Fascinating pictures show how a black magic doctor cures patients – by using melted candle wax to destroy demons.
Filipino medicine man Angelito Oreta, 54, has become one of the most sought after conjurers in his home country.
The spell caster is visited at his home in at his home in Muntinlupa, Philippines, by sick families who believe their illnesses are caused by supernatural forces including elves, demons and evil spirits.
Angelito recites prayers in Latin and local dialects, before melting candles over a flame and dropping the wax into water – a form of pseudomedicine known as Pagtatawas.
The movement of the wax and the shape of the solidified wax is then used to diagnose ailments.
Angelito then moves the wax over a candle until it bursts into flames – supposedly destroying the evil spirits causing the illness. He also prescribes the right herbs to eat, or amulet or talisman to wear, in order to ward off more ”lower entities” or evil spirits.
Footage and pictures taken earlier this month shows a Filipino mother with insomnia and her teenage daughter with asthma visiting Angelito for help.
Photographer Nikon Celis, a sect member with access to the underground network of spell casters, said: ”The family went to visit Angelito in his house in a housing community to seek his help.
”Angelito is a medicine man, locally his neighbors call him master. When someone is seeking for medical attention because of ailments in their body, they seek the help of a medicine man.
”The family who consulted him has been his patient for seven years. And despite having access to modern medicine, the family still visit him for his services whenever they have this physical malady.”
