White Sorcery

As I have painstakingly tried to impart to my gentle readers in many prior postings, there are no absolutes.  There is good and bad mixed into everything.  For all the darkness that Black Sorcery brings, there is also a light and good side to Viet Sorcery.  This is the side that allows the Sorcerer to heal illnesses, exorcise harmful spirits, knit broken bones, reunite lost family members, and cleanse and sanctify grounds and regain ravaged habitats for the purpose of peaceful living and virtuous activities.

The reason we do not hear much about this side of Sorcery is because it is not shocking and scary, and by nature of its use, it is peaceful and rather benign.  Nevertheless, it is no less potent and no less powerful than its counterpart, Black Sorcery.  It is all in the intention of the individual Sorcerer—to either uplift and inspire, or destroy and intimidate.

Sorcery is not a simple path.  The written sorcery spells (Bùa), possessed plants (Ngải) and spoken incantations for the purpose of invocations (thư phù) are merely tools that the Sorcerer must have the knowledge to utilize.  Without this knowledge, the tool is ineffective, much like a power drill in the hands of a child who does not know enough to plug the tool into the electric outlet, and does not know which button to push that would turn it on.  Worse yet, if the child knows enough to do all these things, but do not possess the control and knowledge to use this tool, the result can be extremely harmful, and even deadly.  However, in the hands of a master craftsman, structures of useful beauty can be constructed.

In an attempt to document that which has mostly been shrouded in a veiled mist of superstition and ignorance, I will utilize my understanding of the Vietnamese language and translate what I can, of the basics of Southeast Asian Sorcery in my Book of Spells.  Keep checking back.  I update the book quite often.