What is the "Evil Eye" of Lust, Malice, Hatred, Envy, and Jealousy?

Picture take from http://humweb.ucsc.edu/gweltaz/courses/history/hist_5B/Lectures/09_paul_cities_2013.html

What is the Evil Eye?

 

The evil eye is a human look believed to cause harm to someone or something else. The harm may come in the form of anything from a minor misfortune to disease, injury or even death. The “evil eye” is essentially a specific type of magical curse, and has its roots in magical thinking and superstition. Symptoms of illness caused by the evil eye include loss of appetite, excessive yawning, hiccups, vomiting, and fever. It is always best for the person to wear sacramentals devoutly like the Medal of St. Benedict and live a life of grace and virtue. It affects most especially those who have psychic openings including children.

Picture taken from http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/spiritual-problems/evil-eye/what-is-evil-eye/

The "Usog"

Typical folk amulet/talisman against usog

In the Philippines, the phenomenon called usog (bales, bati, buyag), can be readily considered a case of the “evil eye”, albeit unintentionally. Folks believe that when a child or an adult is greeted or fancied by some types of people including a pregnant woman in the "naglilihi" stage (symptoms of early pregnancy --strange food cravings, mood swings, morning sickness, etc.) or a hungry (gutom) person and the effect on the one that was greeted was the feeling of being sick, stomach ache, or lost of appetite, or restlessness, then this is a case of usog. The folk medicine is for the one who was the cause of the usog to wet their thumb with their saliva and trace the sign of the cross on the part of the victim that experiences the pain while saying “Pwera usog.” (Usog go away.). Usog can also happen to animals and trees. And often the effect is fatal to them. When the victim of the usog is a tree, it will wither and die. Often the effect is immediate or the symptoms start to appear in a few minutes or hours. When an animal has been the object of usog, the animal becomes restless, unable to eat, and eventually dies.

Illustration from http://cheapcures.blogspot.com/2013/11/do-you-believe-in-usog-unbelievable-but.html#.VRNjhuE42ao

Superstitious Remedies

Folk remedies abound to counter act usog. Here are some of the more famous ones:

(Reference:  http://www.stuartxchange.com/Bales.html. Accessed March 2015)

• Saliva (laway): If the complimenting person, suspected of causing the usog, is known, he is asked apply his finger-tip wet with saliva, in a cross, on the abdomen or forehead of the person afflicted with bales. If the visit to the patient is not possible or inconvenient, he can also send a small bag of his saliva to be applied as antidote.

Herbal remedies: Various herbs have been used, all with perceived efficacy.

• Rice grains: Rice grains are chewed, then applied over the abdomen or forehead.
• Ginger: Chewed raw ginger, applied like rice.
• Atis leaves: Leaves of atis are mashed on salt, then crossed on the abdomen and filling the belly button area with the salted herbal mash.
• Kakawati leaves: Kakawati leaves are chewed, spit on the palm, and then air is gently blown through the rolled palms to the abdomen or forehead.
• Malunggay: A small branch of malunggay with leaves is gently pat on the patient's back.
• Nga Nga: Requiring the expertise of the albularyo, the treatment involves a whole body application of nga-nga ingredients: areca nut, litlit leaves, apog and tabakong intsik.

 Other treatments:

• Bulong, Orasyon, Tapal: These are other alternative modalities used by albularyos and other folk healers for bales. Bulong is a prayer in pig-latin, whispered in the course of treatment by the folk healers; in bales, the prayer is delivered with a whispered while applying saliva or blowing herbal essences to the abdomen or forehead. The orasyon is the same pig-latin prayer written in a small piece of paper and pasted as tapal on the abdomen or forehead.
• Mangdudura: Literally, a spittle specialist, a laypersons believed to possess the ability to more effectively counter bales-induced headaches, using the same procedure of chewing various herbs and dabbing and crossing it with his/her thumb over various body parts.
• Unton: Unton is a preventive measure used for infants and young children prone to bales. It is usually a pouch or small sac filled with various indigenous ingredients—seeds, leaves, tree bark, tobacco, carabao horn, etc—and pinned on the child's upper clothing.
• In some areas the last worn clothing of the victim before the usog is boiled together with salt. And this is supposed to remove the usog.

Anyone of the above should never be used by Christians and Catholics for that matter. For anything superstitious becomes an opening for later malevolent attacks by unclean spirits. Indeed though it may seem that the person was healed after applying the common kontra-usog (against usog) remedies, these simply put the malevolent spirit to pretend to go away, but in reality they just hide. And in hiding the latching on the person becomes deeper in time as they are not detected and cast out. This is the reason who was a victim of usog once, can again be a victim later on. Likewise, the person who was superstitiously healed of usog can also later be the cause of usog in another. Hence the spirit is passed from person to person.

These superstitious remedies are considered occult in nature.

The Catholic Remedy

To counter-act the effect of the Evil Eye and Usog in a person, the prayers below are to be offered. There should absolutely be no application of the folk remedy of using saliva by the person who caused of the usog nor of any other person whatsoever. All superstitious amulets/talismans should be removed and never used again.  The person should repent, renounce, and confess before God for believing in these superstitious remedies which are spiritually dangerous. If confession to a priest is readily accessible this should be done immediately before or after.

Exorcised-Blessed Oil, Exorcised-Blessed Salt and Holy Water are the only things to be applied to the body of the victim.

In the name of the + Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy + Spirit. Amen.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

God, our Lord, King of ages, All-powerful and Almighty, you who made everything and who transform everything simply by your will; you who changed into dew the flames of the seven-times hotter furnace and protected and saved your three holy children:

You are the doctor and physician of our soul. You are the salvation of those who turn to you. I beseech you to make powerless, banish, and drive out every diabolic power, presence, and machination; every evil influence, malefice, or evil eye and all evil actions aimed against me [or against N. (name of victim)].

Where there is envy and malice, give me (him/her) an abundance of goodness, endurance, victory, and charity. O Lord, you who love man, I beg you to reach out your powerful hands and your most high and mighty arms and come to my (his/her) aid.

Send your angel of peace over me (him/her), to protect me (him/her) body and soul. May You keep at bay and vanquish every evil power, every poison or malice invoked against me(him/her) by corrupt and envious people.

Then under the protection of your authority may I (he/she) sing with gratitude, “The + Lord is my salvation; whom should I fear? I will not fear evil because you are with me, my God, my strength, my powerful Lord, Lord of peace, Father of all ages.”

The prayer is to be said in complete faith and confidence in God’s mercy and kindness. It can be repeated again and again until the pain has subsided.

 

Only holy water or oil blessed by a Catholic priest should be used. This is to be applied to the part of the body experiencing pain. A pinch of blessed salt can also be given.