Bagua（八卦）and Wu（巫）Practices

I saw this on Benebell Wen’s video on Shamanism and Taoism (lecture notes)

The mapping came from Benebell Wen, but the commentary are my own thoughts. In the original, Benebell Wen had sorted the categories by Taoist and Shamanic, yang and yin practices. In the listing here, I am matching them by the primorial, pre-heaven ordering, Heaven and Earth, Fire and Water, Lake (Joy) and Wind, Thunder and Mountain

Astrology - ☰ Heaven (乾, qián)

Astrology is the study of the movements of the Heaven, as reflected by the movements of the stars. There is an order, a predictability that is obserable. One of the big themes in Chinese civilization is that of the meeting of Heaven and Earth.

While Chinese astrology has its own understanding with how they relate to the Five Movements (五形), this idea applies to Western and Vedic astrology.

Banishing Rites - ☷ Earth (坤, kūn)

Earth, or pure Form, is as much about the depths of Yin. Banishing, or burying into the depths of the Void, although there is so much more to Form and Yin than just banishing.

The planet in which we live within forms a protective energy to support and nourish life, much the way a human woman’s womb energetically forms a protective and nourishing space for the human fetus. After the human baby is born, that energetic womb is externalized into a field that surrounds the child, and protects that child. It is basis for the mother-child bond, what forms the Home. Maintaining that nourishing field and protection also means selecting what is nourished and what is not.

What is not nourishing, what is harmful for the raising of the child is banished.

Rites to the Gods - ☲ Fire (離, lí)

Although there are many ways to appeal to the gods – a good theatre with the pomp and ceremonies will get some attention – one of the most primal connections to divinity is through Fire.

From the cheery fire in the humble hearth to the burning heart of a star, from that small desparate flame in the depths of winter to the Olympic Torch lit to inspire the whole human civilization, every fire connects us to the promordial Fire. It’s the release of the primoridal Fire of Creation, to carry us back into the Heavens. It’s the promise that, whatever adventures we have, whatever experiences we live through, that we remember the Eternal.

Herbalism - ☵ Water (坎, kǎn)

Herbalism gives the impression of low magic – of folk remedies, of potions and lotion. Yet hidden within these practices is the deep exploration of Life itself.

Blood, Xue (血) in animals binds Consciousness into otherwise inanimate objects. Warm-blooded animals carry the inner Fire. Humans have a body that connects Heaven and Earth (the spine). The root of our life, the anima and movement, is not in the solid matter dancing but in the fluidity of water.

Plants don’t have blood. They have sap. The directly bind Light into forms of complex sugars which is traded with microbes for those minerals, and teach the minerals about how to live. When we ingest plants, we are bringing into our bodies these ideas.

As such, the study of herbalism is the study of what would otherwise inanimate forms learn to move, to breath, to dance, to live.

Divination - ☴ Wind (巽, xùn)

Which way does the wind blow?

When we look at the weather, we are seeing the changes of fire and water, of temperature and humidity, moving across the vast landscape that is the body of Mother Earth.

It’s also a metaphor on the movements of thoughts, of our relations and social dynamics. It is reading the room. Will you fight against the headwind or carried by the tailwind?

This is easier if you can read the wind.

Mediumship - ☱ Lake (Joy) (兌, duì)

Lake or Marsh may seem like an odd connection to Mediumship, but the connection here is clued in from the Shuowen for the word for marsh 澤: 光潤也從水睪聲 - it’s the glow and luster that comes from gazing upon water, the pool of water that reflects the Heaven: Joy.

And while mediumship can come in many forms, among the oldest, primal form is that of the ecsatic trance and dance.

Fu Talismans - ☶ Mountain (Stillness) (艮, gèn)

In her video lecture, Benebell Wen talks about how during divinatory rite, after offerings to the gods, the changes that are coming are read, the heavens are consulted (astrology). And if it is not favorable, the guardians and ancestors are called upon to avert disasters.

Whether favorable, or unfavorable and a call for intercession, these are sealed into the turtle shells by carving the magical words. These form the basis for the Fu Talismans: the sealing (stilling) of this magic into a solid form.

Exorcism - ☳ Thunder (震, zhèn)

When the bad actors ran havok, those that delight in malice, those whose actions are unvirtuous, unjust. Their smug faces smirking with getting away with the abuse. The betrayers, the corrupt, the cowardly, know this: enough is enough.

Here comes the Thunder rolling in. Here comes the retribution for the harm caused. The degenerate order, shaken; the rotten, fallen.