Secrets of Chinese Craftsmen Magic 厌胜术

Traditional Chinese carpenters

In ancient China, craftsmen like carpenters, masons, tailors and etc., had practiced mysterious practices of putting certain control objects/ symbols (镇物) or magical objects/ symbols (法物) into their crafts based on how their clients treat them fairly or not.   This mysterious practice is called Yan Sheng Shu (YSS, 厌胜术).

Yan Sheng Shu is a branch out of Daoist magical practice.  It is divided into "black YSS" and "white YSS".  Black YSS will bring misfortune and disasters to the client's family.  This usually was practiced as revenges when the craftsmen felt that they were treated unfairly by their clients.  White YSS will bring good fortune and luck to the client's family.

YSS can be classified in three major schools:

1. Magic through imagery:  This is based on imagery of an object can exert energy related to that object.  For example, Chinese carpenter can secretly draw a bird (representing phoenix which also means success) on the main beam of a house.  If the beak is drawn facing indoor, it will bring client good wealth luck.  If the beak facing outside the house will bring client wealth-losing luck.
2. Magic through 5-elements colors:  This method put minerals/ rocks of different colors or actual metal (copper, gold, silver) in certain location of the foundation of the house to enhance or hurt the luck of the client's family.  For example, cinnabar represents fire energy put in certain location of house foundation to enhance or hurt certain member of client's family.
3. Magic through 8-directions (palace representations):  In Feng Shui, each direction is represented by a "palace" or one of the 8 trigrams in Bagua.  Each palace also represents a family member of a house.  For example, NW or Qian palace represents the oldest male and SW the oldest female.   By placing auspicious or inauspicious object in certain palace, the craftsman can play trick on the fortune of certain member of the client's family.

The "magic through imagery" school is pretty common across cultures, like the voodoo doll witchcraft.  "Magic through colors" is also quite common in magical rituals of other cultures.  "Magic through 8 directions" is uniquely Chinese.

Of course, there are also "anti-YSS" magic, but that is another story.


Ken Lai
© 2018 Ken Lai, all rights reserved.

Video Correspondence Courses: (click for details)   
“Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui” w/23 hr. HD video
“Visual Form Feng Shui” w/13 hr. HD video
“Applied Bazi: Sickness Forecasting and Management” w/33 hr. HD video 
“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. 1: Forecasting and Decision Support” w/32 hr. HD video
“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. 2: Basic Bazi Therapy w/18 hr. HD video
“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. 3 w/ Advanced Bazi Therapy w/18 hr. HD video
“Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth and Career” w/ 7 hr. HD video
“Period 7/8 FS Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques” w/ 6 hr. HD video
“Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
“Practical Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G” w/ 12 hr. video
“Professional Imperial QMDJ 4G” w/ 21 hr. video
“EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/ FS”w/ 3 hr. HD
“EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui” with 4 hr. HD video
“Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing” w/ 24 hr video
“Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth” w/ 3 hr. video
“4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp+ 2017 edition” with 18 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com

"My current luck sucks, ..........."

"My current luck sucks, ..........."

The last thing people will say is:  "because I'm an ass or I did something bad."

For Chinese in Taiwan, they are likely to say, "It must be something wrong with my fortune or Feng Shui.  Let me consult a lao-shi."  Lao-shi means "teacher" or "master" in Chinese.  People in Hong Kong will pretty much say the same thing, except they call lao-shi as shi-fu.

They luckier ones may have their own steady fortune-teller who is more than likely, also a Feng Shui master.

The master will check the client's 4-pillar or ZWDS chart and see if the client is in a bad annual or 10-year luck period.  If there is nothing wrong with luck period, the master will suggest checking the Feng Shui of client's residence.   If there is nothing wrong with client's house Feng Shui, the master will suggest checking the tomb Feng Shui of client's deceased close-relatives.

For those who do not have a trusted master, they are likely running into not-so capable "master" who will mess up their Feng Shui even more --- due to their current bad luck!

I have taught some seminars in Mexico in the last few years.  For Mexicans, at least for those that I run into, when faced with  "My current luck sucks, ..........." situation, their likely response will be:

"Someone has voodooed me!"

This seems to be a "standard" response from South Americans as even their leaders like Venezuela's Chavez have their own voodoo guys.

According to them, the "sign" that someone has done witchcraft on you is that your home suddenly has flies flying around.  They will need to find a more powerful voodoo guy to expell the spell on them.

No wonder my "Daoist talismans for Feng Shui and Blessing" course is the most popular course there.  It has a section on protection from voodoo.


Ken Lai
© 2009 Ken Lai, all rights reserved.

Video Correspondence Courses: (click for details)   
“Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui” w/23 hr. HD video
“Visual Form Feng Shui” w/13 hr. HD video
“Applied Bazi: Sickness Forecasting and Management” w/33 hr. HD video 
“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. 1: Forecasting and Decision Support” w/32 hr. HD video
“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. 2: Basic Bazi Therapy w/18 hr. HD video
“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. 3 w/ Advanced Bazi Therapy w/18 hr. HD video
“Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth and Career” w/ 7 hr. HD video
“Period 7/8 FS Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques” w/ 6 hr. HD video
“Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
“Practical Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G” w/ 12 hr. video
“Professional Imperial QMDJ 4G” w/ 21 hr. video
“EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/ FS” w/ 3 hr. HD
“EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui” with 4 hr. HD video
“Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing” w/ 24 hr video
“Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth” w/ 3 hr. video
“4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp+ 2019 edition” with 18 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com