15th Day of Lunar 8 Month (農曆八月十五日) is considered as the Manifestation
Anniversary for Lord of the Moon aka Tai Yin Xing Jun (太陰星君), this is also the
day that we Taoists & Chinese celebrate Mid Autumn Festival aka Zhong Qiu
(仲秋).
For Year 2012, it falls on 30 Sept, a Sunday.
In some
Chinese Cultural Contexts, Tai Yin Xing Jun is one of the Deities that In-charge
of Mortals' Marriage and this is why, on this Day, many unmarried couples or
couples whom are still dating, will visit Temples dedicate Altars to Tai Yin to
pay their respect or make Good-relationship-request.
For those who are
interested in honouring Tai Yin Xing Jun, you all may proceed to Wan Shou Shan
Guan Yin Tang (萬壽山觀音堂), located infront of Telok Blangah Height Block
54.
In this Temple, the statue dedicated to Tai Yin Xing Jun can
considered as the Oldest & Biggest in Singapore.
The most unbearable & touching moment of the whole 7th Month Celebration for Tong Shan Tang.
After the Distribution Offerings to the Souls Ritual completed, each individual family member was asked to bid farewell to the Ancestors & their Pass-on family members.
Upon completion, the descendants had to carry the Tablets of the Ancestors & Pass-on to cross 3 Bridges before "they" were being led to the "Eastern Palace" thru the "Burning".
While crossing of the Bridges, the family members had to call out the names of the Pass-on, which somehow made the whole atmosphere to be more saddening and touchy.
With 3 rounds of Crossing, the Tablets & Paper Offerings were being carried to the burning cages for sending off.
At the burning area, short reports were being made to the Three Realms and Spiritual Armies were being summoned to guide on the burning ground to prevent any nasty beings from "snatching away" the Offerings.
With the setting of "Fire" to the Paper Offerings, every Soul was being "directed" onto the "Path of Joyous".
On the 23rd Day of Lunar 7th Month (農曆七月廿三日), which was the Finale of the whole 7th Month Salvation Ceremony, Vabien was appointed to be the leading Priest to conduct the Distribution of Offerings to the Souls.
At about 8.00Pm, the Ritual started. With a short report and "Transforming" of the Ritual Ground to become the "Lotus Platform" of Heavenly Lord Tai Yi (太乙救苦天尊), the 3 of us proceed to our seats for the Distribution Ritual.
With the Chanting of Official Taoist Scriptures & the "Transforming into Lord Tai Yi", Vabien enhanced on the various Offerings and then threw out to the open space for the Souls to grab it.
The whole Ritual took about an hour to complete and upon completion of this Ritual, it was time for the descendants to bid farewell to their ancestors.
Special Thanks to Vabien & Royce for sharing with us the pictures and also, Million Thanks to Vabien for the effort to be the leading Priest for this Ritual.
With the completion of the preparation, at about 8.00pm, the Ritual officially began.
First, by making a Report to the Three Realms on what occasion and objective of this Ritual, follow-by Cleansing & Enhancing of the various Spiritual Objects that would be used during the Ritual.
At around 9.00pm, the Summoning of Souls Ritual was conducted.
In here, you all will be seeing a series of Pictures of Jave "Opening up" of the "Door" to the other Realm to summon or release out the particular Souls (Ancestors) that were being summoned. This Ritual needed the Energy from the various Lamps that being enhanced to lead the Souls to the Ritual Ground for Salvation.
Besides that, Jave had to draw various type of Talismans on the Ground, in order to "Open up the Mystery Door" to the Realm. In other contexts, this Ritual is known as "Breaking the Hell Gates" but in Official Taoism, this is known as "Brighten the Path of the Souls (開光冥路)".
During this Ritual, a total of Nine Rounds of repeating actions needed to be carried out and after every round, the feeling of the Summoning Banner (召魂幡) would feel different. From there, we were be able to gauge whether the Souls have or not being summoned.
After the Souls were being summoned, the Souls needed to be led to the "Washrooms" to cleanse up "themselves" before being led to pay respect to the High Deities and then back to their "Seats".
Usually after the leading the Souls to their "Seats", the family members would be able to communicate to the Ancestors thru the Priests or the Mediums.
Special Thanks to Vabien & Royce for sharing with us the pictures.
With 20 Days of preparation & planning, on 06 Sep, the setting-up was carried out by Vabien & Royce.
With the assistance of Vabien's setting & cleansing of the Territory & Royce releasing of Spiritual Armies for the protection, the Invitation of the Deities was able to carry out smoothly.
On 07 Sept, after some final preparation, Jave arrived at the Ritual ground in the evening to do the final touch-up, such as Drawing of the Long Cloth Talisman for the Leading of the Souls out from the other Realm.
And while Jave was busy with the setting-up for the Leading of Souls Ritual, Vabien was there to set-up the "Wash Rooms" for the Souls. Really appreciate the hardwork that Vabien had put in for the planning and decorating of the Toilets.
Special Thanks to Vabien & Royce for sharing with us the pictures.
