My cousin from up north in Perlis rang me up about 6 months ago, asking whether I have heard about this thai amulet named Jatukham. About a year before that I was soaking up a lot of information about Thai White and Black Magic and happen to came upon this particular amulet.
He was quite excited as he said he paid RM350 to rent/purchase one from a famous temple in ChiangMai. I was thinking at the back of my mind that the craze is going to be over soon, because even my cousin from remote up north now has a Jatukham amulet in his altar!
Everybody has it, from the chicken rice seller, the parking attendant and even the caretaker of a famous Guan Yin temple in Penang.
I am not saying that the amulet does not have spiritual power. From a Taoist perspective, it takes quite a lot of energy and work to pass on spiritual energy onto an object, whether an amulet or otherwise. And the rate they are churning out these amulets is as fast as electronic component mass production factories. High spiritual power monks who can blessed alot of amulet in a day would also be tired. Even Wall Street Journal has a full story on the impending end of the trend http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120752929363393833-BX1FHatUh_BkmAZSi6fZ5akqlAU_20090407.html
When I met up with him about 2 weeks ago during Ching Ming (All Souls Day), he said someone once offered him RM450 for it. But now most likely worth about RM100.
Much on the market currently are fakes which sells from USD5 - USD10. And those that command a high price, also runs a risk of acquiring fakes as well. The main question then is does thai amulets has any power? Of course yes, provided it is properly blessed by monks who have attained certain spiritual milestones. Similar to Taoist talisman, does those little piece of paper works when you burn it? It depends on who drew it and under what condition and the issuing deity.
Coming back to amulets, if you are interested in acquiring thai amulets, the best is to visit the temple in Thailand personally, get to know the monks and abbots then decide whether you wish to rent/purchase an amulet from that temple. Even in Malaysia and in Penang, we have some local Thai temples that issue amulets for devotees and usually it is free and you will give a donation as a good gesture in return. If you cannot visit a temple, then you would need to do some homework on reputable online stores for those amulets. Usually they have different classification for its purpose such as
1. Protection
2. Relationship
3. Wealth
And when you acquire any amulet usually it has a Katha or incantations that you need to recite everyday. Nothing in the spiritual world is a free ride, you need to do your part as well.