My Ngai plant production: Black Ngai, Snake Ngai, Tiger Ngai and Malai Ngai (Phi Phop). Interestingly no bats or birds would now perch on my railings ;-)
The Black Ngai family: (Left) mountain ghost (you can see the head, arms and two bulging eye balls), (Cener) the twins and (Right) Mother and son.
I think it
is not too much to say the Ngai magic is simply the magic of binding spirits to
selected plants be it ginger plants or any other plant of our choices simply
speaking. This type of magic is still widely practiced amongst the Vietnamese
occult communities with some variations. For the sake of my studies, I would
classify the Ngai schools into three categories:
·
The
Indo-Ngai
o
This
type of Ngai magic is mainly influenced by Indian, Thai and Cambodian magic.
o
Example:
Snake Ngai, Black Ngai
·
The
Sino-Ngai
o
This
type of Ngai magic mainly uses Taoist magic to bind the spirits.
o
Example:
Tiger Ngai, White Tiger Ngai
·
The
Indochinese Ngai
o
I
lump any other Ngai magic that uses a mixture of Indo and Chinese magic to call
and bind spirits.
o
Example:
Malai Ngai (Phi Phop)
So, you may
ask what are the purposes of keeping Ngai plants? Well, there are many reasons:
·
For
protection from enemies and properties.
·
For
healing purposes:
o
Traditionally
Ngai spirits are sent into a patient’s body to detect and cure illnesses.
o
A
Snake Ngai is said to be capable to cure a snake bite victim even after hours
this person is pronounced dead.
o
A
Snake Ngai and Tiger Ngai is said to be able to cure bone fractures.
·
For
attacking enemies
o
Ngai
spirits such as snakes, tigers, centipedes can be sent to kill enemies after
properly trained to do so.
Personally,
I think Ngai magic is another application of magic and traditional medicine
that is worth the effort to have further investigations especially on the
healing sides.
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