Tao of Craft Downloads

The following images are provided under a creative commons license by the author. That means, yes, feel free to publicly copy, distribute, or display any of these works and make derivative works based on the image files. Any simple, well-intentioned attribution or credit will suffice.

creativecommons

In exchange, I also ask that you help me promote The Tao of Craft by sharing these image files, your derivative works based on these image files, or your personal photographs of the book The Tao of Craft on social media, such as your blog, vlog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc. and to include the hashtags #TheTaoofCraft and #benebellwen or tags “Tao of Craft” and “Benebell Wen.”

Fu Sigils Featured in Tao of Craft

The following are selected (not all) Fu sigils from The Tao of Craft that are provided in high resolution for your personal uses. Explanatory text about each Fu are in the book. When crafting your Fu sigils, use any of these downloads as a starting reference point only. Ultimately, the most effective sigil craft has to be personalized in a way that is attuned to the practitioner and customized for the specific beneficiary of the sigil.

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Sigil Design References

The following zip file downloads won’t be very useful by themselves. All explanatory material for the downloads are in the appendices from The Tao of Craft. Appendix A provided references and samples for house designs and the general correspondences of each design. I had intended the sample references in the appendix to be large enough for a reader to trace out of the book for use, but as you may have realized, that did not happen, so larger, easier to trace image files are provided here as a supplemental download. You’ll find these in the “Appendix A Supplements.”

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Appendix B was a reference guide for non-Chinese practitioners who wish to incorporate Chinese characters into glyph designs for their sigils. For the uninitiated, some of the Chinese characters may be difficult to write at first, so tracing is recommended to help you establish the form. Again, in the event the ideograms in the book are too small for practical reference, large image files are provided as a supplemental download, the “Appendix B Supplements,” which contains image files for all the Chinese characters referenced in Appendix B. Use in conjunction with the explanatory text in the book.

Appendix_B_Supplements_TaoofCraft — Click on banner to download zip file.

Appendix I covers nine exercises for the novice practitioner that instructs step by step on the crafting of a basic portfolio of Fu talismans to have in your personal magical arsenal. You may even want to write entries in your own Book of Methods (or Book of Shadows, grimoire equivalent) to memorialize your crafted sigils. Download the zip file “Appendix I Supplements” for higher resolution image files of the figures and tables in Appendix I. These image files can then be incorporated into your own magical records.

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Template for the Perennial Fu of 99 Glyphs

Figure I.32 JPG Download

Exercise 9 in Appendix I instructs on how to cast your own Perennial Fu, or Fu of Ninety-Nine Glyphs. Be sure to read pages 474 – 479. Figures I.33 and I.35 in high-resolution for free download are available in the “Fu Sigils Featured in Tao of Craft” Flickr album. The above link is the blank template, Figure I.32 as a JPG file for you to craft your own Perennial Fu.

The Four Directional Deities: Grand Duke (East); Zhurong (South); Queen Mother (West); Bei Di (North). Read more about them in Appendix B and refer to the index.

Pantheon of Deities

There are a number of uses for images and likeness of certain deities when working with Taoist craft, as noted in the book. If you keep your own Book of Methods (aka grimoire, Book of Shadows…) or other form of magical record keeping, you might be interested in incorporating illustrations of certain deities in your book. High resolution image files of deity renderings from The Tao of Craft are provided here for free download, but please use them in reverence only. I ask that when using or modifying these images, you observe the same reverence you would give to sacred relics from your own faith or religious path.

TaoofCraft_banner_Pantheon — Click on banner to access album.

Chinese Oracle Bone Script

I am a proponent of incorporating Chinese oracle bone script or my own derivatives of oracle bone script into sigil crafting. The following downloads are the digital files for an oracle deck, but I also use these scripts when I craft sigils. The zip file is for the JPG files of cards you’d use to upload and print out your own copy of the deck, along with a companion guidebook that explains the etymology of each Chinese character. However, if you have basic graphic design skills, you’ll be able to crop and use the oracle bone scripts on the cards.

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Correspondence Tables

Some of the correspondence and reference tables featured in the book may be printed too small for practical uses. Thus, here I am providing high resolution image files of those select correspondence tables found in The Tao of Craft, which you can incorporate into any personal use at your will. By themselves, these tables may be confusing. It’s presumed that you have a copy of The Tao of Craft and are using these image files in conjunction with your study of the text.

Supplemental Resources

The following are supplemental resources based on the content and instruction in The Tao of Craft.

Click to download high-resolution image file.

Ba Gua Crystal Grid.

The above crystal grid is based on the Later Heaven Ba Gua and the Lo Shu magic square. The inner circle, starting at the 12 o’clock position going clockwise, are the trigrams for: Fire, Earth, Lake, Heaven, Water, Mountain, Thunder, and Wind. The outer circle, starting at the 12 o’clock position going clockwise, are oracle bone scripts for the Wu Xing: Fire, Earth, Metal, Metal, Water, Earth, Wood, Wood. The center circle is the oracle bone script for deity, divinity, and/or supernatural spirit (神, Shén).

Gemstone Correspondences.

The below link takes you to a gemstone glossary reference book. If you scroll to the end (or use the navigation pane in MS Word), you’ll find a table for my gemstone correspondences for the Wu Xing.

fu-talisman-for-business-success — Click to download high-resolution image file.

Sigil Design for “Fu Talisman for Business and Commercial Success.”

The above sigil design is explained in the PDF download “Fu Talisman for Business and Commercial Success” from the Fu Talisman Instructables (“Fu Talismans”) page.