#Katalonan

[thevampiremarie]

“Hey where have you been”

I took magic mushrooms in a meadow filled with daisies and dandelions and met Aphrodite and Zeus and Hera and Hermes and Poseidon and Dionysius and also channeled alligator spirits. And then I converted one of my friends into the cult of Hozier and the cult of Aphrodite. No I will not elaborate further.

[ozmarig]

Tamauro, elemental guide to Beliza, the main character of the Dark Allies Dark Adversaries (Book 1 - The Katalonan Chronicles).

He is very close to my heart as he reminds me of the same being I dream about now and again. My own gabay.

The concept of having elemental guide or guides is core to the culture and beliefs of Filipinos. They are sentient energies found in nature. As the name suggests, they can provide one guidance. Or in some cases, a lure to perdition.

However, Tamauro is not one of the common ones one mentioned by people. His kind is not known for choosing humans as an alaga, or a ward, because they are a warrior class in Hiwagaan, the ethereal realm.

Tamauro is a sarangay. These noble elementals are attached to the gems they wear. It is connected to their existence. The pair represents passion and reason. And if one is stolen, it results in lethal consequences for the thief, for a sarangay cannot be parted from their gems forever.

His personality was drawn from many of my mentors in life. Although none of them were this muscular, they were all, in essence, mighty warriors in their own field. Tamauro's wit and wisdom, in my opinion, was his best weapon.

He has a very mysterious backstory — one that demands a chapter or two, but that will not be until book 3. (Book 2 is under editing/revision process at the moment).

Our artist, Boyet Abrenica, drew him very well. He got the image, the facial expression of Tamauro very accurately. Impressive feat since his only basis was the books. He gets both Sol and I really well. We are now exploring collaborating on the graphic novels based on the series.

There are at least 9 elemental guides that appeared in this book, each unique and quirky.

And if you are interested in magical creatures, both mainstream and unique, the rich fantasy of the Philippine lore will provide you with so much variety, it is crazy. Read more of them in our book and the succeeding volumes in this series.

(We don't know yet how many books there will be, but we are leaning on 5).

[inkcurlsandknives]

Hi Tumblr I'm an Asian fantasy author fleeing the sudden death of all my other social media sites 👋 I've used Tumblr for years as a fandom lurker and rarely posted but in light of all my other communities imploding I guess I'll have to figure out how to be actually active on Tumblr and find bookish and writerly folks here 💜 say hi if that's you 🥺

If you love diverse filipino fantasy with bipoc leads, angry bi women clawing for space in a world that's always rejected them and soft boys who'd do anything for them, awesome elemental magic based on early Filipino shaman/ babaylan/katalonan mythologies and the Tagalog creation story, and the Bakunawa/Laho the 🇵🇭 sea dragon 🐉 and drowning colonizers then I hope you'll keep an eye out for SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW coming in June 2024 from Titan Books

[arkipelagic]

Josua Del Socorro wearing a precolonial asog attire, photographed by Eric Diaz.

Asog were individuals assigned male at birth but assumed shamanistic feminine roles in their Visayan society and were closely associated with infertility - which seems, to me, in contrast to women born with wombs. Among other names they are also known as babaylan, balian, or katalonan in different Philippine languages.

Shamanism survived Spanish and American colonialism to a certain degree. While the gender variant aspect has faced a decline, the belief in the abilities of shamans or faith healers is still strong especially in the countryside. These people can be either man or woman.

[mariemarieohcontrary]

What I've figured out about Diwa's backstory:

She's from the Philippines (all my MCs are)

Her mother is descended from the babaylans/katalonan (precolonial shamans/kinda priestesses)

The trip to New Orleans was meant to be a vacation she saved up for cause she always wanted to see the world for a bit

Is teaching in a private school and Low-key causes chaos cause she questions a lot of things and encourages her students to do the same. (They can't fire her cause the grades of her students shoot up quickly)

Definitely fought the terror math teacher for humiliating one of her homeroom students (making her a class advisor was a regret for the school but its a chance for her to protect the kids from power-tripping teachers so she took it)

She has an albularyo stepfather (an albularyo is kinda like the babaylan but came into existence during the Spanish colonial era or smth somehow its approved of because its now tied to Catholicism)

She has a younger half-brother who likes going against the norm like she does. (He's eighteen and studying fine arts cause he likes v old paintings with its many meanings in flowers, fruits, etc)

She and her brother read tarot cards with their mom as a way to bond (Diwa also collects tarot cards as long as she feels pulled to them)

Ends up gentle parenting her students that her mom jokingly called her students her first grandkids with how close they were to Diwa.

