Gathering The Energies Of Fall Series: Part III: The Spirit

Happy October, everyone!  It’s my favorite month, which has two wonderful events, AOM (Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine) Day on October 24th, and Halloween on October 31st.  I’m thinking of a great way to honor both days, so make sure to stay tuned on how to get involved!  I’m especially referring to October 24th, since I’ll be offering a special acupuncture package on that day.  Make sure to watch my blog for updates!  You can also find out the 411 on the Alcantara Acupuncture Facebook page or Twitter.

Because of life circumstances last week (believe me, a very helpful blog post on female health is forthcoming!), I posted one of my classic blog posts, “How To Protect Yourself From Psychic Vampires In the Concrete Jungle”, on the Alcantara Acupuncture Facebook page, rather than post today’s final installment of the “Gathering The Energies Of Fall:  Part III: The Spirit”.

In previous blog posts, we’d discovered how to harvest Fall energies the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) way – through Body and Mind.  This post, we’ll explore how our Spirit can benefit from the TCM energies of Fall.  And, as you can see, I’m posting my new posts a day earlier, to help you start the week off right!

As we’ve already learned in the earlier posts, the Lungs and Large Intestine rule this Metal season of Fall.

What does this mean to your Spirit?

1. The spirit of Metal (the element of Fall) is Po – The Corporeal Soul.  The character po consists of the character bai, on the left, meaning white, the color of bones that lies buried in the earth, and gui on the right, which refers to earthbound spirits.   One thing I’ve always loved about Chinese Medicine is that the explanations of certain aspects of life and health are so poetic, from the descriptions of certain acupuncture points, to that of the  Five Shen – the spirits associated with each of the body’s five yin organ-systems (Heart, Kidney, Spleen, Liver and Lungs.)  The “po is related to the process whereby the body is created out of the radiation of the spirit (shen).  The po consists of the seven emotions (fear, anxiety, anger, joy, sorrow, worry, and grief) which are the primal urges that facilitate the grasping of life.”  (Nourishing Destiny: The Inner Tradition of Chinese Medicine, Lonny Jarrett, p. 260.)  The function of the po is to attain the essential worth in life, receive it into the Lungs, and hold this within the Large Intestine.  When we die, it is believed that the po descends through the anus and returns to the earth.
2. On the outside, Fall is about moving towards the darkness and barrenness of Winter.  But, within, we are revisiting our origin in a more highly evolved state.  This return can often be depicted, in Daoist mythology, as the sage, upon gaining immortality, who ascends to heaven on the back of a dragon or crane.  Not surprisingly, the crane is a popular symbol of longevity in Chinese culture, and the White Crane even became a Chinese style of martial arts, which begat the wonderful Wing Chun style!  There is much to learn about the crane, but that’s another story in itself.
3. Fall helps us transform our loss and grief into righteousness.  Here, I’m referring to the standards of righteousness to rectify the self, not others.  Grief is a beautiful and painful aspect of life we all experience, and it helps us go through the necessary release, in order to achieve righteousness within.  As an example in layman’s terms, imagine the grief of losing a loved one through physical death, or the symbolic death of your relationship with loved one.  The pain is exquisite, and grief must be embraced in order to move forward into the clearing of our own growth, that we never would’ve been able to hold otherwise.  It is difficult to do, but loving our grief and loss is the best way to show yourself compassion, and to best facilitate moving through it with your integrity intact.  As we all know, it is practically impossible to rush through this process.  In the end, grief transforms us into our next phase.
4. Fall helps us shape our concept of self-worth.  Self-worth, in association with metal, is the virtue of valuing what we find out about our deepest selves.  Imagine peeling off the layers of your deepest selves, like an onion.  Do you value what you find at its core?  Fall gives you an opportune time to make peace with what you find, to beam love into your deepest selves, to love all of it, including your imperfections.  If you are having difficulty in loving all of yourself, especially after having uncovered it in the new nakedness of light, affirm to your consciousness and spirit, “I love all of myself, including my imperfections.”  This would be a great for those of us with body image issues, after just experiencing a painful breakup, or who are particularly hard on ourselves.  Make this motto visible to yourself, if you are more the visual type!  Emblazoning this on your mirror in lipstick is a great way to remind yourself of this basic virtue of valuing your deepest self every morning!

So, with these aspects in mind, how will you honor your Spirit this Fall?  I’d love to hear from you!

Sending love to your Spirit for ease in your transformation,

 

 

 

 

 

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