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The Taoist Bridge

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In an essay called "The Bridge: An Essential Implement of Hmong and Yao Shamanism," Jacques Lemoine describes the construction and use of spiritual "bridges" among the Hmong and the Yao, two Chinese minority groups. I know the Korean mudangs make use of cloth "ghost bridges" as well. Lemoine speculates that the spirit bridge may exist as well among Taoist sorcery (the Yao are actually Taoist), but I haven't heard of it.

 

The spirit bridge is a cloth or string connecting an altar to the front door. It is, spiritually, the route the "shaman" travels to enter the spirit world, and it is also the route the spirit helpers travel to assist in healing.

 

Does anyone know of anything like this in any of the schools of Taoism? In historical records? In contemporary practices?

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