Tuire Huabing Zhou — The Taoist Incantation of Ice and Frost to Dispel Fever and Evil Heat
Paul Peng九江水帝，四渎源公。
满天降雪，遍地严霜。
狂风似箭，雹霰如倾。
退散邪热，保救安宁。
雪山万仞，冰煞邪精。
急急奉北极紫微大帝。
北方水德伺晨帝君律令。
The Water Emperor of the Nine Rivers, the Primal Lord of the Four Sacred Waterways —
Snow descends to fill the sky; severe frost covers the earth in every direction.
The wild wind flies like arrows; hail and sleet pour down in torrents.
Drive back and scatter the evil heat; protect and rescue, restore peace and tranquility.
The snow mountains rise ten thousand ren high; ice seals and destroys the evil spirits.
With utmost urgency, in accordance with the Purple Tenuity Great Emperor of the North Pole
and the statutes of the Dawn-Watching Sovereign of the Northern Water Virtue.
The Tuire Huabing Zhou (退热化冰咒, Incantation to Retreat Heat and Transform into Ice) is a classical Taoist therapeutic-protective incantation that operates through the principle of elemental opposition: the extreme yin-cold forces of the north — ice, frost, blizzard, and hail — are invoked to overwhelm and extinguish pathogenic yang-heat, understood in Taoist medicine and cosmology as the root of fever-related illness and the medium through which heat-spirits (邪热, 邪精) cause harm.
The incantation belongs to the tradition of Water-element protective incantations, invoking the authority of the Water Emperor of the Nine Rivers (九江水帝) and the Primal Lord of the Four Sacred Waterways (四渎源公) — the divine sovereigns of China's great river systems — as the primary sources of yin-water power. These deities command the full spectrum of water's manifestations: rivers, snow, frost, wind, and ice. For context on how such incantations relate to the broader system of Taoist protective practice, see the Eight Great Divine Incantations of Taoism.
The Four Sacred Waterways (四渎) — the Yellow River (黄河), the Yangtze (长江), the Huai River (淮河), and the Ji River (济河) — are the four rivers considered sacred in classical Chinese cosmology, each governed by a divine lord. The Tuire Huabing Zhou invokes the Primal Lord of the Four Sacred Waterways (四渎源公) as the ultimate source of water-power, drawing on the combined authority of all four river systems to generate the overwhelming yin-cold force needed to extinguish pathogenic heat. This is not a minor invocation — it calls upon the foundational water-sovereignty of the entire Chinese landscape.
The incantation closes with a dual invocation of celestial authority: the Purple Tenuity Great Emperor of the North Pole (北极紫微大帝), the supreme sovereign of the northern celestial realm and one of the highest deities in the Taoist pantheon; and the Dawn-Watching Sovereign of the Northern Water Virtue (北方水德伺晨帝君), a specialized deity whose title reveals his function — he watches over the dawn transition, the moment when yin gives way to yang, and governs the water-virtue (水德) of the north.
The pairing of these two authorities is deliberate: the Purple Tenuity Emperor provides supreme celestial mandate, while the Dawn-Watching Sovereign of the Northern Water Virtue provides the specific elemental authority needed to deploy water-cold forces against heat-spirits. Together, they ensure that the incantation carries both the highest possible divine sanction and the precise elemental power required for its purpose. Practitioners who wish to understand the cultivation context of working with such powerful celestial authorities may benefit from exploring Taoist meditation techniques that develop the inner stillness and clarity necessary to transmit such commands effectively.
In Taoist cosmology, ice is not merely frozen water — it is the most concentrated form of yin-cold energy, the polar opposite of pathogenic yang-heat. The incantation's imagery of "snow mountains ten thousand ren high" and "ice sealing and destroying evil spirits" reflects the Taoist understanding that spiritual pathogens — like physical ones — are overcome by their elemental opposites. The snow mountains represent an inexhaustible reservoir of yin-cold power; the ice that seals the evil spirits is not temporary but permanent, mirroring the incantation's protective intent: not merely to drive away the heat-spirit, but to freeze and immobilize it beyond any possibility of return.
