Recognizing the Aswang or How You Can Save Your Liver from a Possible Attack
Recognizing the aswangYou can't beat them if you don't know them, right? An aswang can be a very tricky creature indeed but they have 'tells', things that give them away without their knowing it. These are:
Your reflection appears upside down in their eyes.
If you see an aswang up close, look in their eyes. You should be able to see a clear reflection of you in their iris or the pigmented part of the eyes. In 'normal' (read: safe) people, this reflection is upright – meaning, your head is where it's supposed to be – up there.
In an aswang's eyes, your image will be inverted. If one is in aswang mode, he/she has to bend forward, put his/her head between the legs and walk backwards just to get to you.
The problem with this method is that by the time you realize that the person right in front of you is an aswang, it would be too late. You know... if you can see that you're upside down, you're too close... damn close.
They're afraid of salt and garlic.
Salt, the universal preserver, is bad for the aswang's health. They prefer their food tasteless. Garlic is also effective against the aswang, who will stay away from your home if you put garlic cloves on the window sills or at the doorway.
They CAN go to Mass but can't stay for the final blessing.
Aswangs don't mind hearing Mass but they can never stand the final blessing. Seems that the blessing invoked from the Holy Trinity makes them ill.
They use plenty of coconut oil on their bodies, particularly at dusk.
Coconut oil is derived from grated coconut flesh. Milk is squeezed and then heated. Curdles will form on top and further heating will turn this into latik, a rich, brown tasty topping often used with rice cakes.
The oil left on the bottom of the pan is called the langis. It's clear, smells like, well, coconut (go to the Body Shop and look for their Coconut essential oil – langis will smell like that) and is highly sought after for its beneficial properties.
By the way, this is the same oil known as 'virgin coconut oil', produced using the hot press method. The oil is then mixed with other stuff which only a real aswang will be able to tell you. The finished concoction is now called lana.
The aswang needs to use lana for two reasons. One is that they have to rub it all over their bodies so they can take off and glide smoothly in the air when they go looking for prey at night. Second (this is according to my late grandmother), they need the oil because their body itches severely and it helps tame their body hairs.
Okay… before you panic, this is just a retelling of the legends that surround the aswang. Don't go crossing yourself or going into hysteria if you see your neighbor rubbing coconut oil on his body. Could be that the poor soul is just using virgin coconut oil to relieve his arthritis.
There's another way to identify an aswang and this you can use secretly. There's a special oil you can buy or obtain for free from a mystic, a babaylan or a healer in your community. This oil is stored in a small glass bottle and is mixed with herbs, tree bark and roots. It's an aswang detector: if an aswang is nearby, the oil in the bottle will boil without any addition of heat or radiation. So there...
Your reflection appears upside down in their eyes.
If you see an aswang up close, look in their eyes. You should be able to see a clear reflection of you in their iris or the pigmented part of the eyes. In 'normal' (read: safe) people, this reflection is upright – meaning, your head is where it's supposed to be – up there.
In an aswang's eyes, your image will be inverted. If one is in aswang mode, he/she has to bend forward, put his/her head between the legs and walk backwards just to get to you.
The problem with this method is that by the time you realize that the person right in front of you is an aswang, it would be too late. You know... if you can see that you're upside down, you're too close... damn close.
They're afraid of salt and garlic.
Salt, the universal preserver, is bad for the aswang's health. They prefer their food tasteless. Garlic is also effective against the aswang, who will stay away from your home if you put garlic cloves on the window sills or at the doorway.
They CAN go to Mass but can't stay for the final blessing.
Aswangs don't mind hearing Mass but they can never stand the final blessing. Seems that the blessing invoked from the Holy Trinity makes them ill.
They use plenty of coconut oil on their bodies, particularly at dusk.
Coconut oil is derived from grated coconut flesh. Milk is squeezed and then heated. Curdles will form on top and further heating will turn this into latik, a rich, brown tasty topping often used with rice cakes.
The oil left on the bottom of the pan is called the langis. It's clear, smells like, well, coconut (go to the Body Shop and look for their Coconut essential oil – langis will smell like that) and is highly sought after for its beneficial properties.
By the way, this is the same oil known as 'virgin coconut oil', produced using the hot press method. The oil is then mixed with other stuff which only a real aswang will be able to tell you. The finished concoction is now called lana.
The aswang needs to use lana for two reasons. One is that they have to rub it all over their bodies so they can take off and glide smoothly in the air when they go looking for prey at night. Second (this is according to my late grandmother), they need the oil because their body itches severely and it helps tame their body hairs.
Okay… before you panic, this is just a retelling of the legends that surround the aswang. Don't go crossing yourself or going into hysteria if you see your neighbor rubbing coconut oil on his body. Could be that the poor soul is just using virgin coconut oil to relieve his arthritis.
There's another way to identify an aswang and this you can use secretly. There's a special oil you can buy or obtain for free from a mystic, a babaylan or a healer in your community. This oil is stored in a small glass bottle and is mixed with herbs, tree bark and roots. It's an aswang detector: if an aswang is nearby, the oil in the bottle will boil without any addition of heat or radiation. So there...
Labels: aswang, how to detect an aswang, how to recognize an aswang, philippine aswang
posted by Jade Vidal | 9:00 PM
1 Comments:
I knew a neighbor,there have a very old weak woman.. they notice lately she always like smell of a new born baby, there were time late nights woke up with big sharp looking eyes, rooming around their house.. lately I heard she was dying for a week, her body was cold except for her warm forehead.. someone say she expires for few minutes but able to regain breath.. is this a sign she is an aswang? waiting to hand it over to somebody.. In fact nobody from her house want to assume, it is true..
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