Transcript:

In the last lecture, we covered history. We left off with the decline and even
persecution
of Taoist magic in modern China. That deeply embedded history in a people becomes
a deeply embedded subconscious maybe even unconscious attitude, and that’s secrecy
in Chinese occultism. Perhaps the first thing you might notice is
native practitioners don’t really talk about Taoist magic to outsiders. If we’re
going to talk Taoist sorcery and
its cultural practice, we also need to understand

That by and large, Chinese occultists who

inherit their practice of the craft also inherit this resistance to share too much.
Not me! I’m not referring to myself. I share everything. Clearly. But I mean, yeah.
Among native practitioners, especially from
my mother’s generation and my grandparents’ generation, there’s this impenetrable
attitude
of you just don’t talk about this stuff. Inner circle only. You only talk about it
in inner circles. Which is why, I speculate, you hear so little
about Taoist sorcery and Chinese occultism

In the West. Those who are actually the native practitioners

aren’t sharing shit! Nevertheless, even when Chinese occultism
isn’t out in the open—Oxymoron? Even when Chinese occultism isn’t out in
the open, today, Taoism is still at the root of the Chinese consciousness, even if
we don’t
always acknowledge it. Almost all of our major holidays, like the
Moon Festival, Qing Ming Jie, which is called Tomb Sweeping Day, even the Lunar New
Year,
are based on the sexagenary calendar—we talked about this in Video 2 when we
covered
history—long associated with Taoist magic and divination, a calendar system that’s
estimated to be almost 5,000 years old and is still the calendar system the Chinese
use
today. Wait! Hold on, let me show you.

This is the Chinese lunar-solar sexagenary

calendar. You saw this earlier in Video 2, when we covered
Neolithic China. Lunar-solar meaning it reconciles the path
of the sun and the phases of the moon, and sexagenary meaning it’s a 60-year cycle.
Each year denotes a binary character consisting
of a heavenly stem on the left and an earthly branch over on the right. The
heavenly stem, and there are 10 of them,
is based on the sun cycle, and in ancient times, the Chinese believed there were 10
suns, taking their turns rising in the skies each day, for a 10-day week. Those
familiar with Chinese mythology and
the story of Houyi the Archer probably have a lightbulb going on right about now.
Earthly branches, 12 in total, correspond
with the 12 astrological zodiac animals.

Earthly branches are based on the phases of

the moon, with 12 moon cycles for a year, so each moon is 1 month, that’s the
Chinese
lunar calendar. Case in point, year 36 of the 60-year cycle
is 2019 in the Gregorian calendar system. That’s the system you’re probably used
to. In metaphysical theory, history repeats itself,
and some of the political and social events we saw as a collective, global society
60
years ago is going to happen again in 2019. 60 years ago was 1959. Ooh, what a year
of revolutions. Fidel Castro led the Cuban Revolution, overthrew
Batista, and came in to power. The Dalai Lama and Tibetans revolted against
the Chinese. 60 years ahead of that was 1899. Ooh.

The Philippine-American War. Before that was 1839. Ooh. Hong Kong goes to Great
Britain. First Opium War. The first U.S. Anti-Slavery political party,
the Liberty Party, forms in New York. There was the Newport Rising, an armed
rebellion. Oh, and lots of other revolts, uprisings,
and overthrows here and there throughout the world. By the way, these reference
tables and more
information about the sexagenary calendar can be found in my book, The Tao of
Craft. In my release of the second edition of Spirit
Keeper’s Tarot, its companion guidebook

The Book of Maps will talk about correspondences

between the heavenly stems and earthly branches with the tarot. So what does the
cultural practice of Taoist
sorcery look like? How is it actually practiced? That’s the topic of today’s
discussion. I was always taught and it was reinforced
time and time again that you don’t talk about the Tao, you practice it. When you do
talk about it, you don’t talk
about what Taoism is or is not, how you’re supposed to do this or how you’re not
supposed
to do that. When you talk about the Tao, you give what
insights you can share to help others find their own way. The intent should never
be to lead people
on to your own path.