Polyamorous and out to her family. Dated a bit during her school days but stopped when she graduated because she wanted to focus on handling her life first

Accidentally flirted with one of the Philippine elven races while on a hiking trip for the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts where she's a supervisor.

Met Kristin in UP Diliman and became roomies (Kristin knows about her being pagan not so much about her family's ties to the supernatural)

I think that's all I got but I feel there's more about her but for now that's all haha

[makapatag]

watching CSM fandubs is making me want to rework on Kalye Katalonan... but damn i have to finish GB's combat first

[lotus-duckies]

Like the way Lakambini is described in a way that's very similar to the bayok, the effeminate men who acted as katalonans and had relations with other men and bayok being considered one of the og words for queer before the colonizers forced us to start saying bakla

And how one source says he was worshipped mostly by men and his name meaning noble lady in contemporary dictionaries

That means something and it means something to me

i'm so normal about this

[moonshine-and-midnight]

i/g/i. hello ♥️ this is JS (taurus). i'd like to ask what the connection/energy is between me and AS (taurus). what can i do to strengthen the attraction and relationship between us? thank you forever 🕊

Hey there, dear

“How can JS best strengthen the relationship with AS?”

The cards: Five of Pentacles

The Five of Pentacles, within relationships, concerns itself with “going through tough things together”, “not being distant despite struggles and difficulties”. There may be a need to grow closer, to lean on each other, to trust each other more than before. To be supportive and “there”.

In a relationship, this card speaks of strong ties and as you asked for a way to strengthen your ties, the cards suggest to lower some of the walls, to share with each other more, to truly “grow closer”.

Spending time together, listening to each other, being there for each other, making time for each other, making sure the other knows that someone is there to lean on - this and more may be suggested.

It can also refer to emotionally open, to not guard your heart too much, to allow yourself to be vulnerable and “weak” with each other. To show “weakness”.

---

Best wishes!

[bxtchxcrxft]

Found a very well written and informative post about Filipino precolonial gender variance... wish the author was still blogging.

[leng-m]

I’m Looking for Beta-Readers!

Hey guys, just in time for Halloween, I've finished the latest draft of Metalmade! The next step for me is to collect feedback, and for that, I would need a couple of beta readers.

The story sits at 15,000 words, and my wriitng app tells me it takes 1.5h to read. It's a sci-fi/fantasy mashup, and if you enjoy some light-hearted spying, odd friendships, and a dash of mystery, then read on!

What's Metalmade about?

Yaya is a highly-advanced humanoid machine, trying to earn the final credential that will make her the guardian of her creator's orphaned daughter. Eager to prove herself, she takes on an assignment to determine whether the village's dour tofu-peddler is an aswang — a dark creature that disguises itself as a human, but feasts on human flesh.

It's a risky assignment for Yaya. If she mistakes a human for an aswang, she will lose all her previous credentials; and if she mistakes an aswang for a human, she will allow a deadly killer to roam freely.

What kind of feedback I'm looking for?

Ideally I'd like to get people from two different demographics: those who are familiar with some aspects of Filipino culture like taho, aswang, katalonan, datu, etc; and those who are not familiar with these.

I'm hoping that the story will be accessible and enjoyable to everyone, so I want to avoid either under-explaining or over-explaining things.

At this stage, I'm concerned mostly with the overall flow of the story, whether the plot and worldbuilding make sense, and the characters are believable. Spelling and grammar are less of an issue.

Please let me know if you're interested!

If you'd like to help a writer out, please comment/DM me! (Or reblog to help spread the word.) I would really appreciate it, and of course, I'd give you credit once the story is published on my website.

I previously used BetaBooks as my main beta reading platform, but I'm flexible with whatever works for you.

[butikinababoy]

Buo ang loob ko sa iyo...

Ganito ako kasigurado!

[ozmarig]

This book took a while to write, but every minute was fun. My co-writer and I (SJ Powell) spent many late nights (morning for him due to time zone difference), re-reading and editing what I had written. It wasn't easy for him because, between us, I was the local one who knew the lore. But his appreciation of the lore was very helpful. Sol provided the insight of someone who is not familiar with the lore, but was fascinated by it.

The wonderful Boyet Abrenica did the beautiful artwork, and we are very pleased with it — Sol and I, and our publisher.

We are proud of this work. It features characters, rituals, and magic as true to the lore as possible. The creatures in the book are unique, we guarantee, to whoever loves fantasy. The lore is very rich with fascinating beings, both mortal and immortal, corporeal and ethereal.

To foreign readers, if you want a break from vampires, werewolves, faes, angels, and demons — we want to tempt you with equally ominous, dangerous, yet oh so compelling creatures.

