Houses and Homes, More than buildings

[whimsicalwarlock]

So in my time learning and taking in information on various magickal subjects, I came across a video online somewhere (most likely tiktok) and this video was of a woman talking about "rejuvenating" "refreshing" your wards and protections and such on your home. I thought nothing of it and scrolled.

Again this same video comes back up, but this time with someone "stitching it" (adding their own video to it afterwards as a response for those who don't know) and in this "stitch" a different woman came up with this sort of perplexed curiosity in her eyes. After a brief pause she says something alone the lines of this. "Do you guys not know about your home being a living breathing magickal being? Like do you not know about forming a magickal relationship with it?" I had obviously always heard of witchy homes having a "mind of their own" like in the legend of baba yaga and such, but this intrigued me so I kept listening.

She basically goes on to talk about houses and homes as something you can honor and build a relationship with; an entity that you can treat with respect by cleaning and such, and that doing so builds a sort of "magickal programming" into the home, and when this is done, you'll gain a sort of partnership with the home and it will sort of act as a magickal ally whose interest align with your own because you are the "keeper" or "caretaker" of the home. The woman who stitched the original video also said it was actually more effective than words or protections because its a continuous stream of magick that acts as a sort of consciousness that "actively" works in line with your wants/needs. As much as I've heard about stuff like this, I don't know that I've ever met someone who actually did this or at least that i know of.

So this train of thought brings up multiple questions for me.

Do any of you practice in this way; treating your home as a "living, breathing" magickal ally like a familiar spirit?

If you do, do you actually find that it is more powerful or more effective than things like baneful or protection wards?

If you do practice in this way, how do you practice this? Do you have a certain book or books that have guided you on doing this or do you do it in your own way?

And lastly, If you do practice this, has there ever been a time that you tried to do this and it just didn't work or even worse backfired? Or possibly worked more effectively or differently than you expected?

Thank you for your time reading this!

 

[Dènye Patwon]

It can be as simple as getting a Air Purifier for your home. Or having plants. Or simply cleaning up.

It depends on what you consider a ritual or what you personally feel is best for your home.

 

[whimsicalwarlock]

It can be as simple as getting a Air Purifier for your home. Or having plants. Or simply cleaning up.

It depends on what you consider a ritual or what you personally feel is best for your home.

Would you consider this enough to be just as effective or more effective than wards?

 

[Dènye Patwon]

Would you consider this enough to be just as effective or more effective than wards?

Depends on what you are after or what your goal pertains to. I assume in most cases, a nice setting base for plants do just fine. If you are looking for extremes, you have to look for extremes as well.

In most cases though, I will say keeping it basic/simple should do.

Unless you are working with a haunted home.

On a side note, this all reminds me of Mob Psych 100.

I hope that was enough a answer for you.

 

[Lucien6493]

Whenever I move anywhere the first thing I do is introduce myself to the locals, because every house I've ever lived in has not only a presence but a whole ecosystem of energy drains, liminal spaces and areas of density and lightness. I do not set wards though as this tends to attract unwanted attention, and since I travel with an entourage I let the spirits that I work with sort it out with the residents in the walls and corners. Once settled in I will do a formal house blessing, unless the house is haunted, in which case I will set wards. I find though that occultists tend to be spirit traps and loose no time in haunting a place themselves.

 

[whimsicalwarlock]

Whenever I move anywhere the first thing I do is introduce myself to the locals, because every house I've ever lived in has not only a presence but a whole ecosystem of energy drains, liminal spaces and areas of density and lightness. I do not set wards though as this tends to attract unwanted attention, and since I travel with an entourage I let the spirits that I work with sort it out with the residents in the walls and corners. Once settled in I will do a formal house blessing, unless the house is haunted, in which case I will set wards. I find though that occultists tend to be spirit traps and loose no time in haunting a place themselves.

thats in interesting perspective. I feel like i remember someone saying something similar about dreamcatchers. Where if they catch negative energy instead of it just being a "trap" it actually starts to serve as an anchor point or dwelling. Like a birdhouse for a spirit or something.

 

[beardedeldridge]

I’m well into these screwdrivers so quick disclaimer there.

