THE SPIRITUAL SELF THE PRACTICE OF RELIGION: THE BELIEF IN

SUPERNATURAL BEING AND POWER

What is a supernatural being?

It is a being that is better, and more powerful than any creature in the
natural world. An incorporeal being believed to have powers to affect the
course of human events. Is also commonly conceived of as being better,
higher, or purer than the mundane, natural world around us.

Examples of supernatural being

Gods, Ghosts, Angel, Demon, Fairy, Goblin

Worship of the Supernatural

One of the attributes of God in traditional theism is a being that is “worthy

of worship”.

Worship may take the form of:

Ritual, Sacrifices, Prayer, Consultation or simple obedience to commands

from supernatural beings.

Common question regarding Supernatural Being

Does God Exist? A common question which atheists hear a lot is ‘why
don’t you believe in God?’ Theists, religious or not, have trouble imagining
why anyone would not believe in at least some sort of god, preferably their
own.

Must Gods Be Supernatural?

 The concept of god is usually associated with the supernatural today but
that isn’t always the case.
Greek gods, for example, are not supernatural in the way we usually think
of.
Greek mythology doesn’t describe their gods as creating nature. They have
great power and great roles to play, but they do not exist outside of nature
or even outside of certain natural constraints. They are more powerful than
mortal human beings, but they aren’t better than mortals or transcendent to
nature itself.

What is Animism?

The term animism derives from the Latin word anima meaning breath or
soul. Animism is the belief that everything in nature—including living
things like trees, plants and even non-living rocks or streams—has its own
spirit or divinity. Animistic beliefs may have been overtaken by various
sorts of theism in world religions, but they never entirely disappeared.

Cline, Austin. (2019, June 25). Religion Is a Belief in Supernatural Beings.

Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/religion-is-belief-in-
supernatural-beings-250678

THE CONCEPT OF DUNGAN (SPIRIT OR SOUL)

The Soul or Spirit in Different Regions of the Philippines
1. Kaluluwa by the Tagalog
2. Gimokud by the Bagobos
3. Makatu by the Bukidnon
4. Dungan by the Ilonggos when the is alive, "Kalag" or "detached", "free"
when he is dead
5. Ikararawa by the Ibanags
6. Kadkadduwa by the Ilokanos when the soul is in the physical body and
it is seen as a constant companion;karuruwa when it departs

The Soul according to the indigenous Filipino is known as kaluluwa,

ikaruruwa or kakaruwa.
It is taken from the root word duwa which means two.
The soul has two parts-one is the physical part where it is connected to the
body and its life, and the other spiritual, where it exists on its own.
For the Ibanags:
The Soul is the principle of life in man. Body is the matter; Soul is the form.
As long as the body and soul are one unit, man is alive. Death is the
separation of the soul from the body.
The body cannot stay alive without the soul. Freed from the body, it ceases
to experience thirst and hunger, cold and heat.
As spirit, the soul is the opposite of the body which is matter.
For the Ilonggos,:
They call the Soul "Dungan" which cannot be seen by the human eye.
Sometimes, the Dungan may show itself in the form of insects (a housefly
or a moth) or small animals like lizard. According to Bisayans, the Dungan
may leave the body voluntarily while the person is asleep. Among the
ancient Filipinos, when the person is asleep he/she should not be
awakened quickly in order to give ample time for the Dungan to return to
the body.
When the Dungan is travelling outside of the body, it should be free from
accidents because there is possibility that it might be trapped in a jar or be
poured out with the liquid from a vessel. When the soul has safely
returned home to the body of its owner, he/she could then be awakened.
It is believed that whatever happens to the Dungan happens to the physical
body as well. It is also believed that another reason for the voluntary
withdrawal of the soul is maltreated.
The Bisayans believed that the Soul or Dungan is not located in any specific
part of the body. Rather, it is believed to grow proportionately with the
person's body. It is normally weak at birth, that is why babies are said to be
susceptible to ‘usug’, that is the unintentional transfer of disturbing vapors
of a strong body to a weak by holding, talking or just looking at the weaker
one. It is for this reason that the dungan needs protection and nurture.
Soul-nature,
the folks believe, means the performance of age-old spirit rituals many of
which are still followed in the local provinces today. Examples of these are
birth, illness and death rituals consisting of trances, prayers and animal
sacrifices. An adult person with a healthy Dungan properly lodged in his
physical body will have bodily health and well-being, intelligence and
good sense.
The Bisayan has a secondary meaning of willpower. A strong dungan is the
intellectual and psychological capacity to dominate or persuade others to
one’s way of thinking.
A person with a lot of willpower is said to ‘have a strong dungan’.
Constant companionship (sometimes under the same roof) of two people
may lead to a spiritual competition between the two dungans and the
defeat (causing illness) to the one with the weaker dungan. At death, the
dungan leaves the body through the nose, eyes, ears and other body
orifices and eventually goes with the air or the wind towards the upper
regions. There it waits until it can find another body to enter.
Religion Vs. Folklore.

What Is the Soul?

