Back when I was in primary school, around 7 years old (I’m 32 now), we lived in a small apartment that was surrounded by trees. We had neighbors but you’d have to go through a narrow alleyway before you can get to the Village’s road.
I always play either by myself or with other kids under a huge mango tree or some other small fruit tree and sometimes will get distracted and not notice the time until it’s pretty late. Then I’ll come home.
I had no idea that this will be a start of a couple of weird and scary 6 years to come.
Ever since I had my First Communion at 6yo, every time I’d go to the Sunday mass, and during the communion rites, I will always faint if not, I’ll feel too dizzy to participate. I always attributed that to either lack of sleep, or the hot temp in the church or whatever. My parents had me checked for anemia or anything that could cause the frequent fainting spells but the doctors can’t find anything. They said I should just get some rest, drink water, stay healthy, and the other common stuff.
Fast forward to when I was 10yo, I started seeing little black shadows before fainting. Again, this happened during the communion rite. The scene is this: I’ll start feeling sick, either just can’t breathe, dizzy, or feel like vomiting. Then when people start to fall in line for communion, I will see these little shadows like they are looking for someone then if I make eye contact with any one of them, I’d lose consciousness. I never told my parents about this and kept happening until the age of 12. I always thought they are like hallucinations when I’m about to pass out.
Since I was a child, I never believed in superstitions. I’ll only believe in anything that had a scientific explanation or logic. For when my mom told me not to cut my nails in the evening because they said somebody was going to die or a soul will possess my body once I threw my cut nails in the trash, I just kept telling them, “Nope”. I’ll tell them if you tell me it’s because it’s dark and I won’t be able to see where I’m cutting then I’ll believe you.
When I started having my menstrual period at 12, the attacks became longer. The fainting spells would now start when the homily starts and I’ll regain consciousness after the communion rites.
My parents and my other aunts started being weirded out by this because they’ve been bringing me to doctors but nothing. No diagnosis still.
Then my “healer” grandpa (my mom’s uncle) came from the province to come visit Manila and they met to catch up with each other. A healer in the Philippines aka albularyo is a witch doctor, folk healer, or medicine man who practices folk medicine and uses medicinal plants in their trade. They are commonly found in the more rural areas of the Philippines and use a combination of modalities such as herbalism, prayers, incantations, and mysticism, similar to a shaman. Their services are considered either a first or a last resort for addressing illnesses, and their patient claims that the practitioner has supernatural powers that modern medicine does not provide. (thanks Google for the explanation).
Anyways, my mom told him everything and he said he can’t “see” anything when he looks at me. I didn’t understand this until later. He said there’s a veil covering me like a protection of some sort. So they did a “suob” where I had a bed sheet draped over my head with a pot of boiled water with me inside with tons of leaves thrown into it.
The goal of this suob is for the person being treated to inhale the steam from the medicinal herbs in the pot of boiling water while the healer is outside “praying” and speaking in tongues (Latin) to rid themselves of bad energy. Once done, I remember the covers being lifted then I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, it was time for my grandpa to leave so we bid him goodbye. My mother didn’t tell me what happened nor did I ask. That next Sunday, I completed the mass without fainting. Everyone in my family (even the other families) at church was congratulating me for not fainting.
[Funny side story, I was known to be the fainting girl at the church so we always get the seats near the electric fans with the comfy chair. They also bring “white flower” to give me at times]
So the fainting has never happened anymore but I sometimes still see some shadows in my peripheral vision and thought that they were just my imagination or I have bad eyesight. This is what I thought until we were visited by my grandpa again, 2 years later. And he started asking my mom about my “suitor”. This raised my eyebrows and I asked what he was talking about.
Apparently, there was a “dark dwarf king” that wanted me to be his wife. The veil that Grandpa was describing was a veil put by the dwarf king to hide me from other dwarves. This also hid the fact that I was wearing a crown of thorns underneath. So what he described when he lifted the covers (when he was doing the suob) was the following:
He also said that it all started when I was playing alone under these trees and I may have talked to (or made friends with) somebody whom I thought was human since I was very friendly and very talkative. When I got my period, they started “rushing” and became desperate about the process of “wedding” because I was “ripe” (ready) to be a vessel and give birth to the dwarf king’s children. This explained the longer fainting spells.
My grandpa said that every time I faint, they are luring me away to get communion and bring me to their dimension (which I don’t remember anything about tbh). Anyways, for those who don’t know, when we do communion, we celebrate Him - the story of Jesus, how He gave Himself completely to give us a better life, a new start, and a fresh relationship with God.
Now the wedding that I mentioned means that I was to die as a virgin (in this world) and they’ll either abduct me or lure me into theirs. He also said that if I were to lose my virginity to somebody else, I’ll no longer be “useful” to them and that they either kill me or give me very bad luck.
Fast forward to now, my uncles and other aunts are saying that my kids (a boy and a girl) have their guardians since I have been blessed/protected when that ritual was done. I didn’t know that it actually can get passed on. Anyhow, my kids are both “sensitive” but I’m glad that they tell me what goes on with their lives so I know how I can protect them if any of that shit happens again.