- Now as far as books go, nothing is coming to mind.

- Not all places seem to have one or at least not a very evolved/developed one.

- Ime you don’t find a human-type personality with these types of things but they do each seem to have a uniqueness to them.

- As far as finding/connecting to one in an area, meditating/trance work is usually when it happens for me but not always. Building a working relationship with one over a period of time is done the same way but ime you can find ways to honor such an entity.

- I’ve worked with the spirit/genius loci of some places with some interesting and sometimes potent results. But I find it better to find what’s there and focus it into a useful type of magic that is in line with what you find vs just deciding that no matter what I find here, I’m going to see if I can use it to do ___________.

- take care

-Eld

 

[Yazata]

I believe in Aaron Leitch's book on Ritual Offerings there's a chapter on the house spirits, think it was a Roman practice to not only have a shrine for your ancestors but also for these keepers who watch over the home and its inhabitants. For some reason I'm thinking of the name Lars though that doesn't sound very Roman

 

[glaive]

For some reason I'm thinking of the name Lars though that doesn't sound very Roman

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! There's a book about them by Harriet Flower I started recently, The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden.

Do any of you practice in this way; treating your home as a "living, breathing" magickal ally like a familiar spirit?

If you do, do you actually find that it is more powerful or more effective than things like baneful or protection wards?

I do this and have protection wards. I've never really thought of them replacing each other.

 

[tiger's eye]

I’m from China, so I’d like to share some of our local customs, which might offer you some insight. Where I come from, almost every household holds a “housewarming ceremony” after moving into a new home. The general procedure is as follows:
First, a professional folk shaman is invited to perform a cleansing of the house, both physically and spiritually. The purpose of this is to intimidate or even drive away any negative “entities” in the new home.
Next, the shaman performs a series of rituals. The ultimate goal is to invite the gods in the heavens to witness and protect the new home, while also informing the spirits within and around the house that they must “follow the rules.”
To summarize the key points: we believe that certain spirits—whether human souls or naturally occurring entities—may naturally surround a house (though this is not guaranteed). These are the very entities that influence the house and the people living within it. Our approach is to negotiate with them through specific “rituals” (particularly by using the deities behind the shaman as “intermediaries”) to manage the various influences they might bring.
For us, whether it be the people living in the house or the spirits, all fall under the jurisdiction (not control) of the gods who govern heaven and earth. We tend to avoid any potential disruptions they might cause, allowing both parties to live their lives in harmony.

 

[whimsicalwarlock]

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! There's a book about them by Harriet Flower I started recently, The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden.



I do this and have protection wards. I've never really thought of them replacing each other.

The way I was understanding the lady in the video was that she was describing it as almost a form of servitor/egregore style entity and it would have a mind of its own that wasn't so specifically programmed like an egregore or servitor might be or at least not in the same way, and depending on the needs or wants of a situation it would respond itself to different things. Like it would block harmful energy or hexes, etc on its own based on the mutual respect/energy exchange between the home and the one living in it.

 

[Sapientia_Lucio_369]

What you basically described is Feng Shui, practitioners of Taoist and Chinese medicine often metaphorized the house as being no different than a human body (namely being something that be entered, exited, maintained, neglected, polluted or cleaned), seeing as humans as just microcosms of the universe. And that house is divided into rooms, those rooms are divided into sections (like a closet) and that close is then divided into shelves, much like the human body is divided into regions, organs, organelles, cells, and it further splits into smaller units of existence.

Thus, in Chinese culture, it's why temples and homes have paintings of "door Gods", though I stress, a painting is just that, a painting. Sadly, door Gods are just treated as nothing more a "cultural myths" nowadays, but in REALLY traditional Chinese spiritual practice, door Gods were real Deities.

In Chinese medicine human body parts were often referred to as "houses or temples" and veins are being "roads" ("energy meridians" in Chinese and Indian medicine simply being the spirit versions of veins). And yes, they're viewed as "living things".

I myself, however, don't practice Feng Shui, because a lot of is a misinterpretation of Taoist texts. "Misplacing a couch" or putting a desk in a certain part of your house isn't gonna all of a suddenly invite bad spirits. While I respect my living space, I don't by any means "worship it".

