Which is witch?
“Remember, ‘Peace on earth, goodwill to men’ includes witches.” — Samantha Stephens, Bewitched
“Everyone deserves a chance to fly.” — Winnie Holzman, Wicked
Bewitched, unbothered and bewildered… was I.
The US Embassy Residence in Makati was transformed into a bewitching coven of more than 13 witches when Ambassador MaryKay L. Carlson hosted a pre-Halloween party dubbed in the invitation as, “Gathering of Witches.”
From the open-air foyer, to the swimming pool; from the formal living room to the dining room, witches and skulls, ghouls and ghosts abound — all from specialty shops from all over the world in the personal collection of Ambassador Carlson and her husband Aubrey. Some décor she personally bought in the Dapitan Market in Manila!
The swimming pool, on which is embedded a mosaic designed by National Artist Vicente Manansala, had someone interesting on a rubber raft. The main living room had Halloween lanterns in a festive arrangement — except that protruding from the coffee table were “amputated” limbs! Naaay!
It was diplomacy in the dark as “witches” and a few “vampires” from different nations sipped tea, wine and sangria (sangre, that detail was not lost on me) and partook of an international buffet — with lighted skulls as part of the tablescape!
Communication is the very reason the young MaryKay Loss wanted to be a diplomat.
“You know, when I was growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, that was before the Internet, my parents would watch the evening news. This was during the time of the Vietnam War. The war imagery was really stressful, but what I thought was interesting was people just talking. That was a different language and just how interesting because in Middle America, in Arkansas, I never heard anything other than English. And I just thought it was fascinating that there were other ways to speak that people could communicate. In that case, it was Vietnamese. No, I never learned Vietnamese, but as soon as I could take a foreign language in school, I took it. Which was Spanish in junior high. I was just fascinated with communication,” she told me once in an interview.
Later on she took up Latin in high school and German in college. Then she studied Portuguese, Swahili, Mandarin Chinese and Ukrainian.
Now, as to the languages the witches and warlocks spoke that night at her Halloween party, all I could say was that everyone agreed — it’s a small world. Abracadabra!
Spirits move her
Apretty bank executive, who is known among her friends for her so-called “Third Eye,” shared these encounters with a different kind when I asked her for a “ghost” story.
Hold on tight!
“This may not be your typical ‘scary’ story about spirit encounters. Perhaps the reason why I had this experience is for it to serve as a reminder that we do need to keep the departed in our prayers.
“A few years back, we were doing the Jubilee Year church visits. In each church we visited we would pray the rosary and include the poor souls in our intention. I remember very clearly one particular visit to a small church in Silang. I was leading the rosary and as we were praying, I could hear more voices from the back joining us in prayers. Since the chapel was empty except for us (my husband and two couple friends), I was curious and wanted to know who were the others who joined us so I turned to look back. There I saw many faceless souls (dressed in white) outside the chapel. It seemed they couldn’t step inside but were one with us praying the rosary. And as we continued, many more were coming to join us in prayers.
“As we finished I saw them disappear one by one.
“Another incident happened very recently. I attended a Mass being officiated by a priest who is my dear friend. As this priest was giving his homily, I saw someone standing by his side, almost by his back. It was a spirit presence. As the presence disappeared, I made a mental note to tell the priest about it —perhaps I even said to myself it could be his departed father asking for his prayers.
“I went to talk to the priest right after the Mass and he mentioned that he was in a hurry because he had to perform the last rites for someone who was dying. I sensed that the presence I saw was that of this person he was going to visit. I volunteered to join him and accompany him to the house of this sick person.
“Indeed, the person scheduled to be given the last rites by the priest was the same presence I saw beside the priest during Mass.
“The patient died two days after.” *
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