The Hebrew term for “soul” is nephesh. It is found more than 780 times in
the Old Testament. Because of the variety of contextual meanings, it is not
always rendered by the English word soul.
The King James Version uses twenty-eight different words by which to
translate the original term. Nephesh, therefore, signifies different things
depending on the passage in which it occurs. Similarly, in the Greek New
Testament, the original word for soul is psyche. It is found 103 times. Our
modern word “psychology” derives from this Greek term. Here are some
uses of the word soul in the Scriptures.
A soul is a person. Sometimes the word soul signifies merely an individual
person. The prophet Ezekiel declared that the soul (i.e., the person) who
sins will surely die (Ezek. 18:20). Peter would write centuries later that
eight souls were saved by water in the days of Noah (1 Pet. 3:20). See also
Exodus 1:5.
A soul is life itself. In some contexts, a soul simply has reference to
biological life. It is the animating force that is common to both humans and
animals. All creatures have “life” (see Gen. 1:30; cf. ASV footnote).
The wicked king, Herod the Great, sought to take the “life” of baby Jesus
(Mt. 2:20; cf. Rev. 12:11). In one of the visions of the Apocalypse, certain
creatures of the sea were said to possess psyche or life (Rev. 8:9).
A soul can refer to the mind. A soul can have to do with that aspect of man
that is characterized by the intellectual and emotional (Gen. 27:25; Job
30:16). It is the eternal component of man that is fashioned in the very
image of God (Gen. 1:26). It can exist apart from the physical body (Mt.
10:28; Rev. 6:9).

RITUALS AND CEREMONIES

Rituals

Free for any person of any age, gender, religion, non-religion or culture to
practice
Habitual set of actions that are imbued with deep and personally
significant meanings
Doesn’t have to be esoteric or religious
Types of Rituals

Prescriptive – a ritual that a deity or religious authority requires to be

performed
Situational – a ritual that arises as needed, frequently in times of crisis
Calendrical – a ritual that is performed on a regular basis as part of a
religious calendar
Occasional – a ritual that is performed when a particular need arises

Common rituals practiced in the Philippines:

Circumcision Festivals /Penetensya

Benefits of rituals in the spiritual self:

Rituals afford us a sense of belonging

Rituals provide us with a sense of renewal
They provide an ongoing way to structure our lives.
They give us a way to connect to family, past and present.
Rituals help us access our authentic selves through their ability to carry us
into deeper levels of consciousness.
Rituals provide the essential tools for creating our own lives.
Rituals give meaning to our journeys and a sense of purpose to our lives.

Ceremonies -

a set of acts, often traditional or religious, performed at a formal occasion

esp. to recognize an important event

Common examples of ceremonies: -

weddings, birthdays, graduation rites

Importance of ceremonies -

They may reflect our beliefs, hopes, traditions, culture and spirituality, but
they also express who we are.
They are held to celebrate a new life or in honor of a life well lived
They are held to reflect on events – events of historical and social
significance
They help to heal – for those events that cause devastation or loss

RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY, AND IDENTITY

RELIGION

According to Santrock (2014) an organized set of beliefs, practices, rituals,

and symbols that increases an individual’s connection to a sacred or
transcendent other (God, higher power, ultimate truth).

Belief in a god or other gods

- Organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god.

An interest, a belief or an activity deemed to be of utmost importance to a
person or a group
According to William James (1902 – 1958) - Feelings, acts, and experiences
of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to
stand in relation to whatever they may consider divine

RELIGIOUSNESS

According to Santrock - degree by which one is affiliated with an organized

religion in terms of the person’s participation n the prescribed rituals and
practices, connection with its beliefs and involvement with its community
of believers.

SPIRITUALITY

involves experiencing something beyond oneself in the transcendent

manner and living in a way that benefits others and society search for the
sacred –
may signify a person, an object, a principle, or a concept that transcends the
self.
Can include a divine being or a divine object that is ‘set apart’ and
considered holy or beyond the ordinary.

SPIRITUAL IDENTITY

Persistent sense of self that addresses ultimate questions about the nature,
purpose, and meaning of life.
Results in behaviors that are consonant with the individual’s core values.
Focuses on the individual’s construction of a relationship to the sacred and
ultimate meaning.
Emerges as the symbolic religious and spiritual content of a culture that is
appropriated by individuals in the context of their own lives.

“A high level of spirituality leads to a higher level of self-efficacy”

A structural Equation Modelling on the Factors Affecting On tolerance of

Uncertainty and Worry Among a Select Group of Filipino Elderly ( de
Guzman and Larracas, 2014)

MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT (BOOK)

Magic –
Power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious
or supernatural forces.
It is the ability to use supernatural forces to make impossible things
happen.
Magician
– One who performs magic.
Derived from the Old French magiciien which is rooted in the Greek word
magikos or magos meaning “magical”.

Sorcerer
– translated from the Greek word pharmakos, and carries with it the idea
of medicine, magic potions, drugs, and poison.

Wizard
– one who is acquainted with the secrets of the nonmaterial or unseen
world.
Necromancer
– one who is ‘seeking unto the dead’.

Barang
– Filipino term for a sorcerer. It is used to describe malignant sorcery or
familiar spirits.
Kulam
– Tagalog word for ‘voodoo’ or ‘witchcraft’.

