Is the supernatural for real?

JAKARTA (JP): It's a hard question to ask, and one likely to be met with either a troubled look or one of skepticism. People talk about how they put the supernatural in perspective, and whether they are one of the believers in "another world".

"Indri", 53, said she believes in the power of God. But she also believes in the supernatural, including black magic:

It is because we have gone through such disturbances for years. Only recently, there was a set of needles, human hair, a fishing net and dry flowers under my pillow. I often found nails and knives under my bed; snakes and other reptiles repeatedly appeared in our house. The gifts came so frequently and were aimed at disturbing my family. I don't know where these things came from because I thought I didn't have any enemies. My husband was the president of a state-owned company, and only a few months ago he retired. He said many of his colleagues wanted that job and he was suspicious that one of them tried to achieve their goal by using black magic.

Many times my husband complained he felt like he was being stabbed in his chest, ears, legs and other parts of his body. One night, he was trembling and his body was cold. We went to have medical checkups but the doctors said there was nothing serious.

My family and friends advised us to go to an orang pintar, people with supernatural powers, for alternative treatments. Believe it or not, I was so shocked to see so many needles coming out of my husbands' palms and feet. The man told us somebody was doing harm to our family out of jealousy. All those bad powers could only be eliminated from our family if we could forgive "the sender".

Tuti Hedianti, 33, a manager at an agribusiness consultant firm. She said she was skeptical until she experienced the supernatural herself:

As newlyweds, we wanted to have a baby as soon as possible. I was glad when I felt what I thought was my first sign of pregnancy. But it was not; instead I felt very sick and thought there was something wrong with my uterus. My doctor told me I was healthy and everything was OK with my uterus. But a few days later I started bleeding; the color of my blood was not red, but as black as ink. It was very painful.

It happened several times and I could no longer stand the pain. When we went to a paranormal, he said he saw something strange moving in my uterus. I was so frightened. The man said somebody did it to prevent me from getting pregnant. My husband is an only child and our future children, if we have any, will likely inherit their grandfather's assets. If we don't have a child, the assets will go to the extended family's members. I just couldn't believe that someone would dare to hurt me. I don't even bother about whether my husband's family is rich. My first concern is having a happy family and healthy kids.

Yayuk, a thirty-something private company executive and university graduate who goes to the church on Sundays:

I recently broke up with my boyfriend. Actually, he started it by flirting with another women. I know this woman and I also know that she often goes to a paranormal for spiritual consultation. I am sure that my ex-boyfriend was attracted to her because she used a love potion.

Even though my boyfriend was unfaithful, he still wants us to be together. Of course, I refused. I told him that it's better for us to break up.

My ex-boyfriend would not let me go and he has been trying to hurt me using black magic. I felt really ill after I ate a cake that he gave me. I almost fainted. I went to a paranormal and he said somebody who used to be very close to me was intending to hurt me. The paranormal also told me to cleanse my body with seawater. The following morning I went to the beach, and soon I felt much better.

Jahja Sunarja, a reverend from the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI).

The tendency for people to be interested in the mystical world is because they are searching for a balance in their lives which are too logical and rational. That's why it is not surprising if they also search for alternative healing when they are ill.

I can tolerate the alternative healing as far as the power does not come from another source other than God because we believe that it is God who has the power.

To identify whether healers use spiritual power besides God, we must see what medium they use to call the spirits, like burning incense, for instance.

As a church reverend, I cannot recommend something which is unclear. (team)