The intent is to give illumination to the

shared, collective space around all of us so that there is enough light for each
one
of us to find the path we’re looking for. And that could very well be a path
different
from your own, though it was inspired by your own. That, my friends, is Taoism 101.
And that’s why in turn, Taoist sorcery is
also not about making every single person do it exactly your way. Taoist sorcery
presumes that there are some
fundamentals, which we’ll get into when we talk metaphysics, but then what we do
with
those fundamentals will vary. The practice of Taoist magic in its pure form
is like water, taking on the shape of whatever container you put it in, able to
carve valleys
through mountains and yet gentle enough for brewing a cup of tea.

Point is, if and when you witness Taoist practitioners,

or those who say they’re Taoist practitioners, telling you what to do, they’re
behaving
like the container, not the water. The Tao is water, not a container. Oh, but Bell,
you question, aren’t there
orthodox Taoist magical lineages that dictate exactly how their initiates must to
do everything? Yes, yes of course there are. Taoist lineages and initiatory
traditions
are containers, not the Tao. They’re extraordinary containers for cultivating
Tao, but ultimately, for you, an individual on your own individual path, to truly
find
the Tao, you do have to transcend the container. And by the way, just so we’re
clear, by
Tao, I mean personal mastery over both harmonizing with nature and the spirit
world, and controlling
nature and the spirit world. Okay, so let’s talk about the Chinese cultural
practice of magic and occultism.

Conceptually, I think folks try really hard

to keep Buddhism and Taoism separate. But realistically, when you’re looking at
Chinese occult practices, the two are so intertwined that Chinese Buddhism has
elements of Taoism
and Taoism has elements of Buddhism. If you want to study Chinese occultism, you’re
going to be examining both Buddhist and Taoist elements. Buddhist divinities and
prayers are used in
Taoist sorcery. Classic example: Amitofuo. Religious Buddhists would say that
burning
joss to the gods or to ancestors isn’t necessary. But the practical reality is many
Chinese
who identify as Buddhist are still going to burn offerings to their ancestors. In
fact, the common pairing is gold joss paper
and silver joss paper. Why?

Gold is for the divinities, and if you’re

Buddhist, that’s the pantheon of Buddhas and bodhisattvas from your particular
branch
of Buddhism, typically Mahayana, or Pure Land Buddhism. Silver is for your
ancestors. Finally, demonology. If and when you enter the world of studying
Chinese demonology, the lines between esoteric Buddhism and esoteric Taoism really
blur. When we examine esoteric Taoism, we might
characterize it into two modes of practice, Outer Alchemy, called Wai Dan, and
Inner Alchemy,
called Nei Dan. Outer alchemy is the body of knowledge and
wisdom keyed toward one’s relationship with the physical environment and society.
It’s discernment of a spirit world that
is coexisting with us.

It’s about developing an interactive relationship

with the gods and also with demons, with all that encompasses the spirit world.
Inner alchemy is the body of knowledge and
wisdom keyed toward your relationship with yourself. If outer alchemy is the study
of the world
beyond your own physical body, then inner alchemy is the study of the world within.
Outer alchemy is the physical science of our
universe and also study of the collective consciousness. Inner alchemy is
psychology, it’s personal
development, it’s understanding your own physical body and physical health, but
also
your own mind, your thoughts, and your own emotions. The exoteric purpose of either
waidan or neidan
would be to achieve harmony.

The esoteric purpose would be to achieve control. Outer alchemy might be the
practice of pharmacology,
or what I’m referring to as pharmacology. This includes herbology, but it’s also
the
use of animal parts with a purpose of controlling or modifying physical nature, or
even human
activity. The second is ceremonial magic. These are the rituals and liturgy
observed
by practitioners toward the objective of honoring nature or to try to control an
aspect of nature. It’s the ability to call upon gods, spirits,
and demons and have them answer your petitions. The third is what I’ll refer to
roughly
as superhuman physical developments., for lack of a better descriptive This is the
belief
that alchemy can be used to achieve superhuman abilities, such as enhanced psychic
abilities,
telekinesis, being “blade proof” (which is an entire cultivation practice and art
form devoted to acquiring the power of controlling

