Anting-Anting at Orasyon

One of the short stories in a high school English literature class that I remember until now is the story of two friends who were sharing an apartment. The story’s setting was somewhere in the United States. I’ve forgotten the details of the story so let me just reconstruct it and provide my own dialogue. We’ll call the two friends Susan and Mabel.

It was autumn and the weather was getting progressively colder with the approaching winter. Susan got seriously ill and Mabel took over the challenging task of nursing her back to health. However, Susan was severely depressed by the illness and believed that she would die soon.

The rented room they were sharing had a window facing a concrete wall. Framed by the window was the sight of a leafy vine that had been crawling on the wall. But it was autumn and the vine, just like the rest of the surrounding vegetation, had been losing its leaves one by one. As the sick girl contemplated the sight of the vine, she told her friend: “As soon as that vine loses all its leaves, I would be gone also.”

Every morning upon waking up, Susan would look out of the window to check on the vine — until the day when she saw only one last leaf still clinging to it. “I guess I have reached my end,” she told her friend, Mabel. “Tomorrow when that one last leaf falls, I would be gone also.”

But the next day when she looked out of the window, she was surprised to find that the leaf was still there! “Well, maybe, by tomorrow it will fall off,” she said, “and then I’ll die.”

However, just like the previous day, when the next morning came, the leaf was still there. It had somewhat miraculously clung to the vine. “Maybe it’s not your time to die after all,” Mable said. “That last leaf still clinging to the vine is sending you the message that you will survive this illness.”

And so the days wore on. Susan grew stronger as she looked out of the window each morning to see the last leaf still there. Upon her full recovery, she asked Mabel what might have been the cause or the miracle behind tenacious leaf that refused to fall. “Remember that last day when only one last leaf remained on the vine?” said Mabel. “Unknown to you, I secretly asked an artist friend to paint a leaf exactly on the same spot where that last leaf was. You have been seeing a painted leaf all along.”

I can’t help but equate that nice short story’s theme to our belief in talismans or anting-antings. It strikes a chord and that’s probably the reason the short story clings to my memory. The painted “last leaf” functioned as a talisman for the character of the story. It became the symbol through which the sick woman drew her inner strength to ultimately survive her ordeal.

Was it just imaginary and, therefore, ultimately unreal? If you go by the result, that question becomes irrelevant. In holding on to an anting-anting or talisman, I think we are tapping on an invisible source of power that in the story is symbolized by the “last leaf.” We tap the universal creative force through symbols and that, I think, is the ultimate function of the anting-anting you possess for whatever intention you decide to have it.

One of the criticisms you will most probably hear from a non-believer in talismans is – why bother to have something like that? Whatever you want, you can get from God. You just need to pray and whatever you need, God will give it to you even if you don’t carry around that piece of metal or wood you call an anting-anting.

I can adopt the same line of thinking and throw back the same logic to the critic. If you believe in God and you likewise believe that God is all-knowing, then why do you bother to pray at all? If God knows what you need, then wouldn’t it be unnecessary on your part to still pray and ask Him to give you what you need?

The act of praying and the act of keeping a talisman are essentially the same. They are symbolic behaviors we traditionally hold on to as important elements in invoking the creative energies.

We work and resonate with symbols in relating with the Divine. That’s the reason why we have temples and churches, for example. They are symbol’s of God’s presence in our midst. And so are talismans or other representations of divine or spiritual beings when they are properly consecrated for that purpose. They are symbols that can magnify and become the channel of spiritual energy that we can tap for various purposes in our lives.

Unknown to the characters in that short story, they had tapped into the same principle we have been tapping in our anting-antings or talismans. The “last leaf” had become a symbol and ultimately became the force that enabled one of the characters to survive her ordeal. In essence, it had become a talisman.

I am reproducing here verbatim and unedited the complete Tagalog instructions from the Peter’s Mystical Book Center on how to consecrate talismans or anting-antings.

ANG WASTONG PAMAMARAAN NG “PAG-KONSAGRA” NG INYONG TALISMAN, MEDALYA, KUWINTAS, LIBRITO, PANYO, MYSTICAL HERBS AT MYSTICAL NA KAGAMITAN UPANG MAGKAROON NG BISA.

