Golden branch: the antonym of witchcraft curse, instead of using lead people to simulate witchcraft.

When we talk about witchcraft, we can't avoid Fraser and his work "Golden Branch". As an anthropologist's work, it collects the original belief information about different nationalities around the world. Today, it is still a classic about explaining the origin of witchcraft and religion.

Fraser made an incisive summary of the principles of witchcraft, including homeopathic witchcraft based on similarity law and contact witchcraft based on contact law. The concepts of two kinds of witchcraft are easy to understand.

The principle of "homeopathic witchcraft" (simulated witchcraft) is to believe that everything in the world is of the same kind and the same cause, so if you exert influence on an object, it will act on similar objects. That is, he can achieve any goal he wants by imitating behavior.

According to the principle of "contact witchcraft", once objects touch each other, they will continue to interact at a long distance after the physical contact is interrupted. That is, you can exert influence through an object that has been touched by others. The most familiar example is the tooth you need to take care of.

If we simply analyze the logic of their witchcraft, we will find that their two principles are just misuse of association: the basic similarity law of homeopathic witchcraft interprets mutual similarity as absolute identity; The basic "contact law" of "contact witchcraft" identifies one contact as permanent contact.

Therefore, according to the concept of witchcraft, we will find that in practice, this kind of witchcraft often uses not only the first homeopathic witchcraft, but also the second contact witchcraft to achieve its expected effect and purpose.

During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the relationship between heaven, earth, man, god and ghost was particularly close. At this time, an extreme form of puppet witchcraft appeared, that is, a religious ceremony of taking oneself as a spouse and accepting the fate of others. According to the records in the literature, in the early Shang Dynasty, such activities were held:

This is the famous "Tang Qi Sang Lin". In fact, Cheng Tang's subjective purpose is to replace millions of people with himself and bear the disaster from God. Essentially, it is a "simulated witchcraft" based on similar laws. After all, in God's eyes, Cheng Tang may be no different from other people. They are both two-legged people.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, this kind of witchcraft, which originated from the Yin and Shang Dynasties, was also prevalent, and the most famous one was the "Duke of Zhou's illness on behalf of King Wu". In Historical Records of Zhou Benji, there is such a record:

The activity of the Duke of Zhou replacing Eritrea with himself is also a kind of "simulated witchcraft" which conforms to the principle of Yin and Shang Dynasties. But interestingly, after the death of King Wu, his son Zhou Chengwang became ill shortly after he ascended the throne, and as an uncle, he once again took his place and carried out witchcraft rescue activities for him. This time, there are some differences, which are recorded in Historical Records and Biography of Meng Tian:

Among them, "Gong Dan slapped his claws" actually means that Duke Zhou also used a part of his body this time, and the "claws" are probably nails. Participate in witchcraft with hair, teeth, nails and other body parts. It is a core element of the second "contact witchcraft", that is to say, when the Duke of Zhou automatically cut off his nails and sank into the river, it actually meant the whole delivery of his life. Obviously, in this religious ceremony, Duke Zhou's role as body double of Eritrea is a simulation of witchcraft, and slapping his paws also involves contact with witchcraft.

Deere and curse can be regarded as two aspects of puppet witchcraft. The former can be called white witchcraft as good, while the latter is called black witchcraft as evil. The typical case of black witchcraft is the famous "witch curse" in the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, and its inducement is a wooden cursed doll.

Yan Shigu wrote in his notes: "Carving wood is a human figure and is called a puppet." In Zhu Anshi's description, there is not much specific information about the puppet, except that the carved Woodenhead was buried underground to curse. However, in the later actions of Minister Jiang Chong, Woodenhead's materials were further defined as "Mu Tong Ren". However, the history books are still vague about how this curse came into effect.

In later literature, we may see how curses lead to disease and death. These materials are all recorded in Zhang Li of Pinus densiflora, Volume III, "Unearthed Chapter": "Or write your name, or draw a shadow, or stab your heart with a knife, or cut off your hair and fingers."

This means that some people are unwell and have a lot of adverse reactions before they find themselves cursed by the wicked, and the methods used by the cursed people are actually mainly to hurt and destroy the puppet.

In addition, why are these dolls mostly made of wood and must be buried underground to play a role? It is also worth pondering. Fraser once illustrated in the Golden Branch that some plants can also transmit certain characteristics to the subject through homeopathy or imitating witchcraft, or it is for this reason.

White witchcraft, contrary to black witchcraft, also uses dolls as casting tools, but apart from the different materials used, there are more places in tombs, and lead people are the most typical representatives.

