Hares and rabbits
A little respect for the large intestine, please...
‘Tis nearly the end of autumn- soon will be Samhain and the beginning of winter at the cross-quarter on 11/6. We are almost out of Metal time with its correspondences of white (colour), weep (sound), rotten (odor- note that the best correlation in real time I can find for that smell is old lady powder sorry) and officials of Lung and Large Intestine. I reviewed some old notes in preparation. As acupuncture student in a Five Element tradition, the Large Intestine module was taught by a Metal constitution human whose manifestation was particularly on the fu side of things.
From my post-class reflection- “ I can’t say that my understanding of the large intestine has expanded. I tried taking notes…but couldn’t figure out what to write down. I ended up watching the tutor to see if I could learn more via her manifestation. No massive insights there for me.” Tessler was dazzling, mercurial in her movement and thought and altogether baffling. Such is the nature of this official- prior assumptions may preclude learning. Which is to say- we are going to cover some ground and you too might not be quite sure of where we are headed or where we end up…should be fun.
The Victorian age, like any other, gave and took with both hands. One of its legacies was the water closet. A pristine place to move our bowels. No more chamber pots. No more trips outdoors in the winter to the outhouse. But we lost something as well. Besides institutionalizing prurience around bodily functions, the modern toilet created a conundrum. Feces from an outhouse or a composting toilet can be turned into soil. There is a natural process of transformation that occurs when poop is incorporated into organic matter. Potentially problematic microbes are eliminated and the resultant substance is rich and fertilizing. The problem of putting poop into water is now we have a potential public health disaster. Firstly, it doesn’t break down. No transformation here. And the small problem recently dropped into the water has now become an E. coli calamity commensurate to the size of the body of water it’s in.
What does it mean to withhold this much maligned substance from the possibility of transformation?
Chinese medicine is always operating on multiple levels. Body, mind and spirit. So let’s leave toilets behind and wander over to spirit… Classical theory speaks of the five spirits rather than just one. The spirit associated with the Metal element in general and the Lung in particular is the Po. The Po gives us a level of physical vitality and animal intelligence. It is the part of us that can revel in earthly existence in a human body- the feel of a breeze ruffling arm hairs or the exhilaration of running down a steep trail…My mentor was fond of referring to “sex, drugs and rock and roll” as a Metal constitution inclination. At death, the Hun (associated with Liver) carries the Shen (the bit of the Divine we borrow for this lifetime) back to the Divine. No divine redemption for the Po. Upon demise, the ancients would prepare the body for burial, plugging all orifices so the Po would stay in the corpse and rot into the earth. Escaped Po being seen as a problem- poltergeists knocking things off shelves, clamoring for the earthly life they had lost. This in and of itself is interesting…not everything gets to go up, whether to heaven, Heaven or the Milky Way. Some things must go down. That there might be a part of us that must go into the soil for rot and transformation. A debt that might be honored. An acknowledgement that we are of this earth and we owe it something…
Pity the Po in a state of the art modern coffin. No gentle earthworms and magnificent mulching via tree roots for you, baby. Hope you’re ok with an eternity of stasis…Sometimes being special isn’t that special.
What does it mean when a part of our spirit no longer dissolves into the land where we live? Does that change the land when we withhold our Po from integrating into it? How does that change our relationship to the land itself?
It was Stephen Buhner who first brought the poop in water versus dirt dilemma to my attention. If you are a fan and haven’t delved into Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, it’s worth some attention, particularly if you are a plant person…There is a wealth of herbal information within it, often gems I’ve never seen anywhere else in 45+ years of devouring herbals. The section on elderberry refers to the Elder Mother, “she to whom prayers are addressed before the plant itself can be harvested”.
“Elder Mother, in time I will come to you, my body will be returned to the Earth and in that time I will pay for this bounty and help I request.”
Seems fair enough…
In its role of bian hua, official of change and transformation, the LI is the last guy on the assembly line. A last chance to recover precious substances needed by the body for daily processes. Western physiology talks about the reabsorption of fluids and minerals. Chinese medicine is more concerned about vital essences. Regardless, poop is simply a byproduct of this final quality check prior to exit.
