Are Asian Folk Traditions “Pagan”?

Maybe I’m Not a “Witch.” Maybe We’re Excluded for a Reason.

There was a fun witchy banner I scrolled upon with this happy, inspiring message of “Pagans and Witches Unite!” It then featured Stregheria, Feri, Cultus Sabbati, Luciferian, Haitian Vodou, Santeria (Lukumi), Palo Mayombe, Wicca, and then a catch-all “Indigenous Shamanic Paths.”

No special call-out to Asians?

And by “Asian” I really do mean continental, islander, north, south, east, west, there was NO representation there at all. For the largest most populated continent in the world, making up more than half the global population of magical traditions and practices, people just decided to tuck all of that under “Other”?

It seems like Asian magical traditions are always getting left out.

Continue reading “Are Asian Folk Traditions “Pagan”?”

Protective Talismans for the Chinese Natal Year, Ben Ming Nian 本命年

Wow. I’ve been blogging here for over 12 years. I posted about the last Year of the Horse and crafting natal year protective talismans in 2014. Across East Asia, parts of Southeast Asia, and Tibet, you’ll find this belief in natal years and having to take extra precautions if it’s your natal year. Anyway, for those who have been asking, this page will have the download of all natal year Fu talisman design templates.

Natal Year Fu Talismans 本命年符

Inside the zip file folder is a “READ ME” document that explains how to use natal year Fu talismans, and also, has a reference table of the Chinese zodiac sign corresponding to each and every year, from 1937 to 2056, which you may find helpful for figuring your own Chinese zodiac sign, if you don’t know it already, and identifying all of your Natal Years. The READ ME will also explain the anatomy of the Fu sigil design.

Continue reading “Protective Talismans for the Chinese Natal Year, Ben Ming Nian 本命年”

Mandala of Heaven 周天: Taoist Alchemy Course

$40

A Cultivation Practicum

This is an introduction to Taoist inner alchemy, by way of cultivation work with the Zhou Tian, or Mandalas of Heaven, grounded in canonical source texts and living tradition. Key features of this curriculum are:

  • A 200+ page structured textbook and workbook (that serves as a companion and book of your study notes, personal reflections, and log of experiences)
  • Primary canonical texts translated into English (I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this obscure text translated into English before) with annotations
  • Practice instructions that go beyond the free, publicly available lectures and guided experience prompts
  • Structures the free, publicly available material into theoretical foundations and practical application
  • Emphasis on ethical grounding and safety
  • Participant Question & Answer feature (a password-protected FAQs page tailored to you)

The two core lectures on the Lesser Mandala of Heaven 小周天 and Greater Mandala of Heaven 大周天 are already available free to the public, which you can access:

  1. A Taoist Secret to Cultivating Personal Power: On the Lesser Mandala of Heaven, Xiao Zhou Tian 小周天
    1. Video Lecture
    2. Supplemental Notes
  2. Advanced Introduction to Taoist Alchemy: On the Greater Mandala of Heaven, Da Zhou Tian 大周天
    1. Video Lecture
    2. Supplemental Notes

This deeper-dive cultivation practicum organizes what was introduced in those two lectures into a sequential system that becomes praxis-oriented.

The course book, which is a workbook, is a guide on how to integrate those core practices.

In other words, the two free lectures introduce the ideas. This course is where the cultivation actually happens. It is a structured container for the teachings.

The coursework expands the scope in depth and breadth, curating a curriculum to study, practice, and self-reflect on the Mandalas over a period of 100 days,  guided by a 200-page course textbook, through which you will:

  1. Notably increase your internal vitality, awakening and actualizing otherwise untapped core powers, &
  2. Master the foundational principles and symbolic systems shared among many lineages of folk magic across Asia, essential in Taoist mysticism and esoteric Buddhism.

