the Yellow Deity of Chinese theology; 3) Shéxiān ( literally "Snake Immortal"), also called Liǔxiān ( "Immortal Liu") or Mǎngxiān ( "Python (or Boa) Immortal"), who can represent the Dragon God, Fuxi and Nüwa; 4) Báixiān ( "White Immortal") is the Hedgehog God; and 5) Hēixiān ( "Black Immortal") who can be the Wūyāxiān ( "Crow Immortal") or the Huīxiān ( "Rat Immortal"). While the Fox God and the Weasel God always remain the two prominent members of the cult of the zoomorphic deities, the other positions vary in some regions including the Tiger, the Wolf, the Hare and the Turtle Gods. Other areas host the worship of the Leopard, the Mole, the Toad and the Rabbit Gods. In certain counties of Hebei they are reduced to four ( Sìdàxiān) including the Fox, the Weasel, the Hedgehog and the Snake Gods. Common Chinese deities are associated to the cult of the zoomorphic gods. For instance, Huáng Dàxiān ( "Great Yellow Immortal") is popular in north and northeast China, he is totally different from Wong Tai Sin and has no relation to Taoism as in southeastern China, the deity is rather identified as the Weasel God. Local terminology distinguishes the animal gods as the middle way between the shàngfáng shénxiān ( "everlasting gods") gods of the greater cosmos important in Taoism, that are only worshipped and do not take possession of shamans; and the yīnxiān ( "underworld gods"), deceased beings who became gods through self-cultivation (ancestors and progenitors). In northeastern Taoism, besides the Fox Gods, the pantheon is headed by a goddess, the "Black Mother" ( Hēi māmā). Shamanism Northeastern shamans consider themselves to be "disciples" (dìzǐ ) of the gods rather than mere channels of communication between the gods and the human world. Another name used to refer to these ritual masters is xiāngtóu ( "incense heads"). Their practice is generally called chumaxian (), which means "the gods who take action" or more literally "riding for the immortals", a definition which implies that the gods and their disciples act as an organic whole, and in their action, form and content they express themselves together. There are two types of possession that the northeastern shamans experience in terms of consciousness: quánméng ( "complete unconsciousness", in which the disciple is not aware of what happens and what the god says) and bànméng ( "semi-unconsciousness", in which the disciple is aware of what