According to the descriptions in Taoist scriptures, a talisman is a condensation of the clouds in the sky. In the Records of the Divine Talismans of the Three Grottoes ( 《三洞神符记》 San Dong Shen Fu Ji ), it is written that " the talisman is originally condensed in the sky. The Supreme Perfection ( 太真 Tai Zhen ) faced upward, wrote the heavenly writings, differentiated the directions, and distinguished pictures and drawings from the writings of the talismans." Later, the Supreme Venerable Sovereign (太上老君 Taishang Laojun -Lao Zi(老子)) and other immortals imparted them to the Chinese on Earth.
The Magical Power of Chinese Characters
In the Book of Master Huai Nan ( 《淮南子》 Huai Nan Zi ) wrote that long time ago when Cang Jie(仓颉) completed the creation of Chinese characters, there was millet falling from the sky, and spirits were crying at night. The reasons were that the gods / deities were happy that human beings can call upon them anytime when they need help and the ghosts/demons were sad because human beings can from then on use talismans to control them. It is thus clear that the idea existed long ago that some special Chinese characters were able to impeach and control spirits.
Note: Magical Talismans used in Korea and Japan are also written in Chinese Characters. The Spiritual Masters in Korea and Japan did not used their Korean alphabets (Hangul) and Japanese alphabets (Kana, Hiragana, and Katakana) respectively to create new kind of Magical Talismans, surely knowing that by doing so there will be no magical power created on the Talismans. This is yet again showing the true fact that only Chinese Characters (known as Hanja in Korea and Kanji in Japan), an ancient language, can only be used in creating Spiritually Powerful Talismans, in order to communicated between heaven,earth and hell.
Taoist Talismans - In Ancient Time
The early Taoist Sects from the folk society inherited and developed folk sorcery, which became a part of the system of Daoism. So the witch talismans were turned into Taoist Talismans, and developed into volumes and volumes of talisman books of the Chinese.
Such books produced in the Eastern Han Dynasty are The Double Scriptures of the Great Peace ( 《太平经复文》 Tai Ping Jing Fu Wen ), The Five Talismans of the Numinous Treasure ( 《灵宝五符》 Ling Bao Wu Fu ), The Perfect Writs of the Five Sprouts ( 《五芽真文》 Wu Ya Zhen Wen ), The Writs of the Three Sovereigns Ones ( 《三皇文》 San Huang Wen ), and so on.
Most of the Taoist Sects originated from sorcery and as a result the activities of dispelling the spirits became one of the magical skills of early Daoism.
Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, more and more Taoist Talismans were produced. The fifth chapter of the Inner Book of the Master Who Embraces Simplicity (《抱朴子內篇》 Bao Pu Zi ) recorded that there were 56 kinds of great talismans, amounting to over 500 volumes. The new sects that appeared later often created their own talismans and compiled their own books of talismans. Taoist Talismans and Registers became the trust of the succession of Taoist Sects.
The Structure of Taoist Talismans
Taoist Talismans are mainly composed of Chinese characters while others consist of astrological diagrams or objects for casting spells (厌胜物 Yansheng Wu ), and some of them even have divine images on them. But the majority of them are made up of characters and transformed Chinese characters. Because of this, talismans should have been understandable.
If one was able to understand all the writings of the talisman there were Chinese characters, one could register and invoke thousands of souls and control hundreds of spirits. There was nothing that could not be done.
The special characters for making talismans are called Talismanic Characters. Talismanic Characters have their own pronunciations, which are called Talismanic Sounds. Talismans are constituted of the Talismanic Characters and other elements, including the diagrams of the stars ( 星图 Xing Tu ), divine images, and objects for casting spells.
Knowing the implications of these elements can help one understand the structure of the talisman. Talismanic Characters are made according to certain principles, together with some other elements. Simple talismans are made up of one or several simple Talismanic Characters, but complicated ones are composed of many mixed parts. Therefore they are hard to be read.
Not only do the elements of talismans differ from sect to sect, but also the ways of making and reading them are passed down secretly from master to disciple within the sects. Laymen seldom have had a chance to see them. Moreover, the collocation, the order, and the positions of the various parts of the talismans are not easy for laymen to know.
As far as the images of the talismans are concerned, there are some other talismans with shades of layers of different colors. Sometimes they look like a large dripping-wet ink ball, and sometimes they seem to look like an outline of the spirits. They seem to be too mysterious to be understood because of their obscure structure. As a matter of fact, they can be understood and analyzed. Such talismans with ink balls and obscure structures were once prevalent in the Taoist Sect of Thunder Skills ( 雷法 Lei Fa) after the Song Dynasty.
Talismans are widely applied in the various stages of Taoist Skills, fasts and offerings, and rituals. They are used when setting up altars, invoking the generals, offering petitions, casting spells, destroying Darkness, refining and saving by water and fire. Taoist Black Magic Talismans are also used in Taoist Sorcery to command ghosts, spiritual soldiers from underworld and demons to disturb and destroy the enemies.
At the same time, Taoist Masters often use Talismanic Water to cure diseases, control the spirits, and dispel ghosts for the people or used by Taoist Sorcerers in Taoist Black Magic to control the souls of the victims or enemies. Therefore, Taoist Talismans are popular among the folks, and part of the custom of the common people.
It is very sad situation now that more and more Westernized Chinese Folks in Singapore and those Chinese settled down in Western Countries and even the Chinese in Northern Part of Modernized China have condemned Taoism and Taoist Sorcery as mere superstition.
Few of the rare Western Folks, who happened to have the chance to brush across basic information on Esoteric Taoist Mysticism, get excited about it, are searching high and low for In-Depth Taoist Magic Seminars / Boot Camps and Books in English to attend and buy but the "Westernized" Chinese themselves , who have better chance to get hold of Taoist Talismans or find Taoist Masters to learn the Taoist Magic, are shunning away from it.
It is only during the time when these "Westernized" cum "Modernized" Chinese who reach the dead end ( such as attacked by Black Magic and the Christian Pastor/Father can't help , no cure in sickness, financial difficulty etc) will then start to think " Oh... Maybe the Taoist Magical Talisman , which I heard of can help me". By then, they don't know where to get help which they desperately needed.