Deliverables

  • A 200+ page cultivation manual and workbook (digital PDF delivered to your email inbox; you can order a printed spiral-bound copy of the book via a third-party print-on-demand site at-cost). Your course text becomes your one-stop consolidated resource with all of the following and more:
    • Authoritative reference tables and diagrams
    • Organized sections with clear, beginner-accessible explanations of core Taoist principles, especially in the area of inner alchemy
    • Step-by-step guided practice instructions
    • Canonical sources and textual translations, so that you know where these practices come from and how they were historically understood
    • Reflection prompts and line space for you to log your insights and experiences right next to the reference materials– this helps to reinforce your learning, and also serves as a journal– you’ll be able to refer back what you wrote in here and assess your own progress
  • MP4 downloads of just the guided meditation. I’ll send you two versions: one that has Heart Sutra musical incantations in the background layered beyind my voiceover narration, and a version that’s the voiceover narration only.
  • 300-dpi resolution digital image of the cover design (17.25” x 11.25”), which can be be used for art prints, wall hangings, etc. In Taoist and various Eastern esoteric traditions, such a design would be called a form of Spirit Map (靈圖, líng tú) or magical painting (術畫, shù huà).
    • Cover design features four mandalas from the post-Geluk era (circa 17th c.) representing the canonical four Buddha families and generally symbolic of a four-fold cosmological system of protective guardians.
    • The central seal that spreads across both the front and back covers is the Blue Medicine Buddha. The 64 hexagrams appear both as an 8×8 square diagram and as a full circle.
  • Original translations and annotations of excerpted chapters from the Dao Men Yu Yao 道門語要 (Fundamentals of Taoist Alchemy), circa 1271 – 1325, specifically the two chapters on the Lesser Mandala “運小周天之法” and the Greater Mandala “行大周天之功” with explanatory annotations
    • Fundamentals is a collection of much older canonical essays compiled by Huang Shang 黃裳, a Taoist priest of the Zhongpai 中派 (Middle Pillar Lineage), a tradition of Taoist inner alchemy
      dated back to the Yuan dynasty founded by the master Li Daochun 李道纯.
    • The essays date back to the Yuan dynasty, received texts of the Lineage, while the date of Huang Shang’s compilation is unclear, though speculated to be the Qing dynasty.
    • The Middle Pillar Lineage was known for its syncretizing of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.
    • The term “黃裳,” Huang Shang’s namesake, is a direct reference from Hexagram 2, Line 5 of the I Ching.
  • QUESTION & ANSWER WITH BELL | Course Participants Only FAQs Page. Email me your questions and I’ll compile the Q&As into a password-protected page for course participants only. This is your opportunity to ask me any questions you have related to these subjects.
    • Admittedly I’m not great at responding to emails, especially ones with questions that may involve a thoughtful, thorough reply. But the questions submitted through this course curriculum will be prioritized, and I’ll answer them via multimedia formats on a password-protected FAQs page.
    • You can ask anything related to this subject matter. Or ask how I personally practice, or apply certain principles. Feel free to ask about my perspective, or ask the questions on Taoist mysticism that you can’t seem to find anywhere else in English.

Download the

Course Syllabus

Through the framework of the Lesser and Greater Mandalas of Heaven, this course introduces the foundations of classical Taoist inner alchemy. It will consist of studying translations and annotations of canonical source texts on the Mandalas of Heaven, guided practice, and reflective work.

Download an Excerpt

Read the First 49 Pages

For a sampling of what’s in the course book, click on the above link to a PDF to read the first 49 pages, which outlines your learning objectives, gives you the table of contents, and introduces the premise of this Work.

Continue reading “Mandala of Heaven 周天: Taoist Alchemy Course”

2026 Year of the Fire Horse 丙午

February 17, 2026 through February 5, 2027 is the lunar year of the Fire Horse. The heavenly stem “丙” corresponds with the sun, and thus emanates with a bold radiance. Paired with the earthly branch “午” for Horse, corresponding with yang Fire and the zenith of solar energy, there’s a great deal of scorching, volatility, restlessness, but also, wild and free liberation.

The is the sign of the stampeding horse, fast and unrestrained, independent, fierce, but magnificent to behold. Fire Horse years are years of radical change, upheaval, transformative events that were a “long time coming,” which is to say earlier events in the years leading up to this moment set the stage for this blaze.

The last time we had a Fire Horse year was 1966, the launch of China’s Cultural Revolution. That was the last time in most of our collective lifetimes that we had a Fire Horse year. Before that, 1906 was a Fire Horse year, the year of a Persian revolution, the Russian Peasants’ Uprising, and a year of radical political reform in terms of gender and democracy.

Fire forces are at their peak this lunar year, which amplifies all the corresponding aspects we associate with Fire: expansion, asserting, the Mars force, heat, seeing red, passion, ambition, youthful energies and their ideologies dominating, innovation, technology, theater, politics, strength of the military (compared to, say, if it were a Wood year, it’d be agriculture, or in a Metal year, education, in a Water year, law and policy, etc.)

Also, crazy that I’ve been blogging here for now well over 12 years that I have a blog post on natal years from the last Year of the Horse in 2014, here.

Continue reading “2026 Year of the Fire Horse 丙午”

Chinese Astrology circa 246 BC: Wuxian Five Star Divination

Wuxian’s Five Star Divination 巫咸五星占 is a system of astrology that dates back to the Qin dynasty, around 246 BC during Qin Shihuang’s reign, documented in a manuscript from that era titled Five Star Divination 五星占, the “five stars” being Mercury (Water), Venus (Metal), Mars (Fire), Jupiter (Wood), and Saturn (Earth). The astrological text is attributed to Wuxian 巫咸, and so this system of astrology became known as Wuxian’s Five Star Divination.

Wuxian 巫咸 (also referred to as Xian Wu, 咸巫) is the ancestor god and ascended master of the Wu 巫 shamans. Venerated as the first and most masterful Wu 巫 and thus every Wu 巫’s primordial ancestor, he may or may not have been an actual historical figure; either way, Wuxian is a fixture in Chinese lore and deified as a patron god to shamans, healers, and, in particular, diviners and astrologers. In this video lecture, “Shamanism Meets Taoism: The Hidden Link in 3,000 Years of Magic and Mysticism,” we talk about Wuxian 巫咸, the primordial ancestor of all Wu 巫 shamans, at timestamp 12:35.

