Also known as the: 三皇文 (sān huáng wén); 三皇經 (sān huáng jīng); 三皇内文 (sān huáng nèi wén); Version transmitted to Ge Hong: 小有三皇文 (xiao you sān huáng wén)

Is the Seal of the Nine Immortal Realms 九老仙部印圖 from the Secret Book of the Three Sovereigns 三皇內文遺秘, which is now canonized in the Daozang, or Taoist Canons, part of the lost, legendary grimoire, the Book of the Three Sovereigns 三皇文?

According to lore, during the Three Kingdoms Era (220 – 280 AD), the Taoist mystic and later an ascended master Bó Hé 帛和 finds this text buried inside a stone wall atop Mount Xīchéng 西城山. From Bó Hé’s teachings arose of the earliest traditions of Taoist magic: the School of Bó Taoism 帛家道 (bó jiā dào), or The Way of Bó. Popular among the upper class during the Jin (266 – 420 AD) and Wei (386 – 534 AD) dynasties in the northern central plains of China, the tradition focused on study of the Book of Three Emperors and formulated their own approach to talismanic magic, invocation of gods, and alchemy.

Then, around 300 AD, atop Mount Songshan 嵩山, the Taoist occultist Bao Liang 鲍靓 receives this text painted on silk, as transmitted to Bó Hé. Bao Liang was a renowned master of various occult practices, from astrology and alchemy to necromancy. He married his daughter Bao Gu to the alchemist Ge Hong.

Bao Gu 鲍姑 (309 – 363 AD) was one of the first woman physicians in the history of Chinese medicine. Though she did not leave behind any of her own writings, it would not be inconceivable that Ge Hong borrowed heavily from his wife’s research and work.

In a different telling of the text’s origins, it was Zheng Yin 鄭隱, believed to be a founding head of the Golden Elixir lineage 金丹派 of Taoist mysticism, who transmitted the Book of Three Sovereigns to Ge Hong.

There would be a revival of the Golden Elixir lineage later during the Song dynasty (960 – 1279 AD), claiming powers directly channeled from Cao Guo Jiu 曹國舅, one of the Eight Immortals and who is oft associated with a modality of Taoist occult practice called Thunder Rites.

Copies of the Book of Three Sovereigns were closely guarded secrets and rare to come by. About 300 years later during the Tang dynasty, it resurfaces, a copy is confiscated by the imperial court, and subsequently banned as heresy. However, according to lore, at least one copy of the original text was kept safe by a certain Madame Wei 魏夫人, with one fragment of it somehow revealed to the public, which was subsequently canonized in the Daozang as the Secret Book of the Three Sovereigns.

The Texts in Chinese

The texts referenced in the video lecture can be found here:

• 三皇內文遺秘, Version 1 via the Chinese Text Project
• 三皇內文遺秘, Version 2 via TaoLibrary (images of the three Seal designs can be found on p. 455/751)
• 三皇内文遗秘后序, via Beijing University’s Digital Humanities Ancient Texts Library 识典古籍

Crafting Instructions for the Seal of the Nine Immortal Realms

You may find it helpful to read an edited transcript of the video lecture (with reference tables appended as attachments):

Download PDF of Video Transcript

Secret Book of Three Sovereigns & Seal of the Nine Immortal Realms

Download ATTACHMENT 1: Ba Zi 60 stem-branch cycle

PDF file   |   DOCX file

Download ATTACHMENT 2: Ba Zi Ascendant Hours

PDF file   |   DOCX file

After I finished recording the first draft of the video, I felt it was too long and went in with the proverbial hack saw to cut out whole chunks. However, I left those chunks in the above downloadable script.

If you are serious about trying out the Seal, then I strongly recommend that you read through the above-hyperlinked full transcript (and watch the video, of course; thanks for helping to boost the algorithm, or whatever).

