Thai magicians are not the sole ones who engaged with mountainous spirits for help. The Tibetans have long worshiped mountain gods in Himalayan mountain ranges for protection. There are many rituals to appease those mountain gods. For example: Tibetan Buddhists would perform smoke offerings every morning and fire offerings at festive seasons. Many of Tibetan guardian spirits are mountain spirits. Those folks practising Tantric Buddhism must know this.
Thai magicians believe that the status and power of a mountainous spirit depend on the elevation of the mountain range. Simply put, the lowland spirits are much hostile and inferior than those highland spirits.
So, a hermit will strive to hike to the top of a mountain to communicate with those spirits dwell at the peak. According to personal experience, a magician must hike up to at least 1000m above sea level before a helpful spirit can be contacted.
There are trials and challenges that a hermetic magician must overcome before any spirits would come before him. Having said so, not all mountainous spirits are beneficial though.
A tell tale sign if the spirits of a mountain is benevolent or otherwise is that the mountain must be a maiden jungle far away from human pollution. If a mountain is evergreen and the atmosphere is serene, then the spirits would also be kind too. However, if the mountain site has seen developments; or if the place is a rocky mountain, then the mountainous spirits must be hostile too.
It is certainly true that not everyone is fond of mountain hiking. So, as an alternative; many magicians choose to work with lowland spirits such as the infamous 'banana spirit', 'phi phop' and any types of wandering spirits.
Personally, I treat 'mountainous spirits' as a collective terms refer to any type of wild spirits be they the monkies, bears, snakes, wild boars, tigers, wild plants and etc. According to my experience, the majority of mountain spirits in tropical rain forests are snake spirits and monkeys.
It is best that a magician possesses some loyal guardian spirits before working with new mountainous spirits for the magician's own safety.
If you still remember the lady in black whom I met during my jungle tracking, then let me tell you the squeal of the story.
First some background: I work with many mountain spirits mostly inherited from my late masters: bear, snake, fox, phi phops, some wild spirits etc.
After meeting the mysterious lady for a few times, I wanted to know the true identity of her.
So, during one of those mountain hiking, I summoned my phi phop and asked her what was the background of the secretive lady. And as I was communicating with the phi phop, suddenly I head some squeaking sound of monkey came from a tree branch above me.
I looked up and saw a spectacle monkey sitting on the branch. Then I knew the answer for the mysterious lady in black is a 'monkey spirit' as a spectacle monkey is black in color too!
Since my discovery of the mysterious lady's identity, she never appears to me anymore. Instead, I would be greeted by a spectacle monkey every time I hike up the same mountain.
Perhaps the monkey spirit knew that her identity was exposed and shy away from me, or she decided to show her true face? Whatever case that might be, I continued to find wonderful herbs in that mountain. I think the monkey is helping me in my back.
One thing to remember is that those mountainous spirits are not magicians wish granting machines. They have their limitations too as they can only guide a magician through the mountain and hinted him on the possible dangers. At the end of the day, it is the magician who must get his hands dirty.
Those mountainous spirits have warned me about the forthcoming of heavy rains in many occasions and helped me to either descend to safety or call off my hikes. They have shown me to many rare herbs too. Maybe they can show me a real lady soon too? This is a challenge that I have given and awaiting their response...
So, if you are practising Thai magic in the comfort of your house, then you have not even enter the door of real field magic. Why not try to reach out for once?
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