A Joyful Announcement For The New Year: The Fabled Realm Of The Great Taoist Goddess Xi Wang Mu & The Taoist Immortals Is Open For Visits

by
David Michael Flatley <gypsyheart00@yahoo.com>
Copyright Ó2002

Having realized the Mother,
You thereby know her children,
Go back to abide with the Mother,
To the end of your life you will not be imperiled
Lao-Tzu, Tao te Ching, Section 32

Xi Wang Mu, the Great Taoist Goddess and the most popular and powerful female deity in Chinese history, has reopened her realm, the City of the Immortals. You are invited to visit. This is an exciting, momentous, and auspicious development for Taoists everywhere and especially for the Chinese people.

Xi Wang Mu, the Great Goddess of the West, is not well known in modern times, but she has been a beloved and compassionate figure in Taoist and Chinese literature, history, and mythology from the beginning. Moreover, the early Taoists clearly regarded her as the Empress of the Universe, and her sacred city has been a favorite destination for Taoist adepts for thousands of years.

The earliest references to her are from the time of the Shang Dynasty (1500-1000BC) which highlight her as a creator goddess who reigned alone, complete and without a consort, the source of yin and yang, prior to yin and yang, the Mother of all, a personification of the Tao--a Creatrix.

Depictions of her from the Shang Dynasty era found on the walls of tombs in paintings or engraved in rock imply that she was regarded as the controller of time and space, and ruled over death and the afterlife. She reigned at a time in China when acceptance of the Divine Feminine was integrated in the hearts of men and women.

K.C. Chang is a professor, writer, and probably the most admired historian and archaeologist of the Shang Dynasty and Bronze Age period of China. He has demonstrated that, at one time, China was a matrilineal society in which men and women were equal. During that time, most of the knowledge about nature and the spirit world was being downloaded from female shamans (Wu) and seers. Their insights, wisdom, knowledge, clarity, and understanding formed the core of what would become Taoism and Chinese medicine. It is not very well known that both Lao-Tzu and the Yellow Emperor (who wrote the oldest and most classic text on the Five Elements and Chinese medicine) both had women teachers. Xi Wang Mu emerges from this same era.

During the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) appreciation of Xi Wang Mu was the most evident. Her realm on Mt. Kun Lun, in far-western China, is often colorfully described as a place of exalted purity, surrounded by pearl, jade, and opalescent mountains. A wall of pure gold a thousand miles long surrounds her nine-storied palace, near the Lake of Jewels. Visitors, who entered the grounds through a golden door, described a celestial city and realm of wonder with emerald towers, fountains spraying diamonds, furniture inlaid and inset with precious minerals and gemstones, and beautiful gardens as far as the eye could see.

Xi Wang Mu, was said to be exceedingly beautiful and sat on a dragon and tiger throne, symbols which emphasized that she represented the unity and harmony of yin and yang. Others symbols associated with her are: the phoenix, the hare, blue birds, the toad, a nine-tailed fox, the deer, and the crane she often rode when traveling.

She is often portrayed and described as being in the presence of many happy Taoist immortals (Xian). Many of them were probably her students as she was said to be the keeper of the medicine and secrets for eternal life.

Her image has shifted and been obscured through time as matrilineal societies all over the surface of the Earth were overthrown by men and the Patriarchy. Her powerful image was seriously diminished and she was saddled with different male consorts such as the Jade Emperor, or she was simply and totally eliminated from the Taoist spiritual administration.

By the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) she is regarded as a protector and confidant of women. There is a wonderful book about Xi Wang Mu and her community during the Tang Dynasty, Transcendence and Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in medieval China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993) by Dr. Suzanne Elizabeth Cahill.

Dr. Cahill reviewed many poems, stories, and spiritual diaries by Chinese women of the Tang period who wrote of their interactions and communications with Xi Wang Mu.
She is repeatedly described as: friendly, open, warm, faithful, very powerful, and as one who promises and delivers companionship, encouragement, instruction, and wisdom and mercy.

In this book, which has a lot of information about Xi Wang Mu, she is not portrayed as wielding and displaying her undoubted power and force, but is seen revealing various levels of allowance, compassion, and playfulness. She speaks of change, growth, healing, hope, transformation, immortality, encouraging the many up-and-coming young goddesses to keep yearning and practicing so that Heaven and Earth could unify in their bodies and souls.

Reviewing her relationship with the Chinese women of medieval China, Cahill concludes:
"An embodiment of ultimate Yin, highest goddess and ruler of female transcendents, the Queen Mother has a special relationship with all women…she cares for women Taoists everywhere in the Universe, both perfected and aspirants."

Xi Wang Mu is also an embodiment of ultimate Yang, and pampered male transcendents and aspirants as well, and judging from the telling title of her new realm named Zhang Chu, she maintains an abiding care and concern for the fate of the Chinese people as a whole.