Albulario/Mananambal
– Filipino practitioner of traditional medicine.
Folklores
– includes aswang, manananggal, kapre, dwende, sirena, syokoy,
engkanto, sigbin, tikbalang, tianak and many others.

Witchcraft Practice in the Philippines

Have you ever heard of “gayuma” or heard stories about people suffering
from “kulam”? Do you, by chance, know some person who performed the
“kulam”? Or do you ever experience getting treated by albularyos rather
than doctors? If your answers were all yes, then Philippine culture and
tradition were presented to you.
Back in the old times, due to lack of hospitals and other equipments used
in performing a surgery or treating someone, elders would consult a faith
healers. One of the most famous faith healers are the albularyos.
Albularyos were believed to have agimat or anting-anting, charms like
pendants with words inscribe (mostly Latin). It is believed that it is where
they get their power to heal people. Others would also say that Albularyos
is the instrument or the channel of Jesus, the holy spirits or some other
powerful guides. But however, faith healing is beyond religion and was
also influenced by other religions, such as the Buddhism, Muslim,
Protestantism, etc.

Albularyos chant incantation, mostly in pig Latin, while healing someone.

By just chanting incantation and performing rituals, Albularyos were able
to know the illness of one person. “Na-engkanto” and “nausog” were some
of the common diagnosis of Albularyos. They also performed some rituals
that would alleviate the said illness and be healed soon. But some of the
faith healers performed surgery as their way of treating and it is called
“bare hand surgery” where the surgery was conducted without the use of
any medical equipment, just the bare hands of the faith healers. Laurence
Cacteng is the famous faith healer who performed the bare hand surgery.
This may be quiet risky surgery to some but for those who believe, this is
very powerful and effective remedy for them. Albularyos were also
believed to be able to counterfeit a “kulam”. Many Filipinos, even in
present day, believed on the “kulam” wherein it is the used of black magic
to perform some evil deeds that could cause to hurt other people. Other
Filipinos would intimate that “mangkukulam”, the one who performed the
kulam, are often from the islands of Siquijor and Samar, and the province
of Sorsogon. The foremost image of mangkukulam in the public involves
the use of rag doll to injure the intended victim. For the curse to work,
something belonging from the victim should be obtained by the
mangkukulam and the closer to the intended victim, the more the curse
will be effective. So, strand of hair, spit, or drops of blood are highly
recommended for the maximum effect. Believers said that there are only
two way for the curse to be lifted; first, removing the string tied from the
rag doll and the second one, is killing the witch herself. Kulam exists in a
wider context. It does not just revolved around the rag doll, sticking
needles on it.
Other Filipinos referred mangkukulam as the village witch where they can
get love spells, spells to catch cheating husband, potions and such. The
common love spells here in the Philippines is the gayuma. For this gayuma
to work you need to pour some of it on your victim’s drinks and it is
needed to be drunk by the victim.

Both, mangkukulam and albularyos used “magic” or performed some

rituals and incantation. However, this should be remembered that these
two were different from each other. Albularyos are specialized in healing
people, sometimes they used herbs as the medicines of the patient. While
mangkukulam is more of specializing in tricks, curses and hexes. And,
sometimes, albularyos were the one who healed those people who’ve been
suffering from kulam. They often prescribed to their patient who’s
“nakulam” to find the caster of the kulam and bribe them to lift the curse
out to them. The other form of remedies that albularyo performed is the
use of Buntot Pagi (Stingray’s Tail). The albularyos whipped the person
whose been cursed by the buntot pagi until the afflicted was forced to say
the name of the witch or mangkukulam who casted the curse. They also
believed that through whipping they were able to punished or caused pain
the person who casted the spell, or mangkukulam and in that way, the
albularyo can convinced the mangkukulam to lift the spell they casted.
Witchcraft has been part of Filipino culture since before the Spaniards
came. However, as the time goes by and as the world become modern,
there where technologies and other advance machineries were introduced
to the Filipinos, these were slowly fading and only few still believes on it.
Most of the time people consult to the real doctors regarding to their health
disregarding the old way of healing. We may have been more advanced
today but still, we should not forget what our ancestors and our
grandparents believed on their time because this where we started. And,
this is still part of our culture. Our culture wouldn’t be complete as it is
now, without these kind of beliefs. We may not patronized these but we
should not forget these things.

https://medium.com/@rosebelleprestosa_71444/witchcraft-practice-in-
the-philippines-aa3d6b677794

Witchcraft in the Philippines: Filipino Witches Midwives and Healers The

Most Prominent Types of Filipino “Witches” I put “witches” in
parentheses, because each individual’s belief on what is considered or not
considered a witch will vary. For our intents and purposes, Filipino
“witches” means anyone who practices magic.

Katalonan: Tagalog Priest/Priestess

The Katalonan (Catalonan, Catalona; Catulunanin Kapampangan): is a
priest or priestess in the indigenous religions of the Tagalog. Mostly found
in Central to Southern Luzon. They are the equivalent of the Visayan
Babaylan . Spanish friars and missionaries also called them anitero (male)
and anitera (female).

