We have to go back to prehistoric times to know how our culture developed to appreciate our cultural heritage as a people and rekindle the Filipino diwa (spirit) to guide us along the pathways of the 21st century. — Jocano To understand why Filipinos perceive meanings within baybayin symbols we need to understand too, that ancient Filipinos were animists, thus they believed everything has a spirit, everything has a soul and...
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In this book, Virgil also mentions how symbols/amulets, such as the lingling-o were used by hilots and healers. I look forward to getting this book to read more about that and the healing practices such as using ginger and salt to alleviate fever… Product Description Way of the Ancient Healer provides an overview of the rich tradition of Filipino healing practices, discussing their origins, world influences, and role in...
Read More“Form follows feeling.” — David Turner So, can it be that baybayin forms were shaped by feeling in addition to thought? Something more to consider. Are you willing or not so willing, to acknowledge how subjective realms can determine the works of humans? Isn’t human existence on many levels of existence? How does existence and experience manifest in history, in our works, in interpretations, in our...
Read MoreRabbi Mark Sameth unveils a mystery of the Hebrew letters that spell God. I found an article written by Gary Stern, in the Journal News • july 21, 2008. Here is the online version: Rabbi unveils a secret of God. The Rabbi’s theological exploration is about the tetragrammaton of “YHWH”, the four-letter, too-holy-to-speak name of God handed down by the ancient Israelites. According to Rabbi Sameth, the Hebrew letters...
Read MoreA Gift from Bahay Nakpil During my visit to the Bahay Nakpil Museum, I was generously bestowed a complimentary copy of the Doctrina Christiana as a gift from Tess. As I turned the pages they were so crisp and fresh that they still stuck together. I feel that I had to share this gift from Bahay Nakpil by showing you the cover and some pages of this special book… Thank you, dear Ate Tessie. Doctrina Christiana, en lengua española...
Read MoreOne meaning of “spell” is “setting the sequence of letters in a word.” A practical action of spelling words to make logical sense to a reader. The other meaning is a magical one, as in “to cast a spell.” It is interesting that in the case of runes and divination, one would “cast the stones” whereby the stones had the writing of runes upon them. Upon falling, the stones would indicate...
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