What is santet? Indonesia's black magic explained
Indonesia's tradition of harmful sorcery — the objects said to appear in the body, the dukun blamed for sending them, and the prayers raised against it.
7 min read · Published 28 August 2026
The short answer
Santet is a form of Indonesian folk black magic — harmful sorcery sent at a distance to cause pain, illness or misfortune without the attacker ever being present. In the most common tellings the victim's body is found to hold objects such as nails, wire, shards of glass or hair, said to have been driven in by magical means. The practitioner is a dukun santet, and teluh and tenung are related words for harmful magic. People seek protection and cures from a dukun or a kyai, an Islamic teacher, through prayer and amulets. It closely parallels the Filipino kulam tradition of hexing at a distance.
What santet is
Santet is the Indonesian tradition of harmful sorcery — the sending of pain, sickness, madness, misfortune or death onto a person from a distance, without the one who sends it ever laying a hand on the victim. In English it is usually rendered as black magic, and it sits in the family of beliefs that most cultures hold some version of.
The image most tightly bound to santet is a physical one. In many tellings the harm arrives as objects inside the body — nails, lengths of wire, needles, shards of glass, hair, sometimes gravel or splinters — said to have been driven into the victim by magical means and later found, or expelled, as proof of the attack. A sudden unexplained agony, a swelling, a wasting illness no ordinary remedy touches: these are the signs a community may read as santet rather than as chance.
To say someone has been struck by santet is to name a cause and, often, a culprit. It is a serious claim, not a turn of phrase — an explanation for suffering that would otherwise have none, and one that points a finger at a specific reason: a grudge, a rivalry, an old wrong.
The dukun santet, and the words teluh and tenung
The practitioner blamed for santet is a dukun santet — a dukun who is said to work harm. The word *dukun* on its own is far broader: a dukun is a traditional healer, diviner and ritual specialist consulted for all kinds of trouble, and most dukun are sought out for help, not harm. It is the specific pairing with santet that marks out the one believed to send curses for a fee or a grudge.
Indonesian has more than one word in this territory, and the lines between them shift by region and by teller. Teluh and tenung are the terms most often heard alongside santet, and accounts vary as to how, or whether, they differ.
| Term | How it is commonly used |
|---|---|
| Santet | Harmful sorcery sent at a distance, often pictured as objects driven into the victim's body. |
| Teluh | A close synonym for black magic or a sent curse; in some tellings the broader word, with santet as one form of it. |
| Tenung | Sometimes harmful magic, sometimes divination or the reading of hidden things; the sense shifts by region. |
| Dukun santet | The practitioner said to cast santet — as opposed to a dukun consulted for healing or protection. |
Treating these as fixed, tidy categories flattens a folklore that has always been local and spoken rather than written. The honest summary is that they are neighbouring words for sent harm, and the shades between them are felt more than they are ruled.
How people guard against it
Belief in santet has always come paired with belief in protection from it, and that is where the tradition is most alive in daily life. When santet is suspected, people turn to specialists and to the sacred.
- The dukun. A dukun trusted as a healer and protector is often the first person consulted — to confirm whether santet is at work, to remove the objects said to be lodged in the body, and to turn the harm away or back.
- The kyai. Many Indonesians, being Muslim, seek out a kyai — an Islamic teacher or religious scholar — for prayer, Qur'anic recitation and blessed water, trusting faith rather than folk ritual to lift the attack.
- Amulets and written prayers. A jimat (amulet) or rajah (an inscribed talisman, often carrying Arabic script or prayer) is carried or kept in the home as a standing guard against sent harm.
- Ruqyah and prayer. Practices of religious healing and daily prayer are widely leaned on as protection, folding the defence against santet into ordinary devotion rather than setting it apart.
As with much Indonesian folk belief, these guards sit comfortably beside mainstream faith. A person may pray five times a day and still keep a jimat, or consult both a kyai and a dukun — layers of the same worldview rather than rivals within it. Anthropologists call this kind of blend syncretism, and it runs deep through the archipelago's magic.
Santet and kulam: one pattern across Southeast Asia
Santet is not unique to Indonesia. The same broad idea — harm sent at a distance, illness with a hidden human cause, a specialist blamed and another called to undo it — recurs across Southeast Asia under different names.
Its closest cousin is the Filipino kulam, the tradition of black magic worked by a mangkukulam. Where santet is often pictured through objects driven into the body, kulam is often pictured through a doll or effigy pierced with pins; where Indonesians turn to a dukun or kyai, Filipinos turn to an albularyo and to Catholic prayer. The methods and the vocabularies differ, but the shape of the belief is strikingly shared — an old, regional answer to the questions of why we suffer and whom to blame.
It is worth saying plainly that an accusation of santet, like one of kulam, has a hard social side. The charge has fallen unfairly on outsiders, the elderly and those living apart, and naming someone a dukun santet has at times carried real danger. The belief is heritage and worldview, but its accusations are not weightless.
Is santet still believed today?
Yes. Santet is not a museum piece. It remains a widely held belief across Indonesia — strongest in rural and provincial life, but far from absent in cities — and it surfaces regularly in conversation, in news, and in the quiet keeping of a jimat.
The register to keep is respect. The people who fear santet, and who guard against it, are not credulous; they carry a tradition that has explained misfortune, fortune and blame for a very long time, and that sits woven into faith rather than against it. To understand santet is to understand one thread of how a great many people make sense of harm.
Common questions
- What is santet?
- Santet is a form of Indonesian folk black magic — harmful sorcery sent at a distance to cause pain, illness or misfortune without physical contact. In many tellings it is pictured as objects such as nails, wire or glass magically driven into the victim's body.
- What is a dukun santet?
- A dukun santet is the practitioner said to cast santet. The word dukun on its own means a traditional healer, diviner and ritual specialist, most of whom are consulted for help rather than harm; the pairing with santet marks out the one believed to send curses for a grudge or a fee.
- What is the difference between santet, teluh and tenung?
- All three are Indonesian words for harmful or hidden magic, and their meanings overlap. Santet is often the sent curse pictured as objects in the body, teluh a close synonym for black magic, and tenung sometimes harmful magic and sometimes divination. The lines between them shift by region and account.
- How do people protect against santet?
- People turn to a trusted dukun to confirm and remove the harm, to a kyai (an Islamic teacher) for prayer and blessed water, and to amulets such as a jimat or an inscribed rajah. These guards sit comfortably alongside mainstream religious faith rather than in opposition to it.
- Is santet the same as Filipino kulam?
- They are close cousins rather than the same thing. Both are Southeast Asian traditions of harm sent at a distance with a hidden human cause, but santet is often pictured through objects driven into the body while kulam is often pictured through a pierced doll, and each has its own specialists and vocabulary.