#thai magic

Love Magic

One man reputedly won his wife by drawing a simple magical diagram, one of the category of the yan napaṭhamaṃ, while thinking intensively of the woman he wished to marry and saying the appropriate khatha. He waited seven days for the magic to take effect and, when approaching her, he noticed that she was more favourably inclined towards him. Yan napaṭhamaṃ means literally: ‘The first, or foremost letter N diagram’. The letter N occurs frequently in Thai mystical drawings, probably because it may be regarded as an extreme abbreviation of the expression namo buddhāya, hail to the Buddha.

The idea of drawing holy symbols in order to bring about an outcome is something common among many cultures, both eastern and western (like in Catholic folk magic where the cross is drawn for protection and to invoke the higher powers). I just find this intriguing because I keep seeing the symbol of the yan napaṭhamaṃ pretty much everywhere in Thailand, both painted on the ceiling of a taxi, on top of doorways or in front of windows. Good to finally find out what it means.

Another method to ensure the love of a woman, also reported by Textor, is to sit close by her while smoking a cigarette. The man should draw smoke deep into his lungs and, whilst softly saying the right spell, blow out the smoke so that it envelops her. A much stronger method consists of scooping up some earth with the big toe of the right foot, taking the earth in the right hand and rubbing it on the top of the head, whilst invoking the goddess of the earth, Mother Thorani (ธรณี), to assist in the acquisition of a bride.

The last two examples reveal that, as the magical practices become more strong and persuasive, less attractive material is used. It is not pleasant to be enveloped in smoke, and rubbing earth over one’s head is an action no Thai will perform lightly. The earth is often associated with pollution because it can be the recipient of human waste and animal droppings. Moreover, scooping up a bit of earth with the foot must be regarded as an abnormal, ‘inverted’ activity. The feet are the parts of the body that are held in lowest regard, and reaching for something with the foot is regarded in Thailand as the epitome of bad manners.

It is said among men that prostitutes use a similar magic. Reputedly a prostitute sprinkles some water that contains vaginal excretion at the doorposts and above the door of the house where she lives. A man walking near the door may suddenly be irresistibly drawn over the threshold. If he is wearing his string of amulets he should quickly take it off and give it to a friend in safe keeping before entering the house.

The quotes above is interesting in that the concept of holiness and unholiness (or pollution) is used to compel someone, with love/compulsion being viewed as a dirty thing.

When a woman is convinced that her husband gives cause for jealousy she may make a potion or a powder that contains some of her vaginal excretion. If a man consumes some food that contains this potion or powder, he reputedly loses interest in all other women and devotes his complete attention to the woman from whose secretions the mixture was made. A woman who resorts to these means should take care to practise this kind of magic in secret; if the man finds out that his food has been treated in such a manner, he would be very angry indeed, for her vaginal excretion will surely have destroyed the power of many of his tattoos and amulets and rendered him vulnerable.

Here, bodily fluids are used. This is like in various folk magic where menstrual blood is dropped into the food of someone in order to compel them to be attracted to you. What is more intriguing is the notion that something unclean like vaginal excretion could be used to render magical tattoos and amulets useless. Extrapolating from that, I believe that if one wishes to desecrate something, one could sprinkle water mixed with vaginal excretions onto it.

He reports that, if a woman fears that her husband has been treated with the vaginal excretion of another woman, she should obtain water from the bottom of three or seven taxi boats, and some moss from around the sanctuary of a monastery, or from the boundary stones of a bot. If her husband eats food containing a mixture of these materials, his previously alienated affection is restored. The substances chosen to counter the effects of aggressive love magic of another woman are obviously considered magically powerful in their own right [...] Water from the bottom of taxi boats must be seen as polluted and aggressive: it is where the wood starts rotting, the stagnant water has often an unpleasant smell, and it may contain particles of dirt from the feet of countless passengers. Moss that grows on the sanctuary of a monastery appears more ambiguously charged. On the one hand, it can usually be found on ground level, and may have been dirtied by the many dogs that roam the premises. On the other hand, a small amount of the beneficial power that is continually generated in the building itself may have permeated as far as the mossy outside. It seems, however, that the aggressive aspects prevail for the moss is reported to be one of the ingredients of a magically highly potent substance used to kill enemies.

