Way of the Ancient Healer: Sacred Teachings from the Philippine Ancestral Traditions

Virgil Mayor Apostol's information packed-book covers a wide range of topics from Philippine healing to mythology, belief systems to symbolism, migration to language, and much more. Finally! Just what I was looking for over many years now.Way of the Ancient Healer: Sacred Teachings from the Philippine Ancestral Traditions is full of information about indigenous and traditional culture in the Philippines. Much of this information is very hard to find in one book. Much of this knowledge and these traditions are difficult to find in Philippine mainstream urbanized lifestyles and even much more difficult to find on the Internet.This book brings to light and the global stage the healing modalities and shamanic practices of ancient and indigenous people in the Philippines.If you are a universal seeker looking for knowledge about healing and sacred practices of different people around the world, this book may be quite a jewel for you.If you are a Filipino and want to explore more about your Philippine heritage and the Philippines' long-lost indigenous traditions and worldview than this most certainly can be a potent book for you too.At first you may think this book is only about traditional healing practices of the Philippines, but when you begin to get through this book you will be delighted to discover that it is much more than that. As the full title of the book states, this book is by a contemporary healer, trained in ancient healing arts passed down through his family lineage, who is now sharing what was sacred to our ancestors and what is still sacred to today's indigenous people in the Philippine Islands. This is a treasure trove of new knowledge about Philippine traditions and way more interesting than many a classroom teaching.The author also shares his own insights and findings about Philippine traditions---a very good example of this is some of my favorite parts, that is, the pages he has written about the lingling-o amulet of fertility, tracing its relation to other symbols in southeast Asia and to Sanskrit culture. Another remarkable thing that Apostol does with his findings is transform the aspect of the crocodile from creature of fear to symbol of empowerment such as the Buwaya (More info below.)As a yoga practitioner for over 14 years here in the U.S., I have always been enthralled by the many similarities between Sanskrit and Philippine words so this book fills in holes of knowledge of the relation between Sanskrit civilization and the Philippines and how the beauty of the Hindi civilization reached and influenced the people of the islands before the coming of the Spanish conquistadora. Things like these are NOT covered in the educational system of the Philippines as the focus is more on Westernization, Christianization and modernization.I always loved Philippine indigenous percussion music and dance more so than the Spanish influenced music and dance. And when I began to go to college at Ateneo and U.P. Diliman in the 1980s, I began to awaken more and more from my colonized stupor, that is, I began to realize that my pro-European, pro-Spanish upbringing in the Philippines had trained my mind to look down upon and my heart to be shut off from Philippine indigenous people--- their race, their appearance, their manner of singing.As I began to learn more at these Manila universities I also began to become more whole as I embraced Philippine indigenous culture more. At the same time I began to take down from its pedestal the Western European race, religion and culture, no longer making it superior and above my own people's indigenous race, spirituality and culture. So in this manner, the Way of the Ancient Healer is still part of my education and continues a process of awakening for me.Some of the Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions of healing are "to make sound or whole," "to restore to original purity or integrity" and "to cause (an undesirable condition) to be overcome."In effect, for myself and also many Filipinos, to learn about the sacredness of our Philippine traditions can be a form of healing in itself. That is, if Filipinos, as a result of colonization and Westernization, have been cut off from their ancestral traditions, their cultural identity fractured from them, taught to look down upon their own people, then the knowledge in this book can reconnect modernized Filipinos with those ancestral traditions and ancient ways and thus help their sense of being Filipino become more whole---if their mind and hearts are open and ready.Apostol has written 21 pages about the fertility symbol and amulet called the lingling-o. I am fascinated by it's probable relationship to the BA in the ancient writing system of the Philippines called the "baybayin." In these pages, Apostol has taught me that the linglingo symbolizes both male and female sexuality, principles and fertility. Apostol's work describes more meanings of the lingling-o, the different types of lingling-o shapes, and the evidence of historical and symbolic relation of the lingling-o to Sanskrit and Hindi influences.Apostol covers artifacts, weaving, carvings traditional clothing and the innate symbolism and meanings found in their designs. One fearsome creature whose presence is felt in ancient and indigenous symbolism is that of the crocodile. As the Buwaya, the crocodile is a Philippine symbol of protection and empowerment to many tribal Filipinos. Thus it can be looked to as a power animal who can help Filipinos conquer their fears and find their courage, and to be all they were born to be in this world.Reclaiming an indigenous worldview is vital to the survival of humanity in a modern world today that suffers from pollution, lingering hunger and poverty, natural resource depletion, wildlife destruction, global warming and war despite or even because of progress aka Westernization, globalization, and modernization,The basis of Philippine ancient and indigenous people's spirituality is the belief that all things have a soul and meaning. To believe that all things have a spirit is a source of respect and reverence for all of Life. This is part of the indigenous mind and worldview that could help humanity realize and arrest the destruction that so-called advanced civilization has been wreaking upon the world. It is the worldview that can help humanity heal and the Earth heal.

