LESSON 4: 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
 Dwarf
 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.

 Does God Matter?

- 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 term Animism is one of the oldest beliefs which is taken from the Latin word anima meaning breath or
soul. Animism is the belief that everything in nature-living things like trees, plants and even non-living rocks
or streams have their own spirit or divinity. Animistic beliefs are still present, accepted and never entirely
disappeared.
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 body. 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.
Lastly, there will be analysis on the comparison between the beliefs of 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 psuche. 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 psuche 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 honour 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 Ontolerance 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, 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 were 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 Catholici sm 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 g old.) 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 a s 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 trea ted 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 medic ine 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 pati ents 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 fo r 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 tru ly 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 he al 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

In 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 a nd 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. I t 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 bu rning 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 t he 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: Okay. 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. Okay. 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
Before we dive in to this discussion, let us first define some terms which may help us in understanding the
topic better.
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. Now we are ready
to define it. Yay!
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.

END OF REPORT

Group 3: Understanding the Self

REPORTERS:

 ARTOZA, Christian Jelo

 BAUTISTA, Kyle Angelique E.
 BRUTAS, Brix
 CERRUDO, Girlie Anne
 IGHUT, Katrina Rebekah
 LATOJA, Dana

Submitted to:
Ms. Michelle Siggayo