White Copper Ziwei Talisman Open Ring

A hui character is a special way Daoism writes the name of a deity: the parts of several characters stacked into one composite graph with no readable sound and no radical you can look up. Drawn in a single stroke when a talisman is made, the writer knows who it is; everyone else only recognizes the shape. The Ziwei hui is the one belonging to the Great Emperor Ziwei. Hui characters belong to the secret line of talisman writing, passed from teacher to student by word of mouth, and much of it never set down in text. Which is why the shapes differ slightly from one house to the next.

Ziwei is the star palace where the pole star sits. Daoism ranks the Great Emperor Ziwei as one of the Four Sovereigns, in charge of the warp and weft of heaven and the courses of sun, moon and stars. That seat is higher than an ordinary star lord's, which is why its hui character is also the most elaborate: ring inside ring, so dense there is hardly any air through it. Above the Four Sovereigns sit the Three Pure Ones, and Ziwei is not among them. The point often gets inflated, and it is better said plainly.

Gold and silver are two different tempers. Gold runs yellow, close to the warm tone of old goldwork, and looks good against dark skin; silver is near the natural color of white copper, cool, and clean against light clothing. The gold version is plated, and it wears off where it rubs on a desk, showing first at the edges. The plating is thin and will show copper at the high points within a month or two. That is not a quality problem; it is what plating does. The silver version doesn't lose color, it only dims.

The ring is open, held by spring. The strokes of the Ziwei hui are fine, raised only a thin layer, so a knock against something hard flattens a patch, and once flattened the character can't be made out. Wear it turned to the back of the finger: the palm side takes the most rubbing and wears fastest. Turned outward, the relief is still there after a year; left on the inside, it is flat within six months.

Some people use the Ziwei hui as a Wenchang charm, which is a different matter. It is Lord Wenchang who oversees degrees and examinations; Ziwei is a lord of stars, higher up and further off. For exam luck you would do better to go and make offerings to Wenchang. If you simply like the look of the character, that is another reason altogether. Say this clearly and the buyer won't regret it. Customers who have seen a talisman first and then come looking for the object don't need much explaining; one look and they decide. Those orders are the easiest to fill and the likeliest to come back. The regulars at the counter never ask whether it works. They ask whether the character is right.