Lead statues were first seen in tombs in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and also appeared in the Warring States Period, and became popular in the Han Dynasty. For example, 198 1, four lead statues were unearthed at M 13 1 on the north side of Zhongzhou Road in Xigong District, Luoyang City. Its height is 2 1.5cm, its shoulder width is 9.6cm, and its abdomen thickness is 4.5cm. The figure's face is flat, his nose is prominent, his eyebrows are clear, he has a bun on his head, and his hands hold a cylinder in a kneeling position.

With the increase of physical data of lead people, their functions are gradually known by the world, because this kind of lead people are often hidden in pottery bottles (tomb bottles), and cinnabar is often used to write articles on bottles. For example, the words on the Han Tomb in Sanli Village, Chang 'an County, Shaanxi Province are extremely clear.

Generally speaking, judging from the writing materials on the pottery bottle, there are two kinds of lead people with different natures. One said that "self-generation lead man" means that lead man is used to replace the dead; Talking about "stranger's name" shows that lead people can replace strangers. On the Zhu Shutao jar unearthed from the Han Tomb in zhang wan, Lingbao County, Henan Province, the two functions of taking the lead instead of the living and relieving the suffering of the dead are confused. The reason for this may be that the ancients thought that both the dead and the living had disasters and needed lead people to take the blame instead of them.

The messenger of the Emperor of Heaven is willing to bury the tomb in Yangjia Town, and is willing to lead the public to relieve the dead and eliminate the sin of the living.

A problem has arisen. Why does this puppet, which is used to save strangers' lives and solve problems for the dead, have to be made of lead? In fact, these inscriptions may reflect the special concept of the original Taoist tradition on the afterlife in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

As we all know, lead plays an important role in Taoist rituals and symbolic systems. For example, lead is the most important material and concept for Taoism to cultivate inner elixir and outer elixir. In fact, Taoist practitioners in the Middle Ages usually think that the primary task of cultivation is to find "true lead" and "true mercury" that can be transformed by interaction, and the result of cultivation is to get "golden elixir" that can prolong life.

In this cultivation process, lead, as the embodiment of Yin, corresponds to water, the West and the White Tiger, while mercury, as the embodiment of Yang, corresponds to fire, the East and the Qinglong. On the basis of this theory, taking lead as the raw material of this kind of "lifting figurines" and its connection with "Yin" naturally has the ability to perceive and represent the dead.

In fact, whether it is a curse or a god, the witchcraft principles used by it are basically homeopathic witchcraft based on the law of similarity. As for the varieties of materials, in addition to the paulownia mentioned in the article, cypress and peach are often used as extremely special wood. In fact, there is logic behind the seemingly chaotic selection of materials, because these two kinds of wood and lead have two similarities:

Ren Tao existed in the pre-Qin period, mainly because of the concept that peach wood can ward off evil spirits. As Zuo Gong said in the fourth year, "Peach arcs and arrows can eliminate disasters", that is, peach trees can be used as bows and jujube branches as bows and arrows, which can eliminate disasters and ward off evil spirits. Zheng Xuan once said in his notes: "Peach is also afraid of ghosts."

Ren Tao in Mawangdui Han Tomb has two forms. The first one is "peach stalk Ren Tao", that is, the peach branch is divided into two parts, one part is cut into triangles, the middle ridge is nose, and the two sides are inked. The other is "Peach Man in Clothes", which is more vivid.

As for cypress people, cypress trees are more closely related to graves, ghosts and gods and disasters. There is such a story in Hanshu Gaodiji. According to legend, in the winter of Emperor Gaozu's eighth year, Liu Bang returned from destroying the remnants of Han Xin, and when he passed by Zhao, someone under his command plotted to assassinate him. Liu Bang was preparing to stay here that night when he suddenly asked, "What's the name of this county?" Saying "Bai people", Liu Bang said that "Bai people were forced by others", so he left overnight.

It can be seen from this short story that just hearing the name of cypress, Liu Bang was worried that it was related to disaster and left overnight, which proved that cypress had extraordinary magic. If this story is more negative, then judging from the story of Wang Dao in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, cypress still has the function of causing disasters.

It is said that Wang Dao asked Guo Pu to come to him for divination. Guo Pu concluded that Wang Dao would soon encounter unexpected troubles, so he gave him the following advice: "If you drive a few miles west, you can get a cypress tree, cut it down like a male, put it in bed and sleep, and the disaster will be eliminated."

In fact, in the late Tang Dynasty and later, a kind of statue made of materials other than gold and wood began to appear, which was called "stone town". Because it also has the function of body body double, it probably originated from this kind of "lifting figurines", but its function is not to "relieve the pain of the living and comfort the dead" as before, but to make people live forever. Because this statue is engraved with the inscription: "The stone is rotten and people change."