Tao of Craft: Fu Talismans and Casting Sigils in the Eastern Esoteric Tradition

OK, I'm not expert on Fu Talismans but I do know about Buddhism and the errors made are horrendous !This author or editor or maybe proof reader (!?) does not seems to know the difference between Pali & Sanskrit and this is important, it would be like a Western Occultist not knowing the difference between Latin & Greek, or a European Historian not knowing the different between German and English ! No one would take them seriously.Example: Page 207.Namo Avalokiteshvara ... This is Sanskrit NOT Pali, not only this but it's a Mahayana Deity NOT one found in the Pali Cannon, an inadmissible error for someone writing a book like this !Plus the translations and explanations of the mantras are misleading and some of the worst I have come across, they're as bad as those pf the early Victorian Theosophists.Example: Page 209.Om mani pad ma hom.Oh good lord, where to begin ? It's actually Om mani padme Hum - translation "Om Jewelled Lotus Hum" and the explanation given in the book is, well, silly.Also the author thinks one can "invoke" the Buddha so relieve suffering, sorry, but this is total nonsense, the Buddha in never invoked unless this is some weird Chinese thing from popular folk culture ?There are other errors but I can't be bothered to list them all. The obvious errors have I must admit put me off reading the rest of the book I really don't know how these days such errors could get through the editing process but they have and such errors make me wonder what others their are concerning Fu Talismans that I will not recognise because I don't know the subject and on these grounds I can't say I would trust this book without some ability to check this authors claims.By all means buy and enjoy but be careful. Also I would add that Traditionally Fu Talismans would only be created by advanced Daoist practitioners who could enter quite advanced states of consciousness to make Fu Talismans effective. Like all things in Esoterica popularisation (both in the East & West) had dumbed down what was once an advanced and profound practice.

This book is AMAZING! The writer took her time to organise the whole theory and practice of Esoteric & (some way) Exoteric Taoism as well. The best part of it, that this book is PERFECTLY compatible with Western Esoteric teachings! I've never studied TAOism before, but this book made me a tingling sensation (positively) in my stomach while I've red it. I believe, I should bow in front of Benebell Wen for her Great Effort to make this book exist and I hope more and more people will dive into it! THANK YOU BENEBELL!

I hated her Holistic Tarot but this one is perfect. You can find information from IChing to Sigil crafting. I am combining her book with another Sigil crafting book this way I can improve my knowledge on Sigils

My mentor is Chinese and doesn't speak English. All my texts are in Chinese, some ancient Chinese so to find such information in English was very invaluable to me.

This is THE book if you want to understand Daoist metaphysics.After I had been highly interested in Daoism (or Taoism in the Wades-Giles Romanisation system - either way it's said with a 'D') for some time and was seriously considering making it my religion & dedicating my life to it I decided in order to understand it first I would need to spend a a year solely dedicating my life to studying Daoism & trying to know the Dao through reading & meditation, with minimal contact to other humans.Up to page 169 of this book and from page 265 to the end were one of the first things I studied and were probably the biggest single leap forward in my understanding of Daoism.I haven't even read the section on creating Fu Talisman (I will one day) which is supposed to be the point of this book, but I still learnt SO SO much from it. It is THE book for understanding Daoist Metaphysics; it'ss packed with charts, full breakdowns and handy reference tables for the meaning of things like the Wu Xing (the 5 elements/phases), the 5 directions, the Ba Gua, the Lo Shu, the 8 Triagrams and Yin/Yang. This is information that you usually would have to stumble upon and build piece by piece but it's all here, all easily referenced. In an my studies I have NEVER found this kind of information in this much detail and NEVER all in one place. I return to this book for reference CONSTANTLY.And Daoist metaphysics aren't just useful for understanding the Dao but are also the foundation of the I Ching & Traditional Chinese Medicine.On top of that you get access to more information that is intuitive to most Chinese Daoists but typically impossible to access for non-Chinese Westerners like how to properly set up/arrange a Daoist alter, how to properly cleanse the statue of a Daoist God and Chinese astrological information, even a note on cultural appropriation that has been very helpful to me on my path towards knowing the Dao.I have no doubt this is an excellent book for people who want to craft Fu Talisman, but it is also THE book for anyone who wants to understand the deeper levels of Daoism, whether as an interest or practise. I highly recommend it for anyone serious about using the I Ching too. This is a big, heavy, thick book that's rammed with information. There's simply nothing else like.I have included photos showing how packed the pages are with charts and graphs (I have purposely tried to blur these photos - the bookmark is also my own)If you want to learn more on OR get a preview of the sort of charts she has included for reference in this book make sure to check out Benebell Wen's YouTube channel too.