Post automatically merged: Today at 5:06 PM

I’m from China, so I’d like to share some of our local customs, which might offer you some insight. Where I come from, almost every household holds a “housewarming ceremony” after moving into a new home. The general procedure is as follows:
First, a professional folk shaman is invited to perform a cleansing of the house, both physically and spiritually. The purpose of this is to intimidate or even drive away any negative “entities” in the new home.
Next, the shaman performs a series of rituals. The ultimate goal is to invite the gods in the heavens to witness and protect the new home, while also informing the spirits within and around the house that they must “follow the rules.”
To summarize the key points: we believe that certain spirits—whether human souls or naturally occurring entities—may naturally surround a house (though this is not guaranteed). These are the very entities that influence the house and the people living within it. Our approach is to negotiate with them through specific “rituals” (particularly by using the deities behind the shaman as “intermediaries”) to manage the various influences they might bring.
For us, whether it be the people living in the house or the spirits, all fall under the jurisdiction (not control) of the gods who govern heaven and earth. We tend to avoid any potential disruptions they might cause, allowing both parties to live their lives in harmony.

I've been to Mainland China as well as Taiwan, and loved it! They literally had "door Gods" on their temples, because from what I learned and from "experience", a Chinese "temple" isn't really a "temple" but rather a "temple within a temple" that forms as a cohesive unit. You enter, and are met with "mini-temples", were you venerate Lesser Gods. The churches in the Philippine also follow the same architecture, before even getting to the "main Church" you're met with "mini chapels" where you venerate various Saints and Angels.

Your ancestors pretty-much discovered how cells work, though metaphorized as things like "temples/houses" given as to how acupressure points are named in Chinese medicine.

China's (as well as Japan's) emperors were less-so "rulers" but literally "priest-kings", they didn't just rule over the people, but they also performed rituals and rites to the Jade Emperor and the Yellow Emperor in the Temple of Heaven, an experience I'll never forget.

What I find super-fascinating is how the "Wufang Shangdi" (五方上帝) also aligns with the 5 elements of Chinese alchemy/Chinese medicine. China's spiritual heritage is a HUGE reason why I turned culturally Sinophile, plus, my people, the Filipinos, had long-traded products, ideas and influence with the Ming dynasty, and other dynasties, long before the Spaniards stepped on our soil.

I know a little Mandarin, Beijinghua to be specific, loved eating, shopping and walking among the locals....people always told me I looked more Chinese than Filipino, and I just took that and used it as motivation.

 

[tiger's eye]

What you basically described is Feng Shui, practitioners of Taoist and Chinese medicine often metaphorized the house as being no different than a human body (namely being something that be entered, exited, maintained, neglected, polluted or cleaned), seeing as humans as just microcosms of the universe. And that house is divided into rooms, those rooms are divided into sections (like a closet) and that close is then divided into shelves, much like the human body is divided into regions, organs, organelles, cells, and it further splits into smaller units of existence.

Thus, in Chinese culture, it's why temples and homes have paintings of "door Gods", though I stress, a painting is just that, a painting. Sadly, door Gods are just treated as nothing more a "cultural myths" nowadays, but in REALLY traditional Chinese spiritual practice, door Gods were real Deities.

In Chinese medicine human body parts were often referred to as "houses or temples" and veins are being "roads" ("energy meridians" in Chinese and Indian medicine simply being the spirit versions of veins). And yes, they're viewed as "living things".

I myself, however, don't practice Feng Shui, because a lot of is a misinterpretation of Taoist texts. "Misplacing a couch" or putting a desk in a certain part of your house isn't gonna all of a suddenly invite bad spirits. While I respect my living space, I don't by any means "worship it".

Post automatically merged: Today at 5:06 PM

I've been to Mainland China as well as Taiwan, and loved it! They literally had "door Gods" on their temples, because from what I learned and from "experience", a Chinese "temple" isn't really a "temple" but rather a "temple within a temple" that forms as a cohesive unit. You enter, and are met with "mini-temples", were you venerate Lesser Gods. The churches in the Philippine also follow the same architecture, before even getting to the "main Church" you're met with "mini chapels" where you venerate various Saints and Angels.

