This course is based on three videos about the wu (ecstatic priesteses of ancient China); other women of spiritual attainment; and Chinese goddesses (shen nü or nü shen). You also get seven photo essays, links to two in-depth articles, and a resource page for further research.

In the first video, The Wu: Spirit Priestesses of China, you'll learn about ceremonies of the wu in the context of the Chinese Concordance, the oldest written characters in the oracle bones and bronzes, shapeshifting, and the spirits of animals and ancestors. We look at texts that describe the goddess Xi Wang Mu as a wu with tiger-shapeshifting aspects

The second video, Taoist Adepts and Immortals, shows you legendary spiritual women like Chen Jinggu, MaZe, Wei Huacun and other Daoist sages; the revolutionary spiritual leader Tang Sai Er, and Ng Mui, a martial artist who originated White Crane kungfu, one of the five exiled Shaolin Masters. We also look at female immortals and the divinities Xüan Nü and Wu Sheng Lao Mu.

The third video, Xi Wangmu and Other Goddesses, goes into greater depth about one of the oldest goddesses in China, Xi Wangmu. She is named in an oracle bone inscription as the Western Grandmother, paired with an Eastern Grandmother. Later she continues to be paired with an eastern goddess, MaGu or Biaxia Yuanjun. You'll learn about Xi Wangmu as the Cosmic Weaver who governs the celestial turnings, the portals of birth and death, and her many spirit servitors in the form of fox, raven, phoenix, frog, rabbit, and various chimeric beings. Along the way, we'll look at the ancient snake goddess Nü Gua and Dou Mu, a Buddhist form of the celestial goddess.

The photo essays:

   The Wu: Female Shamans of Ancient China

   Wu Aspects of Xi Wangmu

   Ecstatic Priestesses of Chu

   Indigenous Tiger Women

   The legend of Chen Jinggu

   Deified female adepts

   Daoist wisewomen

A final section offers two of my articles and additional bibliographical resources