This is a single page summary of the Seal casting instructions:

Download PDF of Seal Instructions

Seal Instructions at a Glance

And here’s a digitized tracing of the Seal of the Nine Immortal Realms:

Download JPG IMAGE OF SEAL

Seal of the Nine Immortal Realms 九老仙部印圖

About the Nine Primordial Immortals

The exact wording is “老仙,” directly translating to “old immortal” or “elder immortal.” [Which begs the question… at what age would you consider an immortal to be “old”?] Though “老” (lao) can also mean original, primordial, or to simply note that these immortals are master immortals, extremely powerful and highly revered, even by the other gods and spirits of Heaven.

“部” (bù) means realms, departments, parts or divisions, sections. These are the Nine Immortal Ministers, each leading a specified Ministry.

Per lore from the Caverns and Temple of the Nine Elder Immortals 九老仙府 at Mount Emei 峨眉山, their names are:

• 天英、天任、天柱、天心、天禽、天辅、天冲、天芮、天蓬
• Tianying, Tianren, Tianzhu, Tianxin, Tianqin, Tianfu, Tianchong, Tianrui, Tianpeng
• In other words, the Nine Realms are: 英 (Ying), 任 (Ren), 柱 (Zhu), 心 (Xin), 禽 (Qin), 辅 (Fu), 冲 (Chong), 芮 (Rui), and 蓬 (Peng)

They represent the Ministry of Taiyi. This particular talisman, the Seal of the Nine Immortal Realms, is empowered by these nine ancients, these nine primordial immortals and Taiyi — the imperial court of Heaven.

If you are connected to the Lady of the Nine Heavens (Jiu Tian Xuan Nu 九天玄女) and you utter these 1,700 year old words, she will hear your Will call out to her and come to help facilitate the divine connection. In a way, it’s implied in the Book itself — references to the spirits and celestials of Heaven 天神, which can be construed in the plural form, and would include the Lady of the Nine Heavens, in addition to being an honorific title in the singular form for Taiyi.

Taiyi

The Tao 道, comprised of the binary of yin and yang, creates the Supreme One, Taiyi, and then it is Taiyi who creates our universe by ladling out life force in a spiral motion with the Big Dipper, tending to this cosmic soup that becomes the physical world. In other words, Taiyi can be likened to a Demiurge.

Taiyi gets syncretized with the deified Yellow Emperor, and thus the Yellow Celestial 黄神 (Huangshen) refers to both Taiyi and the deified Yellow Emperor Huangdi. Taiyi is both representative of the Tao 道 and also born out of the Tao.

The gender expression of Taiyi is fluid. Some conceptualize Taiyi as a heavenly father, but Taiyi is also known by the name Doumu 斗母, The Great Dipper Mother, and one of her titles is Taiyi Yuanjun 太一元君. The Nine Immortals, which are also seven plus two less visible stars of the Big Dipper, are her nine sons, known collectively as the Nine Sovereign Celestials 九皇神.

Finally, whether Taiyi is a proper pronoun or merely descriptive is up for debate. “Tai 太” in this context means “Supreme” and “Yi 一” means “One.” So the term is descriptive, as in describing a supreme one of Heaven.

The 10 Days of Preparation

師不用功行及十日，
天神不附。

“If the master 師 (that’s you, fyi) does not utilize diligent efforts to perform the necessary preparatory work for 10 days prior, then the God of Heaven will not honor the petition.”

Even in the original language it’s vague. It’s almost like the Book presumes you already know what the necessary preparatory work is, and is only reminding you to do it to diligently.

So. In the absence of specificity, I would say curate your own approach to diligent preparatory work. But be honest with yourself. Don’t cut corners. Don’t make it easy on yourself. Put in that good faith effort to prove to Taiyi, the God of Heaven that you are sincere.

The term “行廚” (xíng chú) has a special meaning in Taoist occultism, however. It refers to religious and alchemical practices for cultivating immortality, or spiritual transcendence. The passage is conveying the importance of inner alchemical practices, which must be done “diligently.”

Me personally, I will observe a Buddhist vegetarian diet, try extra hard to be mindful of my thoughts, speech, and conduct, and for those 10 consecutive days, meditate and burn incense offerings daily.