What the Katalonan Do

They safeguard the religious practices of the barangay (a type of
community) and the dambana, the main term for a sacred place before
Catholicism was introduced in the Philippines. Now, in the modern times,
it may refer to shrines of indigenous religions in the Philippines, altar of
Philippine churches, or monuments erected to remember Philippine
history.

Female and Transvestite Catalona, Offerings, and Ceremonies

The Catalona could be of either sex, or male transvestites (bayoguin), but
were usually women from prominent, wealthy families. As compensation
for their services, they received part of the offerings (mostly food, wine,
clothing, and gold.) Thus, the catalonas filled a very prestigious as well as
lucrative role in society. The catalonas performed public ceremonies for
community prosperity, fertility, or seasonable weather as well as private
services to diagnose and cure ailments. This type of Filipino witches were
respected for these functions but they were also feared sorcerers able to
work black magic. Some were spirit mediums and held séances during
which they spoke with the voice of spirits (anito).

The Babaylans: Shamans and Mediums

The Babaylans were shamans of various ethnic groups of the pre -colonial
Philippines and usually found in Visayas. They were highly respected
members of the community. They were usually female, especially the
mediums. They function as spirit mediums and as a mananambal (a
Filipino practitioner of traditional medicine or a medicine man).

The Babaylans’ Abilities and the Asog

The Babaylans could be considered Filipino witches in that they performed
divination, sorcery, black magic, and herbalism. There were male shamans
too, but they’re usually the minority and belonged to a special class of
shamans known as asog (feminized men). In Luzon they’d be called bayok.
The asog would adopt the voice, mannerism, hairstyle and overall look of a
female. They were treated as women by the community and would do the
work most women did back then—shamanism, pottery, and weaving.
These powerful individuals were believed to possess powers that blocked
dark magic and healed the sick or wounded. They ensured safe
pregnancies and child births.

Albularyo: Filipino Witch Doctor

The albularyo is a Filipino witch doctor, folk healer, or medicine man, who
often don’t have formal education. They are equivalent to a general
practitioner. And knowledgeable in most folkloric medicinal herbs. The
Filipino witch doctor was believed to have acquired their healing abilities
from an elder, passed down to them. Or acquired from a supernatural
being or a higher power. Some are able to find out your ailments just by
checking your pulse.

Herbalists and Healers

Coined by the Spaniards as herbolario, or in English, an herbalist. An
albularyo is alternatively called a manghihilot (a person who does healing
massage) or a manggagamot (someone who heals). They’re found in rural
areas where modern medicine and facilities are expensive and difficult to
find. People who are traditional and superstitious are the ones who seek
the albularyo the most. Aside from tradition, people seek them because
they are believed to show more care and concern for their patients as
compared to the modern doctor.
Albularyos differ by region and were born from the suppression of the
Babaylans and native Filipino animists. Their practice is influenced by
animism and the local mythological ethos. To survive persecution, some
willingly adopted the Catholic ways by fusing together ancient healing
practices with the new religion and exchanged their native pagan prayers
with oraciones. Albularyos were prominent figures in rural Philippines.

Albularyos and Angry Spirits People trust the albularyo to rid them of
disease of natural or supernatural causes. They employ herbs, alum,
coconut oil, etc. in their healing practices as well as incorporating prayers,
chants and “supernatural” cures. These cures are used especially for cases
involving spirits like the duwendes (dwarf or goblin), nuno sa punso (a
dwarf -like creature, some call them ancestor/grandparent of the anthill
but not because they are actually ancestors, but they are perceived to be old
looking earth bound dwarfs that live on anthills), lamang lupa (gnomes),
tikbalang (hybrid horse beast, complete anatomical opposite of a centaur),
and a kapre (a tree giant or a tree demon that carries a cigar and has a
prominent smell that’s hard to ignore).

A Dying Breed
As western medicine rose, people leaned towards modern technology and
scientific treatments, slowly pushing the albularyos and Filipno witch
doctors into shadows even further, slowly being driven to extinction.
However, they can still be found in the rural areas of the Philippines.

Faith Healers
Filipino faith healers usually start as an albularyo, a medico, or a
manghihilot. They believe their healing powers come from a higher being,
like the Holy Spirit. They believe this higher gives them the gift of healing,
or they believe they’re merely a medium of the Holy Spirit or the Mother
Mary to heal. These faith healers use their divine connection to heal others.
Their mode of healing is prayers, visiting religious or sacred sites, or by use
of sheer faith. They truly believe calling on the presence of a higher power
will heal those who ask them. Their hands are used as their healing tools.
People who seek their healing liken their results to miracles of god/Mother
Mary. On one end of the spectrum there are the albularyos, manghihilots
and other faith healers; where their healing rituals are mostly of religiosity,
icons, prayers and invocations. They use the same divining ways of a
mangtatawas, diagnosing black elves, black gnomes, black dwarves and
the like, evil spirits, possessions, and sorcery as causes of maladies. With
their knowledge, belief, and courage, they share their unconventional
concoctions of treatments to heal.