For clarifications, a "bot" as referred to in the quote above translates roughly to temple. Again, the concept of sympathetic magic is used, dirtiness contrasted with holiness. Now let's discuss where magic comes from within this belief system.

Origins of Magic

In order to make a pressed or printed image, commonly known as phra phim (พระ พิมพ์), a monk needs, apart from the mould, a recipe, the proper ingredients, and considerable knowledge of spells, the sacred script and magical drawings. Historians will be sad to hear that one of the common ingredients of phra phim is the ash obtained from burning the oldest handwritten sacred books of the monastery [...] The amulets derive their protective power partly from the association with powerful things. The phra phim are made from sacred ingredients.

Phra phim is a type of flat, printed amulet. Amulets are sacred because something within them is sacred. The idea of burning holy texts to add power to a spell or enchantment is also similar to other forms of folk magic, such as in Catholic folk magic where psalms may be written and burnt and their ashes be used for protection or other purposes. However, as will be explained below, consecration is needed to make the amulets functioning.

In general, the inherent quality of the amulets is considered insufficient to ensure protection to the person who wears them. Apart from being made from auspicious material and depicting powerful symbols, the amulets usually ought to be sacralized. This sacralization can take many forms. The most elementary sacralization ritual, called pluksek (ปลุกเสก), can be observed, for example, when a monk gives a small Buddha image to a layman. Taking the image in both hands, the monk brings it close to his mouth and murmurs a short Pali formula. While uttering the final syllable of the spell, the monk may blow sharply upon this Buddha image. Some monks prefer to draw a simple yan over the amulet with the index finger of the right hand or with a pencil while saying the Pali words.

I used to translate "pluksek” as consecration, but here I can see why sacralization also makes sense. The way breath is used to imbue powers in an object is also a universal thing that is present in many forms of magic.

Another thing that is of note is that magic isn't simply sympathetic, but also based upon the concept of proximity and contagion.

The closer to the seat of magical power, the stronger is the influence of that force. Any object of the appropriate shape that is exposed to a strong dose of magical power will become a secondary seat of the force. This has been amply demonstrated in the rituals surrounding amulets [...] This is why the bundles of such objects are placed near a monk who is preaching, why the begging bowl of an ordinand contains them, and why bowls of water stand near the monks who complete their pavāraṇā ceremony. The principle is apparent in the rituals designed to sacralize amulets as well as those where a bowl of water is charged.

Placing water near a monk speaking holy words makes the water somewhat more holy than it was before. But, magic isn't just man-made. It's all around us, a part of the natural world.

It has been shown that, in addition to the protective power that emanates from people who utter sacred words or who meditate, there are ambiguous forces in the animated world, forces that may protect, but that could also be harmful. Examples of the ambiguous powers are the gods, the spirits of the ancestors, the anthropomorphic and theriomorphic powers that live in nature and are the legendary original owners of the environment, and guardian spirits.

There is no sharp division between physical powers of nature and magical power. The earth, which possesses the capacity to make plants grow and thrive, is sometimes seen in the shape of a beautiful female, Mae Thorani. Under the earth is the domain of the chief of the Nak, a serpent-like shape with the face of a dragon. The wind, the river, a tree, a house, and the monastery, each of these is connected with one or more unseen powers, conceived of in anthropomorphic form, and each of these unseen powers has its specific likes and dislikes. A farmer learns to attract their attention with candles, incense, and flowers, and develops skills in addressing and pleasing them. Nature has provided men with unexpected seats of power. For example, a termite hill may acquire a reputation for bringing luck; or when lightning strikes a building, the scorched plaster is regarded as magically powerful. A lump of resin that shows the shape of a Buddha is sacred, and a big stone that is dragged up from the river brings prosperity when laid in the rice-storage hut.

