Category: Fu talismans

Advanced Introduction to Taoist Alchemy

On By benebellIn Fu talismans, grimoire, I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), Magical in the Mundane, numerology, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, traditional witchcraft1 Comment
  1. Lesser Mandala of Heaven: A Taoist Secret to Cultivating Personal Power
  2. Greater Mandala of Heaven: Advanced Introduction to Taoist Alchemy

This is Part II of what we started in Part I on the Lesser Mandala of Heaven. Part II covers the Greater Mandala of Heaven, and in doing so, provides an advanced introduction to Taoist alchemy.

We are continuing from Part I, so I’ll presume you’re already familiar with what we covered there. If you haven’t watched that video lecture “A Taoist Secret to Cultivating Personal Power: Inner Alchemy Basics,” please do before proceeding.

In this introduction, I want to explore the inner logic that underlies one of the world’s most sophisticated (in my opinion) systems of spiritual cultivation. I intend for this intro to be a deep-dive into the heart of Taoist alchemy by delineating the Greater Mandala of Heaven.

The ultimate goal of Taoist alchemy is to transform the finite into the infinite, matter into spirit, and limitation into transcendence. We cover this ground by first understanding the distinction made between inner alchemy and outer alchemy.

Philosophically, this is a system and tradition that presents a compelling perspective on how Change happens.

Historical Textual References

In addition to the two texts mentioned in Part I, these are some of the oft-cited sources of insight on the Greater Mandala of Heaven 大周天. The titles are hyperlinked to the full texts over at ctext.org (the Chinese Text Project). While CTP as a site has its limitations, it’s one of the best free, accessible, and online databases for primary sources of pre-modern Chinese texts, so it’s the most user-friendly for folks like you and me.

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Chinese Shamanism Meets Taoism: The Hidden Link in 3,000 Years of Magic and Mysticism

On By benebellIn divination, feng shui, free download, Fu talismans, grimoire, I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), Magical in the Mundane, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, traditional witchcraft7 Comments

Course Description

Let’s time travel and step into the mystical lineage of the Neolithic Wu 巫 shamans that laid the foundation for Taoist mysticism. This free public video lecture explores the birth of Taoist magic and the enduring legacy of Wu shamanism. We’ll decode Taoist occultism as it is practiced today to reveal the hidden history of how shamanism shaped the mystical practices of East Asia, preserving and refining early shamanistic techniques into a structured magical system, giving rise to Taoist mysticism.

Taoism is the enduring legacy of the Wu 巫, and how their oft-forgotten roots and history have shaped the modern practices of spirit mediums, Asian modalities of witchcraft, and Taoist ritual magic today. We’ll bridge the gap between the ancient traditions we’ve inherited from the Yellow River cradle of civilization and modern mystical practices, presented in a way rarely explored in the English language.

This is Taoist witchcraft decoded, in reclamation of the Wu 巫’s shamanic practices of the Tao 道.

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Explaining the Essence Protector Talismans

On By benebellIn conferences, Fu talismans, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book)9 Comments

If you got here through the QR code on the box of Fu talismans at ConVocation 2025 that promised to explain what the talismans were, hello! Since this will be a publicly accessible blog post, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, hello, too — this is just going to be notes to de-mystify a Thing that I’m going to be distributing during two of my lectures.

Here’s what the full sheets look like, outer casing and interior where the actual empowered Fu 符 is. Because of the way it’s going to be folded, you’ll note that the left outer casing view has the Ba Gua printed upside down per that view, but once folded into the final talisman, it’ll be right side up aligned with the interior Fu 符. Same with the 64 stylized sigils (explained below) for medicine, healing, and healer.

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An Overview of the Taoist Grimoire Baopuzi

On By benebellIn free download, Fu talismans, I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), Magical in the Mundane, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, traditional witchcraft8 Comments

The Baopuzi 抱樸子 (circa 300 – 343 AD) by the celebrated alchemist and polymath Ge Hong 葛洪 is a Taoist grimoire that I would posit to be the most if not one of the most influential and impactful texts on Taoist mysticism.

Scans of the text you see in this video are from here [四部備要], this copy of it archived between 1924 and 1931 as part of a national effort to preserve essential ancient Chinese texts. You can also access a digitized version of it via the Chinese Text Project, ctext.org here.

