Excerpts from Chinese Taoist Sorcery

Gods, demons, and ghosts are immortal. They do not die, they last forever. Composed of energy, they have no need to breathe, no definite form, and cast no shadow. Because man is uniquely positioned between Heaven and earth, he naturally possesses the intuition and extrasensory powers needed to communicate with the gods.
If happiness means attaining everything one's heart desires, then Chinese sorcery is capable of making people happy. Sorcery undoubtedly exists, but the invisible process by which it works cannot be unravelled by scientists, philosophers, or anthropologists because it cannot be fully explained by logic alone. As a result, when confronted by divine mysteries, intellectuals can only disguise their lack of knowledge about such matters by scornfully dismissing them as primitive superstitions. But the fact remains that man can manipulate divine forces through rituals. (Opening the Temple's Door)
During the performance of rituals, ghosts are attracted by the brilliance of the lights on the altar and by the sorcerer's Chi energy. The radiance and force of this internal power frightens evil ghosts and attracts good ones. Chi is the only human quality that ghosts fear and respect. (Page 14)
When a sorcery victim withers under the attacks of his enemies, nothing in his life will come to fruition and no progress is possible in these circumstances, for it is as if his legs were bound by a rope. (Page 21)
The sorcerer is aware that until he lights the candles on the altar and burns spirit money, the doors of the spirit world will remain closed and the gods will not be able to listen to his pleas or accept his offerings. (Page 16)
The Nature of the Devil: Anyone, priest or layman, who worships the Devil for any reason cannot be a good person. However, since the Devil is part human, he likes to grant people's wishes.

God, the Devil, and Man form a triangle and each of its sides represents one world. The Devil's wish is to rule over the other two worlds, therefore Devil worshiping gives him the opportunity to ally with people against the gods. (Page 48)
The Perils of Seducing a Woman: The fast pace of contemporary society motivates young men to adopt an enjoy-now and pay-later attitude in love affairs. They give little forethought to the risks involved in love and sex and are only interested in plucking as many beautiful flowers as they can, as if accumulating numbers was a matter of masculine honor. They forget to "look a flower over very carefully before plucking it," so many easily fall victim to love spells. (Page 94)
Warding Off the Devil: Human beings cannot see the Devil, they can only perceive the presence of minor demons. If a person did see Satan, he would fall dead on the spot because his mind could not withstand such a horrific shock... Devil worshipers who say that they have seen or talked to the Devil are either hallucinating, lying, or both. (Page 49)
Talking with God: Throughout history, many people have claimed to have had personal contact with God. The message supposedly given to these intermediaries is always the same, "The world is about to end and mankind should repent of its sins." Alas, despite such "divine" threats, the world still exists and stubborn sinners remain unrepentant. (Page 183)
Wooden Fish, Wooden Sword: Many Chinese religious objects such as swords, statues, and fish figurines are made of wood. These objects represent items that people want but do not have. When performing his rituals, a magician may make wooden models of food and money and place them on his altar to indicate that he would like to receive wealth from the gods. Other people can use wooden items in a similar way. A vegetarian, for example, can place wooden carvings of meat dishes on his table so that he will not miss having meat with his meals, and a man living alone can make servants out of wood. (Page 204)
Haunted Houses: Although priests and sorcerers are skilled in the art of performing exorcisms, some ghosts defy all human efforts to dislodge them from their dwelling places. In these instances, the exorcists fail in every attempt to expel the evil ghosts and the battles physically drain all those involved in the futile task. The result is that both the sorcerers and the owners of the building become discouraged. Once they realize that the evil entities have celestial support and are not going to leave, the building is deserted and left to fall to ruin.

If the building is in the country, the people around it will not suffer. However, if it is in the midst of a city or town, it should not be entirely abandoned to the hostile spirits. If no other avenue is left open, the building should be converted into a daytime temple of any religious denomination, in which people gather to pray. In this way, the entities will occupy the building at night but will be kept in check during the day by the gods invoked in the prayers. This will help ensure that the neighborhood will be left in peace, for the ghosts will have no opportunity to play pranks on people. (Page 44)
Unlucky Beatings: Although the common household broom cannot be used as an airplane, it does have some esoteric power. It can be used to sweep bad things out of a house, including witchcraft objects such as hexing bundles that have been left there to harm the owners. The magician can also keep unwanted people from visiting his house if he uses a broom to sweep the front porch. (Page 146)

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