Ayon sa aming pinakabagong pananaliksik, ang inyong Talisman o librito ay lalong magiging mabisa kung kayo ang siyang mag-kokonsagra nito: Kaya’t narito ang lihim na pamamaraan ng pag-kokonsagra ng mga mystical na kagamitan na galing lamang sa aming opisina.

1. Ang inyong talisman ay dapat konsagrahan lamang sa unang biyernes (First Friday) ng alin mang buwan. Maari din na magkonsagra kahit ordinaryong Biernes. Subalit dapat ulitin ang konsagracion sa “First Friday.”
2. Ang pag-kokonsagra ay dapat gawin lamang sa pagitan ng ika-7:00 hanggang ika-9:00 ng umaga. Sa hapon naman ay sa pagitan ng ika-3:00 hanggang ika-6:00 ng hapon. Ang pagkokonsagra ay dapat gawin lamang ng isang beses. Kapag nakonsagrahan na sa umaga, ay hindi na dapat pang ulitin sa hapon, at sa susunod pang “First Friday.”
3. Lalong makabubuti kung hindi gagawa ng kasalanan sa loob ng tatlong araw bago magkonsagra. Mainam rin na mag-”FASTING”, “PURIFICATION”, O MAGKUMPISAL AT MAGKUMUNYON.

WASTONG PAMAMARAAN

Gawin ang pagkokonsagra sa inyong silid na walang makakakita. Ilagay sa kaliwang palad ang inyong talismang kokonsagrahin. Lumuhod na nakaharap sa silangan (EAST) at magdasal ng 1 SUMASAMPALATAYA, 3 AMA NAMIN, 3 ABA GINOONG MARIA AT 3 GLORIA PATRI. Pagkatapos, dasalin ng tatlong beses ang sumusunod na “blessing” habang nakatitig sa talisman na nasa inyong kaliwang kamay:

“IN THE NAME OF GOD THE FATHER, AND OF GOD THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, AMEN…………………………”ALMIGHTY AND ALL WISE FATHER OF ALL PEOPLE, I HUMBLY BESEECH THY DIVINE AID IN THE FURTHERANCE OF MY PRAYER, BLESS THIS ____________________________ (mention the name of your talisman, books, etc) BLESS THIS HUMBLE PENTACLE, SUPPLICANT, MAY YOU IN YOUR DIVINE WISDOM AND MERCY FIND IT ACCEPTABLE IN YOUR SIGHT TO HELP ME IN MY QUEST, AMEN.”

Pagkatapos nito, ilagay and talisman sa sobre, kahon o jewelry box (huwag isasama sa ibang bagay o gamit) at ilagay sa altar, aparador o “drawer” na may susi. Huwag gagalawin o hihipuin sa loob ng 24 na oras. Pagkaraan nito puwede ng gamitin ang talisman. Makabubuti rin na habang ginagamit ang talisman ay magdasal ng 1 SUMASAMPALATAYA, 3 AMA NAMIN, 3 ABA GINOONG MARIA, AT 3 GLORIA PATRI sa loob ng sunod-sunod na 9 na gabi. Sa ika-10 araw maaari ng huwag ituloy o ituloy ang pagdadasal gabi-gabi. Huwag kalimutan na banggitin ang KAHILINGAN pagkatapos magdasal. Ang mga Talisman o libro ay dapat konsagrahan isa-isa. (Isang konsagracion bawat isang talisman). Yaong mga ‘HERBS” na ipinaiinom at ipinaliligo katulad ng Beth Root, Jinx Powder, Basil Sweet, etc., ay maari ng gamitin pagkatapos makonsagrahan. Hindi na dapat pang pagdasalan ng 9 na gabi.

MAHALAGANG TAGUBILIN

1. Habang ginagamit ang inyong Talisman ay huwag ipahihiram o ipahihipo sa iba.
2. Kung kayo ay may asawa, alisin ang Talisman bago matulog. Alisin din kung maliligo.
3. Huwag dadalhin ang mga talisman o librito sa mga bahay aliwan, sauna bath at motel.