The Offerings

“以煎餅” (yǐ jiān bing) reads the text, meaning that “jiān bing” is the “main course” food offering for the invoked god. Jiān bing can be either a sweet or savory crêpe or pancake that often contains a choice selection of fillings. Or it could be even more generic than that, and simply refer to a dough that has been pan-fried in fats to produce a delectable cookie- or cake- like treat.

Inspired by an ancient Chinese cookie recipe, I opt for wheat flour, cane sugar, lard, cinnamon and cardamom, with a pinch of salt. Chill the dough until it’s firm enough to mold into ornate knotted and braided shapes. Brush egg yolk on top and sprinkle with white sesame seeds.

As for the three offerings, you will see in the comment I pinned below the Youtube video that someone had a better reading of the text than I did and noted that instead of three unnamed offerings plus jian bing, it’s three offerings total, one of them being jian bing, and then the two are subsequently named. See above, and also highlighted below.

煎餅	jiān bing	Wheat flour based flat bread that can be sweet or savory, fried in fats
柏湯	bǎi tāng	A traditional medicinal healing soup. Cypress leaves, dried ginger, and mugwort leaves are steeped to brew a tea
鹽豉	yán shì	Fermented soybean tempeh, similar to a tofu, that is pan-fried

For me personally, I still go with jian bing plus three dish offerings. This just goes to show you that different individuals can look at this text from almost 2,000 years ago, and come away with different takes.

But what we all agree on is that there is food involved. =) Who else is amused that Asians are sooo into food and sharing meals that even in ceremonial magic, food is an integral part of the ritual process.

The Preliminary Divination

To get nitpicky, if a history buff purist tells you that you must use yarrow stalk I Ching divination as the tool of choice, I would not necessarily say they’re wrong, I would say I see their point. =) To which I might even add, why stop there, let’s go all out and opt for cracking tortoise shells and ox bones over open flame.

So, then, am I being a hypocrite and saying you must use jiao bei moon blocks? Philosophically I really do believe you can use whichever divination tool that best amplifies and optimizes your personal attunement to the Divine. Therefore no, I do not think you must use moon blocks for the preliminary divination.

I think, in consideration of all known social and cultural factors, jiao bei moon blocks in this specific spell-crafting context might be my metaphysical recommendation for what’s going to best align you with the pre-programmed functions and operations of what you’re trying to do here. =)

How Closely Must You Follow Grimoire Instructions?

Do you need to follow grimoire instructions to the letter? If you want the exact intended result, yes. If you’re ok with settling for general ballpark or a bit below the mark, then sure, substitutes are probably okay.

Grimoire ritual magic really is like cooking and following a celebrated chef’s recipe book. No one will stop you from swapping and substituting (…other than the gods, in the case of ceremonial magic…), but at some point of swapping and substituting, it’s no longer grimoiric tradition. You’re just doing your own thing.

There’s another subtle variable and factor here.

I can approach my own parents and my own master teacher with a certain extent of flippancy and informality because there is a longstanding history and relationship there already. But if I were to use that same flippancy in tone and informality with someone else’s master teacher or meeting your parents for the first time, that would be extremely disrespectful.

Likewise, native practitioners have a bit more liberal leeway with the gods to do their own thing. But I would argue the case that non-native practitioners will probably want to be on their best behavior, and show the utmost level of respect. And in the world of Taoist grimoire magic, that means approaching the received instructions with reverence and trust, and not with hubris. When you think you know better than our elders, you’re approaching my cultural traditions with hubris.

All that being said, I would say that the instructions from the Book of Three Sovereigns leaves room for your personal touches. For example, it does not say how many times to recite the incantation as you use it to invoke the god Taiyi and infuse the seal with divine power. Do you recite it just once and make sure it counts? Or do you recite it hundreds of times meditatively to really drum up the force field?

