Scaled up to the level of war magic, the violent repelling rites of the tantras became The Big Push, The Big Show, or a Schlieffen Plan.
Large numbers of ritual experts would assemble for performances that could last several days, if not weeks.
The requisite expert officiants and necessary materials had to be assembled and elaborate shrines constructed.
Legions of effigies (ling ga) of enemy soldiers would be fashioned from barley flour, butter, and paper, often accompanied by thousands more effigies of the enemy’s horses, so that the practitioners in effect re-created the battlefield within the confines of a ritual space.
Thus the resources required for a serious repelling rite were considerable.
455 tons of ammonal for the nineteen mines at Messines, for example, and 33 million shells.
In the last half of the female fire snake year of 1917 it was said that a great number of enemy were coming.
All the farmers and nomads were terrified.
Fifty divisions took part in the ritual performances, and in early November the signs emerged.
A great snowstorm fell.
After that, a gale rose up, and shreds of cloth, like prayer flags, froze in the craters.
They were buried beneath the snow, men along with their horses and pack animals.
Not even one escaped death.
When the snow melted, the Lower Hor-pa and Ser-myog came down out of the mountains and when they were done stripping the bodies there was nothing there.