The Taoist Priest and the Spirit-Medium represent two different professional spheres in Chinese religious culture. They serve special religious purposes and meet the expectations from a pious lay clientele. Taoist priests and spirit-mediums have different backgrounds, a grossly variant professional education and standard, and observe characteristic traditions. The study by Florian C. Reiter illustrates such facts and shows features of the professional activity of the two protagonists of Chinese ritual culture. It studies the conditions for a freelance collaboration to help resolve extraordinary problems.
The book uses sources in the Taoist Canon (Ming) that refer to the priest, also adducing the scant information about spirit-mediums and ritual tools such as the ash-altar. It also considers the situation in the present time, relying on observations, on oral communication and instructions that were attained in Northern Taiwan. It studies and presents a prayer-book used in a temple in Taipei that conditions the service of the spirit-mediums. The book attempts to do justice to the two parties that in real life are independent from each other but can collaborate as freelance partners.