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Chinese Oracle Script Divination Cards Chinese Oracle Script Divination Cards Guidebook benebell wen First Published September 9, 2015 Second Edition Published July 3, 2019 Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial License Also by Benebell Wen: Holistic Tarot: An Integrative Approach To Using Tarot for Personal Growth (North Atlantic Books, 2015) The Tao of Craft: Fu Talismans and Casting Sigils in the Eastern Esoteric Tradition (North Atlantic Books, 2016) Spirit Keeper’s Tarot deck and The Book of Maps First Edition, 2018 Vitruvian Edition, 2019 G L O R Y & G R E A T N E S S T A L I S M A N T O E N S U R E S U C C E S S Near the top of the sigil design, you’ll see three connected circles representing the sacred trinity. To the left is the glyph for moon. To the right is the glyph for the sun. Below is the oracle bone script for Divinity. Within the bell are the Chinese oracle bone script characters for “victory,” “wealth and great riches,” “fortitude and strength,” and “glory.” In my personal practice, I’ll light incense, a candle, envision a beam of light from the crown of my head connecting upward, and then white light energy descending down from the connection I sent up, traveling down through my arm, out my fingertips, and into the sigil I’m drawing, empowering it into the talisman. I visualize my intention materializing and coming into being. One reliable way to determine whether your craft was effective is through emotion: it should be an emotionally-charged experience and leave you a touch emotionally exhausted. Lady of the Ninth Heaven The Lady of the Ninth Heaven is likened more to an archangel than a deity. She is associated with the phoenix and kingfisher feathers, a master of military strategy and magic, and was venerated by the Yellow Emperor, the first emperor of China, who knelt before her. She taught the Yellow Emperor the art of war and the art of spell-casting so that he might defeat his enemies. Her symbols are the sword and the gourd of healing. Today she is venerated as a goddess of high magic and intellectual prowess. In personal ritual, focus on her image above to connect to her. Call upon her for support in forms of combat and in magical practice PETITIONING AND ATTUNING TO THE LADY OF THE NINTH HEAVEN I call upon Jiu Tian Shwen Nu, the Lady of the Ninth Heaven, disciple of the Empress Mother of the West, to lend me the spirit and power of your sword, so that I may be strong, fearless, indomitable, to cut through all obstacles, and lend me the spirit and power of your gourd, so that I may heal those who are wounded and repair that which is broken. Na mo Jiu Tian Shwen Nu, send to me the power to change that which I seek to change. Contents Design Conception ............................................................................................ 7 Chinese Oracle Script .................................................................................... 11 How to Work with the Cards ..................................................................... 17 List of All Cards ................................................................................................ 29 1. Luminescence .............................................................................................. 33 2. Affinity ............................................................................................................. 34 3. Abundance ..................................................................................................... 35 4. Serenity ........................................................................................................... 36 5. Shift ................................................................................................................... 37 6. Exchange ........................................................................................................ 38 7. Teacher ........................................................................................................... 39 8. The Wheel ...................................................................................................... 40 9. Journey ............................................................................................................ 41 10. Conflict ......................................................................................................... 42 11. Spirit .............................................................................................................. 43 12. Cauldron ...................................................................................................... 44 13. Poison ........................................................................................................... 45 14. The Book ...................................................................................................... 46 15. Untie the Knot ........................................................................................... 47 16. Prosperity ................................................................................................... 48 17. Affluence ...................................................................................................... 49 18. Longevity ..................................................................................................... 50 19. Force .............................................................................................................. 51 20. Stasis.............................................................................................................. 52 21. Joy ................................................................................................................... 53 22. To Establish ................................................................................................ 54 23. Split ................................................................................................................ 55 24. Adjoin ............................................................................................................ 56 25. Fate ................................................................................................................. 57 26. A Decoy......................................................................................................... 58 27. Healing.......................................................................................................... 59 28. Hardship ...................................................................................................... 60 29. A Sudden Jolt ............................................................................................. 61 30. Sentimentality ........................................................................................... 62 31. The Sword ................................................................................................... 63 32. Stability ........................................................................................................ 64 33. Benevolence ............................................................................................... 65 The Card Back Designs ................................................................................. 66 Design Conception In late August and early September of 2015, my parents visited me to keep me company while my husband James went mountain climbing with my cousins. Mom and Dad’s departure flight was on September 9, 2015 and I would be driving them to the airport at 5:00 a.m. That morning twilight, I was jolted awake at 3:00 a.m. without an alarm clock, because I thought someone was in my room talking to me. At first I thought it was my mother barging into my room, nagging at me to wake up, because I had somehow overslept. Then I realized no one was there. Immediately thereafter, a second thought popped into my mind: using ancient Chinese script from oracle bones for divination. Along with each script would be a short phrase indicating the script’s message. I thought, “Well, that sure is a nice idea” and then was ready to go back to sleep, now that I realized I was two hours too early and no one was actually present in my room. However, I just couldn’t get back to sleep. So I got up, booted up my laptop computer, and started drafting what would be the Chinese oracle script divination system. By 3:33 a.m. exactly, within about half an hour, I had completed 32 scripts I wanted to include, along with accompanying messages. Intuitively, it did not feel complete, but I didn’t compel any additions. I went back to bed and wrote longhand into a notebook to memorialize some of my ideas for the divination system. The easiest medium would be as oracle cards, so I brainstormed the structure and numerological assignments. Then, just before I had to get ready to leave with my parents for the airport, I thought of the 33rd character: 善. It means “benevolent.” [It can also mean “virtue” or “compassion.”] 7 GUIDEBOOK FOR THE CHINESE ORACLE BONE DIVINATION CARDS It is a word that is often associated with Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of mercy and compassion. It is also the center character that forms my given name in Chinese: 溫善鈴. That center character means benevolent. According to mythic lore, the Lady of the Ninth Heaven, a beneficent spirit that I tend to liken to the Western concept of an archangel, was the protégé of the Empress Mother of the West, one of the four directional deities and often referred to as a dark goddess. However, the Lady of the Ninth Heaven herself, like many other deities in the Chinese Taoist pantheon, holds a deep respect and admiration for Kuan
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