The Celestial Method of Subjugation 北斗治法武威经

The original author is unrecorded, and the text was probably compiled in the The Tang Dynasty.

The History of the Song Dynasty·Treatise on Arts and Literature records a one-scroll work The Scripture of Martial Majesty of the Northern Emperor compiled by Li Quan of the Tang Dynasty, which is presumably related to this text.

The existing version in The Daozang is one scroll, included in the Method category of the The Dongshen Section.

The Celestial Method of Subjugation

There is a preface at the beginning of the scroll, claiming that at the end of the Daye reign of the Sui Dynasty, a commoner named Yuan Qing met the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden one night in Luoyang, the eastern capital, who transmitted to him the one-scroll Spiritual Text of Martial Majesty. Yuan Qing thus achieved great merit and success, and was enfeoffed as the Left Assistant Grand Secretary of the Executive Secretariat in the early Tang Dynasty.

This text expounds on the "Heavenly Gang Divine Method". It first lists the names, official duties and corresponding astrological divisions of the nine star lords of the Big Dipper. It states that when people encounter emergencies and calamities, they only need to recite the name of the star lord corresponding to their birth year, and "all their misfortunes will turn into blessings". It also claims that the nine stars of the Big Dipper are in charge of life and death, good and bad fortune in the human world, and that "the Heavenly Gang Breaking Army Star is the abode of martial majesty under heaven, and all stars, gods and ghosts dare not trespass it at will".

When ordinary people encounter misfortunes such as inauspicious construction, unfavorable omens for oneself amid good luck for enemies, storms and wars, and harm from evil people and beasts, they can practice the "Heavenly Gang Method" to resolve them. The method requires first praying to the Big Dipper, reciting the Heavenly Gang Incantation and the names of the seven stars, drawing four vertical and five horizontal lines on the ground with a staff, and walking while performing the Yu Step, after which "all calamities and misfortunes shall be eliminated".