dropping by, say hello
 

hello, just registered and only want tto introduce myself. I m a German living in Cibubur,Indonesia near Jakarta and a bloody newby in this hobby. But as for Keris, Indonesia is the perfect place to begin.
As i said, just beginning to dive into the dephts of Keris and its looking depper and deeper each day. attached a pic of a part of my collection

Rahayu
William

Hello and enjoy the collection, welcome to the club.

Welcome to the warkop, William!

How did you come to be interested in the keris?

thanks Jagabuwana,
can't remember anymore. I became fascinated by Indonesias history and hence with keris some time before i became 16 years old but it took me another 30 years to actually came here. around 8 years ago bought a Keris in an Antiquity shop in jakarta, why btw. i soon found out to be a Tumbuk Lada. I stayed interested in Keris since then but it seems still not have been the right time to get serious till an incident some time ago which made me buy a Keris for protection or counter magic. But then i got drawn into it rather quickly. It also helped that my wifes family is from Yogya. And now i am hooked. Pure magic :D

I am curious about the incident, with due respect; do u think you can share?

to some extend i can. My wife is running a shop since a few years and it went quiet well. After the malls opened again (Covid) we opened again too and again it went well for a few weeks. Then suddenly sales dropped nearly to zero and our SPG said it is as if our shop was invisible for the customers. Then she consulted her grandmother a chinese fortune teller whereas my wife , as muslima, consulted a famous local Ustad(islamic scholar). Both came to the same result that our shop has been cursed. The Ustad even specified that it was done with soil from a grave by a man. Our SPG remembered that one morning soil was spread over our shop floor. The advice from the fortune teller helped immediately , but only for 2 days. Whereas the recommended treatment from The Ustad, consecreted water, showed no resut at all, not even after weeks. Then suddenly a keris popped up somewhere and i thought why not give it a try, against the sceptism of my wife(!). I bought it which led to the purchase of 3 more and the business has been good ever since.

So and now close your eyes and sleep, tomorrow, if you are behave nice, pappa will tell you another story!

I know sounds weird, but here it is reality which no one doubts.

If you have been following Alan Maisey's thread "Things we cannot see" you may already understand that i do not dismiss such occurrences regarding the powers of the keris at all. This might be a discussion better had in that thread, but i do have some questions about this. My understanding of your story is that the keris you purchased for protection is an old keris, not one made specifically for you that might function in your life in this manner. I have no question that for whatever reason your business has improved since obtaining this keris. That said, however, i do question whether a person who purchases an old keris that was made with very specific intentions for a completely different person from a completely unassociated kinship group can access the power of that keris intended for a perfect stranger from a completely different time. From my perspective the powers of the keris are non-transferrable, unless, of course it is pusaka handed down in succession within a set kinship group. Since you do seem to have had some success with the improvement of your business since you purchased this keris it does make me wonder how much of that might simply be your own power of positive thinking rather that the magickal powers of an old keris that you have no real or intended connection to.

Hello Anthony,
the answer to this qestion we won't never know. Important is the result. I said in the other chat that the mystic/magic of a Keris probably won't work in the west.
But i didn't say the first Keris soved the problem. And most people here in Indonesia are thinking that a bought Keris, not special made, has a good or bad influence on the buyer, its a billion rupiah business.

Have a nice one !

ok, i am a good boy and waiting patiently for pappa to tell me another story.

Welcome to the forum, William!

That's already a quite sizeable start with some interesting Sunda pieces, too!

Feel free to post any (possibly in the main ethno forum).

Regards,
Kai

thanxalot Kai,

will do if i think one of the items is worth it.

I agree that the question is not subject to an answer; nevertheless, I'm please by the reversal of your fortune.

I agree that your Indonesian location has much to do with the possible effects of objects popularly endowed with extra-physical properties. What can happen there is less likely to happen in a society where such concepts are deprecated, as you mentioned.