Talismans—messages to deities or demons inscribed, often with esoteric graphs, on paper, cloth, wood, metal, or in the air—have been ubiquitous in Daoist liturgical practice since it arose in the late second century CE. This talk asks what makes talismanic writing efficacious in Daoist practice these days in south China. What makes the strange script of talismanic writing do what it purports to do—compel deities and demons to obey the will of a Daoist master to heed summons and carry out liturgical tasks such as apotropaic protection or healing exorcism? This talk invites the audience into the liturgical world of talisman-making in living Daoist practice in Hunan province while exploring foundational ideas about talismans and their efficacy in the major liturgical movements of the Song–Yuan period (c. 960–1368), ideas which are still informing Daoist practice in south China today. And the talk puts those Chinese ideas in conversation with current debates about material culture in the study of religion.

David J. Mozina (PhD Harvard) is an Affiliated Researcher in the Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. He studies living Daoist and Buddhist ritual traditions in rural south China, and their roots in the liturgical vibrancy of the eleventh through early fifteenth centuries. He is the author of Knotting the Banner: Ritual and Relationship in Daoist Practice (University of Hawai‘i Press, Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2021), which was named a finalist for the 2022 Best First Book in the History of Religions by the American Academy of Religion. David has authored articles that have appeared in venues such as the Journal of Chinese Religions, Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie, and Daoism: Religion, History, and Society. He has received research grants from the American Philosophical Society, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Association for Asian Studies, and has been active in various professional organizations, including the American Academy of Religion, the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions, the Global Daoist Studies Forum, and the Center for the Study of Religions at Southwest Jiaotong University in the PRC.