that his body was to be cremated and the ash was to be made into an amulet. This amulet is then given to the people in need.

The rules for obtaining this amulet are:

1.      No one can possess it, once a borrower is saved from a disaster; then he/she must return it to the temple.

2.      It is forbidden to sell the amulets for a profit.

3.      It is forbidden to copy the design of the amulet.

4.      The borrower must do merits.

It was said that the amulet had many miracle powers, amongst all was that of invulnerability to fire arms. So said most of the borrowers were either from black societies or armed forces.

The amazing part is that every time when a borrower returns an amulet, some of the ash is missing. Hence after 40 years’ time, this amulet has reduced into nothing; what left is only the outer casing that once holds the amulet. And this collector is currently keeping this empty casing.

I have not asked the bar owner to produce a proof, so suffice as a tea break story.

As there are billions of Thai amulets in circulation, and many more in private collections, one really has to do detailed research before pulling out one’s pocket to make a purchase. Many people said that the best bet is to purchase a real amulet is from a reputable temple. Then and again, some sources said that even big temples are selling reproductions to make a profit.

My take is if you like the piece of amulet and the price is right for you, then purchase it and forget about the authenticity. Otherwise you will be falling into a loop of never ending amulet buying spree. Believe it? Peace J.