Your ancestors pretty-much discovered how cells work, though metaphorized as things like "temples/houses" given as to how acupressure points are named in Chinese medicine.

China's (as well as Japan's) emperors were less-so "rulers" but literally "priest-kings", they didn't just rule over the people, but they also performed rituals and rites to the Jade Emperor and the Yellow Emperor in the Temple of Heaven, an experience I'll never forget.

What I find super-fascinating is how the "Wufang Shangdi" (五方上帝) also aligns with the 5 elements of Chinese alchemy/Chinese medicine. China's spiritual heritage is a HUGE reason why I turned culturally Sinophile, plus, my people, the Filipinos, had long-traded products, ideas and influence with the Ming dynasty, and other dynasties, long before the Spaniards stepped on our soil.

I know a little Mandarin, Beijinghua to be specific, loved eating, shopping and walking among the locals....people always told me I looked more Chinese than Filipino, and I just took that and used it as motivation.

Haha, Thank you for your love of Chinese culture!
Although we now view door gods as legends, to be honest, this doesn’t prevent them from fulfilling their roles. Especially the door gods people hang on their doors (such as the common figures Qin Shubao and Wei Chigong)—according to their legends, they were human beings in life. Because they could ward off evil spirits, they were commemorated and worshipped by the people, and they even volunteered to continue helping everyone guard the door after their deaths. Therefore, the images of door gods on the door are just paintings. But as long as the images are hung there, these door gods will know and will provide protection, even if the homeowner doesn’t believe in them all that much.

 

[Sapientia_Lucio_369]

Haha, Thank you for your love of Chinese culture!
Although we now view door gods as legends, to be honest, this doesn’t prevent them from fulfilling their roles. Especially the door gods people hang on their doors (such as the common figures Qin Shubao and Wei Chigong)—according to their legends, they were human beings in life. Because they could ward off evil spirits, they were commemorated and worshipped by the people, and they even volunteered to continue helping everyone guard the door after their deaths. Therefore, the images of door gods on the door are just paintings. But as long as the images are hung there, these door gods will know and will provide protection, even if the homeowner doesn’t believe in them all that much.

That's interesting! That's why I admire Chinese culture. In the Philippines, some tribes in Mindanao practice the venerating of what they call "Tagbalay" (ᜆᜄ᜔ᜊᜎᜌ᜔), these are basically native Philippine door Gods. My family always wonders why I'm obsessed with the southern Philippines, particularly Mindanao and Sulu, that's because regardless of whether someone's a Muslim or Christian, those folks STILL practice ancient pre-colonial Folk Rites, many also being of Chinese and Indian influence.

And non-coincidentally, the Chinese also helped the Sultans of Mindanao fight off the Spanish occupation!

 

[tiger's eye]

What you basically described is Feng Shui, practitioners of Taoist and Chinese medicine often metaphorized the house as being no different than a human body (namely being something that be entered, exited, maintained, neglected, polluted or cleaned), seeing as humans as just microcosms of the universe. And that house is divided into rooms, those rooms are divided into sections (like a closet) and that close is then divided into shelves, much like the human body is divided into regions, organs, organelles, cells, and it further splits into smaller units of existence.

Thus, in Chinese culture, it's why temples and homes have paintings of "door Gods", though I stress, a painting is just that, a painting. Sadly, door Gods are just treated as nothing more a "cultural myths" nowadays, but in REALLY traditional Chinese spiritual practice, door Gods were real Deities.

In Chinese medicine human body parts were often referred to as "houses or temples" and veins are being "roads" ("energy meridians" in Chinese and Indian medicine simply being the spirit versions of veins). And yes, they're viewed as "living things".

I myself, however, don't practice Feng Shui, because a lot of is a misinterpretation of Taoist texts. "Misplacing a couch" or putting a desk in a certain part of your house isn't gonna all of a suddenly invite bad spirits. While I respect my living space, I don't by any means "worship it".