I have decided to post this all purpose way to consecrate and to activate a talisman in answer to a lot of requests in the Forum for specific formulas to activate specific anting-antings like the Infinito Dios, Siete Arkangheles, Trespicu, Una Peso Sagrada, etc., that often remain unanswered because we just can’t have all possible and specific ways to activate anting-antings specially when we don’t have them.

Hopefully, this can be a patch-up solution. If you can’t have the specific formula or prayer, then do it the way the Peter’s Mystical Book Center had been doing it. For decades, the bookshop had been one of the most prominent suppliers of occult and mystical items in the Philippines. If they can activate talismans the way it is given above, then I don’t see any reason why others can’t apply the same formula or procedure in activating any other anting-anting or talisman they may have.

If you want to start a discussion on this, then please proceed to the Forum and post in the topic I have created for it.

One of my most recent book acquisitions is entitled Way of the Ancient Healer authored by Virgilio Mayor Apostol. The book is published internationally by North Atlantic Books (Berkeley, California) and just to emphasize the stature of the author in the publishing industry, one of the book’s reviewers is Deepak Chopra who says, “In the Way of the Ancient Healer, Virgil Mayor Apostol brilliantly blends the art and the science of the sacred teachings of Filipino traditional healing to help people find their path toward health and happiness”

There is an interesting passage in the book which I think succinctly summarizes the subject of oracions and anting-anting and the inherent challenge the seeker must hurdle to give meaning to and obtain personal empowerment from the practices surrounding them. I’m quoting the entire passage here for your benefit:

“Some believe that the Philippines is one of the few places in the world that has retained the esoteric practices of the oracion to a high degree, which is very alive throughout the country. (Emphasis mine.)

“The oracion has a scientific counterpart in that sound in the form of spoken words carries a vibration that entrains on a molecular level. If this vibration is backed by intention, the spiritual meaning of the actual words will have a greater impact. The oracion is much stronger if you have a “direct” spiritual connection to the Universal Consciousness of God or Goddess. But how do you know if you have this direct connection? I offer an answer in the form of a question: What does it mean to be the light, as opposed to just being a mirror reflecting that light?

“Religious icons, whether symbolic through paintings, handcrafted or naturally occurring objects, were inspired by spiritual, philosophical thought. To the ancients, there was no such division between religion and spirituality. The loss of spirituality has degraded human thought to the denser, material level, so that when one sees a religious icon, they are biased into thinking in terms of the physical, which, to them, has no spiritual relevance. This, in turn, has limited humans into fabricating doctrines that demean such icons when people are not fully aware of what was once a harmonious perspective between the physical and spiritual realms.

“Although one may possess one or several amulets, the question of whether they work for the individual depends on their devotion to fulfilling the criteria that would make them so. The umber one criteria is the intention. An instrument may have the potential to play beautiful music, but without the intent of playing it, that instrument merely becomes part of the individual’s collection of material things. Likewise, if that individual does not posses the knowledge or understanding of the ways these amulets were treated, activated, and fed, or even a connection with the culture where they come from, that individual may develop a need for collecting amulets to simply fulfill the desire of obtaining the energy of what these amulets represents.” (Pages 191-192)

One interesting find during a Holy Week recollection is the book entitled Straight from the Heart – A Prayer Companion compiled and edited by Rev. Fr. Mario Jose C. Ladra. It is published in English and Tagalog versions. What I have in the picture is the Tagalog version.

The book is relevant to this blog’s content because an  orasyon is essentially a prayer. A condensed form of prayer, if you may.

The testimonies attesting to the efficacy of the prayers in the book are impressive. Here are some (culled from a brochure promoting the book):

“I was diagnosed of Follicular Cancer (Thyroid) stage 4. I had been bed-ridden for 2 months and lost my hair. I underwent Radiation Therapy several times. But I have a strong faith in God. By using Straight from the Heart and praying most especially the healing prayers there and the Miracle Prayer, Page 30, I was healed by God. sincere prayer really works. Nothing is impossible to God.” (Lyn M. Lina, Cancer Survivor, Bulacan)

“I have experienced a lot of trials when I was applying for a job in Saudi Arabia, emotionally and financially. But by praying “The Miracle Prayer” on page 30 and attending the Healing Mass in San Lorenzo Ruiz Church, God truly helped me and answered my prayers. I am now here in Saudi with a fine job.” (Mark Billones, Jr., OFW, Saudi Arabia)

