Your appreciation is appreciated, and thanks to the thankers.   Just to make it completely clear, it is Master Ni's version that should be used for the practices I am suggesting. In about mid 2009 I obtained a Chinese version and set about to answer some of the questions that the differences between the two translations raised, part of it is simply the fact that the invocation consists of four character statements, and thus the person translating it has to read into these four characters a great deal in order to make it into comprehensible English, but of the two Lagerway's is generally more literal which is understandable because he is an academic writing for a scholarly audience, Master Ni on the other hand is writing for his students and other interested parties and needs to provide something that is for people of unknown skills and backgrounds. I provided Lagerwey's version to let people realize that this invocation is potentially very powerful because even though Master Ni's version is not as literal as Lagerwey's, it is still connected to the original, and for this practice approaching it through the Heavenly Lord Taiyi, it will be even more effective, because the Heavenly Lord Taiyi will make sure it makes the necessary connections and is effective without being dangerous. In Chinese the character for this type of text is 咒 (zhòu), which I prefer to translate as "incantation", and this incantation turns out to be one of the most important in Ritual Daoism, and shows up in many places. Lagerwey's translation is part of his discussion of a performance of the Rite of Cosmic Renewal, one of the most important Rites of Ritual Daoism. Another authority Master Javewu, lists it among a set of Eight basic incantations, he calls them Mantras, which in his tradition are essential to the practice of his tradition.  The link given in his name above will take you to the Chinese text and you can find these Eight Essentials listed down among the comments and notes.   Starting out as I said in my earlier post one does the Mantra to the Heavenly Lord Taiyi and then finishes the last repetition this way:   Heavenly Lord Taiyi who rescues from distress, Bless, Heal and Protect me, Help me to realize my Heavenly Nature, To transform my earthly existence. Bless my performance of the following invocation, That it may be safe, powerful and effective, And Protect me from evil influences, Open my understanding to its deepest meaning to further my self-realization.   And then one repeats the Golden Light Invocation:   The mysterious origin of Heaven and Earth is the source of pure energy. With this energy I can rectify the imbalances and communicate with the entirety. Within and without the three spheres of the universe, only the Tao is most revered From the Tao I receive the subtle Golden Light to envelop and protect my body and soul It is so subtle that it cannot be seen or heard. The subtle Golden Light permeates Heaven, earth and me. It nourishes and educates all life. I touch this Heavenly invocation with deepest sincerity. (Changing touch to feel if you want) All spiritual beings gladly guard me. All high deities of the five Directions come to assist me. All the Divine Immortals kindly accept me. The Golden Light enables me to transcend all worldly troubles. I am given power over all evil forces The enlightenment comes from the Divine immortals like thunder breaking the dark clouds. They inspire my clear wisdom to see through all things that are obstacles in my way. My upright chi is shining and active. - May the Jade Marrow of Heaven fill my bones. May the holy medicine of immortality grow within me. May the spiritual resources always reach me. I truly know the holy medicine of immortality is colorless and flavorless. After 10,000 repetitions of this invocation, the wonderful secrets of all supernatural Beings become self evident to me. From the Jade Emperor, the Everlasting One of the Universe. may his Golden Light descend and guide me.   at least ten times and up to forty-nine. Breath Golden Light into your Lower Dan and then let it radiate out so it envelopes your whole body and extends some distance beyond it.   This is the preliminary meditation/recitation practice, I will probably say more about this, but I am going to do some posts on necessary background, which will explain the cosmology that exists in the background of these practices and others that have been mentioned in this thread, such as Baqua mirrors, baths and other things and explain why such things work and why it is not reducible to just “energy”, whatever “energy” means. After that, I will explain a little about why we are starting with these practices and what they have to do with exorcism.