Paul Kekai Manansala shares in his blog and book, Quest for the Dragon and Bird Clan that sacred clay jars, made to hold tea, had several markings on them that distinguished them as hailing from the northern island of Luzon in the Philippines. In Japan, the clay pots from the Philippines were called Rusun-yaki and highly valued. One of the markings was the baybayin of LA. Manansala writes that the LA baybayin...
Read MoreIt is not uncommon for letters, pictographs and symbols to have deep hidden meanings—even magical power, for cultures around the world have rich histories and stories connected to symbols, letters and written words. Other countries and cultures too have symbols and writing systems that were multi-dimensional, that is, their writing systems in application could not only be read as words and every day messages or chronicles, but...
Read MoreThe insights that baybayin symbolism can give us can be quite deep and mind-bending. This post is inspired by Diwata Olympia who wrote the words lakbay and bakla in baybayin symbols in a notebook and shared the page with me in 2011. Bakla is defined in Filipino as third-sex or effeminate man. In Philippine society, all types of bakla, gay men and women have been socially and economically accepted to various degrees. In some...
Read MoreThe Babaylan Mandala II.I, is a red version of the mandala fine art print series and is on the cover I created for Leny Mendoza Strobel’s new anthology “Babaylan: Filipinos and the Call of the Indigenous.” 14 essays by 14 authors are shared in this book: Sr. Mary John Mananzan, Teresita Obusan, Katrin DeGuia, Karen M. Villanueva, Venedel Herbito, Maina Minahal, Michelle Bautista, Tera Maxwell and more. The golden...
Read Moreby Reimon Sonam (Raymund Cosare) Below are the words of bahay (life), buhay (life), bayan (nation or country), and bayani (hero) spelled in baybayin. Notice the similarities and differences between the words such as bahay and buhay (home and life) and bayan and bayani (nation and hero), and how their meanings are inter-related. Below is another slide that shows further examinations of various baybayin spellings of Filipino...
Read MoreThe Bathala baybayin symbols are important to Filipinos up to today. The logo of the Institute of Spirituality in Asia has the Bathala baybayin symbols incorporated within it. (baybayin symbols by Raymond...
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