Chinese Magic

The ancient Chinese viewed rituals, people, animals, plants, and the land as inseparable. I have been learning about the complex relationship between Chinese occultism, Confucianism, Daoist magic, and esoteric Buddhist traditions via @bellwen. In the Neolithic period, centuries before the birth of Christ, the imperial historian Cangjie invented writing based on the footprints of birds. During the Xia dynasty, shamanic practices facilitated a harmony between gods, people, and nature. In the Shang Dynasty, ceremonies involved calling upon the four directional deities prior to ritual commencement. In the Zhou dynasty, Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching birthed Daosim, which blended with Buddhism and Confucianism, and emerged alongside feng shui and geomancy. Alchemy is both inner (neidan) and outer (waidan), magic is both good and evil, a sorceress channels all energies.

After the West invaded China during the Opium Wars in the 1830s, the Cultural Revolution, one of the most violent and tumultuous eras in human history resulted in spiritual implosion in the form of book burnings and relic destruction. When Chinese wisdom was exported to the West, it became fragmented and diluted from its divine source. Writing is a form of magic, practiced through sigil and talisman crafting.

Through writing I transmute the suffering of my ancestors into joy. I have had a fascination with words since childhood, reciting nursery rhymes and songs with ease, writing several hundred page novels at the age of ten, crushing my writing exams, majoring in honors English in college, and now writing nature-inspired poetry.

“Biographies and letters of gifted women who suffered mental breakdowns have suggested that madness is the price women artists have had to pay for the exercise of their creativity in a male-dominated culture.” -Jenara Nerenberg, Divergent Mind

Photos: New Holly Youth and Family P-Patch

Sources:

Benebell Wen: https://benebellwen.com/blog/ and https://www.youtube.com/@BenebellWen