White Copper Wudang Mountain Round Dangle Charm

Wudang Mountain was rebuilt on a grand scale once, in the Ming. In the Yongle era the emperor sent officials to supervise the work, raising nine palaces and eight temples from the foot of the mountain up to the golden summit over more than ten years, and fixed the mountain as the seat of the Zhenwu Emperor. Most of the taboo characters on the mountain are for this deity, cut into stone, bells and ritual implements, in forms still followed today. Makers of the charm take these characters because their source is sound. The cliff inscriptions on the mountain are cut deep, so rubbings come out with white strokes, and craftsmen traced the characters from the rubbings onto the copper.

The six versions each carry a name. The Golden Light one takes the title of the spell, usually written as the two characters for golden light or as the opening of the full line. The Leizu character is the secret script of the Celestial Worthy of Universal Transformation through the Thunder Sound of the Nine Heavens. The Ziwei character belongs to the Purple Tenuity Emperor at the centre of heaven. The Tai Sui version corresponds to the Tai Sui deity of the current year. Wenchang corresponds to the Lord of Zitong, the patron scholars revere. Guan Er Ye is Guan Yu. Six together amount to a full set of the deities people commonly invoke. Of the six, the Golden Light is recited daily and the Tai Sui is the one to be avoided in the current year, so their uses are the plainest.

Diliu is trade jargon for a small round disc that hangs from a bracelet or a cord. The disc carries the character on the front, has a flat back, and a fine line around the rim frames the character. The hole is drilled at the top, no bigger than it needs to be to take a single cord. Thickness must be even: too thin and it will not hang steady and will flip; too thick and it is heavy enough to distort the knot. On this batch every edge is chamfered and feels rounded under the finger.

The uses are not limited to one place. At the end of a bracelet, hang one below the guru bead, in the position the trade calls the disciple bead. At the end of a cord, hang one so that it swings slightly as you walk. Some people hang one in the car or on a bag as a small charm. Plenty of buyers take a single one to go with a string they already own: if the colour matches, use it, and if not, switch to silver. Silver suits wooden beads and bodhi seeds; gold holds its own against dark agarwood.

Small pieces get lost. When the hole wears thin, restring, and do not pull hard while restringing, since the disc is thin and will bend. For dust in the strokes, brush dry with a soft brush rather than a needle. When it is not being worn, keep it in a pouch with the string rather than loose on a table, because a thing that small disappears on one gust of wind.