Page 128 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

Many Indonesians believe that some of the older jamu recipes were
received by people while in a trance, or through dreams. It is a subject
surrounded by superstition and secrecy, and gaining concrete evidence is
difficult, but one fact is certain: dreams, mysticism of one sort or another, and
even magic, are an integral part of Indonesian traditional medicine. Highly-
educated people in Indonesia accept such hypotheses without question. For
example, an extremely forward-thinking, modern member of the royal family in
Solo revealed that Javanese royalty acquired much of its knowledge through
dreams. She illustrated her point with the story of a young girl from the
neighbouring palace who had received jamu formulæ in dreams and founded a
large and successful herbal medicine company. “There is no other explanation—

they came from dreams,” she affirmed and made it clear there would be no
further discussion or questions on a subject that—in her mind at least—was
clearly beyond dispute.

Philosophy Behind the Healing
Indonesians believe that punishment can descend in the form of illness when a
vow remains unfulfilled or a taboo is broken. People are also at risk if they
commit a sacrilegious act against the guardian spirit of a sacred or haunted place.
Not taking good care of sacred possessions, such as family heirlooms, or a curse
by an elder are other sources of illness. Finally, black magic can wreak havoc
with health unless it is properly handled.

The island of Bali gives us a glimpse of the vibrant society of ancient Hindu
Java and the traditions of animist Bali. In the latter, people relied on a
combination of belief, prayer, ritual, magic and herbal medicine to solve their
health problems. But while herbal remedies like jamu could treat many illnesses,
sometimes these alone could not heal, but must be combined with spiritual