Philippine sacred teachings revealed...a people can find healing... humanity can heal

Available at Random House

A book review.


Virgil Mayor Apostol’s information packed-book covers a wide range of topics from Philippine healing to mythology, belief systems to symbolism, migration to language and much, much more. Finally! Just what I was looking for over many years now.

Way of the Ancient Healer: Sacred Teachings from the Philippine Ancestral Traditions is full of information about indigenous and traditional culture in the Philippines. Much of this information is very hard to find in one book. Much of this knowledge and these traditions are difficult to find in Philippine mainstream urbanized lifestyles and even much more difficult to find on the Internet.

This book brings to light and the global stage the healing modalities and shamanic practices of ancient and indigenous people in the Philippines.

If you are a universal seeker looking for knowledge about healing and sacred practices of different people around the world, this book may be quite a jewel for you.

If you are a Filipino and want to explore more about your Philippine heritage and the Philippines’ long-lost indigenous traditions and worldview than this most certainly can be a potent book for you too.

At first you may think this book is only about traditional healing practices of the Philippines, but when you begin to get through this book you will be delighted to discover that it is much more than that. As the full title of the book states, this book is by a contemporary healer, trained in ancient healing arts passed down through his family lineage, who is now sharing what was sacred to our ancestors and what is still sacred to today's indigenous people in the Philippine Islands. This is a treasure trove of new knowledge about Philippine traditions and way more interesting than many a classroom teaching.

The author also shares his own insights and findings about Philippine traditions---a very good example of this is some of my favorite parts, that is, the pages he has written about the lingling-o amulet of fertility, tracing its relation to other symbols in southeast Asia and to Sanskrit culture. Another remarkable thing that Apostol does with his findings is transform the aspect of the crocodile from creature of fear to symbol of empowerment such as the Buwaya (More info below.)

As a yoga practitioner for over 14 years here in the U.S., I have always been enthralled by the many similarities between Sanskrit and Philippine words so this book fills in holes of knowledge of the relation between Sanskrit civilization and the Philippines and how the beauty of the Hindi civilization reached and influenced the people of the islands before the coming of the Spanish conquistadora. Things like these are NOT covered in the educational system of the Philippines as the focus is more on Westernization, Christianization and modernization.

I always loved Philippine indigenous percussion music and dance more so than the Spanish influenced music and dance. And when I began to go to college at Ateneo and U.P. Diliman in the 1980s, I began to awaken more and more from my colonized stupor, that is, I began to realize that my pro-European, pro-Spanish upbringing in the Philippines had trained my mind to look down upon and my heart to be shut off from Philippine indigenous people--- their race, their appearance, their manner of singing.

As I began to learn more at these Manila universities I also began to become more whole as I embraced Philippine indigenous culture more. At the same time I began to take down from its pedestal the Western European race, religion and culture, no longer making it superior and above my own people's indigenous race, spirituality and culture. So in this manner, the Way of the Ancient Healer is still part of my education and continues a process of awakening for me.

Some of the Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions of healing are “to make sound or whole,” “to restore to original purity or integrity” and “to cause (an undesirable condition) to be overcome.”

In effect, for myself and also many Filipinos, to learn about the sacredness of our Philippine traditions can be a form of healing in itself. That is, if Filipinos, as a result of colonization and Westernization, have been cut off from their ancestral traditions, their cultural identity fractured from them, taught to look down upon their own people, then the knowledge in this book can reconnect modernized Filipinos with those ancestral traditions and ancient ways and thus help their sense of being Filipino become more whole---if their mind and hearts are open and ready.

Apostol has written 21 pages about the fertility symbol and amulet called the lingling-o. I am fascinated by it's probable relationship to the BA in the ancient writing system of the Philippines called the "baybayin." In these pages, Apostol has taught me that the linglingo symbolizes both male and female sexuality, principles and fertility. Apostol's work describes more meanings of the lingling-o, the different types of lingling-o shapes, and the evidence of historical and symbolic relation of the lingling-o to Sanskrit and Hindi influences.

Apostol also covers artifacts, weaving, carvings traditional clothing and the innate symbolism and meanings found in their designs. One fearsome creature whose presence is felt in ancient and indigenous symbolism is that of the crocodile. As the Buwaya, the crocodile is a Philippine symbol of protection and empowerment to many Filipinos. Thus it can be looked to as a power animal who can help Filipinos conquer their fears and find their courage, and to be all they were born to be in this world.

