T+here used to be a lot more trees in my mother's province than there are now, and be it local superstition or or the mind playing tricks on you - There are always strange stories attached to old wild forests.
My mother's uncle, said to be a faith-healer, had many weird yet fascinating stories to tell. One of which was about a forest people had to walk through from time to time. He said that a mischievous spirit lived there, who liked to play tricks on travellers late at night.
The spirit did so by confusing its victims to the extent that they would no longer recognize their surroundings and for a while at least, would not be able to find their way through the forest.
My mother's uncle said that when found in such a situation, you had to humour the spirit so that it would let you pass through. As he did when one night he found himself the target of the spirit's mischief. One moment he was walking through confidently, the next it seemed like he was surrounded by trees with no path in sight. So he pulled his pants down and 'mooned' the trees, the action was immediately followed by loud laughter and he was able to find his way.
I am perfectly aware that there are hundreds if not thousands of charlatans out there who claim to have the abilities of a medium/psychic/seer...etc. Whereas only a tiny handful are in fact gifted and aren't likely to exploit desperate people and extort ridiculous sums of money from them.
I cannot say for certain if my mother's uncle was the real deal. She believes he was. People would regularly come to seek his advice about aches, persistent rashes, unexplained ailments...etc. And he would go to them and offer his assistance at no cost.
My mother watched him sometimes, how he would murmur prayers in Latin, blow into his hands and lay them on those asking his help and seemingly (miraculously) take the pain away.
There was an incident where a husband took his wife in to see him believing that she was suffering from an attack (black magic), the faith healer, according to my mother, murmured his prayers, blew into his hands and touched his thumbs to the woman's toes who screamed that it burned. Following the session she was no longer plagued by black magic, but her toes were blistered as if they had been burned.
Other times, such as when one of my aunts had a large lingering rash on her arm, he told her to go to a specific location, to tell no one about it, gave her some Latin words to say, and instructed her to gather some soil and rub it onto her arm. My aunt was afraid to go alone, so she made my mother go with her, and once there, each knelt on the ground on a banana leaf to keep their legs clean. My aunt recited the words, took some of the soil and rubbed it onto her arm and in the days that followed the rash faded away.
I have to admit that when it comes to people who claim to be psychics and mediums, I tend to be sceptical, since there are so many frauds out there who insist they're the genuine article. But it is pretty special for someone to be able to help people just by having a strong faith in God, regardless of who and what they claim to be.
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