I have wanted to write of Xi Wang Mu for a long time, and have been collecting all the information I could find about her. I know of the present City of the Goddess and the Immortals because a friend and I were present and viewed its restoration. I work as a shaman and often work with various members of the spiritual administration doing repair work and activities, which help to balance the spiritual equilibrium in this galaxy, in this solar system, and on the Earth.

On October 31, 2001, I was involved in such work with some beings when we suddenly traveled to China to Zhang Chu, which is near the Great Wall of China. As we arrived, Xi Wang Mu, Lao-Tzu, the Eight Immortals and hundreds of other Immortals appeared and began rapidly building a gorgeous and splendid City of Light.

When they were finished with their magnificent construction, Xi Wang Mu said to me, "This is the Place of the Enlightened Ones, the City of the Goddess, the City of the Immortals. This city will bring a new understanding of the true meaning of what we came to teach. It is a powerful place call Zhang Chu, and exists between the 4th and 5th dimension."

She continued, "The Chinese people will become more united, some will embrace Taoism. The Immortals will remain here."
"Zhang Chu is a place of mighty warriors for Spirit, a place of grace and gallantry. The barrier to getting to Zhang Chu is strong, but easy to pass through. Purity of heart will open it."

When Xi Wang Mu moved her new city from Mt. Kun Lun from far western China and directly into central China she addresses, I feel, the geo-politics and societal structures of modern China. This is nothing new. Lao-tzu, Chang-zu, the Eight Immortals and many other Taoist sages have always spoken clearly and forcefully about the proper relationship between the state and the citizens and pointed the Way towards the real road to happiness across the land.

When I wrote the biographical stories of the Eight Immortals, which accompany the greeting cards so beautifully presented and sold by Master Mantak Chia, I reviewed all the Chinese stories about that most favorite gang of lovable transcendents. I was most surprised at how fiercely they defended the human rights of the poor and peasants. Many tales describe the upbraidings, diminishments, and embarrassments visited upon the rich and powerful by the Eight Immortals when they were caught bullying or oppressing the poor and powerless. That is why the Eight are still very real and popular in the imagination and minds of the common masses throughout Asia.

When Xi Wang Mu told me the name of the City of the Immortals, I could not associate anything I knew about her with the name. After some research I found that the name only appears in one time and place in Chinese history and no one has dared to use the name since then, except a present-day Chinese rock and roll band.

Zhang Chu was the name chosen in 209BC for the new empire established and founded after the first peasant-slave revolt in Chinese history, which eventually led to the fall of the Qin Dynasty.

The revolt in 209BC was led by Chen Sheng who was with a group of 800 peasant/slave conscripts who were sentenced to death for being uncontrollable. Chen Sheng, the Spartacus of Chinese history, led the group to revolt and soon commanded a peasant army of hundreds of thousands.

The Qin Dynasty (221-207BC) which the peasants soon toppled is said to have been especially cruel and rapacious and is remembered in Chinese history books for widely using torture. They heavily taxed the people for money and labor, as they were the rulers who built the Great Wall of China. Chen Sheng was killed six months after the revolt started, but the peasant leaders who followed him were eventually victorious. However, they did not rule for long and Zhang Chu soon vanished.

The meaning of the two words is very telling and compliments what we already know about Xi Wang Mu and the Immortals.

"Zhang" means "to be in charge of; control; wield the absolute power; mighty; to open one's hand; stretch out both arms; be the controller of one's own destiny; to lay on a feast; decorated with lanterns and colored streamers."

"Chu" means "the foundation; the base; to go (come) out; issue; put forth; generate; go beyond; to go beyond the limit."

I will leave it to the reader to string together the phrases into a definition of what the realm of Zhang Chu means, but it is clearly a very powerful name.

I asked Xi Wang Mu if her realm was always named Zhang Chu, and if that is where Chen Sheng got the name. She said no, she took the name from him. I believe she means to say to any in China who truly want to build a worker and peasant paradise, is that she and the Taoist Immortals can help, and that they have returned to show the Way. They are mighty and know powerful means that will allow all to go beyond their limits.

It is very important for you to realize that Xi Wang Mu, Lao-tzu, the Eight Immortals, and all Immortals are just aspects of your great being. My friend Ken Page, a great teacher, writer, and healer (www.kenpage.com) points out that, "The question we must always ask, is, 'Are we One or are we separate?'" If we are One then each of us is a part of All That Is.

I believe that if our collective consciousness were seen by a viewer from afar in its pristine and primordial condition, it would look like a beautiful diamond crystal sphere with 100 trillion facets (100 trillion cells in a human being, 100 trillion stars in this galaxy, 100 trillion galaxies in this universe). Each facet represents an aspect of our consciousness, and we are all connected to one another.