In the system of the Chinese clock whereby one of the 12 officials governs a specific 2 hour period, large intestine time is 5am to 7am. (In weird time, that’s 6am to 8am.) Just as each season done well or even half-assed prepares us for the next, each time period prepares us for the following one. A period of transformation and reclaiming of vitality that prepares the way for stomach and spleen powers of ingestion, digestion and making more of you each morning. Chinese medicine with its multiple perspectives also sees the Large Intestine as a pairing with the Stomach. This is Yang Ming- Yang brightness, a powerful yang movement outwards into the day. Hence, being yin at this time (sleeping in on the weekends because the rest of one’s week is cuckoo) is actually counterproductive. Sleeping until 10 or 11am might feel yummy on some level, the yum of “I’ve earned this”, but is inherently against the movement of nature. And, sorry not sorry, Western sleep science agrees with this idea…
According to stems and branches, the animal associated with this time is the rabbit. But is it really? Maybe if we look back further, it’s actually a hare. Hares are different- they nest above ground, are larger and more powerful. Unlike rabbits, they are born fully furred with eyes wide open. They are solitary, meeting for mating but living a more hermetic existence. The Chinese character for hare is the character for rabbit plus a character indicating open country or wilderness. This tells us something fundamental about the nature of a hare versus a rabbit, hare having the skill and ability to be a creature of the wilds. As North Americans, we primarily interface with rabbits. But those in Europe and Asia know the mighty hare…
There’s a reason why they didn’t call it a VW Rabbit in Europe- rabbits are feeble creatures. Would you drive a car called the Hamster? Abroad, it was called the VW Golf… That’s a completely different conversation.
Hares are associated with the moon in multiple cultures from Mesoamerica to China. In Chinese mythology, it is the Moon Hare who pounds the elixir of immortality. And it is the power of the hare that takes us from the time of divine connection/Lung at 3 to 5am into the daylight yang of early morning. Should we be up and outside at that time- what do we experience? Life begins its outward movement once again, the daily toil of find the food, find the mate, live this earthly life…
So how can we better grasp the deeper implications of the Large Intestine? It’s not just about poop. It’s really about the diamonds…In The Treatise of the Spiritual Orchid, it is said that the charge [role] of the LI is as follows- The large intestine is responsible for transit. The residue of transformation stems from it. Claude Larre goes on to say,
“Bian hua chu yan is a very important and subtle description of what the final product of the work done by the large intestine is. When I say product I am not referring to a material thing…Where there is hua there is a transformation actually made or in the making. Where there is bian there is something in the process of change.”
What happens when the Large Intestine is on the fritz? Well, we might have a hard time sorting out the diamonds from the shit. Tends to look like a mental attitude of “it’s all shit” or worse, “it’s all diamonds.” We lose the power of reclaiming the valuable from the dross. Think about it- we need transformation on a DAILY basis. Constipation isn’t just a physical misery- a constipated mind is worse and a constipated spirit…
Hoarding is a thing in Appalachia, a part of our heritage as much as being strong-minded folks running from wretchedness in the Old World…I associate hoarding with poverty. Yet how does that explain the folks with means who also gather, gather, gather until the shear weight of detritus takes them down? Traditionally, we understand poverty (from the Latin pauper) to mean a lack of material goods.
Have we misunderstood poverty all along? Are we missing the diamonds of the vital essences? Does it all begin with poverty of the spirit?
The mystery of the LI deepens when we consider its pathway and points. Acupuncture pathways have entry points and exit points. Some pathways are straightforward. The first point is the entry point and the last is the exit. But then there are the pathways where something happens after the exit point- pathways like the Kidneys, Stomach, Lung, Pericardium, Triple Energizer and Gallbladder. But there is only one pathway that has points prior to the entry point. And only one pathway that crosses from one side of the body to another (pathways are bilateral with the exception of the midline pathways of ren mai and du mai). This crossing occurs between LI19 and LI20. The last point of the left LI pathway is now on the other side of the body at LI20, Welcome Fragrance.
What do these first three points do!?!? Look it up for yourself and hear the deafening silence…Yes, they have prosaic roles according to the five shu transporting points standpoint. But what mysterious thing is happening prior to manifestation at LI4, Tiger’s Mouth? Tiger’s Mouth isn’t just the entry point or the source point- it is one of Ma Danyang’s Twelve Points Shining Bright as the Starry Sky…
The Joining Valleys lie at the Tiger's Mouth, between two bones where thumb and finger fork.
A headache with a swollen face, malarial fevers, burning then cold.
Tooth decay or a nose bleed, lock jaw and unable to speak.
The needle enters five fen deep, the patient then immediately at peace.1
It’s like Bruce Wayne went into the bat cave and came out all suited up. Or maybe there’s something karmic involved, residue from prior lifetimes. Ancestral experiences that still ring through your bones, debts to be paid.
In family constellation work, there is the concept that when a murder is committed, the murderer becomes part of your family constellation. What about that?!?!2
The mind is a funny thing- right now, it’s probably wondering if it should convert your 401K to gold…We don’t find the diamonds with our mind. It is a far far deeper part of us that knows what has value and what doesn’t. What is to be held and what cast away. And the Large Intestine contains that intelligence. So if you find yourself at the end of this, as I did in acupuncture school, somewhere out in the wilderness wondering what the hell happened… Be a hare, not a rabbit.
http://www.itmonline.org/arts/madanyang.htm
https://innerartsinstitute.com/2016/10/10/unraveling-family-secrets-an-interview-with-bert-hellinger-on-family-constellations/