The flow of blood if you’re stabbed with

a dagger, and allegedly not dying from a stab wound), or fire proof, where Taoist
magicians
claim they can pass their hands through fire, which is all to say you allegedly
become impervious
to physical harm. This is levitation, flying (allegedly), and
modalities of martial arts and just basically your own body coming in to
interaction with
the world around you. Generally, practices of inner alchemy include
meditation. This is cultivating the mind and personal
psychology or psyche to achieve personal control, to attain a sense of inner
harmony. Likewise, qi gong is the practice of cultivating
the body and your personal energy, or life force. I would also categorize morality
codes under
nei dan, but it’s debatable. The reason I put it under inner alchemy is
because morality is about cultivating your

Karma. If you think morality is about your social

relationships, then maybe you might consider it a form of outer alchemy. Talking
head insert. Many Taoist traditions, especially ones that
are heavy on the Buddhism, subscribe to a belief in benevolence magic, or karmic
magic. This is the mystical theory that good deeds
can manifest as personal power, which is then almost a kind of fuel. So benevolence
magic can be actually outer
alchemy or inner alchemy, because it’s outer alchemy when you use that fuel, that
reservoir
of good karma you’ve accumulated, in, say, spell-crafting, ceremonial magic, or to
create
some kind of physical change in the world around you.

Benevolence magic is inner alchemy when you

use it to alleviate your own misfortunes, to strengthen your personal weaknesses,
or
anything toward improvement of the self, toward personal development. Finally,
we’ve got dietary Practices and
Traditional Chinese Medicine. A lot of the theories, principles, and practices
are the same as pharmacology, but here it’s directed toward yourself rather than
toward
others. Classically, this is herbology and mystic
medicine for achieving longevity and toward discovering the elixir of life. And can
we once again acknowledge the difficulty
of absolutely categorizing any of those aforementioned practices as strictly “outer
alchemy”
or strictly “inner alchemy.” That’s totally Taoist, isn’t it? Taoism is basically
the religion of ambiguity
and wishy-washiness.

The practical reality is your practice is

going to be a blending of both. For example, there are elements of qi gong
in ceremonial magic, so in that sense, even though I put qi gong under inner
alchemy,
it can also be outer alchemy when you use it for outer alchemical purposes.
Technically this next part I want to cover
should go under Taoist Metaphysics, so we’re going to revisit these trinities again
in
Video 4. A crucial, arguably essential principle in
Taoist metaphysics and therefore in the practice of alchemy is the principle of
threes, the
Trinitarian formula. And in outer alchemy, that’s expressed as
Heaven, Earth, and Man. The concept is taught by Taoist occultists
as the metaphor of the cauldron. The cauldrons or Chinese pots of antiquity,
which you’ll find common during the Bronze Age, had three legs.

So the metaphor of the cauldron is that anything

you do, any form of cooking, shall we say, requires a formula of three. Spell-
crafting, ritual-crafting, anything
and everything outer alchemy requires accommodation of this trinitarian principle,
of having three
elements added to your alchemical pot for blending. One is heaven, the second is
earth, and the
third is man. In all modalities of Taoist craft, something
has to represent Heaven, something has to represent Earth, and something has to
represent
Man. How you integrate heaven, earth, and man in
outer alchemy, of course, is an individual and customized decision, based on each
practitioner. So here is just one example of how you might
go about it. In ritual for ceremonial magic, Heaven might
be consideration of astrology.

Earth is consideration of feng shui and the

four directions. Man would be the words of intention and the
energy of your personal intentions that you mobilize the ritual with. Furthermore,
this trinity reveals what it
takes to achieve power: one cannot just focus on the light, or only focus on the
dark. You need to achieve mastery over both. Mastery requires interaction with
celestials
and equally, demons or hell beings. But you can’t just focus on the world of
the spirits. You also need to achieve reconciliation with
mankind, with the human beings around you. That’s the fundamental, the essential
law
of trinities, which Taoists learn through the metaphor of the cauldron. Now let’s
address inner alchemical modalities
and once again, we’ve got the metaphor of

