The Shaman

He lives in the outskirts between two tiny cities on the island. Beads hung around his neck, cock’s feathers adorn his head, and beetle nuts stain his mouth. His wispy frame blends like a chameleon among the lush bamboos.

He was said to heal illness. Even the testimony of a friend was enough to form my curiosity to meet this shaman. Medical doctors have diagnosed this friend of mine to have something that blocked her ovaries and scheduled for surgery. She went to the him instead who gave her healing water. The following week, the doctors were puzzled to check her ovaries and found them healthy and clear of any obstruction.

One day, while going through Yahoo!Answers, I chanced up on a question if someone knew any spell caster. I casually said yes, as there were so many of this kind of people around the island. My inbox were bombarded with a lot of queries a few days after. People as far as Singapore and Mauritius sought my help to cast a spell on someone they love.

I was particularly interested on a Philippine lady among those who inquired about the spell caster. Her husband has been philandering before her eyes. I went to consult the shaman about it. “Bring me a picture of the couple and I promise you that the man will stop his bad ways and would never leave his wife’s side from now on,” he assured me.

Amidst the shrill voices of strange birds in the trees, he then felt the pulse between my thumb and index finger. “Oh, your uric acid level is so high,” he said like a doctor reading a laboratory result.

True enough and without the shaman’s knowledge, I have been suspecting of high uric acid level in the past few months as I could not clench my fists hard enough. He gave me healing water and told me to drink a glass of it every night to wash down the uric acid. The following morning, I swear I could clench my fist so tight and never felt so renewed like before.

He also felt the pulse of my friend who came with me. The shaman said, “I can feel you have gall stones in your bladder and something difficult for me to explain. All I knew there are two disturbances in your gall bladder.” This friend went to the hospital a week after to get an ultrasound. True enough, she had gall stones and a cyst, which the shaman could not identify but feel. Doctors found it to be a recent growth.

Some questions swirled in my head. How could have he been accurate with his findings? Why did he know of our physical complaints?

Medical doctors seek him for treatment. Illnesses mysteriously disappear after a visit to this man. Young girls go to his hut dragging and flaunting husbands coming from foreign shores. Each girl says, “Shaman, this is the guy whom you cast a spell upon so that he would come and marry me.” I was floored and driven nuts.

Whatever... But I am still bent on helping this Philippine lady who has gone through a lot of tempests in her marital life.

Here Comes The Rain Again

March is fire prevention month in the Philippines. Beginning in the month of February, very few rainfall is noted all over the country and by March, it would be summer and dry for two to three months, except for mountain areas where rain is plenty. Due to changing weather system and global warming we got a lot of rain in February. That is a very cool thing because I love rain and thunderstorms!

Due to changing weather system and global warming we got a lot of rain in February. That is a very cool thing because I love rain and thunderstorms!

However in some parts of the country, there is too much rain that cities and towns were flooded. Roads were impassable and landslides cost the lives of some.

I found our office cat near my table dreaming the rain away. Sheesh! I wish I were in the comfort of my own bed, too! I would never say, "Rain, rain go away, come again another day!"


These rain-and-cat photos were taken today at the office with my cell phone (not so good) but I just could not resist snapping the cat and rain away.

(Yellow flower on top was photographed in my garden after a rain.)