In my quest to discover my family's past, and the conditions present in the Philippines in the times of my ancestors that caused them to come to Louisiana, I have been reading books about Filipino history, as well as books written by Filipinos in the eras of my ancestors. I knew from my great grandmother that my first immigrant grandfather, Felipe Madriaga of Ilocos Norte, taught his daughters and granddaughters about herbal medicine and raised them up in a type of Catholic faith that was heavily influenced by the spiritual traditions native to his region.I bought this book in the hopes of understanding my ancestor Felipe, to whom I felt a spiritual bond, and to understand some of the spiritual gifts that were passed down from his family through the generations. This book was so thorough and easy to understand! It answered so many questions, gave me a deeper understanding and appreciation of grandfather Felipe, and helped me to recover a part of my history that had been lost. I have thanked the author by correspondence for his well-researched work, and I hope to learn more from him in the future!

This is a serious effort by one very dedicated healer and reasearcher. It is very hard to imagine the great variety that the book presents and in a manner in which the author describes. Himself, he had to borrow from the Westernized perspective to make themes presented in the book sound more rational and thus more grounded. Furthermore he seems to be very comfortable with that and although some of us may not agree with his ideas about the integration of the traditional methods into the modern system of health care, i think he has a good point about keeping the tradition alive.I wasn't surprised to find the Filipino approach to healing to be not too much different from the one in the Amazon rainforest although the use of psychotropic potions is probably much less. The shamans in the Philipines have a multitude of ways of calling the Spirit - whether it be an incantation or some other manuever: the point is still the same - to get into the state of consciosness ("trance" shall we call it?), sometimes referred to in certain Ways as "the mind and the eyes of god" - it's you but its not you anymore, it is something working through you. I was surprised during one of the ceremonies that i attended to find myself singing with a voice of a very mature if not old man - i was only 23 at the time.Can it be that which Buddhists call the "no-self"? One thing is at least for sure - sometimes getting yourself out of the way opens a channel for more efficiency, may it be healing or anything else.What the author says - animist root with the outgrowth of Catholicism is true! Not only of the Philipines but also many other cultures and their respective monotheistic progenitors - be it Middle Eastern, Northern or any other. We r all must be animists at heart only many of us wouldn't call it that. In fact they wouldn't call it anything at all. Our superstitious nature is so regular to us that we may take its existance for granted. However, in regards to healing - it is not just a reflexive behavior in regards to the irrational and the supernatural in our lives - it is a tradition, and it's due to its seemingly camouflaged existence behind the curtains of the censored well-groomed appearence that it has survived and can now be practiced by many.We shouldn't underestimate a very rich history of healing in the Philipines and immense faith and strength of spirit that she brings to our world culture. We should be thankful to the author for his generosity in sharing this profound knowledge with the world and with us.

As of now I have skimmed through the book and studied what I’m really interested in. This is the ancestral traditions I been looking for. When I was 11 my mom brought to to the Philippines for the first time to visit family. There was a “witch doctor” there who said my mom and myself were supposed to be with her in this path but bc my mom left for the states our paths did not go as originally planned. This book is very informative and seems easy to go down the rabbit hole and not put down.

Awesome thankntou

Love this book, in depth with some great look at all the little details that make up the Philippine Traditions