White Copper Handmade Forged Bagua Talisman Dharma Pendant

A hand-forged piece keeps hammer marks on the surface, shallow dents struck one at a time, uneven in depth. Casting cannot do this: a casting is flat, the edges clean as if cut. Set two of the same design side by side and the hammer marks fall in different places — that is the proof of handwork and also its temperament. If you want regularity, it cannot give you any. Hammered copper hardens, what the trade calls cold work hardening, and past a point it has to be annealed or it cracks.

There are two sets of bagua, the earlier and the later heaven. In the earlier heaven arrangement Qian is south and Kun north; in the later heaven Li is south and Kan north. Which set is on a plaque can be told from which trigram sits in the south. Both are in use: the later heaven for directions, the earlier for the order of generation. When customers ask, I generally do not expand — they will not remember it anyway, better to let them count for themselves. One trigram in the wrong place and anyone who knows will see it at once.

The visual language of a talisman is not the same as ordinary type: there is a head at the top, a body in the middle, a foot closing at the bottom, and the opening stroke is often the two characters for “by imperial command,” written in a continuous line without a breath. The patterns on this plaque are ornament made in the manner of a talisman — not drawn by anyone for anyone, and not put through any ritual; I want that said up front. Talisman strokes want to run in one movement, and where the line breaks the next must pick it up, or the whole thing falls apart.

The hammered face should be outward to look right, and the dents are exactly where sweat collects. One summer day against the skin and the bottoms of the dents go dark, which makes the texture clearer, and some people like that change. Soap lodges in them too: two showers wearing it and the dents go white, and a cloth will not reach the deep ones, so use a soft brush. If that bothers you, take it off and press it dry with a soft cloth. No toothpaste and no polishing cloth — one polish rounds the edges of the hammer marks and the handmade character goes with them.

Bagua is used loosely in folk practice: hung over a lintel, cut into the back of a mirror, a small plaque in a car. It belongs to no single teaching; Daoist temples use it and so do ordinary households. As a gift it suits someone who moves often, or a housewarming, but I say only that it is a thing older generations were in the habit of hanging, not that it guards a house. Anyone who truly believes has their own rules and does not need me to teach them. Some buy it to hang by the gear lever for peace of mind; I do not stop them, I only say not to block the view.