The cauldron, the trinitarian principle, though

here, it’s better expressed as Shen, Jing, Qi. I talked a bit about this in a
previous video
on my channel, which I’ll link in the description box. I listed it on the screen as
Shen, Jing, and
Ji to mirror the order we put Heaven, Earth, and Man for outer alchemy, but the
more common
spoken practice is to say Jing, Qi, Shen. This is referred to as the Three
Treasures,
or San Bao. Jing is seed energy. It’s the source of nutrients or what it
takes for fertilization. It correlates with Earth. This is the essential ingredient
that sparks
creation. For reasons you might be able to conceptualize,
Jing is often associated with the practice

Of sex magic in Taoist occultism. Qi is force, but more precisely, force that
does work. And by work, we’re talking physics. If you can understand the concepts
of work
and energy in the laws of physics, then as a metaphor, you can understand qi. Qi
correlates with Man and it’s the essential
ingredient that pushes creation into development. Shen is spirit. In maybe New Age
psychological terms, it’s
the Higher Self. It’s the part of you that’s divine, but
in most of us, that inner divinity is inactive. So inner alchemy is about
activating that
inner divinity, your Shen. Shen is the essential ingredient for transformation,
or transcendence. Now let’s talk Taoist principles of magic.

In Western occultism, I often hear practitioners

talk about choosing between a left hand path or right hand path, or conversations
about
black magic versus white magic. Taoist sorcery, as you often see it today,
in contemporary times, has, for better or for worse, adopted a Western framework
and
even native, as in Chinese Taoist magicians today will talk about black magic
versus white
magic because of post-colonial brainwashing. As I said in Video 1, Western
imperialism
as left an indelible mark in the East. Asians use white standards of measurement
to judge themselves, our standards of beauty, how being able to speak English means
you’re
higher class, being Christian means you’re even higher, higher class. You see this
top down, everywhere. And sadly, Chinese occultism is no exception. Today, a lot of
Asian people judge themselves
and judge their own culture through white

Standards. So if I may be so bold as to claim this, Taoist

sorcery polluted by Western thought does talk about black magic versus white magic—
But historically, and philosophically when
you truly understand the framework Taoist sorcery first came out of, such as the
Tao
Te Ching, Chinese occultism requires its practitioner to master both. There is no
white magic, black magic. You’ll find this in philosophical Taoism
as well. When you create good, you’ve also created
evil. You cannot create good without creating evil. And maybe more optimistically,
when you create
evil, you also create good. You never create evil without also creating
good.

Taoist magic, when preserved in the context

of Taoist philosophy, not just requires, but automatically, as in by default, is
going
to be mastery over so-called black magic and white magic simultaneously. Your
intention may be to curse, which maybe
we will call evil, but you cannot curse without incidentally creating good,
goodness. You may be the most love and light fluffy
happy goody goody practitioner of craft there ever was. But don’t for a second
think you do what
you do without also having produced and brought evil into this world. And once
again, I think this is a good time
for yet another reminder that you cannot generalize about Taoist practice. It’s
like saying “all pagans are the same”
or “all pagans practice the same thing,

Venerate the same patron deities, and share

the same ethical codes of magic.” Taoist sorcery, by its very fundamental nature,
is elusive from definition. So what’s the point of Taoist sorcery? Well… all right,
aside from the generic
response, “It’s whatever you want it to be,” let’s talk classics. Classically,
Taoist magic is about acquiring
immortality, the result if you’ve become One with the Tao, and you see this
alchemical
quest for immortality in Taoism going all the way back to Qin Shi Huang and even
earlier. I mean, way earlier, but the First Emperor
of Qin is probably the most famous example in mainstream history of that quest.
What immortality means, however, well that
mileage can vary. The more folk magic practices are going to
say immortality is rather literal, where you

Literally remain in your physical body and

live forever. I reckon no one thinks that way anymore? Another aspect of it is
longevity, where you
physically extend the number of years you live in a way that is seen as
extraordinary. When you get into more Buddhist influenced
practices of Taoist magic, immortality conflates with the concept of nirvana. I’ll
give you a cliff notes nutshell summary
of how to achieve immortality. How about that? Okay, you ready? To achieve
immortality, you cannot exist for
yourself. Start with that aphorism and work your way
through what it means to you. The way you interpret that Taoist Truth and
the path you choose to take in accordance