Post automatically merged: Today at 5:06 PM

I've been to Mainland China as well as Taiwan, and loved it! They literally had "door Gods" on their temples, because from what I learned and from "experience", a Chinese "temple" isn't really a "temple" but rather a "temple within a temple" that forms as a cohesive unit. You enter, and are met with "mini-temples", were you venerate Lesser Gods. The churches in the Philippine also follow the same architecture, before even getting to the "main Church" you're met with "mini chapels" where you venerate various Saints and Angels.

Your ancestors pretty-much discovered how cells work, though metaphorized as things like "temples/houses" given as to how acupressure points are named in Chinese medicine.

China's (as well as Japan's) emperors were less-so "rulers" but literally "priest-kings", they didn't just rule over the people, but they also performed rituals and rites to the Jade Emperor and the Yellow Emperor in the Temple of Heaven, an experience I'll never forget.

What I find super-fascinating is how the "Wufang Shangdi" (五方上帝) also aligns with the 5 elements of Chinese alchemy/Chinese medicine. China's spiritual heritage is a HUGE reason why I turned culturally Sinophile, plus, my people, the Filipinos, had long-traded products, ideas and influence with the Ming dynasty, and other dynasties, long before the Spaniards stepped on our soil.

I know a little Mandarin, Beijinghua to be specific, loved eating, shopping and walking among the locals....people always told me I looked more Chinese than Filipino, and I just took that and used it as motivation.

Wow, you really love Chinese culture! It’s great to meet you!
To be honest, I don’t think my ancestors in ancient times had the same level of detail as modern medicine when it came to discovering the biological principles of human cells and other parts of the body. However, you’re right in one respect: they did observe the parts of the body that were directly visible and used their characteristics to “analogize” the patterns and phenomena they observed in the human body. This is likely the origin of concepts like “meridians” and the “five viscera and six bowels.” These terms may or may not refer to physiological entities, but they aptly and accurately describe certain functions of the human body.
As for Feng Shui, particularly residential Feng Shui, I don’t really believe in it myself. But once you understand it, you’ll realize that, from a Feng Shui master’s perspective, that system is not merely descriptive. More strictly speaking, it is a unique “cosmology.” Houses exist within this framework, so they must also adhere to these rules. Therefore, rather than calling it “house feng shui,” it is more accurate to describe it as a house operating within this cosmological framework. Consequently, they naturally believe that houses should be planned and adjusted according to the rules of this universe to achieve a state of “harmony” that aligns with these principles.

Post automatically merged: Today at 5:25 PM

That's interesting! That's why I admire Chinese culture. In the Philippines, some tribes in Mindanao practice the venerating of what they call "Tagbalay" (ᜆᜄ᜔ᜊᜎᜌ᜔), these are basically native Philippine door Gods. My family always wonders why I'm obsessed with the southern Philippines, particularly Mindanao and Sulu, that's because regardless of whether someone's a Muslim or Christian, those folks STILL practice ancient pre-colonial Folk Rites, many also being of Chinese and Indian influence.

And non-coincidentally, the Chinese also helped the Sultans of Mindanao fight off the Spanish occupation!

haha,love you,friend!

 

[Sapientia_Lucio_369]

Wow, you really love Chinese culture! It’s great to meet you!
To be honest, I don’t think my ancestors in ancient times had the same level of detail as modern medicine when it came to discovering the biological principles of human cells and other parts of the body. However, you’re right in one respect: they did observe the parts of the body that were directly visible and used their characteristics to “analogize” the patterns and phenomena they observed in the human body. This is likely the origin of concepts like “meridians” and the “five viscera and six bowels.” These terms may or may not refer to physiological entities, but they aptly and accurately describe certain functions of the human body.
As for Feng Shui, particularly residential Feng Shui, I don’t really believe in it myself. But once you understand it, you’ll realize that, from a Feng Shui master’s perspective, that system is not merely descriptive. More strictly speaking, it is a unique “cosmology.” Houses exist within this framework, so they must also adhere to these rules. Therefore, rather than calling it “house feng shui,” it is more accurate to describe it as a house operating within this cosmological framework. Consequently, they naturally believe that houses should be planned and adjusted according to the rules of this universe to achieve a state of “harmony” that aligns with these principles.

