Category:Taoist Deities
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
Among the most popular of the Taoist deities are The Star Gods, General Kung, Hotei, and The Kitchen God. Originally regional or tutelary deities, they have, over the course of centuries, become popular throughout China and wherever people of Chinese descent now live, while still retaining their regional qualities.
The rise of Communism in China, with the imposition of state-mandated atheism, has diminished outward reverance to the Taost belief system, but the old deities still retain their popularity among the people.
Petitioning Taoist Deities
Like all deities, those of the Taoist panteon have special feast-days, forms of offering, and traditional prayers set aside for them. These vary somewhat in the diverse Chinese regions, and they have become adapted to accommodate social and secular life in the Chinese diaspora, where times of worship and veneration are sometimes presented as street festivals for tourists.
Interestingly enough, these diasporic festivals often reflect the era in which the migrants left China, so that the forms of offerings, food, music, and dance associated with seeking boons from Taoist deities may represent 19th century customs no longer practiced in China.
Popular Taoist Deities
Fu
- Fu, also known as Fuk, is the Star God of Happiness.
Guan Yu
- Guan Yu or Kwan Yu (160 - 219) was a Chinese military leader who was famed a just, loyal, and noble warrior. After his death in battle, he was deified. (Read More...)
Hotei
- Hotei, also known as Ho Tei, is the Rice God, a deity of abundance and wealth, often depicted with a bag of rice and large boat- or slipper-shaped ingots of gold bullion in his hands. Among syncretic Taoist-Buddhists, especially in America, he is sometimes referred to as Hotei Buddha, The Lucky Buddha, or The Laughing Buddha. {Read More...)
Lao Tse
- Lao Tse is the bringer of magic and mysticism.
Lu
- Lu, also known as Luk, is the Star God of Wealth.
Mazu
- Mazu or Matsu is also known as The Mother Goddess of the Sea.
Shou
- Shou, also known as Sho, Sau, and Suk, is the Star God of longevity.
Tu Di Gong
- Tu Di Gong or Fu De, also known as The Earth God bestows wealth and and mundane merit.
Yu Huang
- Yu Huang, also known as The Jade Emperor, is the supreme ruler and head deity of the celestial court.
Zao Jun
- Zao Jun, also known ad Zao Shen or Zhang Lang, is the Kitchen God, also known as the Stove God, and is the Guardian of the hearth, the family, and health.
See Also
- Religious Traditions
- Magical Traditions
- Divination, Fortune Telling, and Oracles
- Hoodoo, Conjure, Witchcraft, and Rootwork
- Working with Spirits
Pages in category "Taoist Deities"
The following 2 pages are in this category, out of 2 total.
