Gwa Jan is a syncretic religious-philosophy and magical tradition. It is based around the concept of ascending to godhood (taq tsodien, literally, "existence as emanation" or "being energy"). The esoteric mystical(magical) aspects of Gwa Jan are focused around the production and manipulation of reality through the control of hombaq tra, literally, "powerful opposition", the Gwa Jan concept of a paradox which sustains itself, or a destructive force or situation which is made to sustain or pull things together.
Gwa Jan magicians make use of certain magical tools in order to create and harness hombaq tra. Though originally only used by the small splinter community of Gwa Jan called the Timqu Gwa Jan (who embraced magic as a faster path to taq tsodien), they have been incorporated into mainstream Gwa Jan ritual as the Timqu Gwa Jan have become more influential (and more blended) in the majority group.
Mirror- mirrors are useful in that they create hombaq tra oh, personal hombaq tra. This is based on the principle that there cannot be two exact copies of the same emanation (In Gwa Jan, all material things are emanations of tsodien iqu, or slow energy). The mirror, in creating two exact copies of an emanation, produces a paradox, a crisis. But instead of this crisis destroying both images, the two objects remain until the mirror is moved. Thus, hombak tra is produced, but it is hombaq tra which is focused only on the thing reflected in the mirror. Thus, it is hombaq tra oh, energy which is used to affect a certain emanation, the thing or person reflected.
Water- a bowl or vessel full of water is essential to Gwa Jan magic. Water represents a minor manifestation of hombaq tra- it can but cannot be broken (a puddle can be splashed, but it only separates into smaller droplets), and it can be like stone or air (ice or mist).
Ritual Knife- a ritual Gwa Jan knife is generally heavily ornamented and the blade is mirror-polished (to take advantage of the above-mentioned qualities of a mirror). During Gwa Jan rituals, the knife is used to create constant danger, thus producing hombaq tra bendi, danger hombaq tra (a complicated concept best expressed by the fact that one is still in danger from an attacker with a sword, even if one has escaped a single blow from said sword).
Seven Directions Map- A seven directions map is a round object (generally a disk of bone or stone, though sometimes a piece of leather, hide, a woven object, or even a wheel or table) upon which is inscribed a compass-like figure with the Gwa Jan symbols for the seven directions (north, south, east, west, up, down, and center). This is used to align the Gwa Jan sorceror along all the seven directions so that, ritualistically, all hombaq tra energy is centered around, emerges from, and flows to the caster (which, in itself, produces hombaq tra because there cannot be more than one center of the seven directions).
Candles- generally colored to represent the seven directions, candles, when burning down, produce hombaq tra in that they are made liquid, yet remain (and return to) solid.
Energy Image- an energy image is a picture (often stylistic or metaphorical) of the effect or usefulness derived from the spell which the Gwa Jan sorceror wishes to conduct. The energy image does not produce any hombaq tra in and of itself, but it allows the Gwa Jan sorceror to focus the hombaq tra produced by the various crises that he makes into creating or sustaining the effect.