Psychic Healers
On the other end of the fringe, there are psychic healers, those who can
heal at a distance, whispering and blowing prayers to the afflicted areas,
healers anointing the bodies with flowers dipped in coconut oil infused
with prayers, healers anointing the afflicted areas with their own saliva,
and healers who pass religious icons or crucifixes over the body. Kind of
like the same way you use salt or an egg to check for Evil Eyes. To this
group of healers belong the psychic surgeons, those who perform bare -
handed surgery. They perform without the traditional surgical tools. They
are but a small number; perhaps, over a hundred, and a mere handful of
them are exceptional by faith healer standards.

Mangkukulam: The Feared Ones

Kulam is a form of Filipino folk magic, specifically natural magic, where
the practice is very similar to voodoo.
A mangkukulam is someone who is believed to be a sorceress who
performs black magic. They can either be a man or a woman. People come
to these Filipino witches for revenge or justice, that’s why they are the most
well-known and the most feared type of witch in the Philippines, especially
in rural areas. If you ask even a city -dweller, they know all too well what a
mangkukulam is and are just as fearful as the country -dweller. Aside from
the mangkukulam’s ability to harm, hex, or curse people, they also offer
love potions. And for witches like me, love potions are a no no as it
controls another’s free will.

Mangtatawas: Diagnosis Ritual

A mangtatawas is a divination where someone uses tawas (alum) as a
diagnostic ritual. Other tools could be used for a diagnostic ritual, like
candles, eggs, plain paper or the paper used in cigarettes, and mirrors. A
good example of candle wax diagnosis is interpreting the shapes that form
in bowl of water from candle wax drippings. This has personally been done
to me when I was a child, because I was sickly.

Manghihilot: Healing Hands

A manghihilot is someone who performs hilot (a magical chiropractic type
of massage or form of reiki healing). Their scope of healing abilities are
limited and are reserved only for sprains, sala (afflicted area or cause of
pain), and massage in general. The basis is more esoteric than scientific.
They use hilot to find musculoligamentous disorders and muscoloskeletal
problems to diagnose and treat. Even though they have no formal training,
people from rural areas seek them. The manghihilot also use coconut oil or
special herbs as a patch to an afflicted area.

Magpapaanak
The magpapaanak is someone who people call for pregnancy, prenatal,
and postnatal issues. They have a basic knowledge of herbal medicinal
plants which they use in prenatal and postnatal care, like suob. They
mostly get their training from a trained practitioner who was a relative,
friend or neighbor. Some become magpapaanak because of a spiritual
calling, or a message from a supernatural being that grants them the
needed power. Their care starts about the fifth month of pregnancy. The
magpapaanak requires the patient to follow up every two weeks or as often
as needed to assess the progress and fetal position.

Education and When There’s No Magpapaanak

Midwives are required to be certified and should register annually at the

municipal hall, yet there is no strict enforcement of certification for a
magpapaanak . In impoverished communities, deliveries are performed by
friends, neighbors or relatives who have gained experience, confidence and
the basic expertise in umbilical cord care if a magpapaanak is not available.

Pagbubuhos: Pre-Baptism

In these same communities or even in developed ones where superstitions

are treated seriously, if an infant shows unusual amount of crying or
restlessness, they attribute it to unpleasant entites. A midwife or local
healer might take on the task of “pagbubuhos,” a pre baptismal ritual of
water application or immersion performed on some infants while awaiting
the sacramental church ritual. When I asked my old Nanny… I had a
nanny who was originally a midwife. She was from Siquijor, one of the
most feared island in the Philippines known for its legends, superstitions,
and the supernatural. When asked about the island’s beliefs and the
situation of the old ways, she says that believers and practitioners of this
nature alike are dying. After coming back home permanently, she told me
that before, people would go to faith healers a lot. Now, not so much. Yet,
some still seek the medical aid of the local manananambal (medicine man)
especially if they’re opting for a cheaper solution, they’re superstitious, or
if they are too far from modern doctors. Tourists also seek them for
curiosity’s sake or for actual aid.

Filipino Folk Magic and Healing is Disappearing

Kulam is no longer the norm either. Siquijor is now treated as one of the
most beautiful tourist destination. Due to the Spanish colonization of the
Philippines, most native shamanistic practices and Filipino witchcraft are
now extinct. A few followers of the native shamanism resisted Spanish rule
and conversion, especially in areas difficult to reach, like the highlands of
Luzon and the interiors of Mindanao.

Some Resisted Spanish Rule I

n Spanish-controlled areas, especially in the Visayas, entire villages defied
the policies of resettlement and moved deeper into the forests or
mountains. Shamanistic rituals continued to be performed secretly in some
areas, though these were punished by the Spanish clergy if discovered. At
the onset of the Colonial era, the suppression of the babaylans and the
native Filipino religion gave rise to the albularyo. By exchanging the native
prayers and spells with Catholic oraciones and Christian prayers, the
albularyo was able to synchronize the ancient mode of healing with the
new religion.

Misconceptions of Asian Witches

Time is slowly erasing the original spiritualists and healers of my people. It
also doesn’t help when you search for Asian witches, the articles that come
up are mostly of people in India who are wrongly accused and killed for
witchcraft. Or people in rural parts of China where middle-aged women
who are heads of their households are being accused of witchcraft. In
China though, even if accused, these women are luckily not being hunted
down and burned at the stake. They’re mostly just ostracized. However,
real life witch hunts seem to still be active in Papua New Guinea, where the
burning times seem to still be going on.

