The Flying Keris

[Pusaka]

Arguably the most important part of a keris is the blade. A family that have falling on hard times may chose to sell the outer “clothing” of a valuable family keris but will often not sell the blade. The blade is described and categorized according to its physical/artistic construction along with its age but there is another category which is to many more important, a keris blade is said to be either alive or dead.
A keris which is alive has an energy field around the blade which may be experienced by different people in various ways. Some can actually see a soft coloured light around the blade others feel a sensation of lightness, warmth or tingling when they touch the blade. A dead blade is exactly as the term “dead” suggests. It is devoid of any energy field and although it may be a beautifully constructed keris at the end of the day it is only a piece of steel.
A blade which is alive (ampuh) can be categorized variously depending on the nature of the energy which permeates the blade. Firstly the blade can be termed good or bad, a better word would perhaps be evil.
The blade may have a type of consciousness or not.
A common bar magnet which is surrounded by a magnetic field is nothing more then a piece of steel with an energy field around it however we would not say it was alive yet it clearly has properties which a common piece of steel has not. Similarly it is possible to magnetize a keris blade if you have the knowledge to do so. The result is a piece of steel with an energy flowing through the blade. It may be used as a conduit to heal or harm but it has no consciousness so to speak.
A blade which possesses consciousness can be categorized into two types, either the owner has made the blade an extension of his body and thus the blade is mentally linked to the owner or the blade has been put in the service of a jinn, good or bad by binding it to the blade through the use of magical rites.

[Rick]

Interesting Pusaka; thanks for the input.

Putting the esoteric aside for a moment ..

One may "magnetize" a screwdriver by repeatedly stroking the blade in one direction only with a strong magnet; I suspect that this method would work on other ferrous objects. I have also run across the occasional piece of restaurant tableware that was magnetized.

Magnet therapy can be useful in alternative medicine.

[Pusaka]

Hi Rick,


True, you can magnetize any object which is constructed from a suitable material and of a suitable geometry. I have noticed that steel sometimes becomes magnetic just from machining it e.g. drilling a hole. I often notice how drill bits become slightly magnetic and yet the material they machined was not. I also believe that magnetism can be produced in a blade just by the way in which you work the steel.
Having said that when I referred to a keris blade being magnetized I actually did not mean common magnetism but a different type of magnetism, perhaps I should have just used the word energized.

[David]

It is quite simple to activate the magnetic field of a keris. Just hold the tip to a powerful magnet for a few moments. If you then run a compass along it's length you will find that it now have a magnetic "north" and "south" pole. I do with with all my keris as part of a cleansing and re-alignment of energies.
Pusaka, prehaps i've got it backwards. You mention keris blades that are put in the service of a jinn. I had always understood that the jinn are put into the keris to be in the service of the owner of the keris. You sem to imply that the jinn controls the keris.
Likewise i still have trouble wrapping my mind around this concept of the "evil" keris. Why would an empu create a keris that is "evil" and would do it's owner harm? What would be the purpose?

[Rick]

Magnetic .

[Pusaka]

Hi David,


My understanding is that a jinn is not put into a blade i.e. it is not trapped inside of the blade but it has been magnetically linked to the blade through the knowledge of the jinns name. It is the jinn that controls the keris but the jinn may be in the service of the owner.

A bad person will put his wishes into a blade and since the owner is, so the blade will be. The purpose would be to do evil as that is what that owner wishes, such people do exist.

[David]

Thanks for your response Pusaka.
Yes, it would be the practioners knowledge of the jinn (or any spirit) that would give one power over it, but what do you mean exactly when you say that the jinn controls the keris? In what way? Apart from the owners will?
Certainly there are and have been "evil" people, and they may have used their keris in "evil" ways, both physically and magickally, but i am still not convinced that there are intrinsicly "evil" keris that can or will commit "evil" acts outside of the control of their "evil" masters. This isn't to say that residual energies don't remain in objects weilded by powerful people, but in my paradigm these energies are controllable.
Rick, could you come over...i lost some safty pins behind the seat cushions on my couch...

[Pusaka]

This type of conscious keris is extremely rare, it is the stuff of the keris story’s of Blades that have the ability to move. They move because it is the jinn that moves the blade, the blade literally is alive. This is what I mean when I said the jinn controls the keris, to protect or warn the owner of danger. Most keris which are considered to be alive don’t have jinn but just have an energy field much like a magnet, it does not think or act except through the owners mind.

Jinn can be good or bad just like any spirit, some tend toward goodness whilst others do not. If you were to bind an evil jinn to a keris blade the resultant blade would be bad. The jinn can also whisper to the owners subconscious mind and in that way gain control over a weak minded person, influence dreams etc

If the blade does not have a jinn but was owned by an evil person who used it for doing such things the blade is filthy even if you physically clean it. Its energies being negative will influence those who come into contact with it in a negative way, it may trigger bad thoughts etc.