My opinion: If the grimoire gives specifications, then according to Taoist grimoiric tradition, you kinda should probably oughta follow them. But if no specifications are given, then the go-to approach will be the established protocol per your lineage or temple.

So, for instance, when it says “now do ritual purification,” well chances are your lineage/temple has a very specific way of doing that, so that’s the way you’ll do it.

Most Taoist lineages of magical tradition will have a set, proprietary way of channeling the gods through themselves, their calligraphy brush, and into the Seal or sigil to be charged. That’s the channeling method you will use while reciting the given incantation passages.

If your tradition defines a specific type of incense offering for Taiyi, then that’s what you go with. If you have a personal tradition of food or wine offerings for gods, go with that. Go with the carbohydrate main course option that most reflects your sense of reverence for the God of Heaven Supreme. What constitutes “jian bing” or “fry bread” varies across the regions, and even to the present day is amusingly a source of heated contention between the regions.

Is This Dangerous?

Is there any danger or risk to trying this Seal carving ritual out? Well. Be careful when using that electrical wood-burner, I’ll tell you that. There’s also some risk involved during the process of cooking the three food offerings. I cannot tell you the number of times I have burned myself while trying to pan-fry jian bing.

But if you’re referring to metaphysical backlash, I’m of the opinion that the worst case scenario is it doesn’t work for you. For instance, if you did not succeed at the 10 days of prep, then the Supreme One might not arrive during the ritual. But no harm no foul from that. You just end up with an ineffective block of wood.

If you do succeed and reap great gains from the Seal, then do know how strongly recommended it is that you honor the condition of paying it forward. Remain humble and modest, generous, and strive always to be your best self.

Put it this way. You asked the supreme sovereign of Heaven to grant you blessings, and then the supreme sovereign of Heaven accepts your invitation, descends into your home, grants you the blessings you asked for, and your life is richer because of it. In what universe would you think it is then okay to disrespect those blessings? Just saying.

只依科所傳，勿令人輕慢。
zhǐ yī kē suǒ chuán,
wù lìng rén qīng màn.

It’s true, the Book does warn that once you’ve attained the blessings, do not become arrogant. The text does not tell you what will happen if you become arrogant and no specific consequences are named, but the tone is pretty ominous. Let’s just say I’m not about to test it.

… 與道合同
Yǔ dào [Tao] hétóng

“Hétóng 合同” in the final line of the incantation expresses mutual assent of the present parties (in the case of this ritual, Heaven and you, the gods and you), making reference to the ancient Chinese contract system (which differs slightly from our modern concept of contracts). It represents sacred mutual promises.

Here, Heaven has accepted to provide you with divine blessings and empowerment, and you in return have accepted to not take it for granted, to not disrespect those who have shown you respect, and to remain humble and pure of heart.

In other words, don’t become an asshole. That is the one and only stipulation Heaven asks for in return. But also, to now truly embody the role of a prophet designated by Heaven — to aspire in good faith to be in alignment with Heaven and the Tao.

Core Skills

I decided to produce this educational video because the ancient methodology imparts technical teachings that are universally transferable. Each step conveys fundamentals of Craft. There’s a discernible science to the methodology that, once you understand it, can be applied to your specific Path, no matter what that Path is. What are the equivalents and counterparts in your tradition that can be utilized in methodologies you’ve learned from Taoist mysticism?

Also, a walk-through of the grimoire instructions for the Seal of the Nine Immortal Realms turns out to be an edifying practicum on Taoist occultism 101. It’s one of the most effective (and efficient) ways to learn the basics of Taoist occultism.

Links

• Lunar Calendar to Gregorian Calendar Conversion Tables
• Chinese Lunar-Solar Calendar (2024); Ba Zi Ephemeris
• On Thunder Rites: Introduction (Tinkering Bell Series)
• On Moon Block (Jiao Bei) Divination (Tinkering Bell Series)
• About Taoist Spirit Maps (Ling Tu)
• Extra Credit: I Ching Divination with Moon Blocks
• Extra Credit: Taoist Metaphysics: Download Correspondence Tables