The Reality of Modern Witchcraft in the Philippines

Here in the Philippines, even though the babaylans were often falsely
accused of witchcraft (in a negative connotation) or for being believed to be
the “priests of the devil”, were persecuted harshly in the Spanish times by
the clergy, there are no recent burnings or hangings of witches. Asian
witchcraft isn’t as abundant, informative, or welcoming as western
witchcraft. Though we have a long way to go as a collective to revive and
honor the old ways, majority of the modern witches you’ll find here in the
Philippines are either old school like the folk healers mentioned above or
Neopagans mostly found online with a practice rooted in pre -christian
European witchcraft.

Early Modern England: Politics, Religion, and Society under the Tudors
and Stuarts HIST 251 - Lecture 14 - Witchcraft and Magic Chapter 1. Magic
[00:00:00] Professor Keith Wrightson:

Well, in 1921 a group of workmen working on the highway near the village
of St. Osyth, which is here in Essex, in East Anglia, discovered a skeleton.
And at first they thought they’d uncovered a modern crime, but it was
soon established that it was very old. And subsequently, on the basis of
both documentary evidence and forensic evidence, they identified it as
being probably the remains of a woman named Ursula Kemp who had
been executed at St. Osyth and buried in the highway, rather than in
consecrated ground, in the year 1582. And Ursula Kemp’s crime was the
alleged causing of death by witchcraft. Now today, obviously, I’m going to
talk about witchcraft and perhaps explain how it was that people like
Ursula Kemp came to such an end. First of all we need to start with a little
context by discussing the larger place of not simply witchcraft, a specific
crime, but magic within the popular culture of early modern England. We
could perhaps define that world of magic as being essentially a body of
beliefs, a large body of beliefs, and practices regarding supernatural power
which stood outside the world of formal religion and yet were widely
known and helped people to cope with their anxieties and their
insecurities. It helped them to cope above all because it involved various
ritual means of manipulating supernatural powers so as to ward off
misfortune or else to alleviate it. This world of magic, then, was essentially
a world of trying to propitiate or to manipulate unidentified supernatural
powers, largely for the purposes of protection and relief. It wasn’t — and
it’s important to stress this — it wasn’t an alternative religion. It was a
whole mess of supplementary beliefs and practices, being described by one
historian as “the debris of many different systems of thought.”1 It was
regarded with some suspicion by the church, but it was not regarded as a
threat as such, at least not initially. One historian writing about popular
beliefs has put it splendidly. I’m quoting from him. The name’s James
Obelkevich. “It was a large, loose, pluralistic affair without any clear
unifying principle. It encompassed superhuman beings and forces, witches
and wise men and a mass of low-grade magical and superstitious practices.
The whole was less than the sum of its parts” — the whole was less than
the sum of its parts —

“for it was not a cosmos to be contemplated or worshipped but a treasury

of separate and specific resources to be used or applied in concrete
situations.” That puts it extremely well.2 These means of tapping into
supernatural power were very widely known. You could say they were
part of the lore which was acquired by every child as part of their
education for life, like learning to cross the road as it were. But the world of
magic also had its specialists and they were those who were known as the
‘cunning folk’, ‘cunning men’, or ‘wise women’. These individuals were
those who were known to have special knowledge over and above the
average knowledge of magical practices and who often believed to have a
special inherent power, often inherited. It was thought to pass in the blood.
The cunning folk who were pretty numerous — one survey of known
cunning folk in East Anglia suggests that there was a known cunning man
or wise woman within ten miles of any village — these people were
appealed to for a variety of specific purposes. In the first place, they often
were appealed to for medical reasons. Very often they had specialist
knowledge of herbs which they would administer often accompanied by
spells to increase their effectiveness — the psychological effect of the
incantation going along with what may well have been the practical effect
of the herbs they used. Ursula Kemp for example was such a person. She
was known as a healer in her village. She was good at curing arthritis
apparently. Again, they were appealed to for the diagnosis of witchcraft. If
a person suspected that they might have been bewitched, they might go to
the cunning folk for the provision of counter-magic. They might help the
victim to identify who might have attacked them in this occult manner and
advise on counteraction. One of my favorite cunning men came from a
town in the north of England, Stokesley, and he was called John Wrightson,
and he was known as Old Wrightson the Wise Man of Stokesley, and
people went to him for help with their horses. He was a horse leech. He
was very good at telling whether your horse had been bewitched and
knowing how to take the appropriate countermeasures. People went to the
cunning folk also for the recovery of lost or stolen goods and they went for
advice and the telling of fortunes, and to this extent the wise women and
the cunning men were the popular equivalent of the astrologers who had a
more elite clientele in this period. So, the cunning folk provided a variety of
real services and the best of them may well have been quite skilled
therapists in their way. One historian of medical practice in this period says
we ought to count them amongst the medical practitioners of the time.
They were cheap, they were available and in many ways quite
knowledgeable. However, the church was pretty unhappy about this kind
of activity. It didn’t like popular magic. The official teaching of the church
was that if a person suffered any misfortune it must be the result of divine
providence. It was either a test of your faith or, on the other hand, it was a
judgment on your sin. The only proper response to misfortune was to
search one’s own heart for the possible causes of such divine intervention:
to pray, to repent, to trust in God’s providential purposes. The church
rejected magical means of relief. It accepted the possibility, but it rejected
the means. God could not be commanded by spells and incantations,
therefore, if there was any supernatural response to such practices it must
be from evil spirits. And so, given these beliefs, we find the deeply pious of
the period searching their hearts for the sins which had brought misfortune
upon them and sometimes finding quite extraordinary answers. You find it
in their diaries for example. For example, the diary of the Reverend Ralph
Josselin, a minister in the late seventeenth century, who, having lost a
dearly loved daughter, searched his heart as to why God should have done
this, why he should have taken her away, and came to the conclusion that
it was because he had neglected his clerical duties because of his
enthusiasm for playing chess. He had played chess too much; God had
taken his daughter. That’s the conclusion he came to and he gave up
playing chess. This is a seventeenth-century God, not a nice, modern, user-
friendly, God. [Laughter] Little wonder then, if these were the official
teachings of the church, that the greater part of the population preferred to
explain their misfortunes in terms of just bad luck, or their neglect of
protective magic, or perhaps the malevolence of evil spirits and malicious
neighbors. Well, this world of popular magic had long existed and it was
long to endure. You can find much of it still alive and well deep into the
nineteenth century. And it endured because in various ways it helped.

