The Amazing Lookalikes (物有相似)

I have just collected two very similiar lookalikes. Can you tell a difference?

the left one is a bulb from amorphophallus pendulus (herb) from West Borneo and the right is a all famous mystrious holy item (mineral) from Thailand. Both of them are rare items!

The Devil’s Claw (恶魔の爪)

This is surely a sign that the devil is emerging and protruding its claw out from the inferno!

I found this strange looking plant during a morning walk that gave me the creeps when looking at it. Its message seemingly said: “I am going to get you!”

So, for the non-believers, pray before you are being prayed! Believe it! ;-)

Goathide Wind (羊皮蛊)

There is a type of black magic that lies between poison and curse said to be originated from ancient Yunnan, China. It is very difficult to translate this type of magic to English but the Chinese used to call it ‘gu’ (蛊) for thousands of years. The character ‘gu’ is mentioned in I-Ching as ‘mountain-wind’ (山风), so I have taken a liberty to name ‘gu’ as ‘rotten wind’. As the matter of fact, the victim of this type of black magic will often show a symptom of ‘rot from inside out’. Since, this type of wind comprises of poisons and germs, it is exceedingly difficult to cure by magical means alone. More often than not, the victim maybe left die rotten away even in the eyes of the modern medicine unless the types of germs and poisons are found in time. Luckily, this type of evil wind is normally practised by the Indochinese mountain tribes who stay far away from our civilizations. Further, this type of ‘wind’ will not be released easily unless a person has done something very wrong towards another party and that there is no possibility of further negotiation.

There are two known lethal animal hide wind that I know. I have posted the cowhide wind in one of my blogs, and the other is the goathide wind. The difference between the two is that the cowhide wind causes a victim to stuffed till dead and the goathide wind causes a victim to suffer from skin deceases that cause his/her skin to become inflame and rotten away.

Whoever wishes to make this goathide wind must first obtain a goat and then feed it with hot and spicy foods. The goat would refuse to eat the spicy foods but when it is hungry enough and there are no other choices; the poor thing will devour those foods anyway. After the goat consumed those spicy food, it would definitely feel burning hot and wanting to drink water. At this point, the goat is again fed with large quantity of hot chilli water. This action will certainly make the goat even more jumpy.

At this point, the sorcerer would take a knife and shave off as much goat fur as possible. After that, a mixture of chilli powder, lime powder, bamboo fur etc. is applied onto the goat body. At this point, the goat would feel that its body is burning hot and becomes very jumpy and restless. This goat will suffer for another 10~15 days before it dies in agony. At this point, the goat carcase would become swollen as if a drum and its skin would be dry and extremely tight.

As soon as the goat is skinned, and the hide is burnt to ashes and pulverized. The powder is stored in container prepared to be used.

This goathide powder is normally mixed into food and beverages. Once consumed, the victim would not feel any uneasiness until one month later. After one month, red spots would appear on the victim’s skin and the victim would feel extremely itchy and started to scratch his/her body. At this point, the victim’s skin would become thin and any type of contact will make him/her feel as if being poked with needles. A few days later, this victim’s body will be full of bloody injuries caused by his/her own scratches.

If this victim is still untreated properly, his/her body will start to swell as if a balloon. His/her skin would become thin and tide. In due time, this victim would be suffocated by his expanding internal organs.

Unfortunately speaking, there is no known remedy for this goathide wind to-date. On the other hand, it is extremely difficult to come by this type of evil wind… unless you have visited mountain ranges Indochina and offended some local VIPs…

The Modern Tenaga Dalam (新神功)

Tenaga Dalam is a type of magical practice resembling the Shen-gong (神功) in Taoist magic and the once popular Japanese Reiki (灵气). On first look, these types of mysterious exercises maybe things of the past with the advent of Pokemon Go now days. Before we throw TD, Shen-gong or Reiki into dustbins, I would like to take a second look into TD and perhaps give it a second life.

For those TD practitioners who has received my empowerment and ventured to try the exercises persistently, they would find after a while their body would make certain type of mysterious dance or martial art stances. I would just like to explain here that the movement is caused by the primordial ‘chi’ (元气) in our body. In normal circumstances, the primordial chi is dormant in our body. When a student requests for empowerment; I will send my chi to trigger the student’s chi. It is precisely the awakening of the primordial ‘chi’ in the student’s body that causes the student’s body to move.

