Immortal Magu, Qing Dynasty (18th century) ink and watercolor on silk
Magu: The Immortal Cannabis Goddess
In Chinese mythology, a immortal Taoist xian is the protector of women, the Goddess of longevity and is able to brew the elixir of life. She just so happens to also be the Goddess of Cannabis!
The Immortal Magu’s name is made up of two very common words 麻/Ma and 姑/Gu which literally translates to ‘Hemp Maiden’.
Known by Mago in Korea and Mako in Japan, its not Magu’s name that’s most intriguing, its her story…
The Daoist immortal Magu with a crane and flower basket Yuan dynasty 14th century by Chen Yuexi
The Shenxian Zhuan Daoist hagiography of Wang Yuan and Magu is the earliest known reference to Magu. In this ancient tale, Wang was to visit Cai Jing on the “seventh day of the seventh month”…
Interesting enough, this visit would fall on a very important date. Magu was considered the goddess over Mount Tai, this mountain just so happens to be where cannabis has been grown for thousands of years. The harvest time for these cannabis fields “was supposed to be gathered on the seventh day of the seventh month,” according to Joseph Needham in Science and Civilization in China (1959).
Back to the story, after Wang arrived at Cai’s, they invited Magu to join them. Magu sent a message that she would be late, having an appointment at Penglai Mountain (a legendary island in the Eastern Sea, where “the elixir of immortality grows”). She soon made her fashionably late entrance into the party.
“She appeared to be a handsome woman of eighteen or nineteen; her hair was done up, and several loose strands hung down to her waist. Her gown had a pattern of colors, but it was not woven; it shimmered, dazzling the eyes, and was indescribable – it was not of this world. She approached and bowed to Wang, who bade her rise. When they were both seated, they called for the travelling canteen. The servings were piled up on gold platters and in jade cups without limit. There were rare delicacies, many of them made from flowers and fruits, and their fragrance permeated the air inside [Cai’s home] and out. When the meat was sliced and served, [in flavor] it resembled broiled mo, and was announced as kirin meat. Maid Ma declared: “Since I entered your service, I have seen the Eastern Sea turn to mulberry fields three times. As one proceeded across to Penglai, the water came only up to one’s waist. I wonder whether it will turn to dry land once again.” Wang answered with a sigh, “Oh, the sages all say that the Eastern Sea will once again become blowing dust.”
After Magu’s arrival, Wang presented Cai’s family with an elixir from “the celestial kitchens”. This mixture he said was “unfit for drinking by ordinary people”. Diluting the drink, everyone was intoxicated and wanted more.
Magu serving her Elixir of Life, Painting on the promenade of the Summer Palace dating to the 19th century.
I used the word cannabis instead of hemp to describe Magu in the title of this story for a reason. Magu is said to bring the power of longevity, usually painted with peaches to symbolize this.
Magu was also known for something else, a little more earthly… Magu was said to be able to brew “the Elixir of Life”…
According to the Tang Dynasty Daoist calligrapher Yan Zhengqing when he visited Magu Mountain, he observed a “small platform”. Still visible on this small platform was “a furnace” that Magu used to make her ‘Elixir of Life’…
Yan Zhengqing so moved by this inscribed “Record of the Mountain Platform where Magu Ascended to Immortality”…
Magu Mountain steps
In the ‘Yiyuan’ by Liu Jingshu, we find Magu’s story…
“During Qin times, there was a Temple to Maid Mei 梅 – or, as one version has it, Maid Ma – beside a lake. When alive, she had possessed arts of the Dao. She could walk on water in her shoes. Later she violated the laws of the Dao, and her husband, out of anger, murdered her and dumped her body in the lake. Following the current, it floated on the waves until it reached the [present site of] the temple. A subordinate shaman directed that she be encoffined but not immediately buried. Very soon a square, lacquered coffin appeared in the shrine hall. [From then on], at the end and beginning of each lunar month, people there could make out through the fog an indistinct figure, wearing shoes.”
Magu Temple in the Yue Gu Temple complex, Yantai – Shangdong Province, China (Magu’s gravestone can be seen on the left)
In a continued story from the ‘Yiyuan’ by Liu Jingshu, we find that after her mortal death, Magu would become Immortal. Going further then her title of Protector of women, to protecting all life…
“Fishing and hunting were prohibited in the area of the temple, and violators would always become lost or drown. Shamans said that it was because the Maid had suffered a painful death and hates to see other beings cruelly killed.”
In 1966, China’s cultural revelution almost wiped out all traces of Magu destroying countless shrine’s and temples worshiping her. Only one temple survived untouched…
Magu Temple, her protected temple by the lake…
“When you see a deer, Magu is near” (a Chinese saying)
Immortal Magu with deer and peach tree, Ming or Qing dynasty; Silk tapestry (1575-1725)
At Mount Tai, where Magu was said to live, on the 7th day of the 7th month a harvest festival is held every year in Magu’s honor. Legend has it that the harvest festival has been held since “when the world was green”.
very wide leaf “feral hemp”, Taoist temple, China