🇨🇦🇩🇪🇨🇳张殿李🇨🇳🇩🇪🇨🇦 on Nostr: OK, this one is back to "Daoists have the coolest shit", but it's paired with Chinese ...

OK, this one is back to "Daoists have the coolest shit", but it's paired with Chinese seals. Because Daoism, being Chinese, is just as prone to using cool-looking seals as the rest of the culture.



What you're looking at here is one of the more intriguing things I own in this domain (whether "this domain" is seals or Daoism). It is a 六面印 (liù miàn yìn, or "six-faced seal"). More specifically it is a 桃木六面印 (táo mù liù miàn yìn, or "peachwood six-faced seal").



In Daoism and Chinese folk religion as well, seals are incredibly important, being used to "authenticate" talismans, bless objects, or command spiritual forces; they're like signatures of authorities from the spiritual realm. (I've said it before, and I'll say it again: in Daoism, priests are more like lawyers issuing legal briefs and slapping down court orders and injunctions ... just in the spirit world.)



Usually a Daoist priest or nun would have many different seals for many different purposes, along with reams of the appropriate types and colours of paper and inks. This particular seal, however, is kind of a "Swiss Army Knife" of spiritual seals. It's a cube, made of peach wood (the ultimate material for Yang energy, used especially for the command and warding off of evil spirits). The red ink is supposed to be cinnabar paste (I'm cheating here and using a liquid that has some cinnabar) which also has Yang energy. If you **really** want to activate your talisman you cover it with gold dust and sweep it off, leaving behind a glittering golden seal backed by red for extra efficacy.



When you read the alt texts you'll also notice some syncretism. This particular seal mixes Daoist deities and a Buddhist figure. This is very common in Chinese religions where lines between Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism blur.