With your interpretation is going to make

all the difference. Take the next hour after you finish this video,
the next few days, weeks even, to ponder what this means to you. Through this
threshold, these simple words,
you can find your path, your life purpose, find the meaning to your life, and
ultimately,
how you will achieve immortality for yourself. Yep! That’s it! You’re welcome!
Okay, but no. Real talk. What do classical Taoists say about achieving
immortality? You recall this list right?

One of the classic ways of aspiring for immortality

as a Taoist is through the preparation of tonics and elixirs made from herbs.
Traditional Chinese Medicine is a descendant
of the ancient alchemical pursuit for the elixir of immortality. Petitioning a god
or goddess who is purported
to have the power to grant immortality to a human is another documented method. I’m
inviting you to seek out Jiu Tian Xuan
Nu, Lady of the Ninth Heaven, or Lady of the Nine Heavens—both are correct.
Personally I see her appearing youthful, dressed
for war, with azurite wings, but to each their own. There’s a video on my channel
where I talk
about the Lady of the Ninth Heaven, if you want to check that out.

To start, connect to her through an image

or likeness of Jiu Tian Xuan Nu, Lady of the Ninth Heaven. You can also call her
Lady of the Nine Heavens. Both are right. You certainly don’t need a physical
image,
but just being the humans we are, most of us find it helpful to facilitate the
level
of concentration needed. Anoint yourself and an enclosed space around
you with sandalwood essence. For me, that’s both sandalwood anointing
oil and lighting sandalwood incense. Then sit in stillness until you have control
over your thoughts. When you can feel yourself in control over
your own mind—and believe me, it’s harder than it sounds—focus your attention on
that
part of your mind connected to your sense of Inner Fight.

Visualize something terrifying chasing you,

and you’re running through a dense forest. You’re in flight mode, adrenaline
rushing. Then comes a point where a part of you realizes
you’re not going to outrun and escape this thing that’s chasing you. It’s…just not
going to happen. That’s the moment you decide. You turn around and you choose to
fight. When that happens, call out to the Lady of
the Ninth Heaven. Go ahead, you can speak to Her in any language,
call her by her name in any tongue. Then just lean in to creative visualization,
don’t shut your imagination down or block yourself with doubt and skepticism. Just
open yourself and be receptive to whatever
impressions come to you.

Pay attention. Listen, see, feel, smell, what you can sense
close to you and what you can sense is at a distance, take everything in.
Afterward, keep a journal dedicated just to
your work with the Lady of the Nine Heavens to document these meditative and
exploratory
experiences. And try, try again. Persistence and being the type who won’t
give up is almost kind of a requirement. So keep that in mind if you get nothing
the
first few times. Now where were we? Keys to achieving immortality? Right. Let’s
talk about meditation.

Meditation through repetitious chanting of

certain mantras, sutras, or dharanis is a common cultural practice in Taoist
occultism. In religious Buddhism, repetition of mantras
or sutras in meditation is either toward nirvana, you know, for the super
ambitious, or toward
cultivating a more peaceful mind so that you can go through this life feeling a bit
more
centered. It’s rather innocuous and can be quite secular. In Chinese occultism,
however, meditation
is used to change your physiology so that in theory, you come to master what others
may perceive to be superhuman abilities. A great place to start is with Kuan Yin’s
Great Compassion Mantra. By the way, working with the Lady of the Ninth
Heaven and Kuan Yin together is a great spiritual combination. The Lady of the
Ninth Heaven is said to have
an enormous amount of respect and reverence

Toward Kuan Yin. You can download a totally free copy of the
Great Compassion Mantra from my website. Links will be provided in the video
description
box. The sacred text is given in transliterated
Mandarin, how you’d pronounce it in English, and in Sanskrit. Plus, the link I’ll
give to the resource
contains a lot more info about the Mantra. If you want to start cultivating what
it’s
going to take to be a practitioner of Taoist sorcery, I recommend starting here.
One read-through of the Mantra every day. Then, as you feel more and more guided by
the powers that be, that frequency might increase or you might move on to other
mantras and
sutras. Let’s also talk about qi gong.

