S925 Silver Daoist Wealth Talisman Pendant

Open a talisman out flat and look first at the head, then at the foot. In Daoism it is a class of document rather than a doodle: head, belly, gallbladder, foot. The head usually carries the Three Pure Ones or the words of a command, the belly states the matter, the gallbladder holds the few characters at the core, and the foot closes it. There is an order to writing one. Where the brush starts, where it pauses, all of it has rules, and done in the wrong order it is not a talisman at all. The rules are documented in the Daoist canon, with details differing between schools. It is supposed to be written in a single breath; stop halfway and the qi is cut.

The wealth talisman is one of the common branches, written with phrases about summoning wealth and ushering in treasure. There is also a way of compressing the four characters for those words into a single compound, the strokes borrowing from one another, though it is still read as four syllables. Composite characters of this kind are widespread in folk use and appear on door decorations at New Year. Made into a silver plaque, the cinnabar red is gone and only the engraved line remains. The skeleton of the talisman survives, and the presence it carries has changed.

The front of the pendant is the talisman and the back is left blank. The blank is not laziness. The face is already full, and anything cut on the back would be noise. A fine ridge runs along the edge, round under the finger, which is what allows a thin sheet to stand up. The hole at the top is centred so the plaque hangs straight rather than tilting. The thickness has to be held at the point where the piece stands without pressing into the chest, and that is the most laborious part of the work.

People wear a thing like this for different reasons. Some want something to hold on to, some were given it by an elder at home, and some simply like the pattern. I will not tell anyone to treat it as an amulet and I will not promise anything on its behalf. Business depends on the books and on people; a plaque cannot help with either. But touching it each morning as a reminder to keep steady today, that much is real.

Do not carry a silver plaque in a back pocket, because it bends when you sit down. Do not let it share a pocket with keys either, since one knock on the edge leaves a mark. Tie the cord knot small and tuck it behind the plaque so the front stays clean. When the silver dims, press flat with a soft cloth; the lines of the talisman are recessed, so do not drag across them. A silver plaque is less afraid of wear than of bending. One fold leaves a white crease that will not come out.