Reclaiming an indigenous worldview is vital to the survival of humanity in a modern world today that suffers from pollution, lingering hunger and poverty, natural resource depletion, wildlife destruction, global warming and war despite or even because of progress aka Westernization, globalization, and modernization,

The basis of Philippine ancient and indigenous people’s spirituality is the belief that all things have a soul and meaning. To believe that all things have a spirit is a source of respect and reverence for all of Life. This is part of the indigenous mind and worldview that could help humanity realize and arrest the destruction that so-called advanced civilization has been wreaking upon the world. It is the worldview that can help humanity heal and the Earth heal.

This review has been posted at amazon.com

More info about the author found at www.rumsua.org. 
See this book at randomhouse.com.

The Deeper Meanings of Lakbay and Bakla

The insights that baybayin symbolism can give us can be quite deep and mind-bending. Here in this post is an example of that.

 
Bakla is defined in Filipino as third-sex or gay. In Philippine society, all types of bakla, gay men have been socially and economically accepted. In some families, having a gay child is an indication of good fortune. Effeminate men who dress like women are common in villages and cities and are not the victims of prejudice the way they are in other parts of the world. Gay people are considered an important part of the community make up in the Philippines. (Also see Wikipedia on Bakla).

Lakbay is the tagalog term for "journey" or "to take a trip".

During the symposium retreat Decolonization and Indigenization as a Path to the Sacred, given by Center for Babaylan Studies in August 2011, Diwata Olympia wrote out the baybayin symbols for Lakbay and Bakla on a notebook and showed them to me quietly.

(translations courtesy of baybayin.com translator)

I was immediately struck by the fact that Diwata had written both these words using the same three symbols. I was also struck by the fact that they were in reverse order of each other.

Later on, after the retreat, I asked her online to explain what this meant for her and she answered me with this message:

I don't know how else to explain it, but for me, the concepts of kapwa and wholeness (pagbubuo) are inextricable from each other.

Lakbay is a journey you take away from your usual environment to understand yourself and your kapwa better. meeting new people opens your eyes to see yourself in other ways.

Bakla is the inward journey to wholeness where you find that you are complete within yourself, and this wholeness is what you share and bring as gifts to your kapwa.

 Here is also what I noticed about the symbols for lakbay and bakla.

                          

Both spellings with baybayin contain the symbols that represent male principle (LA)  and female principle (BA) (See interpretations for ).

  
KA is two wavy lines laid parellel with a line joining the two of them at their center.

To some ka represents two rivers (wavy lines) joined by a center line. 

         

HA is the baybayin symbol that can represent breath, spirit and even soul. So to some others, KA can represent two spirits joined by a center line.

So when you know what the syllable of KA does within Filipino words, that is, creates a relation or connection ((kapatid(sibling), kasintahan(loved-one), kapwa(fellow), kalakbay(fellow journeyer). ka-klase(classmate)), and then you see the meaning of KA with its actual baybayin symbol, it seems immensely appropriate.

Ka means "connection."


It's interesting to me that "journey" is the joining of both male and female symbols.

 

Thus the baybayin symbols of lakbay here evokes the meaning of human life being a journey of creating and maintaining a balance within oneself and also staying at one's center (Loob). These symbols then mean to me that lakbay is not just a travelling from point A to point B as a practical thing, but lakbay, because of its baybayin symbols means a Life task to be balanced or to live a balanced Life. It may also mean how the male principle(dynamic, rationale, practical) within us is meant to join with the female principle(passive, intuitive, emotional) within us and how that male and female principles are to be balanced with one another(like the balance of yin and yang).  

And I agree with Diwata, that one's life journey is to find "wholeness" (pagbubuo) or to make one's being whole (magbubuo) or to be a whole person(mabubuong tao) and find ones nobility (kagandahang loob or beautiful Self)

The fact that bakla is the reverse of lakbay is intensely meaningful to me now. 

The lakbay symbols now in reverse within bakla are symbolic to me of how my dearest gay friends and all gay people are born with deeper meaning of having the task of living Life with a reverse take on sexuality. I also believe that they have a cosmic task of turning upside-down our traditions and mores, impressed upon us by institutions, AND at the same time living life as noble, gifted human beings who have something to contribute to their families, communities and this Earth.

