The Goddess Mae Nang Kwak is seen very often seen in Thailand, it is the Goddess of
wealth and a statue of her is seen in most shops (and even in banks !), in her traditionnal
posture
with one or two harms raised to "call the customers".
Very often, but not alway, Mae Nang Kwak is seen holding a bag of money
or sit on a pile of banknotes and ingots.
Mae Nang Kwak is in fact an aspect of Mae Posop
(goddess of harvest & abundance),
who is herself the Thai version of the Hindu wealth Goddess Lakshmi.
A statue of Mae Nang Kwak made of...old crushed banknotes.
One of the most powerful and rare amulet of Mae Nang Kwak :
The Mae Nang Kwak Palat Kick of Most Venerable Luang Phor Suwang.
The wealth Goddess Mae Nang Kwak on a Buddhist pentacle Pa-Yant
from Wat Klang Bang Phra (temple of Most Venerable Luang Phor
Puth).
Most Venerable
Luang Phor Kui was almost alway pictured doing the Mae Nang Kwak gesture.
One can see some Mae Nang Kwak with their right hand raised, or their left hand
raised
and even sometime with both hands raised !
The meaning of those variations is :
- Right hand raised : To help attracting customers to a "good" business (shop,
restaurant...).
- Left hand raised : To help attract customers to a "bad" business (casino,
brothel...).
- Both hand raised : Attract customers to any type of business + is used to attract lovers.
Sometime, Mae Nang Kwak can be represented as a pig, who is also a symbol of wealth.
Mae Nang Kwak is also now the symbol for some contactless bank payment in Thailand.
Here we see a rare old pig amulet, doing the typical Mae Nang Kwak gesture.
Also sometime other deity (here a Phra Sanghajai wealth Buddha)
can be seen doing the same gesture.
The wealth fetching cat Maneki
Neko.
Another wealth attracting talisman often seen in shops in Asia is the Manneki Neko
cat,
that has the exact same posture as Mae Nang Kwak.
In Thailand, even banks use the Maneki Neko in the publicity.
