The first historical information on her can be traced back to Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions that record sacrifices to a "Western Mother".

The growing popularity of the Queen Mother of the West, as well as the beliefs that she was the dispenser of prosperity, longevity, and eternal bliss, took place during Han dynasty, in the 2nd century BCE, when the northern and western parts of China became more accessible through the opening of the Silk Road.

[2][3] Queen Mother of the West is a calque of Xiwangmu in Chinese sources, Seiōbo in Japan, Seowangmo in Korea, and Tây Vương Mẫu in Vietnam.

Originally, from the earliest known depictions of her in accounts like the Classic of Mountains and Seas during the Zhou dynasty, she was a ferocious goddess of death with the teeth of a tiger, who rules over wild beasts and sends down heavenly punishments such as pestilences.

[13] After her integration into the Taoist pantheon, she gradually took on associations with other aspects, such as immortality,[14] as well as being the god of stars, directions, profit, and the sun and moon.

"[17] In this account, the Queen Mother plays the role of Laozi's superior and is credited with the ultimate authorship of the Dao De Jing.

[18] This account however, being of traditional Taoist thought, has the Queen Mother taking an inferior role to Laozi, calling him "Primordial Lord" (the title of his highest manifestation) and pays homage to the sage.

After the fall of the Tang dynasty, (c. 910 – c. 920) a Shang-ching Taoist master and court chronicler named Du Guangting wrote a hagiographical biography of the queen mother as part of his text "Yung ch'eng chi hsien lu" ("Records of the Assembled Transcendents of the Fortified Walled City").

In accordance with the Shang Ch'ing vision expressed by Tu, she appears as teacher judge, registrar, and Guardian of female believers.

To these women, The Queen Mother of the West was seen as "a powerful, independent deity representing the ultimate yin controlling immortality and the afterlife.

Their names are Fuxi and Nüwa respectively.From another section of the Dragon Flower, "It is required that all male and female members gather with neither difference nor discrimination".

For example, an excerpt of the "Precious Scroll Explaining the Great Vehicle" says:[23] After preaching the wonderful message with an enlightened mind and manifested nature, they return home in complete pleasure.

They are received and led to their original place.In the sect tradition, for example as explained in the "Precious Repentance of Blood Lake" of Hongyangism (弘阳敎), the condition of suffering is inherent to the human being in the world, necessary to creation itself.

The material world is likened to a "Blood Lake", filthy and dirty waters that necessarily flow out of women's bodies when a child is born.

[24] The Bamboo Annals record that in the 9th year of reign of the legendary sage king Emperor Shun, "messengers from the western Wang-mu (Queen Mother) came to do him homage."

The Xunzi, a 3rd-century BCE classic of statecraft written by Xun Kuang, wrote that "Yu studied with the Queen Mother of the West".

[16] The fact that she taught Yu gives her enormous power, since the belief in Chinese thinking is that the teacher automatically surpasses the pupil in seniority and wisdom.

There are several different accounts of this story but they all agree that King Mu, one of the greatest rulers of the Zhou, set out on a trip with his eight chargers to the far western regions of his empire.

Qin had the opportunity to meet the Queen Mother of the West and attain greatness from her, but instead wasted it [26] and died without the Mandate of Heaven or a dynasty.

His story of not jumping at the chance to meet the Queen Mother serves as a warning to later men, as despite huge and costly efforts to pursue immortality, he died and speaks no more.

Turning her head back, she told the servant girl, Dong Shuangcheng, "The wind is finished; you may perform on the Cloud Harmony Mouth Organ."

In his covered walkways, song bells became hard to discern in the approaching evening; In the deep palace, peach and plum flowers turned snowy.