You might be going camping soon; as a Taoist, what should you prepare and bring to the trip? Taoists are professionals who deal with spiritual problems. We know that a first aid kit is always handy for outdoor activities, so what about a Taoist kit?

A complete Taoist kit should follow the basic structure of Saam Law Tao, which starts with three main categories, and three items for each category, a total of nine things.

Sky Category – Source of Power

The first thing you need is the biggest power source, which stays home or sometimes is an altar of someone else such as your beloved Jee Si Gung (me). This is the main source of power that will be supporting the whole trip. For our disciples, I strongly suggest you use your altar at home AND have the HQ support you.

The second thing you need is a power source that you can bring with you. It is equivalent to how we bring a battery pack or a generator with us on an outdoor trip. This is what powers up everything else. In this case, it would be a body for a deity, like a statue, but maybe a portable one that isn’t fragile. You can use a wooden one, or we also have other options, such as the lineage magic fan, which can be opened anytime to become your Sun Paai immediately. This statue or object should be cultivated at your altar daily so that when you bring it on the trip, it is a cultivated deity inside. This will be set up at a location when you arrive at the campsite, like an altar, with a table and such.

The next one is a smaller “power source” that you can bring around, such as a pendant or bracelet—something small and designed to be carried on the body. The statue is supposed to be set up somewhere like an altar, and these mobile ones connect to the statue.  You can also have a bunch of these mobile “power sources” for the other people on the trip. Another option would be a FU or even a coin that everyone can hang on their neck.

Ground Category – Deployment of Power

You got a big power supply, so how to deploy these powers into different “appliances” and let the power be utilized? These tools allow us to put the power where it is needed. Your deities at the portable altar can provide the power, but you need troops (like soldiers) to do the work.

First, troops from the main altar will be set up and deployed at the portable altar for guarding and defence. For this, you will prepare an army at the home altar with some flags (small ones), for example, the yellow and red flag, five camps army with five flags, or the Bagua army with eight flags. These flags will be cultivated, which means that troops will go into them, and you will then put them at your portable altar.

Secondly, you will need some FUs to command the troops you brought. When you set up the portable altar, you would need to tape some FUs here and there to deploy the troops to different locations.

Thirdly, we will have some beans and other sacrifices to be used locally for deploying the troops out of the altar to do work. We default have some water, flour, salt, rice, and yellow beans, or you can also have red, black, green and white beans. These beans are to represent the troops. You can use them to splash and blast at the evils and troubles.

Human Category – Command and Communicate

Now that we have the powers set into different “appliances, “we need a way to control and set commands. We can “talk” to these powers and command them to execute the tasks as told.

You will need three things: a bell, a mirror, and a pointer for direction, which will be a sword. For the sword, you can use a short one or an extendable one for portability. Sometimes, we can use a dragon-sword token to replace a sword if the situation doesn’t allow us to use the sword. Even a stick can be used as a substitute if we don’t have a sword.

The bell signals sound so the deities can listen to you, the mirror allows the gods to “see” whatever you point to, and the sword allows you to command and direct the troops.

What to Do at the Campsite?

1. Set up the portable altar, and put up your statue and flags. It would be best to have a safe and stable ground, a table, and a pot of uncooked rice as your “incense pot.” In front of this pot, you can put the sacrifices such as the beans, rice and salt. You can also put food offerings such as 3 cups of tea, some food, fruits, candies, etc.  There should be a lighter and some incense; if you are afraid of fire in the wild, use electric candles and a lighter to light up the incense. The flags can also be stabbed into the pot too. If it is a typical 2-flag setup, you will put the red flag on the altar’s left and the yellow flag on the altar’s right.  Your tools such as the bells and such should be on the table too.  Once the table is set up, you can turn on the e-candles, light incense, and welcome the deity to its new “base.” Everyone else should also participate and show up to let the deity see you and know who you are. Submit a letter to the deity, tell what this trip is about, how long you will stay and such.
2. Mark your territory; go around and deploy FUs to mark your magical perimeter. To do this, you will take the FUs that you have prepared and sanctify them once at this portable altar, and then go around and tape them or burn them at a different location around the area to mark your territory. Take water, inject the “altar purifying spell” into it, and then sprinkle the water around the place to purify and cleanse the area.
3. Give everyone empowerment and have everyone be connected and blessed by the deity at the portable altar. Everyone should go to the altar and be cleansed and purified by the main priest, and then something should be given to them to wear or carry around, which will protect them by having a special deity assigned to follow them around, protecting them for the whole trip. On top of that, a FU could be consumed (fu water) so that the power goes to the people. When leaving, ensure you cleanse everyone again before going home; we don’t want anything to be attached and going home “with” you. Oh yes, another FU cleansing bath when you are finally home too!

It seems like a lot to intake at once, right? No worry, ordain today for the direct teach; you will have your “newbie” method that you can immediately.