Dear mindful readers,
As a family physician, my mother based the professional diagnoses of her patients from learnings she acquired from medical school at Manila Central University (MCU) where she graduated with Latin honors. There were times however when she’d encounter a patient who felt that a “curse” of some sort had befallen him or someone had intentionally wished him ill.
I would hear Mom dismiss their narratives jokingly then tell them that “curses” weren’t true. Her firm conviction in the existence of every living being was based on science – from the smallest atom to the entirety of every physical matter. Such was not something to debate about and waste her precious time with until…
It was a hot and humid sunny Halloween afternoon on October 31, 1983 when I was given permission to join the family of my husband during their trip to Laguna to visit the graves of their departed family members. The entire clan hails from Pagsanjan and San Pablo, Laguna. Cyempre I was “pa-cute” then since that was my first out of town trip with the family of my then boyfriend, so I wore a pair of 3-inch heels and a pink knee-length baby doll dress.
The main alley of the provincial cemetery was a cemented pavement, while its perimeters were then of soft brown soil laden with random strips of wild grass. We tread on carefully toward the mausoleum through the unpaved side alley, prayed the rosary and uttered personal prayers for the eternal repose of their deceased relatives. As we left mausoleum and reached the center alley, I noticed that the heel of one shoe had mysteriously broken in the middle instead of from the base of the shoe like any broken heel normally would have.
I brushed off the incident thinking nothing of it and changed into rubber slippers. We capped the day with a dip in the pool of a local resort with the rest of the group. This was when I noticed something, signaling the beginning of my life-threatening ordeal.
Amid the laughter from the pool games, blister one appeared on my left forearm coupled with another on my right shoulder. Since I had a real good physician for a mom, I called her via long distance then and she prescribed a topical cream. We bought the medicine and applied it on the blisters. The group had dinner afterwards, had a few laughs and finally dozed off with my roommate who happened to my husband’s grandmother, whom I adored and loved dearly. The next morning, I noticed 3 new bloody red blisters on my arm and abdomen. It was beginning to be quite a concern for me, but chose to shrug it off since the blisters did not hurt nor were prickly or irritating then. Naturally, I applied the topical medicine and we all travelled back home to the metro.
With chicken pox-like symptoms, I was confined at a hospital in Quezon City with mom and another doctor attending to my case. Chicken pox is normally characterized with fever, headache, fatigue, and loss of appetite. On the contrary however, my hands and feet were ice cold and I was hypothermic. 5 days into confinement with round the clock meds and intravenous infusions however, did not show any improvements. Instead, the blisters continued to multiply until it covered my entire body, up to the neck, and the pain was excruciating that I felt I died each time I had to urinate or defecate. Only my face was spared as even my scalp was covered with blisters. The co-attending physician then advised my mom to explore home confinement with an intervention that would require a spiritual healer. I was fast losing my senses and life was clearly escaping my frail body that was matted with bloody red blisters. Mom had to believe. She had no choice but to take her colleague’s advice or she could lose her only daughter.
Fast forward to the fourth spiritual healer from the east, because the previous ones declared that the beings that had worked on me were higher level entities that required a healer of higher credentials perhaps, or longer experience in the field of the supernatural. My blurred vision saw an old man encircling the bed where I lay, several times, muttering words I barely heard nor understood, as he threw rice around me. He concluded his ritual by pointing a folded wet face towel under each sole of my foot, while he uttered some sort of prayer or chant in foreign language. After a minute or so, he turned to my mom and advised her to give me a warm bath of boiled guava leaves after an hour. He also revealed that 2 entities generally believed to be mythical beings, had allegedly latched on to me at the cemetery and had intended to take me with them once I passed.
The warm bath felt extremely comforting as the blisters immediately dried out, and the resulting scabs fell off in numbers during the next 2 days. My skin bore no evidence of the 3-week ordeal, making it seem that my horrifying nightmare was a mere fictional narrative, except for the obvious sunken eyes, weakness and weight loss.
The belief in curses or the supernatural varies greatly across different cultures and individual perspectives. Scientifically, there is no concrete evidence to support their existence in the physical world. Many effects often attributed to the supernatural are said to be placebo effects, or often said to be, coincidence.
However, in cultural, spiritual, or religious contexts, curses and the belief in the realm of the “unseen” are widely accepted and even practised. Whether these are “true” can depend on personal beliefs and cultural background.
After that grueling, terrifying and faith challenging experience decades ago, I am still alive, thriving and healthy except for a few age-related minor body aches. As for my mom, the experience was indeed life-changing, which drew the family closer together in faith and spirituality.
Be well. Be kind. Pray always.
Advance happy Halloween!
Love & light,
Iamempress22
