The book you now hold in your hands is a training book for a real Taoist School somewhat unknown in the West and misunderstood in Asia.<p >In the West, academics tend to focus on either philosophical Taoism or its manifestation in a distant historical past. In actuality Taoism has moved with the times and has a new vocabulary of which the academic scholar has no inkling. Yet, all Taoism is rooted in over 5000 years of history. One may read an academic text on Tang Dynasty rituals and terminology and think that is how modern Taoists work, which mostly, just isn't the case. Taoism in Asia has developed and evolved.<p >This is particularly true in folk Taoism which is as far removed from Taoist orthodoxy as much as say Gnosticism is from the Catholic Church.<p >After my studies with teachers in China and Malaysia. and having returned to the United Kingdom, I looked for books on the subject in English., I found not many at all. Academic works were highly impractical and focused on the