A Hair Rising Spell - Thief Hunting

Do you believe everything you read and hear? No. But when you see mystifying events with your own eyes, you become a believer. An incident in 1975 changed how I looked at witching spells. The details of the event are as clear and vividly colorful as the day I saw the spell at work. Until now, I haven’t gotten over the sheer wonder and bewilderment of it all. Did it really happen? It did, before my own eyes.

My cousin Liz had a collection of old US coins she inherited from her grandmother. The silver coins filled a metal penny bank resembling a house with a slit on the replica roof that could accommodate a dollar. It was heavy so it was often used as a paper weight. It was no big deal until one afternoon Liz discovered the penny bank EMPTY!

Everybody in the house was suspect. To straigthen things out and to find the culprit her mom asked around where we could could find someone who could guess who the culprit was. We were directed to the house of an old woman, the village’s “paratigo” (someone who could locate lost objects and guess the identity of the thief) and she was said to be very good.

With skepticism, we visited the old lady. She was probably in her 70s, wrinkled but bright-eyed. She didn’t look like a witch. She was your ordinary grandma, her hair in a neat bun. No hocos-pocos look about her. She welcomed us to her receiving quarters, bare, except for a small altar with lighted candles illuminating the picture of the Holy Trinity.

She requested for the list of all the likely suspects and warned that no suspect should be left out or the spell wouldn’t work. She took the list, counted the number of suspects and asked again if none was omitted. When this was certain, she then produced her tools of the trade - an egg and and a tray. She carefully placed the egg on the tray and said the Our Father thrice and pronounced some incantations which were intelligible. She did all this, focusing on the egg sitting inert in the middle of the tray.

Then she commanded the egg to give the sign if the name of the thief was mentioned. I watched the egg closely as the “paratigo” ticked off the names and I almost gave up when number 24 was named as there were 25 suspects. When the name of number 25 was called out — the egg spinned with dizzying speed unimaginable with raw egg. The roll call was repeated twice and the egg did not budge until number 25.

The “paratigo” asked if the thief was to be meted a punishment - a disease or any misfortune that would make her sorry. To this my dumbfounded great-aunt made it clear that she didn’t bear any ill will, she only wanted to confront the thief and give an unforgettable tongue lashing. The old woman was pleased and said my great-aunt would be doubly blessed for her compassion.

The culprit? She admitted to her crime but could not return a penny as she sold them all to a coin collector which she did not name.

Spells to locate lost items and identify the right suspect can be found in Book I of the Key of Solomon. This is is a medieval book dealing with magic, conjuring spirits and demons. This book is also a practicing witch’s textbook or grimoire.

In the Philippine islands, such craft is not advertised and this craft is handed down from generation to the next. At the time of our visit to to the “paratigo” and she was probably already eyeing her INHERITOR.

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