leyak

plural leyaks

1. A Balinese witch or practitioner of black magic.

   She was like a Balinese leyak, one of the spirits of humans most often seen in the form of a blue flame that darts from coconut tree to coconut tree, at night.

   2000, Tobias Schneebaum, Secret Places, page 146

   2 more examples

   Meanwhile the leyak has become invisible and the servant is very much relieved, but just then the patih sees it as it is disappearing behind a group of children, who squirm about uneasily.

   1941, Philip Hanson Hiss, Bali, page 45

   A leyak can transform himself, or rather, his spirit, into another form – a monkey, a bird, a ghostly light, a body without a head – the variety is endless.

   1990, Fred B. Eiseman, Jr., Bali: Sekala and Niskala, Tuttle Publishing, page 128