This write-up is the companion blog post to the video to provide some additional notes on the Liu Jia Secret Mantra and other fun (to me) tidbits from the Baopuzi.

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I Ching Oracle Cards (Free Printables)

On By benebellIn cartomancy, create your own deck, divination, free download, Fu talismans, I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), oracle deck, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism13 Comments

Download the digital files to a text-driven 64-card I Ching oracle deck for a free companion tool to my book, I Ching, The Oracle (North Atlantic Books, 2023).

This is a serviceable everyday personal divination deck that also doubles as an easy, accessible introduction to the I Ching.

It makes for a great study tool as flash cards and for learning the Ba Gua trigram and Wu Xing alchemical phase correspondences.

For your convenience, I’ve also uploaded the files onto makeplayingcards.com. External link and info below.

The listing is $23.20.

  • $22.95 of it goes to makeplayingcards.com, not me.
  • Only $0.25 of it goes to me.

Yes, that’s right. A quarter.

But if you are on a tight budget, you can download the printables file and crafty craft your own DIY copy of the deck.

Apart from the six-line hexagram images, the card faces are text only. No one is trying to wow you with artistry here. =P

This deck is intended to be a functional beginner’s tool for learning the I Ching, to be used in tandem with the book, I Ching, The Oracle.

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Secret Book of the Three Sovereigns

On By benebellIn free download, Fu talismans, grimoire, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, Tinkering Bell, traditional witchcraft8 Comments

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.

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The Guan Yinzi

On By benebellIn Fu talismans, grimoire, I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), Magical in the Mundane, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, traditional witchcraft14 Comments

also known as the Wen Shi Zhen Jing: Sutra of Magical Spells and Aphorisms for Attaining Primordial Truth

The more recognized naming convention for the sutra is the Guan Yinzi (闕尹子) or Wen Shi Zhen Jing (文始真經) attributed to the gatekeeper who Laozi encountered.

The Guan Yinzi (or Wen Shi Zhen Jing)

According to lore, the gatekeeper at the Western Pass, named Yinxi 尹喜, later given the name Wenshi (文始), transcribed the teachings of Laozi and that text became the Tao Te Ching (道德經). Alternate tellings have Laozi writing the teachings down into two books himself, which the gatekeeper then receives.

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Descent into the Underworld: Guan Luo Yin, a Wu shamanistic practice

On By benebellIn Fu talismans, Magical in the Mundane, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, traditional witchcraft1 Comment

Guan Luo Yin 觀落陰 is a practice of wu shamanism 巫術 found primarily in the South Pacific. While methodologies will differ, one approach is as an astral journey to the underworld to see the spirits of those who have passed on; another is as a method of “remote viewing.”

Some traditions conceptualize the descent as beginning from the entrance to a cave at the base of a mountain (associated with the Kunlun Mountain). Others conceptualize it as a palace with many floors descending (as opposed to ascending the way floors of a building are constructed in the physical earthly world).

This video serves as an introduction to the practice.

See also:

Lady of the Nine Heavens and the I Ching

On By benebellIn Fu talismans, I Ching, I Ching The Oracle (book), Magical in the Mundane, personal, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, traditional witchcraft7 Comments

This video is part of a companion course series leading up to the release of my third book, I Ching, The Oracle. I’ve covered this topic previously here, “Mysterious Lady of the Ninth Heaven (Jiu Tian Xuan Nü, 九天玄女).” However, given the personal relevance, we’re revisiting the Lady of the Nine Heavens, now within the context of my Purpose for publishing this new translation of the Book of Changes.

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Taoist Magic for Beginners: How to Get Started

On By benebellIn feng shui, free download, Fu talismans, grimoire, I Ching The Oracle (book), Magical in the Mundane, personal spirituality, Tao of Craft (book), Taoism, traditional witchcraft9 Comments

This is a companion write-up to the above video.

Continuing from what I said in the video chat, if this is something you seriously want to do, then start by getting that three-ring binder. Though I think organizing it into eleven sections is sufficient, I noticed you can’t buy packs of just eleven binder dividers. They come in sets of 12, so that’s fine. Having a final “Miscellany” tab is always a good idea anyway.

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