To the Filipinos who grew up with and loves horror and fantasy stories about the usual scary suspects — aswangs, manananggals, tiyanaks, etc. We dare you to read a more diverse spread of horrific impaktos and malignos. They are the staple in our books. I promise you; I didn't invent them. They have long existed in our culture. I just brought them to the fore. Sol can vouch for how gruesome a few of them were.

The main characters of the series are also particularly timely, although we didn't purposefully write it because of the current 'woke' culture pertaining to the LGBTQ ++ community. Feminine energy just happened to be crucial to the nature of a Katalonan. Hooray for the pre-colonial Filipinos for being so accepting. (Sometimes I wonder what happened to that mindset.)

We wrote the "bayoks/bayoguin" characters with little emphasis on their gender. We simply wrote them as humans, as people whose issues would resonate with anyone. Indeed, without the femininity born into them, they wouldn't be Katalonans.

But most especially, the series is more about the lore — fantastical, dark, natural and full of wisdom.

We hope you love it as much as we did. Below is the blurb of the first book.

Orphaned, bullied, and threatened with exorcism, Beliza flees her village despite having nowhere to go and nothing to her name. She encounters a mysterious woman they call the Chief Katalonan, who entices her to search for answers about the bizarre experiences in her life.

Together with eight others, Beliza finds herself in training to be a conduit between the intertwined ethereal and corporeal realms, Hiwagaan and Sansinukob. And for someone who had nothing, she can now wield the power over light and dark.

Beliza gains a father figure in her elemental guide, Tamauro. Powerful & ancient, he teaches her how to deal with entities that cross into both worlds — beings as dark & dangerous as her own childhood traumas.

Soon, she and her friends must face menacing and unknown adversaries sent by Sitan, the lord of darkness, at the cost of a life and friendship.

Let us know if you like it. (We would love a review in Amazon and/or Goodreads).

And if you do like it, how would you like to beta read book 2 - The Lair of Shadows and Light?

[pilalaguna]

Ancient Tagalog Shamans: The Babaylan

From Wikipedia: Filipino Shamans

"The Babaylan were highly respected members of the community, on par with the pre-colonial noble class..."

...Also known as Catalonan/Katalonan who specialized in communicating, appeasing, or harnessing the spirits of the dead and the spirits of nature."

"They were believed to have spirit guides, by which they could contact and interact with the spirits and deities (anito or diwata) and the spirit world."

"Healing was the most important role for shamans in their communities."

They were almost always women. According to Luciano P. R. Santiago (To Love and to Suffer, pg 4 - 6) as remuneration for their services they received a good part of the offerings of food, wine, clothing, and gold, the quality and quantity of which depended on the social status of the supplicant. Thus, the catalonas filled a very prestigious as well as lucrative role in society.

In 1596, a Franciscan in Laguna, Fray Diego del Villar, attempted to suppress and convert the catalonans, which continued in Laguna by the Archdiocese of Manila until 1686. - From the research of Luciano P. R. Santiago (To Love and to Suffer, pg 8-10). Even the 1849 Filipino Surname Decree forbade "Catalonan" as a family name, and even anything associated with the Babaylan such as "Anito". - From the research of Luciano P. R. Santiago (To Love and to Suffer, pg 11).

Santiago, Luciano P. R. “‘TO LOVE AND TO SUFFER’: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN IN THE PHILIPPINES DURING THE SPANISH ERA (1565-1898).” Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, vol. 23, no. 2, University of San Carlos Publications, 1995, pp. 151–95, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29792184.

[inkcurlsandknives]

Saints of Storm and Sorrow Sorting Quiz

Take the Quiz: https://uquiz.com/JxBibF

Enter the world of Saints of Storm and Sorrow, as an elemental magic user blessed by one of the three goddesses, which element will call out to your soul? Take the quiz and find out for yourself! Once a year, at the start of the wet season, the Katalonan (shaman) sing down the Ambon (sun shower) and name all those of age to the three goddesses. The named will dive for a sacred oyster to make their mother of pearl mutya and see if they might find a pearl and be named gods-blessed. Which old gods call to your heart? From the epic fantasy world of Saints of Storm and Sorrow where old gods refuse to be forgotten and the gods-blessed wield the elements of nature against their colonial oppressor, who will you be? A Stormcaller, Tide-touched, or Firetender?

It is Launch Week for Saints of Storm and Sorrow!

Order your copy today!

Buy link: https://linktr.ee/gabriellabuba

In this an enthralling Filipino-inspired queer epic fantasy, a nun concealing a goddess-given gift is unwillingly transformed into a lightning rod for her people's struggle against colonization. For fans of R.F. Kuang, Tasha Suri, and The Hurricane War.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

tell me a story about Jose Rizal?