Chapter 2. Differences between Witchcraft in England and in Europe

[00:08:56]
But the problem of witchcraft is altogether more distinctive. That involved
a specific kind of magic: the causing of injury or death by the malevolent
and malicious use of supernatural powers against another or their
property. And that was the practice which was known as maleficium.
That’s the Latin legal term which was used for this maleficent magic. And
concern with witchcraft in this way had a quite distinct chronology. The
possibility of malevolent magic had always been there, of course, but
concern with it was undoubtedly at an unusual height in the late sixteenth
and earlier seventeenth centuries. And the key to why that was so is
perhaps to be found in what the historian of the Spanish Inquisition, Henry
Kamen, has described as a peculiarly horrible conjunction in European
history, a conjunction he says between “popular superstition” on the one
hand and “ecclesiastical fantasy” on the other, the fantasies of churchmen.
The popular superstitious element doesn’t need any further elaboration of
course. It had always been the case that some individuals were regarded as
having this special access to occult power. The element of ecclesiastical
fantasy, however, that was something that was peculiar to western
Christendom. We don’t find it in the Orthodox tradition and it was
peculiar to the early modern period, emerging at the end of the fifteenth
century and growing in strength in the sixteenth. Essentially, it involved
the belief that all witchcraft in fact involved worship of the devil, and as a
result the elaboration of a stereotype of the witch which portrayed witches
not merely as dabblers in magic, or perpetrators of malefice against
neighbors, but as something much more serious, members of an organized
diabolical and malevolent cult: not just village wise women or cunning
men but enemies of God. Throughout continental Europe, and indeed in
Scotland also, the result of these beliefs was that the main driving force
behind the spasmodic witch hunts which can be found in the period was
probably religious zeal, and the great witch hunts which would be found
scattered across Europe died back only when the judges came to doubt the
reality of that stereotype of the witch and came to doubt the notion that
witchcraft was an organized cult threatening to Christian society. One of
the first legal jurisdictions to make that decision, that the whole thing was
just a terrible error, was in fact the Spanish Inquisition. One doesn’t usually
associate the Spanish Inquisition with progressive movements, but in 1610
they were the first to abandon, to refuse to deal with, cases of this kind. The
French Parlement again did so in 1640 some years later. So it gradually
died away. But throughout both Catholic and Protestant Europe for some
time there was a unity in the war against witches as enemies of God. Well,
how far was that pattern true of England? The usual answer is that it
wasn’t true of England and that was for several reasons. First of all, the
authorities in England never actually embraced the full ecclesiastical
stereotype of witchcraft as evidence of membership of a diabolical cult.
Continental European ideas about the nature of witchcraft were certainly
known in England. Books from Europe were read by the educated and
these ideas were disseminated by a number of English writers, usually
clergymen, particularly from the 1580s or thereabouts. Gradually, such
notions did seep into popular beliefs and you begin to find them at the
popular level by the mid- to late seventeenth century. But nevertheless that
notion of the nature of witchcraft didn’t have much influence on English
law. Witchcraft was never prosecuted as a heresy in England. The first act
which was passed against it in 1542 made it a felony — any crime that was
a felony carried the death penalty — made it a felony to practice witchcraft
for unlawful purposes. But that act was only on the statute book for five
years; then it was repealed. After that there was actually no law against
witchcraft for nearly twenty years. Then in 1563 there was a new act. It was
made a felony to invoke evil spirits and to — if they were invoked to cause
the death of another, then execution was the punishment. Otherwise
witches were to be imprisoned or put in the pillory and face death only for
a second offense. Then finally in 1604 came a third act. It elaborated on the
1563 act. It made it a felony to bewitch anyone to either their death or their
injury. For lesser forms of sorcery people faced imprisonment and death
for a second offense. But some elements of continental European ideas
were beginning to creep in at last in to this third act. For example, it was
made a felony to dig up dead bodies for the purposes of practicing
witchcraft. Exactly why they were concerned with that they don’t explain,
but that was one of the clauses of the act. It was also made a felony to
consult with or to feed an evil spirit for any purpose. So, some elements of
the notion of diabolical pacts and the like were beginning to creep in but
not all of the kind of stereotype of witchcraft which was well known north
of the border in Scotland, or in continental Europe. Witchcraft remained
seen as not specifically diabolical but rather, as Keith Thomas puts it, an
“antisocial crime,” a very unusual one but an antisocial crime rather than a
form of heresy. And that characteristic, that it’s treated as a specific kind of
crime, comes out in the trial evidence. For example, in English witchcraft
trials it’s very rare to find any reference to making pacts with the devil.
You get the odd one in the seventeenth century but they are few; so no
diabolical pacts really. No witches’ sabbats at which witches met and
feasted and danced with the devil and so forth. Very little sex with devils
in English witchcraft trials, though that was a prominent feature in
continental trials. English witches didn’t fly. [Laughter] They didn’t have
much fun at all really. [Laughter] English witches did, however, have pets.
They had imps and “familiars” as they were known, usually small animals,
and they seem to have been part of popular beliefs in England, that a witch
would have a familiar which could act on her behalf. Ursula Kemp, for
example, was alleged to have had four familiars: two cats, a toad which
was called Pygin, and a lamb which was called Tyffin. What the English
trials focused on first and foremost was simple maleficent acts. Other
elements usually entered only in a handful of notorious causes celebres.
Witches were always condemned for maleficium and they were hanged
rather than burned; it was a crime, not a heresy. Secondly, particular
witchcraft prosecutions were rarely instigated from above in England.
That’s another important difference. There’s no evidence that the
authorities actually wanted a witch hunt. One outstanding exception to this
generalization was the activities in 1645 to ‘47 of a witch finder called
Matthew Hopkins who operated in East Anglia and to all intents and
purposes hired himself out as a consultant for the discovery of witches.
That was an organized witch hunt from which Matthew Hopkins
personally profited, but it’s the only really outstanding example of such an
outbreak in the history of witchcraft in England. It was the subject of a
wonderful Vincent Price movie thirty [correction: forty] years or so ago,
“Witchfinder General,” which I do recommend. It’s got nothing to do with
the history, but it’s a great movie. So witchcraft prosecutions in England
tended not to come in these witch hunts that would bring hundreds of
cases. They didn’t come in great waves with the major exception of
Matthew Hopkins’ activities. They were sporadic. They were occasional.
They came up one or two at a time and so forth. In addition, in English law
torture was not used except in state — certain state trials when it was
specially authorized by the privy council. In day-to-day trials torture was
not used whereas it was routinely used in many jurisdictions in continental
Europe and indeed in Scotland. As a result, people were not tortured into
confessing. As a result, large numbers of people were not implicated by
people under torture who named names. What you get in the witchcraft
statistics from the English courts is really a lot of individual prosecutions
brought from below by the alleged victims of witchcraft seeking redress in
the courts just like any other crime.