The fact too that BA comes before LA, in bakla, in reverse to lakbay's LA before BA. Is quite evocative to me. And I invite you readers to share your own interpretations here.


I thank Diwata for her insights and presence in this world. I dedicate this Baybayin Alive blogpost to my dearest gay friends and colleagues whose souls and innate nobleness I cherish close to my Loob.



Mabuhay, LifeLightLove
Perla

See also various baybayin interpretations here on Baybayin Alive.

Baybayin Symbols are Keys to Our Loob

"...symbols and metaphors speak for and to our deepest feelings, desires,
and experiences--better than rational words can, because they address--
as well as come from--the fertile unconscious or
‘underworld’ realm of our psyche..."
Agnes Miclat-Cacayan

 
Why are the metaphorical and deeper meanings of the baybayin symbols important to Filipinos' healing from historical imperialism, colonial mentality and to reclaiming of Filipinos' indigenous identity, no matter where they are in the world?

Agnes M. Cacayan helps us answer this:

"What are our rich treasure trove of epics, tales, myths, riddles, wise sayings and symbols for, if they were not to be found meaningful beyond being treated as fanciful literature or heavy scholarly stuff or museum archives or a coffee table book accessible only to an ‘esoteric’ few of substantial means?

Like herbs naturally sprouting from the soil in our gardens, our own stories and their potential for healing our psyche /our wounded concept of ourselves not only as women but as a people have long been underestimated or undermined, or perhaps just taken for granted.

If, for many spiritual feminists in other lands, story is medicine, for us and our people, the sugilanon/kwento, like rice, has always been a kind of staple sustenance food.

The impact of the symbols and metaphors contained in certain stories, as exemplified by the Mebuyan mythos—is powerful, in my case, powerful enough to want to write a long tedious thesis about her (when it could have been enough to, between kapwa women, exchange our own stories about Mebuyan’s message or meaning for us).

Indeed, as has been repeatedly theorized by scholars, symbols and metaphors speak for and to our deepest feelings, desires, and experiences--better than rational words can, because they address--as well as come from--the fertile unconscious or ‘underworld’ realm of our psyche..." 

(Excerpt from Agnes Cacayan's forthcoming book on Mebuyan. Thank you, Agnes!)

The psyche is an english term that gets very close, but still not quite the same as Loob (Pronounced with two syllables).

"Loob" is Filipino for our deep innermost self. At the center of our self, our Loob, is the Source where we are connected to something greater... Through our Loob we are connected to our loved-ones, Nature and the Cosmos. Through our Loob we are still connected to our ancestry, to our rich heritages. We are still connected to our descendents, those who are to come and whose names we will never know. Through our Loob, the past and the future are not disconnected from us. This interconnection is also called pakikipagkapwa.

Artists have a more keenly developed sense of the metaphorical. But any human being can develop their metaphorical sight or Talinghaga. Talinghaga is an ability that is part of Filipino or indigenous holistic thinking. Filipinos today, despite years of colonization and westernization can reclaim this skill. Baybayin symbols can be tools in developing talinghaga, a skill that our ancestors had and many Filipinos still have today.

Any Filipino or human being can develop Talinghaga, a process of reflection, contemplation... it is thinking and seeing in metaphors, and it entails a matter of inner sight.

As per Sikolohiyang Pilipino studies, talinghaga is one construct of Filipino values and personhood. Can you, a modern day Pilipino, develop talinghaga? I know you can! It's already there within you. Talinghaga is part of Filipino holistic thinking. (See also other Talinghaga posts)

These are mysteries of being Filipino, being human and of Life that we should not shun or be afraid of despite the fears and anxieties that mainstream thinking, imperial thought, and both historical and contemporary society and institutions may project upon us.

Agnes Miclat-Cacayan's published works:

• The Shaman’s Woman’s Dream: How can we Worship God without the Forest?  Davao City: Hinabi Women’s Circle, 2002
• "She Dances in Wholeness." Agnes N. Miclat-Cacayan. Babaylan: Filipinos and the Call of the Indigenous. Leny Mendoza Strobel (Editor). Ateneo de Davao University Research and Publications Office; First edition (March 15, 2010)
• From the Womb of Mebuyan. by Miclat-Cacayan and Geejay Arriola

See also various baybayin interpretations here on Baybayin Alive.