IncenseOrangesRice wineSweet cakesPaper ingotsA coin kept from the first saleThe first banknote of the year
Invocation Approach
Tone
Brisk courteous transactional
Address
CaishenLord of WealthZhao GongmingMarshal of the Dark Altar
Relationship
A shopkeeper greeting a patron who reads the ledger
Warning
Wealth asked for unjustly is booked against you
Resonance
Shopkeepers traders those opening a business at the new year
Symbols
Gold ingotBlack tigerCoin swordAbacusRed envelopeFive direction banner
Mythology Summary
Caishen is a title more than a single god. The martial wealth god is Zhao Gongming, a Daoist marshal of the Dark Altar (Xuantan) with origins in plague-quelling, who was folded into the Ming novel Fengshen Yanyi and given the four attendants who make up the Five Directions of Wealth; the civil wealth god is usually Bi Gan, the loyal minister of the Shang, or Fan Li, the strategist who retired rich. He is welcomed on the fifth day of the first lunar month, when shops reopen, and his image stands at the counter with a black tiger and a heap of ingots.
Modern Practice
Shops keep him at the counter with oranges, incense and a red envelope, and the working form of the offering is the first coin or note taken in the new year, kept and not spent. Popular practice distinguishes the martial (business, risk) from the civil (salary, steady income) form and keeps them at separate altars.