Shape Shifting

Encompassing a variety of spiritual and magical transformation skills, shape shifting is practiced throughout ancient cultures. Ancient Greece tells stories of Gods transforming into animals, ancient Chinese of Daoist priests transforming into plants and animals, Native Americans into Skinwalkers, and even Disney which tells the story of a prince turning into a frog. In the Hmong specifically, shape shifting has been coined a type of "black magic." In traditional Hmong, shape shifting was often used by mastered and skillful masters of "magic" to disguise themselves or by taking on the power of animals. Individuals would shape shift into powerful animals mostly for survival and for food. In ancient China, there are many historical accounts of famous shamans, priests, and sorcerers and their abilities to transform powerful feats. There's a particular Hmong story of a Hmong man named tswv xyas lauj (Lor clan), a necromancer, that used shape shifting magic. From a poor class, he learned the strict discipline of shape shifting transformations. One day, he turned himself into a tiger in order to catch and kill animals to feed his family. A part of this ritual you had to put a bucket over your head to shape shift into your desired animal and then in order for you to turn back, you'd have to hit this bucket off. Upon coming back in the form of a ferocious tiger, tswv xyas's brother was afraid of the beast and could not hit the bucket off his head. This caused tswv xyas to become a vengeful tiger and he started to kill human life, turning them into tigers and monsters. He didn't live as an ordinary animal but an evil entity that resulted from a failed shape shifting ritual. His story would continue to scare families and children for generations and costing the lives of hundreds. He would become the famous enemy to Hmong shamans around the world.

Although this type of magic is rare today, a type of ancient technique used in shape shifting was the use of an Animal Totem. Totems are used to represent the instinctual, primitive, physical, and sexual cravings and impulses that reside within the person's unconscious mind. They serve as an animal that the person best resides with. Once the shaman or master has transformed into their Totem Animal, the last thing that they do is sense the head of the animal in the space of the person's own head. The person gets a sense of where the animal's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth are located and then fuses them with their own sense perceptions. Once they feel surrounded and enveloped by the Totem Animal, they complete the transformation by performing the "opening the eyes" ritual. The "opening the eyes" as the Animal Totem is the last part of the Shape-Shifting ritual and is used to awaken this state of spirituality.

Another popular ancient method required the use of a magical talisman made by a powerful and skillful shaman, black magic master, or necromancer. With the talisman, the person normally divides their body parts into the 36 transformational segments. The body is then energetically transformed in a sequential order. The transformational pattern of the 36 segments is extremely important, as it maps out the exact pattern that the person will follow. The transformation of Shape-Shifting requires specific black magic, specific spells, and incantations in order to activate the transformation.

Shape shifting is most popular among Daoist monks and among people who practice shamanism like the Native Americans and many African tribes. Hmong shapeshifting folklore is similar to ancient Chinese beliefs with the only differentiation in that the Hmong don't often use talisman or totems but more so incantations, chants, and spells. Shape shifting isn't only used by the living but also the non-living. In Hmong folklore we learn about these monster beings called poj ntxoogs and their ability to shape shift into cats or even human looking forms. More interestingly, poj ntxoogs appear to be these skillful magicians who can make the branch of a tree or a log appear to look like a human figure. In doing so, they switch out the soul of a living person for that log so that family members won't know the body has been switched. The family would perceive their person to be ill and within a few days the person would die, only to realize the physical body of that person was nothing but a log. Shape shifting is understood to be a dangerous practice as it could result in the person being unable to detach themselves from their transformation.. Stories like tswv xyas serve as a reminder to Hmong people that the dark arts are not to be played around with and perhaps better off if this practice is dead.