Talismanic edicts, a type of Taoist talisman in the Eastern Han Dynasty, originated from the concept of "the divine right of kings" in the worship of power during the Han Dynasty. As recorded in the preface of The Five Numinous Treasure Talismans, there was a kind of talisman issued in the name of the Five Celestial Emperors of the five directions, namely "the Eastern Numinous Treasure Talismanic Edict", "the Southern Numinous Treasure Talismanic Edict", "the Central Wuji Numinous Treasure Talismanic Edict", "the Western Numinous Treasure Talismanic Edict", and "the Northern Numinous Treasure Talismanic Edict". The Five Numinous Treasures actually refer to the Five Emperors of the east, south, west, north, and center mentioned in the apocryphal texts of the Han Dynasty.

The New Text Confucianism represented by Dong Zhongshu in the Han Dynasty once vigorously advocated this idea. They believed that when a true son of heaven was born, there would be some kind of auspicious sign (fu rui) appearing. These auspicious signs, also known as talismanic edicts, were regarded as symbols of the mandate of heaven. Obviously, this was a way of transferring the imperial power of issuing talismans from the earthly emperor to the heavenly realm, and then having the heavenly gods bestow it back to the emperor in the form of talismanic edicts, thus endowing the emperor's royal power with a sacred aura. After the reigns of Emperors Ai and Ping of the Western Han Dynasty, the study of divination combined with apocryphal texts gradually rose, which was actually another form of talismanic edicts.

In conclusion, the Taoist "Numinous Treasure Talismanic Edicts" originated from the concept of "the divine right of kings" and were also significantly influenced by the divination and apocryphal theology of the Eastern Han Dynasty, thus forming their own unique system of talismanic edicts.