The "Five Ghosts" found in Feng Shui Studies are totally different from the "Five Ghosts" used in Taoist Sorcery.
Let's get started to go into details of Five Ghosts in Taoist Magic / Sorcery ...
Mao Shan sect's Five Ghosts (茅山五鬼术):
In the old records, Mao Shan Five Ghosts (also known as Five Spirits or Five Ghostly Generals) is known to have 2 groups of 五鬼.
The 1st group of 五鬼 (primordial group) is recorded to consist of these 5 spirits:
- Dou Ren (窦仁)
- Li Kai (李凯)
- Zhang Wu (张五)
- Shi Tai (十泰)
- Chu Mian (褚免)
Under the 茅山鳳陽派 (Feng Yang Sect), the concept of the Five Spirits are that they are spirit guardians governing the 5 cardinal directions and as named as:
- Central: Yao Bi Song (中央姚碧松)
- North: Lin Jing Zhong (北方林敬忠)
- West: Cai Zi Liang (西方蔡子良)
- South: Zhang Zi Gui (南方张子贵)
- East: Chen Gui Xian (東方陈贵先)
In the folklore (民俗学), the Five Spirits are another group consisting of the 5 colors corresponding to the Five Colors Charm (五色符):
- Black Ghost Xiao Zan (黑面獠牙鬼萧贊)
- White Ghost Guan Qian (玉/花面獠牙鬼管钱)
- Yellow Ghost Chang Yong (黄面獠牙鬼常拥)
- Red Ghost Jin Cai (紅面獠牙鬼晋財)
- Green Ghost Wei De (青面獠牙鬼魏得)
For the second group of Five Ghosts, they are summoned most frequently by spiritual mediums to assist devotees (民间通灵术) to gain wealth and fulfill requests.
As these group of Five Ghosts are not enlightened beings, once a request is being fulfilled, the person who made the request will need to repay back at a certain "price" that usually he/she won't know till "the day is due".
Till today, a lot of the unorthodox sects (even those who claimed that they are orthodox) still summon the 2 groups of Five Spirits to assist the devotees in their requests and to make things work in order to gain the trust of the devotees or followers.
In Mao Shan Magic Skills (茅山术), there are a few sets of Secret Rituals(法门) to send off or disperse these 2 groups of Five Ghosts away. But once these Secret Rituals(法门) are invoked, the owner of the Five Spirits will receive repercussions in a way that he/she cannot withstand.
MORE GROUPS OF FIVE GHOSTS IN TAOISM:
Five Ghosts used in "FIVE GHOSTS TRANSFER WEALTH" MAGIC(五鬼运财法):
They are wondering ghosts summoned from 5 directions. They are called:- Wealth Bringing Ghost Of East Direction (东方生财鬼)
- Wealth Bringing Ghost Of West Direction (西方生财鬼)
- Wealth Bringing Ghost of South Direction (南方生财鬼)
- Wealth Bringing Ghost of North Direction (北方生财鬼)
- Wealth Bringing Ghost of the Middle (中央生财鬼)
Five Ghosts used in "FIVE GHOSTS CONFUSE THE HEAVEN" MAGIC(五鬼混天法):
They are Ghost Officials of the Five Directional Spiritual Camps (五营官将).Their names are:- Cao Shi(曹十)
- Zhang Si(张四)
- Li Jiu (李九)
- Wang Ren (汪仁)
- Zhu Guang (朱光)