He Xiangu- Chinese GodDeity"Immortal Maiden He"

Birth and the Mica Dream

He Xiangu was born He Qiong during the Tang dynasty in Guangdong, the daughter of a shopkeeper in the Pearl River region. Purple clouds filled the room at her birth, and six long hairs grew from the crown of her head where other infants had none.

At fourteen, a spirit visited her in a dream and instructed her to grind mica stone into powder and eat it. The mineral, prized in Daoist alchemical practice, would make her body light enough to fly. She obeyed. She vowed perpetual virginity and left home for the mountains, gathering herbs, eating pine nuts and sesame seeds, needing less food with each passing season until she needed none at all.

The Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian records an alternative path. In this telling, He Xiangu encountered the immortal Lü Dongbin in the mountains at thirteen. He recognized her potential and gave her a peach from the orchards of Xi Wang Mu, where the fruit ripens once every three thousand years. After eating it, she never felt hunger again.

The General and the Empress

He Xiangu could see what had not yet happened. During the Song dynasty, the general Di Qing sought her counsel before marching against the Nong Zhigao rebellion. She told him that before he reached the enemy, they would already be defeated and in flight. He marched. She was right.

Her reputation reached Empress Wu Zetian, who sent a messenger to summon her to the capital. He Xiangu set out on the journey and vanished along the way. No one found her.

Her ascension came during the Jinglong era, between 707 and 710 CE. In broad daylight, witnesses watched He Xiangu rise into the sky on a luminous cloud and disappear.

Crossing the Sea

In the Dongyou ji, the Eight Immortals must cross the Eastern Sea, each riding a personal treasure rather than flying. He Xiangu cast her lotus flower on the water. The blossom expanded into a platform of luminous petals, and she rode it across the waves.

The crossing turned violent. The Dragon King of the Eastern Sea seized one of the immortals' treasures and dragged its owner beneath the waves. The remaining seven fought the Dragon Court. The sea churned. He Xiangu stood with her companions until they forced the Dragon King to release their friend and restore the waters to calm.