A REPORT: LOGOTHERAPY AND FINDING THE MEANING OF LIFE

1. Psychotherapy – – –

According to the American Psychiatric Association, Psychotherapy or

talk therapy, is a way to help people with a broad variety of mental
illnesses and emotional difficulties.

Psychotherapy can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a

person can function better and can increase well-being and healing.
Examples of psychotherapeutic method is Sigmund Freud’s
psychoanalysis in which he promotes the will of pleasure.

Thus, this topic focuses on a method/technique in psychotherapy,

which is Logotherapy.

2. Logotherapy (from the Greek word “Logos” which stands for

“Meaning”) –

Is a type of psychotherapy that believes that lack of meaning causes

mental health issues, so it attempts to help people find meaning in
order to help solve their problems. It is referred to as the Third
Viennese School of Psychotherapy which was promoted by Viktor
Frankl.

THE RELATION OF SPIRITUAL SELF AND LOGOTHERAPY –

Frankl, clarifies that this search for meaning does not have any
relation to spirituality or religion, but strictly relates to finding
purpose in one’s life or tasks. However, one’s belief or the belief of
his/her family about spirituality may help in finding a path to the
meaning in life. So, religion can be one of the things to consider in
thinking about one’s own existence.

LOGOTHERAPISTS: WHAT THEY DO AND WHAT THEY

DON’T

Logotherapists do not prescribe meaning to a patient but rather

describe the process of how meaning is obtained in hopes of
providing the patient with a sense of fulfillment (Thorne & Henley
2005). Thus, logotherapy regards its assignment as that of assisting a
patient to find meaning in life (Frankl, 1959).

THE THREE BASIC PRINCIPLES ON DISCOVERING MEANING

IN LIFE
1. Life has meaning in all circumstances, even despondent ones.
2. The main motivational force is the desire to find meaning in life.
3. Humanity has the freedom of attitudinal choice, even in situations
of unchangeable affliction.