Once a student’s chi moved in his/her body, it starts to strengthen his/her body and removes unnecessary elements. Constant practise of TD exercise could strengthen one’s body and increases his/her vitality. We could perhaps treat this awakened primordial ‘chi’ as our ‘guardian spirit’ or a ‘higher self’. After the initial ‘higher self’ awakening, a student still need to continue the initial practice twice a day for a further 14 days to build his/her foundation; and another 7 days for master’s practice.

After working with one’s ‘higher self’ for 21 days, one would be able to feel the presence of his/her ‘higher self’. Now the practitioner can perform more exercise to tune his/her six-senses. For example, at the beginning he/she can hide an item and then extend right hand to ask his/her ‘higher self’ to seek out the item. It will take a while to get the item whereabouts. When the person can guess the hidden item 9 out of 10 times, then he/she could find his/her way out when he/she lost his/her way in a jungle. I have used this method to find parking lot for my car and most of the time I could find one parking lot ready for me!

The movements of TD can also be used for ‘space cleaning’ of haunted house or clearing of unwanted aura. Of course, this method is meant for more advance practitioners and it is best to be performed by a few practitioners and not alone. So it is good if a student can have his/her own practice group to serve the community.

A TD practitioner should ideally stay connected with the mother nature to discharge his/her and replenish his/her ‘chi’. For example: a TD practitioner can submerge in the water for cleansing or absorbing the water energy, or he/she can lay flat on the ground to absorb the earth energy etc. Whatever case that might be, it is best to go to the nature at least twice a month.

Another interesting aspect of TD is the invulnerability to sharp object, i.e. we can use a needle to prick into our hand and no blood will be drawn. Same effect can also be achieved by a person being hypnotised. I would not personally encourage this type of practice. But it is sufficed to say that if a person is diligent in his TD practice, he/she is less likely to get hurt and run into bad luck. A diligent TD practitioner will see his/her life hassle free and relatively easy going that I can promise you.

Last but not least, TD is not a religious activity. You don’t need to have a religion to do TD. What you need is your time and effort every day to tune into your own ‘higher self’.

If you are practising the MagicSEA TD, then perhaps you can indicate on the comment below. It is my hope to set up a platform for modern TD practitioners to share their own experiences. Perhaps we do need a place for the interested folks to talk...

Aggressive Kong Tao Removal (生死解降术)

Thai magic is sometimes known as ‘kong tau’ in Singapore and Malaysia. At best, a ‘kong tau’ should be removed with Thai magic so that none negative entities could remain in the body of the victim. There are many versions of ‘kong tau’ removal methods; below is one of the so-called ‘dead or alive’ ritual:

Khata:

Iti piso pawakawan arahan samasamputto waitu jalanasampani kataragawi annutarapurisatam

Items:

Kaffir limes, holy water, some rice, incense, betel leafs, 36 pieces of flowers, 36 pieces of white candles, a sticky paste made form water and flour.

The method:

First the archan (master) must invoke the presence of lersi to assist in the ritual and then he/she must perform the ‘body sealing’ ritual to protect him/herself.

After that, the master will start drawing yants (diagrams) on the body of the kong tao victim with the flour paste. Then the victim is asked to be seated and the 36 pieces of candles and incenses are lit and encircling the kong tao victim. The master would then use the betel leafs to rub against the body of the said kong tao victim until some foreign objects or blood are drawn out.

Finally, the rest of the offering items are thrown into the holy water and the kong tao victim is given a ritual bath to further cleanse his/her aura.

Just a note to this ritual belongs to the more aggressive type of counter curse in that one of the parties will get injured or die. So care should be taken and the master should be diligent in his daily practice and stays connected with his lineage masters. Thus it is not likely to be carried out by a master. Well, no one wants to risk his/her own life for a stranger for sure!

The Preserved Vege Ghost (荫菜鬼)

Carrots are normally consumed as vegetable... but do you aware of they other uses?

Preserved vegetables are popular foods in Asia. Having said so, not many people aware that vegetables too can be mediums for spirit conjurations and binding.

