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"Dear night–lights, protect my sleeping babes. Burn clear and steadfast tonight.”

Mrs Darling

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Well the sun has now set, so the spirits are free to roam – right into my cordon glasses! To celebrate Halloween I’ve decided to temporarily turn Natalie’s ‘courtesan’ themed living room into a New Orleans Absinthe House (I’m sure Crowley and the Axe Man would approve).

With plans for some late night scrying I’m going to put myself in the right frame of mind by reading some tales from ‘The Shadow Book’ a collection of short occult stories (purportedly true!) Written in 1789 by Ji Yun the Special Advisor to the Emperor of China and Imperial Librarian. A quick peek :

Imbalance

‘There are other cases, however that concern far more vicious beings. Those creatures known as jiangshi, for example.

Jiangshi are living corpses who feed on the chi of living things, and sometimes their blood and flesh too.

There are two main types. The weak type occurs when a freshly dead body, one that hasn’t had the necessary burial rites performed, temporarily reanimates and becomes violent.  Like a guttering flame, these creatures are easily subdued and generally turn quite dead once placed in their coffins.

The strong type of jiangshi is far more dangerous. They are corpses that have been dead long enough to be buried in their coffins but then have become reanimated by an outside agent (a spell, lightning, a pregnant cat walking across their grave).

However, the deceased are not what they were. While in the grave, their emotions have soured, their thoughts gone feral, and their rank bodies have fermented and stiffened into more monstrous possibilities. If freed of the dirt, these fiends will spread terror in the night  - killing, infecting, feeding, and leaving the dry husks of their victims in their wake.

As depraved as they are, there is a complexity to these creatures. Sometimes, a lingering attraction to family and friends remains – albiet in a perverted form.

Yuan Mei tells of a government official who encountered a deceased friend while on a stroll at night.

The official, following his Confucian training, kept his emotions steady and registered neither surprise nor fear – as if it were the most natural thing to come across the dead in the midnight hours. His formally stoic friend though manically cycled through several extreme emotions: chattiness, gratitude, and finally a deep sadness  - a state from which he suddenly emerged with ferocious energy to launch himself at the official – snarling and clacking his teeth as he tried to sink them into his former friend. ‘

Wow that could be straight out of Hammer’s ‘Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires’ which I believe is still currently free on Amazon Prime. Though if you prefer something a little more homespun I can happily recommend any of HorrorBabbles classic audio stories. If you fancy something shorter still then check out my series of articles ‘The Internal Magical Arts’ especially 2,3,4,7,and 8 which can all be found on the forum.

So my children of the wild woods I shall leave you all with my darkest blessings and wishing you fitful and feverish dreams on this most hallowed of nights.

Mathew

Facebook post 31/10/23