Death and the Afterlife

Now, I wish to discuss something less about magic and more about religion.

In the mouth a coin is placed, which the soul of the dead person needs in order to pay the fare to cross the underworld river, guarded by Phra Ketkaew Culamani, (เก็จแก้วจุฬมณี) or ‘Lord Bright Gem Jewel’. Probably this is Yama, the Hindu god who presides over the dead and who is described as ‘with a glittering form, a crown on his head’. This is followed by the ritual of tra sang (ตราสัง), ‘binding the corpse’. The undertaker uses a piece of white unspun cotton thread to bind the neck, feet and hands whilst saying the Pali formula: ‘Putto gīve, dhano pade, bhariya hatthe’. This is interpreted as a spell with which to free a person from the three strongest ties in this world: from the tie of children (whilst putting a loop with the cord around the neck), from wealth (when binding the feet), and from the tie of the spouse (while the hands are tied).

Two things are interesting here. First, being that payment is needed to cross an underworld river. This is very reminiscent of the myth of Charon and the crossing of river styx. The second interesting point is the use of binding magic. I have witness the ritual performed but at the time, I didn't understand what it meant. The irony of binding someone in order to free them is also very striking.

Other Tai peoples, especially the White and Black Tais of northern Vietnam, who do not seem to be influenced by Buddhism, have quite different views. In their eyes, a person has many khwan that, upon death, divide themselves in groups; some khwan go to the spirit world above, some are conducted to the house and can be worshipped on the ancestral shrine, while the remainder stay in the grave.

Nora is a performance tradition in which dance, drama, ritual, and magic are intertwined to create a bridge between the mundane world and the supernatural. An ancestral rite known as nora rong khru chao ban is an important part of a living tradition in a certain southern villages of Thailand. For three days, the nora master prays, sings, dances, and acts out a dance-drama, while directing the ritual sequences invoking the ancestral spirits to descend from their heavenly realm to enter the trance mediums.

In a certain parts of southern Thailand, a ritual known as nora rong khru chao ban, is an excellent example of how art creates a space that is liminal, betwixt and between, as it reaches from the world of the living to the realm of the dead.

The word "nora" (shortened from "Manohra") carries a variety of meanings in Thai society. In a certain provincial areas of Thailand (especially in southern provinces such as Songkhla, Pattalung, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, and Trang), a trained nora shaman, known as nairong nora, is a mediator between the mundane world and the spirit world. Nairong nora (shortened as nairong, the same term is used for the singular or plural) have traditionally all been men, and they are well known for their magic and their ability to exorcise. In a current cultural showcase, however, to most non-southern Thais, the word "nora" is often seen simply as a type of southern folk dance-drama entertainment and has no relation to shamanism.

Before the expansion of Buddhism in Southeast Asia from the ninth to thirteenth century, like many indigenous cultures in the region, the people of the Malay peninsula held strong belief in animism and cults of magic. Both still show their influence in the present time. In the animistic belief system, ancestral spirits are believed to be demigods who can bless their family members if they are pleased, or punish those that offend them.

Although each nora school might have its own line of historical teachers, all nora performers as well as their families believe that they all share similar mythological origin (Bussararat 1992: 65-67). This creates a strong tie for a potential communitas of nora performers that manifests itself during a ritual. It is therefore not only an act of piousness but also an obligation that the living nora members will conduct a regular ceremony known as nora rong khru. This event will allow all the respected spirits to communicate with the family members via trance possession so that the living can return their gratitude to the dead and the dead can grant blessings to the living.

There are many different types of training for a nora performer, ranging from the traditional dancing, singing, and acting to shamanic study and magic practice. The nairong expertise involves trance induction and emphasizes the ritual process in order to induce a "full" trance mediumship, while magic practice deals with the craft of making charms and medicines. Usually only the selected "heir" of a nora line will be taught the secret arts of nora shamanism and magic becoming the troupe's nairong, leaving the rest of the troupe as dancers-mediums and musicians.