Caught ONLINE pt. 2

I don’t know if it was the movie ‘The Craft’ or probably the defunct series ‘Charmed’ that nurtured my interest in New Age literature. I’ve heard of stories about real witches and wiccans (male witches) but never really found out if they were true. My curiosity about their practices led me to the New Age section of the bookstore. A local book was on the shelf and it says ‘Modern Spells and Meditation Guides’. Chapter 5 was about how to surround yourself with an invisible light which will attract others. I bought the book in a New York minute.

I tried Chapter 5 a few days after researching. The book was in pure Filipino and I had trouble translating it to English. For example, there are different shades of Pink but the specific shade the book asked for was something I’ve never heard of. I went to the store to buy all the candles plus a newspaper in order to complete the ‘ingredients’ of the spell.

In my room, I lit the candles around the newspaper and lied down while deeply concentrating and thinking about a glowing light surrounding me. Nothing happened. I tried again and this time I imagined that the light was blinding. I didn’t feel anything. Instead, I was surprised to see my mom barge in and asked what I was doing.

‘What the fuck are you doing you? You trying to be Satan’s follower or something?’

I think the spell didn’t work. I didn’t meet anyone that week. All I got were rashes on my elbows. At first, I thought they were just mosquito bites and were not serious until they started appearing like huge islands on the world map. Worried, I rushed to my dermatologist, who prescribed an anti-allergy plus a few other medications which were only available through her clinic.

‘Contact Dermatitis.’ I was relieved to know that there was a medical explanation for the rashes. Before I went to the doctor, I was convinced that the I didn’t get the correct translation of one of the Filipino colours which resulted to this ugly result.

I was convinced that I should try it again. I went online and was happy to find a wiccan—a gay wiccan looking for other wiccans online. I told him I was interested in Witchcraft and that I failed in my first spell.

‘It was probably the candles.’

‘I thought so too.’

‘Or probably the newspaper. You see, the fold has to be exactly as described in the book.’

‘Uh-huh. I thought I did everything right.’

‘Oh forget about it. You’ll have more luck with your second one.’

But I wasn’t willing to have a second spell. I was afraid that the rashes would appear elsewhere.

(to be continued)