Her Grandma Was A ‘Tangki’ (童乩)

Jane is a Christian as she learnt that I am collecting stories for my MagicSEA blog, she volunteered her story:

 

“My grandma came to Malaysia during WWII with my grandpa. After the war, not only she engaged in agricultural activities; she was also a ‘tangki’ (spirit medium) by profession. Her main patron deity was the Guan Yin or goddess of mercey. My grandma has setup a shrine known as ‘Guan Yin Temple’ and soon after that my grandpa joined my grandma to be a medium also. Well, life was hard then and there were many daily chores to be done too.

 

I can still remember that I used to assist my grandma to clean up the temple, receiving donation, opening and closing the temple doors as young as 8 years old. My grandma was quite powerful at that time until such an extent that she can tell her visitors what they ate the night before their visits. Many people let their children became Guan Yin’s godsons and goddaughters too as they are awed by Guan Yin’s power.

 

While my family was not a rich one, life was pretty easy going. A very strange thing was that there wasn’t a moment of peace and quiet within the family: it was either people fighting amongst each other or people stole temple donations.

 

My grandma died in 1990 and my grandpa took up the ownership of Guan Yin Temple. I started to doubt Guan Yin’s power one year before my grandma’s death. As I was accompanying grandma during her numbered days, I felt my grandma’s body turned from warm and soft to cold and stiff; and parts of grandma’s body started to rot.

 

To be frank with you, I was quite astonished as I thought my grandma had accumulated so much merit by becoming Guan Yin’s spokeswoman to help those helpless folks free of charge and this was her repayment! Would goddess of mercy enjoy watching her spokeswoman rot and giving out stinking smell of a mixture rotten flesh and urine?

 

Since my grandma passed away, my grandpa stayed in low profile: he refused to pass down his profession to any of his offspring as he said once one is possessed by any spirits be it the Guan Yin or otherwise, the person will see no end to spirit possessions: voluntarily or otherwise. These spirits will come and go as they like, at any time and at any place and the person will lose his/her self control ability.

 

According to my grandpa, my grandma’s spirit still lingers on. She would come back to visit her family during her birthday, her death anniversaries and during the Chinese ‘ghost month’. Only my grandpa can see my grandma’s spirit. When the spirit comes, she will possess my grandpa and give instructions to family members as she was still alive.

 

Now that I am married and move out from my old house, I seldom come in contact with my grandma’s spirit; though last time she possessed my grandpa and asked for more money. Whatever case is, I hope she will cross over soon.”