Hi everyone, and welcome to my second video blog. This one was made to accompany one of my more recent blog posts.
Also, be on the look out for the second part of Trevor Bide’s interview of me, where he discovers more about what motivates me to write these blogs, and my thoughts and feelings about Thailand in general. The first part can be found here:
Hi I'm Kitiya from Thailand. I was born and grew up in Udon Thani,Thailand... the land of smiles. I have one sibling, and I'm a freelance tutor, Welcome to my world :)
Whenever I hear people talking about black magic, the first thing that comes across my mind is… oh are they talking about that famous tune “Black Magic Woman” by Santana? It’s my dad’s favourite tune, that he liked to play almost every day when he was with me. It’s kind of weird though, as my mum keeps mentioning black magic, superstitions and an amulet… that she suspects somebody (a woman?) did it to my dad. The question is, do I believe in what she said or not? I’d say that I do believe that there are those sort of things going on, but I really can’t say if it happened to my dad or not, so I just listen to my mum revealing what’s on her mind, at least it might make her feel better if she’s got somebody to listen to her problems.
So, I asked her for more details about that black magic and how it could happen. She tried to explain that there are two kinds of magic; black magic (black system) and white magic (white system). The first one is considered evil even though it cannot be proven, but it is very well known, especially in the south of Isaan (Isaan north-east of Thailand) where my parents are.
Terry and my dad in his home town.
There are different kinds of black magic in different places, and it can cause weird and uncommon things to happen. For example, it can make a happy couple argue and fight, and break up in the end. It can also make the lovely lady goes crazy for a man that she used to hate, which I will call “head over heels”. How these women do the black magic to a man that they have a crush on is by putting a few drops of menstruation blood into their drinks and give them to that man. This method seems to be a well known way to make a man come to her, but of course is nothing to be proud of, because he doesn’t truly love her, so where is the real happiness? His heart and soul aren’t with him, only his body, plus he will look like zombie! Believe me it wont last long because as soon as the magic disappears she can’t keep it any more and karma will come to chase her… she will end up walking the streets and become an insane lady. there’s an old people’s saying about those insane people walking on the streets, that in the past they must have been involved with this black magic! In other words… karma!
Generally, there are rules for people who study magic and incantation to follow, which I have mentioned in one of my previous blogs “Thai food culture and beliefs”. These are those rules again in brief:
Food and drinks at a funeral is forbiddenMy parents and their friends are very strict with this rule. When they went to a funeral yesterday they were hungry and thirsty but they had to be patient. Also forbidden is food like Groud.
Do not walk under clothes lines But nowadays you barely see a clothes line, especially in the city. There’s not enough space to make a clothes line, so the washing machine is now the new choice.
Do not eat food and drinks that are left over so you must eat first! I am pretty sure I can keep this rule because I am also careful to stay away from diseases that could be transferred from those people.
Do not let other people touch your head especially if you have magic tattoos on your body don’t let people put their feet on your body (body massage). Do not go under woman’s legs as it will cause the magic and incantation disappeared quickly.
Do not walk through the basement of a traditional Thai house Some people just don’t want to walk too far, so they make a short distance by walking under the house (the basement is an open area)
A traditional Thai house.
I have been to many temples in the north of Thailand, and in some areas closer to the altar women are not allowed so please read the sign first!
The stricter you are with the rules, the more the magic and incantations get stronger and will stay with you forever until the day you die. But these rules are not only followed by people who study magic and incantations, other people who may keep some amulets and people who worship gods/goddesses also follow white magic. It is considered beneficial to the person who studies incantations to help other people when they’re in trouble.
It reminds me of a famous monk in north of Thailand in the past. We had visited him every year during Thai New Year (Songkarn festival) to pay respects and make a merit. He was a very famous monk but he passed away over 10 years ago, and his temple is near Burma, a large temple where millions of people from all over the world visited. This monk had studied incantations and he was helping a lot of people by giving them treatment when they were ill, mostly they were poor villagers who couldn’t afford to go to hospital, or those who had been to hospital, but when that didn’t work they came to see him. What kind of treatment did he give you might wonder, and what does that consist of? Well, it is usually holy water, some herbs that he produced himself and of course a very well known oil (in Thailand). This is a very special oil, that the monk would pour onto the patients at the same time he was doing the incantations. I was watching him do this once, and at first I didn’t understand, I saw his lips moving, and I wondered what he was saying to those patients while pouring the oil onto their bodies. So I asked my dad about it, but then he whispered to me “Be quiet, the monk needs to concentrate on what he’s doing.”. Later on dad turned to me and answered my question… ”He was doing the incantation, he didn’t talk to the patient… ok?, that’s how it works, only normal oil without incantation is nothing”, “Oh dad so I see, thank you” I replied.
What kind of sickness do these people normally have? That is a good question, and mostly I’d say these cases are those who had accidents; big wounds, contused wound and Varicella (chicken pox). Amazingly they told us they have been to hospital before and it didn’t work, and after that it was suggested that they should come to get the treatment from this monk. There were rich and poor people visiting this temple and of course you don’t have to pay for the treatment, but can make a merit instead. It doesn’t matter how much it is, but my dad usually makes a contribution into the temples donation box, as a Buddhist monk is not supposed to physically handle money. This money can then be used help the temple boys (hill tribes) who want to go to school, because their parents cant afford to send them to school.
In the past my dad used to follow this monk’s pilgrimage to the forest near the Burma border and stay there for a month with him. My dad followed his path and has learnt part of the incantations from this monk . I wasn’t surprised in the past when dad was here with me, he has helped a lot of people the same way that the monk did. I was amazed how it worked, those people kept coming back so I will have to believe this! Of course my dad didn’t ask for money he just wanted to help people he was happy enough to see them get well.
My dad also said that to learn the incantation, the key is basically that you’ve got to learn to have very good meditation, practice regularly and have good morals. He also said that for meditation, you don’t have to sit cross legged, you can also lie down on your back, which sometimes I misunderstood and thought that he was sleeping haha! My dad has been to many temples and met famous monks in many provinces, and usually when we first entered a province we would always visit the province’s shrine first. In Thailand every province has it’s own shrine. During his journeys my dad received many amulets from those monks …here are some amulets dad gave me.
Amulets
The important thing to remember here is, that it doesn’t matter what type of amulet you have, whether it is to protect you from harm, give you good luck, or to help with finances. The important thing is that you live your life as a good person, with strong moral values, and that you do the best by others around you… this is what my dad has always believed.
This video was shot in Nongbualamphu province, and the shrine is featured called “Phu Lup”. It is right next to a main road, and you can always hear passing drives pipping their horns as a mark of respect to the shrine. Next to the shrine you will see a large sacred tree, with multi-coloured ribbons tied around it. This is how people pay respects to the sacred tree, as they believe angels live inside it. You will see this kind of sacred tree all over Thailand.
House Shrine
That’s all for this particular blog, and I do hope you enjoyed learning some more about Thai culture. Until next time, take care and be good.
Hi I'm Kitiya from Thailand. I was born and grew up in Udon Thani,Thailand... the land of smiles. I have one sibling, and I'm a freelance tutor, Welcome to my world :)
