TAOISM / PANTHEON
Deities, Immortals & Founders
The Pantheon.
17 figures — from the Three Pure Ones at the summit of the cosmos, to the Eight Immortals who began as ordinary and often flawed people, to the historical founders whose institutions still stand.
High Deities · 7
Zhenwu (Xuanwu)
真武 / 玄武
The north; martial protection; exorcism of demons
The Jade Emperor
玉皇
Administration of Heaven and the human world in popular cosmology
Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West)
西王母
Immortality, longevity, and the ordering of female cosmic power
Mazu
妈祖
Protection of seafarers, coastal communities, and safe passage
Guan Yu (Guandi)
关羽 / 关帝
Loyalty, martial valor, brotherhood, and — in later popular cult — wealth and commerce
Wenchang Wang
文昌王 / 文昌帝君
Literature, scholarship, and success in the imperial examinations
Baosheng Dadi
保生大帝
Healing, medicine, and the protection of the sick
Immortals · 4
Lü Dongbin
吕洞宾
Scholarship, swordsmanship, and the transmission of immortality teaching
He Xiangu
何仙姑
Filial devotion, purity, and household protection
Han Zhongli (Zhongli Quan)
汉钟离 / 钟离权
Military valor transformed into cultivation; transmission of internal alchemy
Zhang Guolao
张果老
Longevity, eccentric wisdom, and the reversal of ordinary expectation
