Creativity Amidst Over-Activity

Some things I was able to do despite my very, very busy weeks.

These past two weeks have been quite hectic for me, as I have been meeting each of my Sikolohiyang Pilipino students for online oral exams. Happily, I found some moments of rest and reflection. I’d like to share with you some of the things I’ve been busying myself with lately.

But before that, I’m so excited to finally announce that you can now pre-order my new book, Sikodiwa, wherever you get your books!

This is something I’ve been working on for a few months now. It’s more than 200 pages of personal and academic insights on Philippine folklore, languages, history, and indigenous psychology to give you ancestral approaches to wellbeing, as well as tools to rediscover your cultural identity. I talk about how cultural domination happens, and what we can do to counter it. I talk about who gets to define “Filipino-ness.” And I talk about how we can return to Kapwa.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Other Releases

• I recently wrote two essays for Lifestyle Inquirer: one is on colonial mentality (March 28), and the other is about how our cultural expectations regarding family dynamics influence Philippine politics (April 3).

• My new zines are now available at Common Room in Atrium Makati! I brought them in on March 31. Digital copies of my zines are also available.

Titles available: “Finding Filipino-ness,” “Sikolohiya ng Kababalaghan,” and “Make Your Own Anting-Anting”

• I’d also like to announce that I’ve opened a lower, more accessible subscription tier on Patreon for those who just want to access the archive of learning materials and lecture recordings. (Lower tier members have no access to current lectures. Those who wish to access current recordings as well as join the live lectures and community chat may opt to subscribe through the higher tier. Here is a chart I made:

Caring for the Inner Garden

I’ve been playing with clay again, this time some polymer clay that my partner, Toni, gave me. I’m used to air-dry clay, but I find it much easier to sculpt more intricate designs on this material.

Some clay amulets.

The symbols used above include the Sacred Heart, a hand with the baybayin “Ga” (representing gaan, or lightness of being), a sun, and the Trespiko (a folk religious symbol of protection). Recently, I found a copy of a long out-of-print book by Nenita Pambid on anting-anting lore, titled Anting-Anting: O Kung Bakit Nagtatago sa Loob ng Bato si Bathala (University of the Philippines Press, 2000). I would’ve been more inspired to make specific designs had I found this book earlier, as it is generously filled with imagery.¹

Further Studies

One Saturday morning a few weeks ago, I listened to this interview with American activist Loretta Ross. In our agitated political climate, she recommended “calling in” instead of “calling out” people we disagree with. Cancel culture, she said, uses the same tactics as prison systems, that shame, punish, and exile people. In a nod to Audre Lorde, Ross said that these tools are not enough to dismantle the master’s house. Also, cancel culture only affects those who don’t have the status, money, or fame to protect themselves—and, in the end, nothing really changes. If we want hateful people to change their ways, we must also be here for them when they do.

Subscribe to my Patreon and preorder my new book. 🌞

1. Those looking for a more accessible, English-language alternative to Pambid’s study on Philippine occultism can look for Dennis Santos Villegas’ You Shall Be As Gods: Anting-Anting and the Filipino Quest for Mystical Power (Vibal, 2017).