This conjuration method is known as the ‘preserved carrot ghost’ used to be quite popular in Taiwan and Minnan (闽南). Interestingly, the cousin of this ‘preserved carrot ghost’ is the Vietnamese ‘white tiger ngai’ utilises ginger species as medium. Surprisingly too, the person who wish to perform the ritual of ‘vegetable ghost’ or ‘white tiger ngai’ must first worship the ‘five legionnaire armies’ (五营兵).

Whoever wishes to perform this ritual must obtain a stillborn baby with known date of birth. After that he/she should bury the dead baby in his/her garden in the moonrise direction of that time. Next, the person should plant a vegetable seed, in this case, a carrot seed is normally planted on the baby’s grave. After the seed is planted, he/she should start watering and chanting conjuration mantra every day. The baby’s grave should be guarded by the sorcerer’s spiritual military until the carrot grows.

The empowerment ritual must continue until the carrot flowered and seeds are produced. The carrot seeds should be collected and carried along by the sorcerer wherever he/she goes. This will automatically bring his/her vegetable ghost pet along. At the same time, the carrot now fully grown must be dug out and wind dried in a dark place. When the carrot is fully dried, it is wrapped with a piece of red cloth and worshipped in a separate altar; or beside the earth spirit (地主).

At the beginning stage, this preserved carrot should be placed outside of the caretaker’s house every night to absorb the night dew. It should be brought back into the house before sunrise. The process should continue until the owner can communicate with the carrot spirit. After the initial ‘dew empowerment’, it is sufficed just to feed the carrot spirit with dew once or twice a month.

In previous years, vegetable ghost is kept mainly by fortune tellers to increase his/her fortune telling accuracy. Of course, I am not surprised that anyone would practise this method anymore today. On second thought, if you have a dead pet dog and you still longed for its company; this ritual maybe useful too.

The Luk Phi (路皮鬼)

There are many forms of baby spirits in Thai magic ranging from the weakest Kumanthong to the more powerful luk kok (dried fetuse).

Having said so, not many people knows there are other type of kid spirit that stays in between the two; and ‘luk phi’ is just one of the special kind.

The making of luk phi is almost similar to the Kumanthong but it is normally made by masters for private use. Now this rule is broken as once you know the method, you too can create your own luk phi too.

You would need some ingredients: cremation ash of a 12-year-old or less, soil from 7 cemeteries and some holy relics from monks. Also, not forgetting some incense and 7 pieces of white candles.

The ritual to make luk phi should be performed from dusk to midnight during full moon.

First, the ash, relic and soil are mixed evenly. After that, the master should light the white candles and hold them with his/her right/left hand in such a way that the molten wax drips onto the soil mixture. At the same time, the master should use his/her left/right hand to squeeze the soil and wax to form the shape of a kid. The process should continue until the master feels he/she is satisfied.

The wax-soil luk phi manikin should be placed in a plate for further empowerment process. If the luk phi is only meant for personal use, then it is desirable to draw a drop of the owner’s blood onto the luk phi manikin so that there is a blood link between the owner and his/her luk phi. In this way, this particular luk phi is locked to serve only one owner and it cannot be traded openly.

There is a distinct distinction between luk phi and Kumanthong: a kid’s ash can only make one luk phi and no more. Basically, a luk phi should only be kept in a dark corner once it is fully empowered.

Also, normally if you don’t take care of your Kumanthong statues, they could not do much harm. But beware when you have a luk phi as any mistreatment could mean disaster to your household; or at times even bankruptcy. In addition, if you visit a household or a premise that worships a luk phi, then you must watch your manners and words. For the luk phi may play prank on you when it is angry with you.

One good thing about luk phi is that the luk phi manikin can be destroyed once its job is done and the spirit is delivered. Just a note though, the owner should not perform any deliverance ritual when he/she keeps a luk phi as there is a chance that his/her luk phi may be delivered to the other side.

I was told that a commercial luk phi in Hong Kong or Taiwan can fetch up to USD8,000 some time ago from a reputed master. I think the crazy for such items has faded with the introduction of smartphones.

Conjuration Of Money Ghost (养钱鬼)

We have seen that there are many methods to keep a spirit or djinn if you prefer to call it.

