Priest

===Taoism===
[[File:Soothsayer-outside-of-Changchun-Temple-0352.jpg|thumb|A fortune-telling [[Taoist priest]] with a customer outside of Changchun Temple, [[Wuhan]]]]
The [[Taoist priest]]s (道士 "master of the [[Taoism|Dao]]" p.&nbsp;488) act as interpreters of the principles of Yin-Yang [[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|5 elements]] (fire, water, soil, wood, and metal p.&nbsp;53) school of ancient Chinese philosophy, as they relate to marriage, death, festival cycles, and so on. The Taoist priest seeks to share the benefits of meditation with his or her community through public ritual and liturgy (p.&nbsp;326). In the ancient priesthood before the Tang, the priest was called ''Jijiu'' ("libationer" p.&nbsp;550), with both male and female practitioners selected by merit. The system gradually changed into a male only hereditary Taoist priesthood until more recent times (p.&nbsp;550,551).<ref>Pregadio, Fabrizio (2008) ''The Encyclopedia of Taoism, Volume 1'' Psychology Press {{ISBN|0700712003}}
*at Google books: [https://books.google.com/books?id=MioRmEq2xHUC&q=Taoist+priest+Daoshi&pg=PA489 pp. 488–90] • [https://books.google.com/books?id=MioRmEq2xHUC&q=fire+water+wood+metal&pg=PA53 pp. 53–54] • [https://books.google.com/books?id=MioRmEq2xHUC&q=Taoist+priest+Daoshi&pg=PA326 pp. 326–29] • [https://books.google.com/books?id=MioRmEq2xHUC&q=Taoist+priest+Daoshi&pg=PA550 pp. 550–51]</ref>