Immortal Woman He
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Named He Qiong (何瓊 hé qióng), Immortal Woman He or He Xiangu (何仙姑 in pinyin: hé xiān gū) or Ho Hsien-ku in Wade-Giles, is a female deity, one of Eight Immortals. (Another possible female Immortal is Lán Cǎihé). She was from Yong Prefecture (永州 yǒng zhōu) (today Linglin County (零陵縣 líng lín xiàn), Hunan) in Tang Dynasty, or from a wealthy and generous family in Zēngchéng County (增城縣), Guangdong.
Biography
Ho Hsien-ku was the daughter of Ho T‘ai, of the town of Tsêng-ch‘êng, in the prefecture of Canton.
At birth she had six long hairs on the crown of her head. When she was about 14 or 15, a divine personage appeared to her in a dream and instructed her to eat powdered mica, in order that her body might become etherealized and immune from death. So she swallowed it, and also vowed to remain a virgin.
Up hill and down dale she used to flit just like a creature with wings. Every day at dawn she sallied forth, to return at dusk, bringing back mountain fruits she had gathered for her mother.
Later on by slow degrees she gave up taking ordinary food.
The Empress Wu dispatched a messenger to summon her to attend at the palace, but on the way there, she disappeared.
In the ching lung period (about 707 CE) she ascended on high in broad daylight, and became a hsien.
From Lieh Hsien Chuan, ii, 32, 33
Depiction
Her lotus flower improves one's health, mental and physical. She is depicted holding a lotus flower, and sometimes with a shēng (instrument) (笙), or a fènghuáng to accompany her. She may also carry a bamboo ladle or fly-wisk.
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