I consider qi gong a cousin of meditation. It’s about incorporating physical

movements
to help regulate the flow of Qi life force in a way that will be more harmonizing.
In comparison, meditation is about regulating
the flow with the power of your mind. Now, I’m not going to show you any qi gong
because (1) I’m not qualified, and (2) that’s going to make me look real silly on
camera
so no thanks. I’ll pass. Now let’s not pretend this video series
I’m doing is altruistic. I’m hoping you’ll go out and buy my book,
The Tao of Craft. See, in my book, I start with Fu talismans
and sigil crafting, but branch out to cover the many cultural practices in Taoist
magic. There’s cloud writing, the esoteric traditions
that popularized it, how it’s used, and

Translations from Chinese grimoires dating

back to 400 A.D. on using Fu sigils for invoking spirit protection per elementals,
directions,
and the Sacred Seven planets. How famous Chinese alchemists like Ge Hong
taught Taoist magic. The Tao of Craft is intended to be a primer
in the English language for Taoist magic. I’ve even included translations and
spell-crafting
instructions from Chinese Books of Methods never before presented in the English
language. If you’re a cheap-ass and just want free
shit, it’s okay. I’ve still got you covered. Go to my website, which is
www.benebellwen.com,
and head to the section Online Courses. Click on the tab for “Free Courses” and
scroll down until you see “Practica of Esoteric Craft.” Click on the heading and
there you’re going
to find totally free video tutorial courses

Plus written supplemental handouts you can

download as PDFs. There’s an episode on Poison Magic, considered
a form of malevolent witchcraft. Learn about jiao bei or moon block divination
and how to integrate the practice into your own craft. Try your hand at crafting
the Seal of Changes
and really get hands-on with Taoist magic. And perhaps one of the more well-known
modalities
of Taoist sorcery might interest you, Thunder Rites, yep I’ve got a primer on that,
too,
and if you read through the webpage on Thunder Rites accompanying the video, you’ll
get
plenty of introductory-level instruction on getting started in Taoist thunder
magic. If that’s not enough free shit for you,
first, you greedy little bastard, but second, okay fine. Hit up my website again,
and this time head
to “About the Tao of Craft.”

You can read excerpts from The Tao of Craft

to decide whether it’s a book you might want to buy for your personal occult
library. You can also download lots of Taoist magic
correspondence tables, reference charts, calendar and astrological systems for
Taoist ceremonial
magic, and so much more. Then there’s a whole page of downloadable
Fu talisman instructables. These are step-by-step downloadable PDF handouts
on what I guess I’ll call low magic spell-crafting. And if you’ve gone through all
of that and
you’re thinking ya know, maybe I should support this woman, then return to the
Online
Courses tab to check out some of the online independent study courses I offer. The
course on esoteric practices of the I
Ching Book of Changes might be the most relevant to this video series you’re
watching. And guess what!

The course comes with my translation of the

Book of Changes along with how to use the hexagrams in Taoist magic. To close, I’d
like to circle back to Neolithic
China, some time between 3000 and 2000 BC, when we first invented writing. Writing,
which is what Fu talisman or sigil
crafting is all about, the crown and glory of Taoist magic, inspires the Chinese
Taoist
idea that words hold power. On a mundane level, you can see that in everyday
life, the way words can implant ideas and ideologies in people and how that fuels
political
movements. Leaders rise and fall because of words. Whether you succeed in life is
determined
in large part by the words you craft. The high value that the Chinese hold over
scholarship, education, and literacy is, yes, in part Confucianist, I’m sure, but
the
fundamental root of it, I would argue, is

Subconsciously Taoist—and more specific

than that-Taoist because it’s valued as a form of esoteric power. The practice of
feng shui, even acupuncture
and traditional Chinese medicine, come from esoteric Taoism and the body of
knowledge
cultivated by Taoist magicians and alchemists. And yet most Chinese and overseas
Chinese,
those of us living in the West, seem perfectly content to ignore the Taoist aspects
of our
heritage, of who we are and where we come from, of the role Taoist magic plays for
those
of us who are the descendants of the Dragon. Whether you examine it from a
mythological,
magical, or historic lens, the earliest forms of Neolithic shamanism is still an
integral
part of who we are, of what is in our DNA, what is in the Chinese and Diasporic
Chinese
consciousness. The cultural practice of Taoist sorcery is
tied to Chinese and Taiwanese identity, whether or not you want to accept that.

