Witchcraft, Filipino Style

by Nid Anima

A comprehensive perspective of the witchcraft practices of the various Filipino ethnic groups such as the Ilocanos, Pangasinenses, Tagalogs, Bicolanos, Visayans, Maranaws, Tausogs and Ifugaos, not to mention others. The magic of such intriguing terms as anting-anting, aswang, kulam, gamod, barang, gahoy, pantak, dawak and a number of others are explored within. If only to unfold their mystic nature, definitely a book to be prized for its cultural value.


CONTENTS:
Witchcraft In Bicolandia
Witchcraft, Pangasinense-style
Black Art In Ilocandia
Darudar
Anito
Serena
Tagi-amo
Kulam
Anting-anting
Mutya
Barang
Aswang
Sorcery In Negros Oriental
Salimboag
Dadawak
Ayag
Maggalag
Anituan
Tausog Witchcraft
Pantak
Tinguian Witchcraft Rituals
Balilic
Samal Witchcraft

Genres: Witchcraft

142 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 1978

Reviews

[Letecia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of the book is misleading for anyone interested in witchcraft. The author did not seem very schooled in Witchcraft, Wicca or Western Mystery Schools, Celtic Shamanism, or any Magical Arts. Written in 1978 I was not surprised by the colonial and Christian attitude towards the Indigenous Peoples and their Animistic practices that portrays the people and practitioners as evil and superstitious. That being said what Nid Anima provides a peek into indigenous ceremony, ritual, and healing practices from different areas of the Philippines often only found in ethnographic anthropological articles and books.

[Stephanie Solis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witchcraft, Filipino-style is informative; it has details on specific rituals, sorted by region, including some local dialect. The author is somewhat judgmental, from an outsider colonialist perspective, so some of the tone I could have used without. It’s a good baseline if you’re curious about Filipino witchcraft, but note there are some cringy colonialist and sexist bits to get through. I at least got lists of resources I wold rather read, like the works of Maximo Ramos.

[Ari · Rating 1 out of 5]

First off, this book is terribly written: a mishmash of organizing principles, poorly implemented, with no grasp of tense consistency and various lapses in grammar.
Worse, however, is that Anima displays no scholarly rigor. Sources are few and rarely (if at all??) cited. There's no discussion of research methods. The author makes all sorts of moralizing/editorializing claims, many of which are apparently rooted in Western orthodox views of magic (with no attempt to find out how these map onto local beliefs and history).
You might get a few terms out of this, but given how unreliably the book is written, it's anyone's guess whether that knowledge would hold up to proper research. (And you'd need to spend twice as much time as you would on a better written, better organized work.)

[Richard C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anima assembles recollections, testimonials, and anecdotes into this brief book about witchcraft throughout the Philippines. He assembles most of the topics by tribal/linguistic groups of the pre-colonial Philippines. Anima discusses types of witches, their practices, cures to curses, and other creatures from lower mythology. He sometimes references how modern Filipinos view some of these beliefs. Don't expect to find an extensive ethnography on the witches and witchcraft. The reader must use this book as a starting point for deeper research across different books and authors.