The Bali Story and Information balinese community, balinese black magic

THE PENGIWA
HOW TO BECOME A LEYAK

The learned, those possessing a highly trained mystic power, often become " infected in their heart " and misuse their knowledge to transform themselves into werewolves who revel in crime and blood, reverting to the wicked instincts of demons. They instruct pupils in the secret magic and become chiefs of legions of leyaks. when I first became interested in magic, my Balinese friends tried to dissuade me, claiming that unending calamities would befall me if I persisted. None would admit. he knew anything about bow to become a leyak and 'in general the subject was delicate as a matter of conversation. Eventually someone brought me a manuscript for sale, probably stolen, obviously be longing to the magic lore. The very sight of it frightened them, and it was with certain difficulty that I induced my usually skeptical teacher of Balinese to help me translate the text. Even be deliberately distorted the order of the syllables and I bad to correct them afterwards, checking and rechecking individual words. Later on I obtained another palm-leaf book which was considerably more accessible because it contained magic of the "right," and from the two I tried to procure a general cross section of magic procedures.

The process of becoming a leyak is long and arduous and can only be achieved gradually. First the pupils learn by heart magic words from the old manuscripts, which, repeated in rhythmical sequence while in the attitude of meditation, nglekas, put the student into a state of feverish trance. This is done while making an offering -cones 'of steamed rice dyed in certain specified colours, special structures of palm-leaf, amounts of old bronze coins, and a sacrificed chicken of a defined colour. These rites should be performed after midnight in a propitious place for the transformation. Most frequently named locales for becoming a werewolf were the cemeteries, the death temple, the crossroads, the place where two rivers meet (tjampuan) , where corpses are cremated, in the bale agung, in empty lots where people have never lived, in the family shrine, magic spots of any kind.

The pupil achieves communion with the evil deities by degrees, but before be is successful, be undergoes strange tests of fortitude: giants appear to him and pretend to chop off his bead with great axes, monstrous snakes will coil around his body, but be must remain unmoved. Should be laugh if mice appear from all comers playing on great flutes, the fruit of his efforts will be lost. The formulas recited during the early stages of training are simple repetitions of the standard holy syllables (ong, ang mang' ong, ang mang) or meaningless words such as: " ong, ngong breng nengang, ring pang ring pung, sigang sigung, m'ngang m ngang bem mengung,' djingal djingul, leng her." Often strange words appear that seem to be onomatopoetic sounds of the animal one wishes to become, as in the case of transforming oneself into the monkey Luntung Bengkur, a favourite of leyak women, the formula for which is: " AH! hrenh hrang hrung, UH! hek kwek kwek," repeated three times.

So much for the simple leyaks that turn into birds, pigs, monkeys, snakes, or even tigers. There are more powerful and dangerous transformations for the later stages of training, for more defined demons and " rangdas," able to cause all sorts of supernatural phenomena. In my manuscript for black magic there
were forty-eight sorts of transformations, each more powerful than the last, but also more difficult to attain, often with minute instructions for the favorable conditions in which to try them safely and with repeated warnings that they were not to be attempted by the unprepared. The offerings required were elaborate and expensive; the amounts of money specified often mount into the many thousands of kepengs. In these the formula becomes a forceful prayer of self-exaltation:

" ONG My will is [to become] Sang Kundewidjaya-murti. Fire from my immaculate abdomen, ONG! White fire from my heart, red fire from my liver, yellow fire from my kidneys, black fire from my lungs, fire from my navel, fire from the crown of my bead - ang ang ang ang ang, fire from my bead flare up to heaven, fire of five colours rise as high as a mountain. All you witches (leyak, desti, telu'h, trangyana), all devils of the universe, collapse! Fearfully they all pay homage to me, the whole world reverences me. ONG Nothing can outshine my brilliance,- go on [the power of the formula], go on, go on! "

(ONG, idepaku' rumawak Sang Kundewidjaya-murti, midjilaken geni ring serira sasti. ONG, geni putih ring pepusuh, geni abang ring hati, geni kuning ring ungsilan, gen" ireng ring amper', geni perebuta ring nabi, metu' ring siwedwaranku', ang ang ang ang ang, diernidid genfring siwedwarank', murub dumilak ring akasa, rnan tiewarna rupanira miber aku ring akasa, dumilak tedjanku' ring diagat, murub kadigeni- segunung, sarwa leyak, destf, teluh, trangyana, sarwa buta pisatja, dengen, sarwa mambekan ring djagat, rep sirep, pada nembah ring aku', ONG, sidi swasti bawaniku", ser, ser, ser.)

The release of this magic fire that comes from the lower interior being is an important factor in the transformation. It is sent off to go and cause the destruction of the victim. In the manuscripts often appear phrases like this to drive this force:
"…fly through the air, soar in the sky, ascend, ascend, ascend fly in circles, go on, go on, go on, go and burn so-and-so [the victim's name], launch my invincible formula."

(…teka ber, angawang ring gegana, bidjur, bidjur, bijur, ser, ser, ser, teka geseng sianu, angenter mantra mawisesa.) With every formula comes a prayer so that the witch can re normalcy that is, become human again and reacquire cleanliness- This is done by driving the magic fire back into one s abdomen Here is a typical example:
ONG Brahma (fire) return to my abdomen and disappear the abnormat state], become human again, clearly human, and there shall be no trouble. Lost, lost, lost, clean, clearly a man." " (ONG, brahma mulih ring serira teka sedep telas, muksaning djati, teka purna, teka udep, teka udep, teka udep, ening djanma djati.)

Every witch-doctor and even high priests should undergo these transformations in order to know what they have to fight against. I was told by an old medicine-man, who claimed to have tried them often, that the process is extremely painful; it starts with violent headaches; gradually the tongue swells, becoming longer and heavier until it hangs out of the mouth uncontrolled. He added that the transformations are dangerous because, with each, one's life wears away and becomes shorter, like burning up one's soul-power. The Balinese claim that certain people have greater aptitude for becoming leyaks than others; women, for instance, require less study than men, and persons devoid of the groove between t he lips and the nose have leyak tendencies. The leyak cult is full of rowdy sexual manifestations; leyaks appear naked and with tremendously exaggerated sexual organs that emanate fire. Like, the witches of the West., they fly naked over house tops and.hold orgies and black masses.