Beidou Zhenjun: The blood brother of the Jade Emperor. There are more than seven stars

  On most Taoist talismans, there is a star talisman of the Big Dipper drawn. This is because Taoism believes that the Big Dipper is the chief steward of all gods and its status is second only to the Three Pure Ones. With this symbol on the talisman, one has the qualification and ability to command the gods.
Why is the power of the Big Dipper so great? According to "The Sutra of the Origin of the Big Dipper", the mother of Beidou Zhenjun is Doumu Yuanjun. Doumu Yuanjun gave birth to nine lotus buds. They bloomed in due time and transformed into nine sons. The two eldest sons are the Jade Emperor and Ziwei Dadi. The other seven sons are the seven stars of the Big Dipper. Being blood brothers with the Jade Emperor shows the extraordinariness of the Big Dipper.

  Each of the seven stars of the Big Dipper has a name, namely: Tianxuan (Polaris), Tianjuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang. In Taoism, they are called Beidou Zhenjun and also known as the Seven Yuan Lords of the Big Dipper. According to the general statement, the seven Yuan Lords of the Big Dipper are: Yangming Tanlang Xingjun (Lord Greedy Wolf of Yang Brightness), Yinjing Jumen Xingjun (Lord Giant Door of Yin Essence), Zhenren Lvcun Xingjun (Lord Lu Cun of True Person), Xuanming Wenqu Xingjun (Lord Wenqu of Mysterious Darkness), Danyuan Lianzhen Xingjun (Lord Lianzhen of Elixir Origin), Beiji Wuqu Xingjun (Lord Wuqu of the North Pole), and Tianguan Pojun Xingjun (Lord Po Jun of Heavenly Gate).

  From the names of the seven Yuan lords, one can also see the wide range of divine functions of the Beidou lords, including wealth, honor, fame, life span, prosperity and shortage of the year, and later it developed to cover all functions. However, what people are more familiar with is the story of Yan Chao worshiping the Big Dipper to prolong his life as recorded in "In Search of Spirits".
It is said that during the Three Kingdoms period, the famous magician Guan Lu went to Pingyuan and saw a young man named Yan Chao who had the appearance of an early death. Yan Chao's father was a good friend of Guan Lu. Immediately, he asked Guan Lu to prolong his son's life. Guan Lu said to Yan Chao, "Go home and prepare a pot of good wine and a catty of venison. On the day of Mao, go to the big mulberry tree south of the wheat field. There will be two people playing chess. You just pour wine for them and serve the venison until they finish drinking the wine. If they ask you, you just kowtow to them and don't speak. There must be someone who will save you."

  With his life at stake, Yan Chao did not dare to be negligent at all. Sure enough, he saw two people playing chess. According to Guan Lu's instructions, Yan Chao also did not speak but just poured wine. The two people were so focused on playing chess that they didn't notice and just unconsciously drank wine and ate meat. After several rounds of pouring wine, the person sitting in the north suddenly saw Yan Chao beside him and scolded, "Why are you here?" Yan Chao did not speak but just kowtowed and bowed. The person sitting in the south said, "We have eaten what he offered. Can we be ungrateful?" The person sitting in the north said helplessly, "His lifespan is already written in the document." The person sitting in the south said, "Show me the document." It turned out that Yan Chao's lifespan was only nineteen years as recorded in the document. So he took up a pen and changed the "nine" to a "ten" above it and said to Yan Chao, "I will help you and let you live to be ninety years old." Later, Guan Lu explained to Yan Chao that the person sitting in the north was the Big Dipper star, and the person sitting in the south was the South Dipper star. The South Dipper gives life, and the North Dipper gives death. When ordinary people are conceived, they all pass through the South Dipper and then the North Dipper. All prayers pass through the North Dipper.

  Ancient Chinese people have always had the habit of praying to the Big Dipper. After Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty and established the Xin Dynasty, due to improper governance, the people rose up one after another. Wang Mang's response was to cast a divine artifact—the Mighty Dipper—with copper mixed with five-colored stones. The Mighty Dipper was made in imitation of the Big Dipper and was two feet and five inches long. Wang Mang never left this artifact for a moment. When the rebel army was about to break into the palace, he still ordered the astronomer to calculate the direction of the handle of the Big Dipper in the sky, and he himself constantly changed his sitting direction and the direction of the Mighty Dipper to pray for the protection of Beidou Zhenjun.

  The hypocritical Wang Mang, of course, did not receive the protection of Zhenjun. In Taoism, there is a legend that someone saw two hidden stars in the Big Dipper and obtained a long life. It turns out that there are not only seven stars in the Big Dipper but nine. The other two are the auxiliary stars of Beidou Zhenjun, namely, Beidou Dongming Zuofu Xingjun (Lord Left Assistant of Bright Understanding of the Big Dipper) and Beidou Yinyuan Youbi Xingjun (Lord Right Assistant of Hidden Origin of the Big Dipper). Ordinary people cannot see them.

  Taoist scriptures record that there was a servant in Huo Guang's family in the Western Han Dynasty. One night, he saw the auxiliary star and the right assistant star were particularly bright, so he immediately kowtowed. As a result, he lived to be six hundred years old. In fact, modern astronomy has confirmed that the auxiliary star is beside Kaiyang star and can be observed with a telescope. However, the right assistant star cannot be observed and may be fabricated. This shows the extraordinary imagination of the ancients!

  In view of the super powerful functions of Beidou Zhenjun, generally a Big Dipper talisman is drawn on the talisman. And in many Taoist rituals, there is an important step, that is, walking in steps and treading on the Big Dipper. The "Dipper" here refers to the Big Dipper. This is also praying to the Big Dipper! It can be seen that "all prayers pass through the North Dipper" is indeed true.