Post automatically merged: Today at 5:25 PM

haha,love you,friend!

I'm not sure if you've heard of or how you feel about the Falun Gong (法轮功), I know they're banned in China. Although I certainly don't believe that Li Hongzhi (the Falun Gong's founder) is the "creator of the Universe", or omnipotent, and there's a lot of stuff I don't believe in their teachings, other than their practices.

But according to Li Hongzhi, things like cells, and veins may just appear as "that" in our dimension, but in other dimension - they appear legitimately as roads, and our organs appear as stuff like cities and stuff. Same goes for energy meridians and when our nutrients get transported to cells/organs, apparently they actually appear as "delivery trucks" in other dimensions.

Much of that is from Daoist teachings. Personally, I could believe it, that part is from the stuff of their teachings that I "do believe". Kind of like how a cube in the 3rd dimension will appear as a tesseract in the 4th dimension.

 

[tiger's eye]

I'm not sure if you've heard of or how you feel about the Falun Gong (法轮功), I know they're banned in China. Although I certainly don't believe that Li Hongzhi (the Falun Gong's founder) is the "creator of the Universe", or omnipotent, and there's a lot of stuff I don't believe in their teachings, other than their practices.

But according to Li Hongzhi, things like cells, and veins may just appear as "that" in our dimension, but in other dimension - they appear legitimately as roads, and our organs appear as stuff like cities and stuff. Same goes for energy meridians and when our nutrients get transported to cells/organs, apparently they actually appear as "delivery trucks" in other dimensions.

Much of that is from Daoist teachings. Personally, I could believe it, that part is from the stuff of their teachings that I "do believe". Kind of like how a cube in the 3rd dimension will appear as a tesseract in the 4th dimension.

I’m not sure if this strays from the main topic of the post, but I’d still like to take the risk of going off-topic to warn everyone (and those who see my reply) not to trust Li Hongzhi and his teachings (especially his cult)! In China, his pernicious influence is already common knowledge. Many years ago, his twisted doctrines led many people to abandon medical treatment for their illnesses—even though he demanded they do so—and even to end their own lives in various ways (because Li Hongzhi claimed that following him would spare them the agony of death!)
His “practice” actually encompasses more than just Daoist qigong and meridian theory. That’s only part of it. If you look up the names of his “practices,” you’ll find they also include many Buddhist elements. Therefore, his practice is essentially a hodgepodge of various traditions. I won’t dwell on this—I’ll just mention it briefly, since saying more would take us off-topic, haha!

 

[Sapientia_Lucio_369]

I’m not sure if this strays from the main topic of the post, but I’d still like to take the risk of going off-topic to warn everyone (and those who see my reply) not to trust Li Hongzhi and his teachings (especially his cult)! In China, his pernicious influence is already common knowledge. Many years ago, his twisted doctrines led many people to abandon medical treatment for their illnesses—even though he demanded they do so—and even to end their own lives in various ways (because Li Hongzhi claimed that following him would spare them the agony of death!)
His “practice” actually encompasses more than just Daoist qigong and meridian theory. That’s only part of it. If you look up the names of his “practices,” you’ll find they also include many Buddhist elements. Therefore, his practice is essentially a hodgepodge of various traditions. I won’t dwell on this—I’ll just mention it briefly, since saying more would take us off-topic, haha!

That's a fair take, and yeah, I'll rest my case, I don't wanna stray this off-topic either, and yes - I've heard about the incident where people have died for refusing medical treatment, hence, why I filter Falun Gong content. Even as someone who practices Qi-Gong, I still take modern medicine.

 

[whimsicalwarlock]

What you basically described is Feng Shui, practitioners of Taoist and Chinese medicine often metaphorized the house as being no different than a human body (namely being something that be entered, exited, maintained, neglected, polluted or cleaned), seeing as humans as just microcosms of the universe. And that house is divided into rooms, those rooms are divided into sections (like a closet) and that close is then divided into shelves, much like the human body is divided into regions, organs, organelles, cells, and it further splits into smaller units of existence.

