the Philippine witches, which include different kinds of people with differing occupations and cultural connotations depending on the ethnic group they are associated with. They are completely different from the Western notion of what a witch is. Examples of witches in a Philippine concept are the mannamay, mangkukulam, and mambabarang. As spiritual mediums and divinators, shamans are notable for countering and preventing the curses and powers of witches, notably through the usage of special items and chants. Aside from the shamans, there are also other types of people who can counter specific magics of witches, such as the mananambal, which specializes in countering barang. Shamans can also counter the curses of supernatural beings such as aswangs. However, because they are mortal humans, the physical strength of shamans are limited compared to the strength of an aswang being. This gap in physical strength is usually bridged by a dynamics of knowledge and wit. Sacred grounds Ancient Filipinos and Filipinos who continue to adhere to the indigenous Philippine folk religions generally do not have so-called "temples" of worship under the context known to foreign cultures. However, they do have sacred shrines, which are also called as spirit houses. They can range in size from small roofed platforms, to structures similar to a small house (but with no walls), to shrines that look similar to pagodas, especially in the south where early mosques were also modeled in the same way. These shrines were known in various indigenous terms, which depend on the ethnic group association. They can also be used as places to store taotao and caskets of ancestors. Among Bicolanos, taotao were also kept inside sacred caves called moog. During certain ceremonies, anito are venerated through temporary altars near sacred places. These were called latangan or lantayan in Visayan, and dambana or lambana in Tagalog. These bamboo or rattan altars are identical in basic construction throughout most of the Philippines. They were either small roofless platforms or standing poles split at the tip (similar to a tiki torch). They held halved coconut shells, metal plates, or martaban jars as receptacles for offerings. Taotao may sometimes also be placed on these platforms. Other types of sacred places or objects of worship of diwata include the material manifestation of their realms. The most widely venerated were balete trees (also called nonok, nunuk, nonoc, etc.) and anthills or termite mounds (punso). Other examples include mountains,