What it's like to be a…tangki

He licks swords, sits on a throne of needles, and walks on blades with his bare feet. Charles Toh is not a stuntman; he’s a Taoist spirit communicator. Jaclyn Tan speaks to the man who embodies the Monkey god spirit 

How does it feel to get possessed? 
It depends on what spirit you get possessed by. When I get possessed by the Monkey god [whom people often pray to for protection and health], the first thing that hits me is sleepiness. Then I start to rotate my head involuntarily, and I’ll see a ball of light entering my body. With other spirits, I break into cold sweat before I feel something coming into my body.

Your tongue bleeds as you lick swords during the rituals. Does it hurt? 
I’m usually aware of what’s going on during the rituals, unless they are complicated ones involving life and death or [to lift] a heavy black magic spell. I can feel the sharp sensations when I lick swords and sit on the throne of needles, but I don’t feel any major pain.

No wonder some people think you have supernatural abilities. 
I’m still human, you know. I experience dryness of the throat for a few days after the rituals due to the loss of blood when I cut my tongue with the swords. Sometimes I get a sore throat from the ‘heatiness’ of my wounds. I’m just a regular person. I go through hardships like everyone else, I hold a regular job like everyone else. I’m a self-employed deliveryman.

Any other surprises? 
When I’m not performing rituals, I hang out with my friends in tees, jeans and cowboy boots. I love listening to music by Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses and Bad Company. My friends call me ‘the Rocker’. Most people who meet me outside of rituals are surprised when I tell them I’m a tangki.

You must have many interesting stories to tell about the supernatural. 
Once we were asked to cast out demons from a haunted room. About six of us entered the house together, and even though it was only 10pm, the place felt really eerie. We proceeded to the bedroom, where the bed was shaking violently on its own. We set up a mini-altar in the room and conducted rituals for several days before the place felt normal again. In another case, I was asked to help a young woman who was under a curse – her body would float whenever she went to sleep, even if someone tried to hold her down to the bed. I went vegetarian and carried out prayers every day for seven weeks before we finally broke the curse.

Can you be possessed anytime you want? How do you do it? I can prepare for a ritual and pray for the gods to possess me, but ultimately it’s up to them to come. I would go on a vegetarian diet for about two to three weeks before performing a major ritual. For rituals to be effective, tangki also need to be ‘clean’; that is, to abstain from vices like gambling and womanising. 

Have you ever been possessed unwillingly? 
There was once back in 1979, when I was still doing my National Service; I was on my way home from camp, riding my motorcycle along Lornie Road, when I collided into a bus stop behind a cemetery. I became unconscious and was sent to the hospital to be treated. After I recovered and got discharged, my mother told me that I cried and spoke in a lady’s voice – it was a lady spirit from the cemetery who possessed me. The spirit told my mother her name, and asked that I perform prayer rituals for her soul to be reincarnated. I did as she asked and the case was put to rest.

So it happens out of the blue? 
Tangki have ‘light bodies’ that make them suitable for spirits to possess. New tangki who have little experience with spiritual encounters often need talismans to protect them from random spirits entering their bodies. Seasoned tangki will know how to control the experience and guard against unwanted spirits from possessing their bodies.

Can you summon any deity you want? 
Not just any deity. I started with the Monkey god, and later the Baby god and Hell god. I summon different gods for different purposes according to the ritual and people’s needs. For example, the Monkey god grants health and protection, while the Baby god bestows luck. 



How long have you been doing this for? 
About 32 years. I started when I was 15. I used to help my father with his rituals at the temple when I was young. While cleaning the altar and preparing tea for the evening prayers one day, I got possessed by the Monkey god. My father, a sought-after tangki, was a very busy man who wasn’t always available to help everyone who needed him. The Monkey god told my father that he needed an assistant, and that I would be a good help to those who needed advice from a tangki whenever he was tied up conducting rituals at other places. The Monkey god also told my father that I was destined to have a short life, but that I would be protected if I offered myself as a tangki. 

That’s a really young age. 
My father, a famous medium, started when he was just 9. 

Did you feel scared when you first started doing this? 
Of course. Even now when it comes to big rituals, like the one I’m performing tonight – crossing the bridge of swords with my bare feet – it’ll be the first time this is done in Singapore. I couldn’t sleep last night because I was worried. I know I have to surrender myself completely to the Monkey god for me to get through this.

Do you groom new tangki? How does someone qualify to be one? 
A lot of young people have come to me asking to be my disciple, but many of them come with wrong motives. For example, some think it’s a glamorous job since people look up to you and see you as someone with supernatural abilities. Before I take someone under my wing, I need to know they are doing it for the right reasons. I’ll look at his background, his behaviour, find out why he wants to be a medium. I’ll also meet his parents and see how they feel about the issue. The most important trait I look out for is loyalty. He has to be committed to what he does. It’s not easy to find young people who are suited to be tangki nowadays. 

Does that make this is a dying trade? 
Yes. There are also lesser Taoists nowadays, and people are no longer willing to pay as much for prayer items. Many of the younger mediums today don’t perform the rituals traditionally either – they prefer to do it the easy and convenient way. For example, the traditional ritual for blessing a house requires five buns to be arranged on the floor at five different corners, but majority of the young mediums skip this step in the ritual for the sake of simplicity.

What makes a good tangki? 
You need to look at how many people he has helped, how much he has committed to his job as a tangki. A good tangki is one who genuinely sets out to help people and relieve them of distress, not for money or fame.

What’s the toughest part about being a tangki? 
People tend to judge how good a tangki based on how you perform at rituals.

How long did you train to be a tangki?
It took me about five years to perfect the essential skills, like the ritual footsteps, how to draw on talismans for blessings or to cure certain illnesses and break spells. 

What’s the biggest misconception people have about tangki? 
That we are con men, molesters or rapists. They draw these stereotypes from a few bad examples of tangkis. Some people also think we are show-offs in performing these dangerous rituals.