“Simula nang gamitin ng aking pamilya ang STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART  noong 2007, lalo kaming naging malapit sa Diyos at nagbago ang takbo ng aming buhay. Natanggap ako sa pagiging SEAMAN, naiwasan ko ang aking mga bisyo, gumaling ang aking skin allergy, nabayaran namin ang utang sa bahay at napag-aaral ang tatlo naming anak. Tunay na napakabisa ng mga panalangin sa aklat na ito. Purihin ang Diyos!” (Angelito Nunez, Seaman, Blue Manila, Inc)

The orasyon you may be looking for does not have to be in an esoteric book store or with a shaman in some remote location. You may find it in this book. It contains prayers addressed to God, archangels, and saints dealing with just any aspect of your life that you might want to pray for. Here are some random samples from the Tagalog version:

Panalangin para Makabayad ng Utang

Panalangin ng Isang Naghahanap ng Trabaho

Panalangin ng Isang Nanliligaw

Oratio Imperata – Panalangin para Ipag-adya sa mga Kalamidad

Ang Mapaghimalang Panalangin

The book comes relatively cheap at Php180.00.

Palm Sunday

I had the chance to take pictures of the Metro Manila Film Festival parade as it wound through Roxas Boulevard last Saturday, December 24, 2011.

What a surprise when I went through the shots in my laptop on Christmas  the next day! All the pictures appeared normal until I reached the close-up shots showing Senator Bong Revilla’s Panday 2  and My Househusband floats. Here are the shots:

 Picture A: Panday 2 float as it passes by where I was standing. Note the high density of orbs.

Picture B: Second shot of Panday 2 float as it moves closer. Note the apparent movement of the orbs relative to the float and the appearance of new ones.

Did my camera develop a glitch just at the point when the Panday 2 float was passing by? Did dust or moisture accumulate on my camera’s lens by then to create an optical illusion? If so, how can we explain that in contrast, the following shot showing the approaching  My Househusband float immediately following behind Panday 2 does not contain the same phenomenon?:

Picture C: My Househusband float following behind the Panday 2 float. Note the sudden absence of orbs.

And yet, when the Househusband float came up close, the orbs reappeared although in much fewer number than what hovered over the Panday 2 float.

Picture D: My Househusband float as it passes by where I was standing. Note the reappearance of orbs but in lesser density.

Did my camera malfunction as the Panday 2 float passed by and then self-corrected with Picture C but developed a glitch again as the next float passed by (Picture D)?

Orbs or globes of light captured on digital cameras have been an increasingly observed phenomenon in digital photography. We don’t conclusively know what orbs are at present. They could be nothing more than optical illusion. Others, specially those engaged in paranormal studies, believe that they are manifestations of spirit beings captured on camera.

If the latter were the case, did a crowd of spirit beings accompanied the float Panday 2 and, to a lesser degree, the float of My Househusband as they negotiated the parade route last Saturday?

I hope some psychic readers of my blog can pitch in and offer an explanation.

Shown here is a version of a popular Filipino anting-anting called “Birheng Nagpapasuso” (Breastfeeding Virgin). It is used for attracting wealth and good fortune in other areas of life.

The analogy is obvious. You have the picture of the Virgin May breastfeeding the baby Jesus, an archetypal nurturing mother giving nourishment and protection to a child. So will the anting-anting do the same to its owner. It is described as a talisman that keeps its possessor away from potential harm and gives luck in business.

You can easily find this anting-anting sold in the sidewalk of Quiapo Church occupied by talisman vendors. The more attractive version for me is the taladro, a white cloth the size of a hankerchief containing the above illustration and inscriptions. You can likewise find a bronze medallion version without the detailed inscriptions.

Use of this inscription is given in the Forum’s Helpline in response to someone’s request for help.

The principle of sympathetic magic is very much alive in Philippine occultism. Familiarizing yourself of this principle can make you more creative in performing magical operations with your anting-anting and oraciones.

