Modern-day arbularyo uses the Internet, crystals to heal patients

He goes about his daily life wearing a polo shirt and slacks to work, or occasionally, blue jeans during the weekend. No red-checkered scarf for him, unlike the traditional image of the arbularyo, which comes from the Spanish word herbolario meaning one who uses herbs for healing.
 
But just like his counterpart in years past, Ka Louis (not his real name) still uses strong herbs like balanoy (basil), damong maria (mugwort) and salt with water and coconut oil to cure patients suffering from various maladies.
 
“It is a common belief that the arbularyos gather these herbs during Good Friday of each year, due to their supposed higher potency,” said Ka Louis. “Actually, I don’t follow this belief. Why wait until Good Friday? We can source these herbs at the local market anytime,” he quipped.
 
Ka Louis is a modern-day arbularyo who combines the use of traditional methods such as tawas for diagnosis of ailments, along with new tools such as the Internet to do research about his craft. He calls the healing practice a science as well, because of the organized information and methods that arbularyos use to heal people.
 
I wouldn’t have thought of arbularyos at all until I met a friend from Thailand last year. She was wearing some sort of pendant with a Buddha image, and another one with a piece of wood inside a glass globule. She described them as a talisman against kulam, or sorcery. At first, I was incredulous because my friend was one of the most sophisticated, fast-forward, and technologically advanced people on the planet – and here she was talking about how she had to enlist the help of a Thai medicine man, similar to our arbularyo, to get healed.
 
How it all started
 
Later, I met Ka Louis in one of those New Age-type conferences in Manila. He is a 5th generation albularyo from a well-known family of healers in an island province. His great-grandfather, a master arbularyo, reportedly had the unique ability to look at someone and say if he was an aswang, or achieve super-human strengths with the use of anting-antings, sacred objects that also protect people from negative forces.
 
At the age of seven, the young Ka Louis was already interested in anting-anting, and at 10 years old, he was beginning to develop psychic skills, namely the ability to see ghosts and other elementals. His mother was against the idea of Ka Louis learning the ways of the arbularyo though, so it was never really encouraged until he moved to Manila, where he grew up. He has lived here most of his life, and it was in Navotas where he met a family whose main patriarch taught him what is known in Filipino folklore as Lihim na Karunungan (LNK). With the help of his mentor, his knowledge of the sacred arts was developed.

Tools of the trade
 
Every able-bodied arbularyo – or healer as Ka Louis prefers to be called in these modern times – has to learn and master the Oraciones, Latin-sounding phrases that combine the use of the old Filipino sacred arts with Latin prayers from the Catholic Church. It is believed that reciting the 72 names of God as part of these oraciones generates healing.
 
Other important tools of the trade include the taladro, a white cloth that is a representation of the Bibliatos – little books where the oraciones are inscribed – and the anting-anting to counter negative forces.
 
Of course, there’s also tawas, a natural mineral. “Using the tawas and a plate, we can discern who is the person or entity who has inflicted harm on the patient – and prescribe the right remedy,” said Ka Louis.
 
He still wears a cross, but like many people who dabble in the esoteric arts, he also wears a high vibration crystal like moldavite or a black onyx bracelet as protection against those who practice the dark arts, our traditional mangkukulam or black magicians).
 
Using traditional and modern knowledge, Ka Louis manages to heal people through various means. He claims to have the power to see if elementals, or diabolical spirits, have possessed a person. One of his patients was a woman who was swollen all over and had skin similar to the bark of a tree – apparently caused by two unfriendly entities. Another woman had a swollen breast and tummy, because of tikbalangs that were said to have decided to reside there. As incredible as it may sound, Ka Louis cured both women with a bit of oraciones, tawas, and would you believe it – the long handle of an umbrella?
 
Spiritual riches
 
“This profession is a calling,” said Ka Louis. “But my mother initially wouldn’t let me do it because it’s supposed to be “malas” or bad luck.”
 
Also, the profession does not generate material wealth because according to the Bible, what has been given to a person for free, meaning the gift of healing, must also be given or shared to others for free, he says. Hence, unlike a modern-day doctor, an arbularyo cannot make a business out of his healing practice.
 
Nonetheless, Ka Louis believes that even with the very modest way of living of the arbularyo, he can still be rich spiritually.
 
“The rule of thumb is ‘live a simple life,’” he asserts. “That’s why some say it’s malas if you practice this profession. What others fail to remember is that what makes him rich is his spiritual development – his linkage to the Divine.”
 
So how can you tell if an arbularyo or healer is really a skillful one?
 
Ka Louis says a good albularyo will not only take care of the physical wellbeing of the patient, but also “take care of (his) soul.” A good arbularyo should also be able to tell the difference between the physical and metaphysical causes of diseases, he cautions, referring to some arbularyos who mix up these two factors and end up with the wrong diagnosis.
 
So far, Ka Louis hasn’t faced the problem of not being able to cure a patient, especially if the problem involves spirit possession. For physical ailments, however, he advises patients to consult medical doctors. – YA, GMA News