Housekeeping- Spring into Summer
When I began writing this post, it was at the tail end of the earth transition…now it’s Memorial Day weekend and Summer is in full swing. The smells in the woods have changed, the forest floor has disappeared under greenery and the winds waft in contrast to Spring’s directionality. This post will be housekeeping and a few mini Ted talks.
Lack of regular posting has been time management, not lack of inspiration. I plan to derail my ‘perfect being the enemy of the good’ tendencies so I will start posting to Notes more frequently as things come up. Especially the 15 day periods that make up each season. They can be a wonderful window into what’s really happening out there. A great way to track these is via Robert Peng’s Seasonal Empowerment series (there are both free and subscription versions.) Peng is very good at both describing the qi transformations and leading the exercises for each time period. The exercises are specific to softening the tissues around each vertebra with the entire spine being worked over the course of the year. These were around long before ELDOA and yes, they work. (So does ELDOA- try finding a person trained in that outside a major metropolitan area.)
An example of a recent 15 day period is Tomb Sweeping (also known as Clear and Bright) which runs from approximately April 4 to April 18. While trees and plants are leafing out at that time, the ground is still visible and treasures abound. When I first began tracking the 15 days segments, I would return from the woods in early April with skulls and bones. Just seems to work out that way without even trying. Photos above are from an exploration north of St Marys, WV.
Welcome to tiny Ted talk #1- the solar flares earlier in May led to many sightings of the aurora borealis, even here in Parkersburg albeit only visible via phone camera. After listening to an interview with Ben Davidson, the possibility of another Carrington event sounds like it might be when, not if. End result- no electricity, no Door Dash, etc. I generally don’t let fears of immanent apocalypse get me down. This week, I found cause for actual optimism. My downstairs neighbor told me that the mulberries raining down from the tree next to our building are poisonous. (He, as he has told me numerous times, was a biology major at WVU. I grew up on a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains, was gardening from age 5 and started studying herbs at age 8. Oh, and I spent 25 years being good enough at gardening that people paid me to do it.) We traditionally have a conversation of this ilk every summer- it goes like this…
These are poisonous.
No, they’re not. They’re mulberries. Totally safe to eat.
They’re poisonous. I’m a biology major. I ate some one year and they made me really sick.
That’s because you’re probably not used to fresh food.
I eat fresh food every day.
Just because you make a Hot Pocket hot doesn’t make it fresh…
The takeaway- plant people rejoice! Barring nuclear war, there will unlimited foraging opportunities during the apocalypse.
Tiny Ted Talk #2 re Constitutional bigotry. As a practitioner, it is both hilarious and irritating as f*** that there is a tendency to treat patients of Wood constitution in the same way we treat the season of Spring. As long as Spring is sunny, warm and filled with fuzzy ducklings, we’re good. The moment there is rain, cold, wind, and rapid change (assertion, baby!!!), we revert to “I hate this time of year.” My first teacher of all things Five Element was Eliot Cowan. While there was much MUCH to love there, I came away from it with some prejudices. Like Wood people were angry and shouted a lot. This misunderstanding is still all too common in Five Element world. It took some further teaching and time with the classics of Chinese medicine to change this misperception. Most of what practitioners attribute to Wood is actually another constitution with their knickers in an angry wad.
For the record- if you really want to get your bangs blown back, restrict the food intake of a hangry Earth person. Even better, they could still hold it against you 20 years later. A raging Water person is so frightening that you might actually poop your pants. And if your desire to experience pathological anger includes a death wish, get in the way of a really angry Fire person.
The Wood element primarily orients around the following concepts- birth, growth, benevolence, kindness, assertion, flexibility, perspicacity, divination, leadership, left field quirkiness, creativity and a glorious love of life. Spring is no different. Wood people are no different. The way to engage with them (and Spring) is to encourage- we want MORE wind, MORE showers, GET BIG OR GO HOME, BABY…
Your Wood patients and family (and your relationship with Spring) will grow and flourish in the sunshine of encouragement…
Tiny Ted talk #3- So much of all this kafuffle comes from improper orientation. If I am the center of the universe, then it is your job (oh person, oh Season, oh whatever) to make it OK for me. If I realize that I am a piece of a complex, sophisticated living tapestry, then the futility of my latest meteorological mini-tantrum is self-evident.
I’ve been privileged with some amazing teachers and elders over the years. All of them agreed on one thing (Eliot Cowan being the first to bring this to my attention)- gossip is toxic. Talking about other people/beings when they are not present is the most corrosive human behavior we have. Another beloved teacher, Trishuwa, opened this up a little more. She said (I will paraphrase), “We talk about other people because we are terrified to open to the intimacy of speaking about ourselves.” I would propose that talking about the weather qualifies as gossip.
Stop gossiping about the weather, people. You got an issue with it? I support you 110% to step OUTSIDE AND TAKE IT UP WITH THE WEATHER BEINGS DIRECTLY.
Note that you may have more success if you orient yourself properly between Heaven and Earth i.e. tiny human not Master of the Bloody Universe and offer some tobacco.
Success could potentially be interpreted as not being transformed into a greasy stain by some well-placed lightning.