Very briefly, the principle of sympathetic magic says that for a magical operation to be effective, you should be able to symbolically imitate in your ritual the very effect you would like to produce in physical reality. The most common example of sympathetic magic is the stereotyped image of a witch who uses a doll representing a person and then sticking needles into it as a way of making the person sick or otherwise subject to the spell of the witch.

The very act of pricking the doll with a needle creates a sympathetic connection with the real person so that an actual situation manifests where the person under attack may feel an actual pain or manifest an illness exactly on the same part of his body corresponding to the part of the doll that was being pricked. That is, of course, a very negative example but it happens to be a very familiar imagery to convey the explanation of what sympathetic magic is all about. Representing real people with dolls is one of the most original use of the principle of sympathetic magic.

From that basic imagery you can stretch your creativity in conjuring an actual or symbolic image through which you can create a sympathetic connection and thereafter, create a similar effect on the situation you would like to magically influence.

Knowledge of the principle behind sympathetic magic is one of the ways you can possibly extract the possible applications of various oraciones in Filipino grimoires such as the Karunungan ng Dios by Melencio T. Sabino. Reading the grimoire, we are sometimes puzzled how exactly we are supposed to use certain oraciones uttered by biblical characters to address particular situations. Some are clear enough. For example, the oracion uttered by Jesus to disappear into a crowd is obviously something you can use to attain some form of invisibility if ever you encounter a similar real life situation where you are trying to escape from some people. But what about such oraciones as the oracion uttered by Jesus when he went down to Hell or the one he uttered when he cursed a fig tree? You don’t expect to go down to Hell one of these days and you probably don’t have a non-fruit bearing fig tree in your backyard. What can you make out of these oraciones?

Use the principle of sympathetic magic. Are there certain analogous situations or circumstances in your daily life that you can equate with the biblical incident? You may not literally be planning a trip to Hell but you may be planning to go to a “hellish place” like a community infested with gangsters and drug addicts. Then for your protection, you can use the oracion uttered by Jesus when he visited Hell. Similarly, you may not have a fig tree in your yard but figuratively, you may have such a “fig tree” in your life. For example, you may be an employer who is having quite a headache with an unproductive employee. You can use the oracion uttered by Jesus against the useless fig tree to get rid of that employee.

Use your imagination in employing the principle of sympathetic magic. Be creative and have fun!

Now, how will you possibly find a use for the oracion employed by Moses to turn his cane into a snake? I leave that to your imagination.

Picture Credit: www.neworleansvoodoocrossroads.com

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1)

John 1:1 is one of the most esoteric verses in the Bible that alludes to the mystery of Creation. But what was or is the genesis of the Word? It can only be a Sound. Sound antedates language which, in turn, antedates the alphabet that has given rise to the written word. Written words exist today because at one point in time, we decided to label the sounds we have heard.

In this sense, therefore, if we would like to extract an alternative truth statement from John 1:1, it is this: In the beginning was the Sound, and the Sound was with God, and the Sound was God!

What an intriguing possibility! God’s primordial manifestation as a Creative Force was a Sound. This postulate is the foundation of mantras and by extension, our oracion in Philippine esoteric tradition. If mantras and oraciones have power, it is because they tap into the original manifestation of God’s power which is a Sound. Hence the Names of God as the source of power in our orasyon. The Secret Names are Sounds the invocation of which can give a magickal operation the power it needs to accomplish something.

A tradition in the Indian mantra meditation, for example, identifies one of these original sounds of manifestation in the AhRa KaRa Mantra. AhRa KaRa is a mantra for manifestation.

You may want to try this:

1. Pick a goal that you urgently WANT and is good for all concerned. This may be a new job, a new car, a happy relationship, etc. Be sure to have an intention that you and everyone concerned will benefit somehow from this goal being true.

2. Think about (vividly imagine) your intention being true WHILE you make the sound ” AhRa KaRa ” (either silently or out loud). Don’t worry about HOW the goal will happen. Just vividly imagine it, eyes closed, WHILE you make that sound.

3. Do this as OFTEN as you feel like it until you come up with the desired manifestation.

In the Philippines, we have our version on the quest for the Secret Names of God that can be found in Nature itself. An interesting discussion thread on this has been started by one of our Forum members here.