Continue reading “Chinese Astrology circa 246 BC: Wuxian Five Star Divination”

Frater Setnakh’s Tarot Coins and Archangels Set

Frater Setnakh is one of the most incredible, detail-oriented artisans of ritual artifacts I’ve come across. I’ve previously reviewed the 72 Angels Talisman Coins and Cards he sent me, which I keep on display in my sitting room. Here I’ll be showcasing his latest offering, Tarot Coins, along with the Guardian Angel Coins, or Seven Archangels.

The detailing on these coins is incredible, so I’ll also be showing a zoomed-in view of several of the coins, photo essay style. You can click on any of the images and magnify the photo to see just how fine the craftsmanship is here and each coin’s delicate engraving.

Per the ritual artifact description, this is the “world’s very first collection of tarot coins inspired by the Rider-Waite deck.” And personally I have yet to see tarot coins crafted at this level of detail and intricacy. They’re simply exquisite.

Continue reading “Frater Setnakh’s Tarot Coins and Archangels Set”

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.

Continue reading “Advanced Introduction to Taoist Alchemy”

About the 2026 Metaphysician’s Day Planner

This is a walk-through of the 2026 Metaphysician’s Day Planner (MDP), highlighting new changes and edits from previous years’ MDPs and how I use my MDP. Just a reminder: If you’d like to order your 2026 MDP, go HERE.

But also, I’ve provided all the digital MS Word templates that I use to create the MDPs year to year so that you don’t even have to buy mine, but can build your own. You can download all the digital templates HERE.

My favorite part about the MDP offering is you choose your own cover art design. On THIS PAGE where you can find the template downloads, you’ll also find Dropbox links to download various cover art design options, or take the specs (you’ll find this in the MDP General Guide PDF) to design your own from scratch.

For my 2026 MDP, I’m going with this 15th century ink scroll Buddhist art of the Six Paramitas, which in Mahayana Buddhism often gets associated with the Six Bodhisattvas. This then inspired one of the journaling self-reflection page spreads that I added to this year’s MPD.

I would consider the very red cover design out of character for me. For the last three years I went with very blue choices, and heck, didn’t even get all that creative this year for my 2025 cover. I just thought, hey, this worked for 2024, I’m just going to re-use it for 2025.

Continue reading “About the 2026 Metaphysician’s Day Planner”

2026 Metaphysician’s Day Planner $17

The Metaphysician’s Day Planner (MDP) is going to continue, at least for another year, though for 2026, as a “Lite” scaled back offering. It’s $17 for the personalized day planner customized with your natal chart and 2026 solar returns chart, e-delivered to your e-mail address as a digital file (PDF). We recommend using Lulu.com (not sponsored) a third-party print-on-demand site to print the physical spiral-bound copy of your MDP.

For a section by section, feature by feature walk-through of the 2026 MDP, CLICK HERE.

Continue reading “2026 Metaphysician’s Day Planner $17”

A Taoist Secret to Cultivating Personal Power

This is Part I of a two-part video lecture that introduces a Taoist secret breathwork practice known as the Lesser Mandala of Heaven, or Xiao Zhou Tian 小周天.

Rooted in classic Taoist inner alchemy (內丹, neidan), it teaches you to unlock a hidden energy circuit that runs through your body, up the spinal Du 督 meridian and down the frontal Ren 任 meridian, forming a continuous loop of vitality.

By circulating the triple treasures along this hidden energy path, you harmonize the body’s three dantian 丹田, or energy centers, with the three realms and cycles of the universe. Taoist masters believe this alignment refines your essence, restores internal balance, and elevates your personal power.

To round out the discussions, we’ll be covering:

  • Guarding the Center 守中 baseline Taoist practices and their textual/historical origins
  • The Guarding of the One 守一冥想 guided meditation
  • Principle of Union of Heaven and Humanity (Tian Ren He Yi, 天人合一)
  • Ethical foundations (de, 德) and the Three Virtues as the basis of cultivation
  • Lifestyle precepts
  • The Du 督 and Ren 任 meridians
  • Jing, Qi, Shen 精氣神: The Triple Treasure
  • About Your Dantian (Three Internal Fields)
  • The Internal Body Clock & Wu Xing
  • Personal ritual space mirroring Taoist cosmology and numerology
  • The Six Omens of spiritual awakening, confirming readiness for Greater Mandala of Heaven work
  • Study of the translations and annotations of the Fundamentals of Taoist Alchemy 道門語要 (1271 – 1325) source text
This orbit is set up to attune with the cyclical convection current of nature: heat rises and expands, as it rises, it then cools, contracts, becomes denser, and so the denser, cooler flow sinks down, contracting.

The video is timestamped, and you’ll find a step-by-step guided practice on how to direct breath up and down this internal orbit, transforming your body into a living mandala and tuning it to the rhythmic cycles of nature.

This practice is more typically transmitted from teacher to disciple, but here, let’s see if we can offer a more direct and more easily accessible method.

Whether your goal is improved health, increasing your energy reservoir so you can get more done in a day, or to unlock your mystical potential, this is a cultivation technique worth your while to learn.

Continue reading “A Taoist Secret to Cultivating Personal Power”