Jose Rizal is an icon. He is one of the heroes in the Filipino national myth. In the national myth, he is, among other things, the first martyr of the struggle for independence from the Spanish.

Of course, there was no such martyr. There was no martyr.

He was born in Barcelona in 1862. He was the son of rich but eccentric parents who had spent their wealth on the arts (they loved music, drama, poetry) and did not send him to school because they felt the education offered there would be a bad use of his talents. He was homeschooled and studied Latin at the convent school at Barcelona. He took the name Rizal from one of his favorite writers. He joined the Estudio de la Lengua Masónica (Study of Masónic Spanish) and learned how to compose music and how to read music notation. Later he moved on to composing in a more literary vein, and to poetry. He took a master's in art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona and was expelled when he joined the Revolució (the revolution) in 1887. His involvement in the revolt, in concert with its leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, began with his playing a trumpet-like instrument (he called it the zampoñita) to cheer up a small group of rebel soldiers, and it ended with his death by hanging.

Rizal is the name of the national hero in the national myth.

I read this myth as a boy, and although I was interested in literature and the arts, I had no idea what it meant to be the first martyr. There were no martyrs, there was no struggle, there was no glory. My parents had told me enough stories about the American Revolution, and about Napoleon. I had had no other sense of history.

As it happens, I am not an iconoclast -- which is not to say I am a believer in national myths. I cannot shake the sense that history is about history, and that a thing like the Philippine Revolution makes the world a darker place.

(The fact that so many of my readers, who cannot feel this way, nonetheless share my interest in the Philippines makes me grateful to them.)

That sense, if not quite the same thing, does not matter. What matters is my opinion. It is, I suspect, the opinion of a number of Rizal's contemporaries. In fact, the great writer István Bethlen told a friend of Rizal's, "He has his reward in the form of the people's veneration. They love him, as he should have been; they will love him, as he was not. There is no such thing as an idolater."

Of course, I have read that remark a dozen times, and I always thought it a little melodramatic. But the thing is, I like melodrama. I would rather take melodramatic stories seriously than have more sensible versions. It would bother me much less if the Philippines had not become a real, tangible thing.

It has now been a quarter-century since Rizal's death, and the Philippines continues its struggle for independence. I know the Philippines to some extent. I go there frequently and, if I never go to the old city of Manila, I think about it from time to time. I imagine the national myth, the hero, the struggle. And that struggle, I suppose, is what I love about Rizal.

The hero is a poet-singer-musician of extraordinary talent. (His father was a sculptor of great skill, and both he and his mother wrote poetry.) This is what I like about the national myth. He is a brilliant, complex creature. He writes in verse, sings like an angel, but also writes in a more straightforward manner. He composes music for his own works and for others. At the same time, he studies law, and writes a book on the legal code of the Philippines. I imagine this book in my mind's eye every time I encounter the katalonan (literally, "constant talk"), an oral genre which can be considered as a precursor to journalism. He is a lawyer, he is a poet, he is also a lover of nature. He is also a lover of music -- a gifted composer. And he is a lover of the arts in general. He creates drama. He composes music. He writes about the law. He writes about love. And above all, he writes about religion.

I imagine his mind full of everything, and this seems to me very important. He does not just talk about the world. He tries to understand the world. But he also tries to understand his own mind, and the thoughts inside it. (I have a suspicion that he had an unusually well-developed mind. A friend of mine, whom I'll call D., once said to me, "When I think of Rizal, I think of someone with a very complicated mind.")

And he has a great interest in religious doctrine, and in philosophy. He has a great interest in poetry. He creates poetry. He creates the national myth. And he writes about all this. All this is worth reading, all this is worth seeing. All this is worth loving.

"The first martyr of the Filipino people," says the national myth. Perhaps the national myth says other things about Rizal. Perhaps the national myth says nothing at all.

But the national myth says all that can be said about Rizal -- if you have the right kind of mind, and a lot of patience.

This is what Rizal meant when he wrote, "My dream is to make a book of philosophy, a book of lyrics, a novel, and a lyric song. My goal is not to make a living, but to leave an impression."

To be the person he dreamed he could be.

His life and works are a dream. But perhaps the national myth is too.

[jdtymns]

"Keith, Tawagan mo si Maliksi. Kakailanganin natin ang basbas ng Punong Tikbalang." utos ni Aya

sa isang siyudad sa Paoay,

"Papunta rito ang Katalonan kasama ang ilang lahing enkanto. Humanda ka, Berberoka." babala ng Berbalang

"pakisabi na lamang kay Manunungod na gawin na sumunod na hakbang."