Filipino shamans, commonly known as (also Balian or , among many other names), were shamans of the various ethnic groups of the pre-colonial Philippine islands. These shamans specialized in communicating, appeasing, or harnessing the spirits of the dead and the spirits of nature. They were almost always women or feminized men ( or ). They were believed to have spirit guides, by which they could contact and interact with the spirits and deities (anito or diwata) and the spirit world. Their primary role were as mediums during pag-anito séance rituals. There were also various subtypes of specializing in the arts of healing and herbalism, divination, and sorcery. Terminology The most common native terms for shamans among Austronesian groups in Island Southeast Asia are balian, baylan, or cognates and spelling variants thereof. They are all derived from Proto-Western-Malayo-Polynesian *balian, meaning "shaman" (probably originally female, transvestite, or hermaphroditic) or "medium". Various cognates in other non-Filipino Austronesian languages include , , and bobohizan (Kadazan-Dusun); (Ma'anyan); (Iban); (Malay); or (Old Javanese); (Balinese); (Mongondow); (Uma); or (Bare'e); (Wolio); (Ngaju); and (Makassar). However *balian-derived terms have largely disappeared among lowland Filipinos after Christianization in the Spanish era. Some exceptions include Bikol where it persisted and acquired the Spanish feminine suffix -a as . It also survives among some Muslim Filipinos like in Maranao , although the meaning has shifted after Islamization. The linguist Otto Dempwolff has also theorized that *balian may have ultimately derived from Proto-Austronesian *bali ("escort", "accompany") with the suffix *-an, in the meaning of "one who escorts a soul to the other world (a psychopomp)". However, the linguists Robert Blust and Stephen Trussel have noted that there is no evidence that *balian is a suffixed form, and thus believe that Dempwolff's interpretation is incorrect. More general terms used by Spanish sources for native shamans throughout the archipelago were derived from Tagalog and Visayan anito ("spirit"), these include terms like and . However, different ethnic groups had different names for shamans, including shamans with specialized roles. These include: Abaknon: Aeta/Agta: anitu, puyang (also poyang, pawang, pauang), huhak (diviner) Bagobo: Balanguingui: duwarta Banwaon: babaiyon (also the female datu of the tribe) Bikol: , , , , Bukidnon: Gaddang: Hanunó'o: , Higaonon: Hiligaynon: Ibaloi: Ifugao: , , , , , , , (apprentice) Ilocano: , , , (medium), (herbalist) Isneg: , , Itneg: , Ivatan: (medium), (midwife), (diviner) Kankana-ey: (medium), (healer), (diviner, also ) Kapampangan: (also