two dark wisps of smoke like things that sometime take shape around my bathroom area: This doesn't surprise me as bathrooms have long been considered trouble spots because of their connections with and to the underworld and decay, indeed in the large urban areas in which most of us live the only naturally occurring nature spirits are what, since I read this in the late 60s:     I have called "sewer snoids".  When the energy is bad, these guys will come up and cause problems, indeed sometimes they are specifically called upon to cause problems, or can show up when magic has been poorly performed and gone awry.   To get back to exorcism, here is just some of my further advice:   I want to first introduce two fundamental concepts that are useful to understanding the practices I am about to explain. These are practices of Natural Magic as it was traditionally called in the West and these things are very much misunderstood by the modern person when they first approach them. Natural Magic deals with the properties of natural things, such as herbs and stones that can be used for magical purposes and the fact that Professor Johnson has a whole book in his Daoist Magic series, Daoist Mineral, Plant and Animal Magic shows that it is important in Daoist Magic also. The first of these concepts is:   理, lǐ: texture / grain (of wood) / inner essence / intrinsic order / reason / logic / truth / science / natural science (esp. physics) / to manage / to pay attention to / to run (affairs) / to handle / to put in order / to tidy up   and this corresponds to the Western concept of “Form”, and is the basis for the possible usefulness of natural preparations in magic. I will explain more of this in another post, for now I want to get to the recommended procedure which involves the use of the lǐ, or inner essences of salt, vinegar, lemon and sandalwood.   The easiest way to use these is to add a little vinegar, salt, lemon oil and sandalwood oil to purified or preferably spring water, and then starting as I specified before, reciting the first invocation to the Heavenly Lord Taiyi and the Golden Light Invocation and follow it with this:   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 this liquid made from precious natural treasures, Unify and bring together into an effective treasure The inner essences of Water, Vinegar, Salt, Lemon and Sandalwood Into an efficacious tool of cleansing and purification. With Vinegar dissolve all evil aggregates, With water carry away all evil phantoms, With Salt keep the forces of corruption far away, With Lemon spread light and happiness to fill my house With Sandalwood establish a firm base for happiness and success, Let my home be as much like your Eastern Paradise, As can be realized here on Earth, That I may realize the fullness of my human potential. In happiness peace and quiet.   Repeating it over your soon to be magic water several times until it feels strongly “charged”. This is a process of making something Magically Efficacious, or as the Chinese say:   灵, líng: quick / alert / efficacious / effective / to come true / spirit / departed soul / coffin   Something being spiritually effective, or ling, is the difference between an effective tool of exorcism and salad dressing, though it is also possible to make magically efficacious salad dressing.   Notice that in the invocation above I have emphasized both of today's Daoist magic vocabulary words and one use, efficacious treasure, or líng bǎo is an important concept about which I will have more to say.   This magically effective liquid can be sprinkled around the house, used to wipe off surfaces and even as an ingredient to bath water to clear up ones own aura.   If you don't have sandalwood or lemon oil laying around then ground sandalwood and lemon peel can be used by making a tea of them. First you bring water to a boil, then turn to a simmer and add the sandalwood an let it simmer for not more than a minute, turn off the heat and add lemon zest or shavings from the skin of a lemon, dried lemon peel will also do, but you don't want to boil it otherwise the lemon scent will be boiled off, and you want that. Then add this to a mixture of water, salt and vinegar. I should be noted that only a small amount of vinegar is needed, no more than a tablespoon per gallon of water, because what is needed is the power of the inner essence, and not concentrated acetic acid, which could of course damage things, so for magical uses, a little goes a long way.   I hope that these instructions are clear enough and I will expand upon them if necessary.     ZYD           Edit: I realized after I had posted this that I left salt out of the invocation and it is important.  As it is written this is not material that I habitually use, but is based on sound principles and if followed, should produce good results, such as those I have seen time and time again.