Most traditions only have a common way to deal with spirits, the Lower Maoshan school have developed more specific rituals to take care of our worldly needs. Unlike other common spirit conjuration rituals, the Lower Maoshan method strive to ‘foster’ ghosts in a container and the type of ghosts varies according to the caretakers’ needs too. For example, there are ghosts for general purposes, ghosts for revenge, ghosts specifically for love matters etc. The ritual I would like to discuss here concerns a very specific type of ghost called the ‘money ghost’ (钱鬼).

This ‘money ghost’ ritual is best for those people who have no fortune in their astrology readings. Once the ritual is a success, then the money ghost caretaker would receive windfall in relatively short time. However, a downfall of this money ghost is that the caretaker cannot accumulate the money he/she earned by hook or by crook. Whatever this person earns will be spent one way or another because the money does not belong to the person.

The method to keep a money ghost is fairly standard. Although this is a Lower Maoshan ritual, ritual of any tradition can be used; the main ingredient is of course the spirit. The prospective caretaker should look for a dying rich and famous person and strives to get his/her pillow if possible; otherwise any of the person’s personal items. Once these items are obtained, then the sorcerer can return to his/her altar to perform spirit conjuration ritual every night until the rich person kicked the bucket. Once the rich guy died, his/her soul will come to the sorcerer and attached itself onto the pillow or any of the items desired by the sorcerer.

If the rich soul is attached onto the pillow, then the caretaker should make offerings of food and incense to the pillow/item for 49 days and nights. After that, he/she should sleep with the pillow/item and the rich soul will teach the caretaker how to get money.

Since the money obtained in this way can be gone in a jiffy, there is another method to keep a ‘money watcher’ (守财鬼).

The ‘money watcher’ ritual is more troublesome. The sorcerer must collect 1 piece of paper money during Chinese All-Souls-Day (清明节) from 365 graves and then the collected paper monies are filled in a small wooden coffin. After that this wooden coffin is placed near the earth deity’s altar (地主公) and worshiped together with the deity. My Taoist bro told me that time around the All-Souls-Day, descendants of the deceased would burn a large quantity of paper money. After the dead soul received those monies; then it will guard those monies with all its power so that no one could steal them. If the ritual is done other than the All-Souls-Day, then the deceased would have no money to watch over. Hence, then the ghosts would be lazy.

I have tried both methods for years and would standby on the effectiveness of both rituals. The only thing is that it took me over 2 decades to see desirable results. So, don’t try these rituals and grumble to me if the spirits don’t work for you.

My Motherland: The Highland Nation (我的高山祖国)

Since we are mentioning about translation, I would like to explore my motherland, the meaning of Malaysia (formerly Malaya) in Sanskrit just for fun.

The word ‘Malaya’ is perhaps originated from a Sanskrit name referring to a place. As recorded in an Indian epic, the Mahabhrata compiled somewhere around 4BC, Tamilian king sent a ship made of gold to bring chendana (sandalwood) oil of Malaya to celebrate Yudhisthira king’s coronation.

In another ancient Indian literature, Satapatha Brahmana in Vajasaneyi Sanhita Yajur Veda recorded that when the big flood submerged the land and formed the Indian Ocean, the water on Jambudvipa subsequently subsided, the ark of Manu was grounded on the north of Malaya Parvatas; which should be the current Malabar mountain ranges. However, Malabar is an Arabic word originated from Sanskrit ‘Malaya-vara’ or ‘the mountain nation’. Coincidentally, ‘malayalam’ refers to ‘mountain range’ and ‘malaya’ refers to ‘mountain’. The modern Tamil still calls mountain as ‘malai’.

The work ‘Vayu Purana’ from 5AD mentioned that Jambudvipa was divided into 6 continents. Amongst the continents, there was a ‘Malayadvipa’ which refered to Sumatera however. Perhaps the Indian too like other races tend to name a place new to them with their most familiar name. For example: The Maha-Malaya refers to the highest peak in Sumatera, Gnung Kerintji. While the spiritual mountain, Mandora in Indian epic refers to Si-Guntang Mahameru mountain. There is a river flowing at the foot of Mahameru. This river is known as Sungei Malayu that perhaps was named after some ancient Indian has migrated at the place.

Interestingly, although the Sultanate Melaka has acknowledged the use of the word ‘Malayu’; the Federated Malay States was introduced by the British colonial.

Maybe only the God can reveal the real situation. I will leave the puzzle to scholars to argue about.