‘Bach Ho’
or white tiger can mean a lot of things. In Chinese astrology calculations, it
means the yearly star in conflicts with the white tiger star. In serious case,
this may result in bloodshed injuries or even death; or in lighter case a
person may be involved with court cases, robbery or slander.
There is
another type of white tiger; this type of white tiger means the wandering
spirits especially the forceful ones. Anyone who met with these types of
spirits will be in bad luck or suffer strange illnesses. Normally the spirits
are not really white in color; they are grayish white or even grey. They like
to hide in a person’s shoulder, back and waist. This will cause a person to
suffer from sickness and unknown body pain. In this case, a Taoist should be
employed to perform a ritual to cast off white tiger and send the tiger off far
away.
In
Vietnamese magic, Bach Ho Ngai is a type of ginger plant said to be as fierce
as a white tiger. The below story is told to me by Andy Lau, a Vietnamese Ngai
master living near Ho Chi Min City. Ngai magic is pretty much feared off in
Vietnamese society still. The Ngai plants are believed to be able to consume
eggs or even live chicks. I have heard of the story that live chicks are left amongst
the Ngai plants at night and only feathers left in the morning. Although there
are no records that an Ngai plant can consume real human, they are believed to
be harmful to children.
Another story has
it that a young mother brought her 3 year old child to see Andy for a favor. The
mother presented all her offerings to the gods, goddess and the Ngai spirits. To
prevent her child from wandering off, she asked her child to sit beside the
food offerings so that she can have a watchful eye on the child. When
everything is ready, Andy started to chant to call upon the spirits to come and
consume the offerings and grant wishes. As the chanting was progressing half
way, the child suddenly collapsed onto the floor and that caused a commotion.
Everyone hurried to the child but only found the child was not breathing and
apparently he was dead!
As everyone
was wandering on what had caused the mishap, Andy fell into a trance.
Apparently a Bach Ho spirit has possessed Andy. So an elderly man approached
the Bach Ho and asked about the fatality. The Bach Ho spoke through Andy’s
mouth: “I thought the child was my food!”
Hence, Andy
always cautions people not to bring a child near a Bach Ho Ngai plant. I
supposed the warning applied to all sorts of spirits as well.
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