I don’t think I fully appreciated my heritage

until after the research and deep-dive I did into esoteric Taoism. Let me give you
an example. We touched on this in an earlier video. In 1929, Edwin Hubble proved
that the universe
is expanding and now in the realm of science, we begin to explore the metric
expansion of
the galaxies. Over the summer of 2016, which is really not
that long ago, Nobel scientists confirmed that in fact, the universe is expanding
at
about 5% to 9% faster than we had thought. They are so sure of their scientific
findings,
that they are only giving themselves a 2.4% margin of error. So is this a modern
discovery? Well, as we talked about in Video 2 on history,
4,000 years ago, a Chinese shamanic king conceived

Of the He Tu spiral sequence, a depiction

he said, of the universe, and, he said, depicting that the universe is like a
spiral, dynamic
and expanding. He used astrology and numerology to intuit
this knowledge. If you look at the depiction of the spiral
sequence this shamanic king drew, numbering the spirals outward from the center, 1,
2,
3, and on to 9, you get the ratio of 1 to 9 for expansion, which essentially
suggests
a 11% rate of increase for the metric expansion of our universe. Over on the left
is the He Tu sequence. I cover this in The Tao of Craft, pages 30
to 33. What you see on the right is the Spiral Sequence
of Creation that the shamanic emperor Fu Xi devised. The Spiral Sequence of
Creation, the He Tu,
forms the Early Heaven Ba Gua or Fu Xi Ba

Gua. And you can read about that on pages 25 to

28. If you check out the Spiral Sequence, it kind
of reminds me of the Catholic Sign of the Cross, doesn’t it? What this Chinese
shamanic king knew more
than 4,000 years ago through intuitive knowledge is what we gained through
scientific knowledge
only 100 years ago. The He Tu spiral sequence, by the way, is
an esoteric Taoist concept that throughout history and cultural practice, even
today,
is integrated into Taoist magical practices. Pacing rituals in ceremonial magic is
premised
on the spiral sequence. In Taoist creation myth that dates back to
the Zhou Dynasty, Heaven created Earth, and then Earth created Man. Specifically,
Lao Tian Yie, the Heavenly Father,
first created Heaven, which is the stars and

Planets. Then, according to Taoist creation myth, the

Heavenly Father took parts of the stars to form Earth, the planet we live on. Then
the Heavenly Father took from both Heaven,
parts of the stars, and Earth, and specifically, water from this planet, and
combined them,
stardust and water, to form Man, or humanity. So Taoist cosmology purports that
Heaven and
Earth together created Man. Today, science is confirming that the chemical
composition of stardust particles resembles the organic solids of meteorites, and
the
meteorites are the remnants of primordial solar nebular. As part of Earth’s
history, meteorites bombarded
the surface of our planet, implanting Earth with the seeds of primordial organic
materials
from Heaven, or stardust, and thus the zygote for human life was formed.

Man, per science, is made up of stardust and

water, which resonates with what the ancient Chinese intuited thousands of years
ago. Propelled by Chinese shamanism and Taoist
magic, what the Chinese knew through their mysticism is only becoming now known to
modern
scientists of the 20th and 21st centuries. So another reason I believe
understanding
our past and where we came from, the ancient thoughts that our modern thoughts
descend
from, is so important is because I believe the future of science and innovation can
be
revealed by our past, by going back in history to examine the mystic wisdom of our
ancestors. In the next video of this series, I’ll be
covering Taoist metaphysics. Then in 5 and 6, we’re finally going to
get you started on your personal solitary practice of Chinese—and Taiwanese—
occultism.