Please see that Xi Wang Mu, Jesus, Buddha, Dianna, Sophia, Kwan Yin, Isis, Krishna, Mohammed, Jacob, Great White Buffalo Calf Woman, and all the other great and admired ones are just some of the other brilliant facets of your great Multidimensional Self. If we see ourselves in this way, we can avoid creating hierarchies, power and control issues, god-goddess/human sub-divisions, greater than/less than inequities. This allows us to realize that these wonderful beings are the exemplars and idealized beings of what we are in the process of becoming. They are paragons, archetypes, personifications of us as we become realized Immortals ourselves and learn to brightly sparkle in our own dazzling and shimmering light. (Jesus in the Gospel of Mathew said, "The things I do, You shall do and even greater.") You are already a goddess or god, already enlightened, always immortal. The practices of the Healing Tao, as so clearly and tirelessly presented by Master Mantak Chia, are meant to help you realize this truth.

Similarly, the magical splendor of Zhang Chu is meant to be a model of what we are going to realize on Earth. I believe that we can build Heaven on Earth and that the spiritual administration is lending support, information, inspiration, and guidance for this heroic effort. It is going to happen.

The veils between the dimensions are thinning and that is part of the reason why the spiritual realm of Zhang Chu is accessible again. When I asked Xi Wang Mu what had happened to the City of the Immortals that had made it so hard to find, she said, "Those who were against the Immortals destroyed this city. The city of Zhang Chu in the 3rd dimension was destroyed in 205BC. Once they destroyed the 3rd dimensional city, they destroyed the 4th dimensional city with their thoughts. The Immortals went away to a higher dimension. They went on. I alone stayed as the guardian. It will resume its purpose. There are 12 Immortals who are here with me now; they are the guardians of the city. There are 2000 other Immortals with me as well, but at the present moment they are in the countryside."

"Thoughts?" I questioned.

She answered, "Thoughts can be very powerful David."

I discussed this with her, and what she means is that when men and women became less and less aware of the Divine Feminine, we pushed her and her realm out to the edges of the collective consciousness, forgot about her, and she faded out of our minds and hearts. We have the free will to be so dumb.

This happened everywhere on Earth where there were Goddess cultures. We know of this because of the very fine work of many women historians, anthropologists, mythologists who worked so diligently for the past thirty years reconstructing and reassembling, with overwhelming certainty, this crucial, but hidden, time in history. The late archaeologist, Marija Gimbutas, was a leader of this successful endeavor.

With the rise of Patriarchal ruling systems of power and control, which seized power by terror and murder, the Goddess cultures were pushed out of the consciousness of the people of the Earth. This is a fact. It is also fact that the Goddess cultures were not destroyed; they just became inaccessible. We know this because beautiful beings like Xi Wang Mu are here again to resume their work. The Goddessing movement has returned the idea into the core of the collective consciousness, wedging open a doorway. With that opening the Light is flooding in.

Free-willed beings push and pull ideas in and out of the collective consciousness all the time, and because we are One and not separate, each individual has the ability to input a frequency or vibration that all can then share. That is why my friends and I were invited to witness the restoration of Zhang Chu. When we registered the existence of this magical realm in our beings, it passed into the group mind and is now in play for all to enjoy. We need to enhance and fortify this presence.

The great effort of Mantak Chia, his wife Maneewan, and the Healing Tao instructors, writers, editors, translators, secretaries, and superb artists like Juan Li, has also served to open a doorway into the collective consciousness. Taoism is alive, thriving and now firmly anchored again in the hearts and souls of humanity which is another reason Xi Wang Mu is able to open her hands, stretch out her arms, and make plans to lay on a feast.

From the very beginning of his "ministry", Master Chia has diligently taught thousands of us the techniques for safely journeying out of the body. This is one way to get to Zhang Chu. Others can travel there in dreams, during meditations, or by other shamanic techniques, or just by vivid imaginations.

As hundreds and thousands of us begin to wander freely through Zhang Chu's fields of gold, inspired by the awe and wonder of the place, we can share our experiences, and what we learned from our meetings with these lovely beings. In doing so, we will open a wider wedge in the collective consciousness and help anchor the lessons of Zhang Chu on Earth.

I propose a new section for the Healing Tao newsletter which will be called "News from Zhang Chu" Many of you can participate in this by writing of your experiences and sending them to me at (Gypsyheart00@yahoo.com). I will collate your stories, and publish them periodically in this newsletter.

Collectively, we can integrate our wisdom about how to spiritualize the material and materialize the spiritual. Let's go.

I would like to thank my fellow shamans (shamankas), Francesca Fasano and Jane Grider who journeyed with me while I was gathering this information. I would also like to thank Xi Wang Mu for being so forthcoming.

David Michael Flatley began studying with Mantak Chia in 1988. He is the editor of Chi Nei Tsang (Healing Tao Books, 1990) He has also co-edited two books by the noted healer and writer Ken Page, The Way It Works, and Heart and Soul Healing published by Clear Light Arts (www.kenpage.com) He has a healing practice in San Francisco, California.