#anting anting

If you wish to get a medallion, you have to go through literal hell to get it by sneaking in a cemetery in the middle of the night, fight monsters and play poker with the dead, and those are the most hardcore ones that can fight off demons! Commonly, they are sold out in the rural areas and near churches but they usually just provide you luck or some kind of healing power.

Stones that have colors and patterns in them also could act as anting-anting. They’re usually agates, chalcedony, fossilized corals (ex. ”Bulaklak na bato” or “Flower stone” can bring good luck to your business), smoky quartz (”Pangil ng kidlat” or “Thunder’s fangs” can make you resistant to bullets), and many more forms of semi-precious stones (sorry I’m a huge geology nerd). They’re your usual “healing stones”.

Also bullets! They’re supposed to bring good luck but not really, since they’re a hassle if you go to a mall or an airport. And they’re actually influenced by Americans! Back then, Americans would tell stories how they use a silver bullet to kill vampires and that kinda stuck to us I guess?

And as for the Latin book, which my awesome grandfather actually owns, you can learn 'spells' ('hurem-hurem' in Bisaya) from them, like a witch’s book! BUT, you can never be rich in your entire life. He owned 5, burned 4 of them and the 5th was lost (could be stolen since people are jealous of him, including his own son). He didn’t memorize all the spells but for some reason he could not forget the useful ones namely:  venom (laa), bad omen (buyag), and even hypnotizing his enemies to surrender!

There are also herbal plants macerated in oil ('lana' in Bisaya) that are considered as ‘anting-anting’. Lana is used as a massaging oil! And I have a classmate that use this oil back in college. When you are bringing this oil with you, you CANNOT enter a church, any church, because it will lose it's power.  And another strict rule, if you’re getting a massage using these oils you must pay them with coins, or else your condition will get worse, and the masseur must give the coins to the St. Nino.

Magic potions also exist! Siquijor is a very popular island here that sells love potions and many more sorts of anting-antings! Siquijor is often rumored that it’s  where all witches (”mangkukulam” or “mambabarang”) originate (in Philippines only of course), and that it’s infested with demonic creatures as well, so it’s a pretty scary place, but really interesting!

Oh there's so much more about anting-antings that I want to share but this post is getting too long!