Thus, in Chinese culture, it's why temples and homes have paintings of "door Gods", though I stress, a painting is just that, a painting. Sadly, door Gods are just treated as nothing more a "cultural myths" nowadays, but in REALLY traditional Chinese spiritual practice, door Gods were real Deities.

In Chinese medicine human body parts were often referred to as "houses or temples" and veins are being "roads" ("energy meridians" in Chinese and Indian medicine simply being the spirit versions of veins). And yes, they're viewed as "living things".

I myself, however, don't practice Feng Shui, because a lot of is a misinterpretation of Taoist texts. "Misplacing a couch" or putting a desk in a certain part of your house isn't gonna all of a suddenly invite bad spirits. While I respect my living space, I don't by any means "worship it".

Post automatically merged: Today at 5:06 PM

I've been to Mainland China as well as Taiwan, and loved it! They literally had "door Gods" on their temples, because from what I learned and from "experience", a Chinese "temple" isn't really a "temple" but rather a "temple within a temple" that forms as a cohesive unit. You enter, and are met with "mini-temples", were you venerate Lesser Gods. The churches in the Philippine also follow the same architecture, before even getting to the "main Church" you're met with "mini chapels" where you venerate various Saints and Angels.

Your ancestors pretty-much discovered how cells work, though metaphorized as things like "temples/houses" given as to how acupressure points are named in Chinese medicine.

China's (as well as Japan's) emperors were less-so "rulers" but literally "priest-kings", they didn't just rule over the people, but they also performed rituals and rites to the Jade Emperor and the Yellow Emperor in the Temple of Heaven, an experience I'll never forget.

What I find super-fascinating is how the "Wufang Shangdi" (五方上帝) also aligns with the 5 elements of Chinese alchemy/Chinese medicine. China's spiritual heritage is a HUGE reason why I turned culturally Sinophile, plus, my people, the Filipinos, had long-traded products, ideas and influence with the Ming dynasty, and other dynasties, long before the Spaniards stepped on our soil.

I know a little Mandarin, Beijinghua to be specific, loved eating, shopping and walking among the locals....people always told me I looked more Chinese than Filipino, and I just took that and used it as motivation.

I've heard of Guardian entities before in eastern traditions. I recall seeing something about two statues or carvings facing one another over a doorway and that the two would protect against thieves, intruders and the like, and I think i remember seeing one in person in a "chinese" restaurant once; two eastern style dragons facing each other over the doorway going back to where the employees worked/register/safe. I definitely noticed it and i remembered seeing that tradition online somewhere. I wish I had asked them about it but i wasn't sure if it would've been considered rude or intrusive so I just stayed quiet.
Thank you for your response.

 

[Sapientia_Lucio_369]

I've heard of Guardian entities before in eastern traditions. I recall seeing something about two statues or carvings facing one another over a doorway and that the two would protect against thieves, intruders and the like, and I think i remember seeing one in person in a "chinese" restaurant once; two eastern style dragons facing each other over the doorway going back to where the employees worked/register/safe. I definitely noticed it and i remembered seeing that tradition online somewhere. I wish I had asked them about it but i wasn't sure if it would've been considered rude or intrusive so I just stayed quiet.
Thank you for your response.

Ahhhh yes, although the Dragon motifs is expected but the two Dragons facing each other is even more interesting. Chinese restaurants and business do have a notoriety for decking their places of business like temples, for better or for worse (some restaurants admittingly overdo it). From my experience, within the elder generation, those Chinese who migrated here during the 60s, it carries real nuance and spiritual practice since those folks retained spiritual practices, whereas thanks to the "Cultural" Revolution in China, much of it died, or was watered down. Many of these folks actually have personal altars in their homes.

For later waves of migration, it became more a cultural gimmick (no different than an Atheist putting up a Christmas tree), and many will just give you a generic answer like, "Oh it's for good luck".

When I was in Taiwan, there was a festival when they literally set up altars with offerings in front of their homes, businesses, etc., to appease the Gods, ward off malignant energies from entering their dwellings/businesses, even sleek modern businesses like banks, high rises and corporate offices were doing it.