1/ A set of amulets for many purposes from the 2018 ed of the 繼成堂 (Hall of Continuing accomplishments) almanac, published in China
Preface (Text marked A) in bottom left
符咒是我国几千年的民族传统文化之一，但并非每个人画符都能，应验，有绿者必须心清意静，意念高度集中才能达到画符的目的
Amulets are part one of the ancient culture of our country. But not every person is capable of drawing an effective amulet. Those who are fated to have this property, should with clear heart and still intent. Only through a high concentration of the will, may the amulet have the desired effect.
There are 15 amulets on the page. Each of them resolves a particular evil. The work describes the various materials on which the amulets are to be written on:
1. Makes business prosper; carry about the person. Write in black ink on red paper
2. Increases money luck; carry about the person. Write in Cinnabar ink 硃 on red paper.
3. Use this this if children are hard to rear 難養. The central inscription has space for which to write the child's Year, Mth, day and Hour of birth on.
4. For harmony between man & wife. Write this with Cinnabar ink on Yellow paper. Burn to ash and stir into the partie's drink, but do not let the two parties know of this.
5. Protects the foetus and the Mother. This amulet is especially valuable if mother has offended the foetal god;胎神, in which case, burn to ash, dissolve it in water and give it to the pregnant woman to drink. Mother and child will be safe.
6. for a rather distressing condition called 收惊 Shoujing, baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%94%B6…, where the child grows ill after a fright (said to be of supernatural origin)
7. Amulet to dissolve bones; said bones are ones accidentally swallowed and stuck in the throat. It is to be written using black ink on a piece of flowered writing paper; 花笺. A spell is written besides it, namely"
"Brightly, Brightly, Yang, Yang, I humbly ask the Nine Dukes of the Three Mountains, to transform the water into this dish into that of rivers in seas; to transform it into a sea, to transform the gullet into a lake a thousand fathoms deep, to swallow [the bone] with all effort, and transform it so it disappears"
( I presume you burn the paper, recite the spell , stir ashes into water, & swallow the water.)
8. To dispel evil forces that one has offended 退煞冲丧犯. Write using Cinnabar ink on yellow paper; burn and drink the ashes in water
9. To resolve quarrels between father & son (make 2 copies of the amulet, one to be carried by each party)
10. To suppress bad dreams. Write with red ink on yellow paper, and carry on body
11. To stop bleeding and cure small wounds. The text adds the following instructions.
Note: For a gentle cut or scratch, when nothing else can be had, take a green, leaf of a tree (so long as the leaf is not toxic) and trace out the amulet [shown above] with the fingers; whilst doing so say one, two, three, four five, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Then paste it, with the writing side towards the wound.
12. To avoid quarrels and contentions. Write using red ink on red paper; carry on body.
13. Amulet to repay debts. Write it in black ink on yellow paper; write the reason for the debt on the back.
You are to write your name in the place of the crosses on the right and the date and time of birth on the dots below. The line on the left is for you to write your address; the Chinese words there translate to "Address: People's republic of China, ____ Province, ___ " I presume if you are not in the PRC, you replace this line with your own address and country.
You are to write your name in the place of the crosses on the right and the date and time of birth on the dots below. The line on the left is for you to write your address; the Chinese words there translate to "Address: People's republic of China, ____ Province, ___ " I presume if you are not in the PRC, you replace this line with your own address and country.
14. For “protecting the body" 保身. To be written in Cinnabar red ink on yellow paper, and carried about the person
15. For protecting the body whilst travelling.To be written in red ink on yellow paper, and carried about the person.
