Galing: Our own ability to heal

In the Tagalog language of the Philippines, there are one word that can be spoken about that has multiple meaning such as the word that we are going to discuss today that has important relevance in Healing. If you are going to take the Hilot Binabaylan Certification class, one of its first lesson is about the definition of terminology that you are to encounter while practicing hilot as we all the true meaning of our Craft which is Hilot.

The first meaning that we are going to discuss about the word “Galing” will pertain to the place of origin.

For example:

“Galing ako sa Bahay para kumuha ng makakain.” in English it is translated as: “I went home to get some food to eat.” In this sentence , we can see that the word “Galing” describes the speaker’ where about which tells that S/he went home. Now. let us see another meaning of this word through this sentence:

Tagalog: “Ang Galing mong Magluto ng Adobo.”

English: “You are great in cooking adobo.”

At this sentence the word “galing” describes the persons ability to cook, thus the meaning of the word “Galing” here pertains to the level of mastery of our ability which is on its highest level. The next definition of the word “Galing” will be described on the following sentence which can be found with a Suffix:

Tagalog: “Magaling na ako. Wala na akong Sakit!”

English: “I am better now. I am not sick anymore!!

On our last sentence, the word “Galing” describes the persons health condition. It shows that in this sentence that the speaker has recovered or relieved from illness.

In hilot, it is important to us to know the persons place of origin and its ability. The illness that the person has limits its ability as his/her souls wonder. As Manghihilot, it is our duty to restore back the persons ability and retrieve his/her soul back to the body.

As a General Principle, we firmly believe that an individual has their own ability to heal themselves. As practitioner of the healing arts and science, we are just a catalyst and facilitator of healing. We integrate the healing wonders of nature that can be found in our surroundings from the 8 directions of the world. We use this gift of nature to make the sick person whole again thus we say: “Magaling ka na!” or “You are now Healed!”

Healing with Plant Medicine: Mulberry Leaf

My Tita call this as Tahebo but when i conduct close study to this tree i learn that it is a Mulberry. I get this when it was still young at Cupang, Muntinlupa to the old place where Tita Edith lives. And now i see it bearing many berries.

I have utilized the leaves to make tea and have administered it to nanay to lower down her blood pressure as well as to relieve her constipation. Tatay made a joke that when nanay poop it will be like silk because Mulberry Leaf are used to feed the silk worm.

I use also the dried powdered leave of mulberry in making herbal tablet which i call as Amulaser.

Mulberry leaves are highly nutritious as it contains polyphenol anti oxidants, vitamins c, zinc, iron, potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium.

There are study that says that Mulberry leaves can help lower blood sugar, cholesterol and inflammation. These attributes are useful in fighting heart disease and diabetes.

I believe that this leaf can do more when it comes to our health. As member of Luntiang Aghama that advocates Philippine Traditional Medicine through Hilot Academy, Mulberry Leaf can help improve our healthcare delivery by making it affordable and within easy reach.

The Power of Prayer to Heal

Even before the Christian Era, our ancestors already know how to pray. It is documented that since the late Neolithic or before 2000 BC. the Ancient Filipino already know how to pray. This is evidenced through the cave wall writing in Angono, Province of Rizal through the Angono-Binangonan Petroglyph.

The engravings are mostly symbolic representations and are associated with healing and sympathetic magic.

This natural monument in the Province of Rizal shows that we as Filipino believe that there is a Higher Power than us that could provide us healing when we are sick. And in search for that Higher power we have learned how to pray. And for us we believe that Prayer has an amazing power to heal us in time of illness.

But how can Prayer Heal?

People recognize that they are sick when they feel it as secondary reaction to the main disorder of their internal system. It is through our feelings that we describe our illness. When we assess people when they are sick, we ask them how they feel. We usually measure their pain as well as the limitations it gives when we are sick.

Prayer can help people get well and have healing since it works towards the mind and emotion. Prayer is a form of Divine Communication that we express our thoughts, and our thoughts describe through prayer what we feel; and our feelings/ emotions as a reaction to the stimulus that been made. Prayer is a form of voicing out what is within us such as in a distressful situation we call out for Help.

In praying for Healing, we recognize that we are in need; that something is not going right within us that make us ill. By recognizing that something that is not right, we are given counsel by our higher selves the thing we need to do so that we may feel better and restore wellness back into our life.

Lana at Liwanag, our Tools in moving prayer

Hilot is a form of Prayer in Action. Action is needed when we pray as we have taught it in the Shrine.

Prayer in Action

Every action that we do in Hilot, whether in Pulse Reading Analysis, Tawas Spiritual Diagnosis, Suob/ Palina Ritual, Kilubansa, Dagdagay, Bentusa and Masahe are all form of Prayer and communication of the manghihilot to the Divine Self of the Patient we are healing. Thus as Manghihilot, our Orasyon or Prayer is not useless but it has direct effect of healing to relieve the person from illness and dis Ease.

Looking for a cure

Through out our writings and teachings here at Hilot Academy, we have taught that the medicine for our illness can be found within our yard. The herbs that grows within our community is our best medicine for our illness. But the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease that originates in China and now have spread world wide that it is declared as Pandemic, where can we find its cure?

We might not be able to help out our brothers and sisters in the Medical and Scientific Field, but the Wisdom of our Ancestors can be handy in preventing the spread of this disease.

As Manghihilot according to the principles of herbalism that we practice, we do not deal with the disease but rather we deal with the strengthening the body of man in order to heal our selves. The First Principle of Traditional and Alternative Healthcare is that we believe that man has own ability to heal our selves. That is why when we are sick complete bed rest and taking a lot of fluids are advised until the symptoms are gone.

The next thing we ensure is that the place where we live is thoroughly clean and sanitize so that re infection will not happen. Cleanliness and personal hygiene is necessary. We also have taught that in order to benefit from Healing, it is not only the body of the person we need to treat but also the environment. Remember our Gold Fish analogy?

When one of the Gold Fish is sick, we remove them from their aquarium and clean the aquarium, and the sick gold fish is separated to the healthy one so that it will not contaminate and infect the healthy one.

Sponge bathing is one treatment we do to maintain body temperature when the person is having a high fever. We place cold wet towel on the forehead to cool down and protect the brain from being cooked due to the rise of temperature.

Hypocrates also have mentioned that creating artificial fever would help in healing any kinds of illness. Thus the practice of Suob/Luop/Palina aka Steam Bath are advised to artificially raise up the temperature within the body to fight pathogens and free radicals that comes in to our system that cause illness.

Keeping our body warm and hydration is the best practice we provide in treating illnesses. In the practice of suob, we also prepare glass of drinking water so that from time to time we let the patient drink water as s/he will perspire a lot during the treatment. Giving a drink will hydrate the patient and replenish the loss of water in his system.

In keeping our body warm when we are sick, our parents cover us with blanket at wear us socks in our feet. There is a traditional practice also in making out feet warm is by clipping a clove of garlic or slice of ginger to the in between of our toes. And to some they also place a round slice of onion to the soles of their feet while wearing socks at bed time.

Hilot Masahe is also provided in giving warmth to the body as well as in aligning nerves or bone structure into position. Sometimes disalignment is also cause of pain and imflamation.