Spring's herald bursts forth
Though has yet to bloom: Poised to
Flower into action.
Hello Friends of Flying Needle!
Happy Beginning of Spring!
Hope this finds you well during these interesting times!
Hail Green Dragon of the East!
- totemic guardian of the season -
Seasonal Musings & Reflections
The three months of spring one calls “issuing and laying out”.
Together Heaven and Earth give life,
The myriad creatures thereby blossom.
Sleep at night and rise early,
Stroll at ease around the yard,
Loose the hair and relax the body,
Allow intent to come to life.
- from Suwen Chapter 2
Our days continue to lengthen as Spring begins today, Feburary 3rd. Here in Chapel Hill, we are enjoying a lovely respite from the recent frigid temperatures. We are now experiencing the typical February in the North Carolina Piedmont oscillation bewteen chilly mornings/evenings and afternoons of balmy warmth. Spring's heralds, the Daffodils, have sprung up but not yet bloomed. Morning birdsong continues to increase. Deer are bounding about. Squirrels are beginning to play. The world continues waking up day by day from the slumber of Winter.
How is Spring expressing where you are?
Spring is resonant with East, beginnings, birth, movement, wind, the Wood phase, the liver and the gallbladder, sinews, and the color green amongst many others processes and dynamics. Yang's expansive expression is unfurling as the Sun (Taiyang : Great Yang) shines for more of each passing day.
One of my first teachers of Chinese medicine, Brian Moran, used to say the liver (in this case meaning Wood Phase as expressed in and through the human body) loves inspiration and perspiration. This was his pithy way of reminding us that movement and creative expression support free flowing and coherent circulation through the body.
As we read in the quote from the Suwen above:
Stroll at ease around the yard,
Loose the hair and relax the body,
Allow intent to come to life.
A simple way for us to harmonize with the new season is to move with as much ease as we can while we seek to relax the body and be loose and fluid. If we have creative interests, or practices that have been dormant through the Winter months, now is an ideal time to reconnect with them.
What are ways to bring, find, and invite more creative play into your life?
The Chinese calendar has both solar and lunar aspects. While the seasonal musings and reflections of this newsletter are primarily oriented to the solar aspects, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that January 29th was the Chinese lunar New Year.
Happy Yin Wood Snake!
As I have said in years past, this is not my area of expertise, but I will share a few observations based in what I have heard and read from folks more knowledgeable than myself.
Each of the 12 animals of the zodiac have a native phase, and a phase that changes depending on the year. 5 phases and 12 animals gives us a 60 year cycle of combinations. The Snake's native (inherent) phase is Fire. The Snake of this year is Yin Wood. This particular Snake is Yin, Fire, and Wood. It is the Snake of emergence, the youngest and gentlest of the 5 Snakes.
If Dragon is the yang expression of all the qualities and dynamics of the the zodiac, Snake is their yin potential. Snake is the striking shift from yang to yin – the drop back into the mysterious and uncognizable ground state of being. Snake is close to the earth, both humbled and embodied. Snakes have no visible external ears. They hear with their whole body. Their scales transmit vibrations from the environment directly into their inner auditory structures. Their forked tongues allow for stereoscopic chemical perception. While their eye sight is almost universally poor, they powerfully perceive the unseen aspects of the world.
Snakes can go for extended periods of time without eating (some as long as 2 years), and when they eat they can consume up to 95% their body weight at one time. Another idiosyncracy of the snake is that they consume their food whole. Their body's have the capacity to radically transform to accommodate what they eat.
In Chinese, and numerous other cultures, the Snake is associated with the practices of philosophy, alchemy, magic, and shamanism. They are symbols of transformation, penetrating insight, mystery, non-attachment, vibrant stillness, and striking force.
The Yin Wood Snake is the snake just emerging from its egg. It is the subtlest expression of all the 5 snakes. It's hides in the grass becoming nearly invisible, and does not yet have the capacity to strike. It offers and invites us to tend to the unseen, open to mystery, and cultivate embodiment and humility. It asks us to see through appearances and rest in deep resonance with nature as it is, rather than how we think it to be.
Snake reminds us to be vigilant about not sliding into depression, nihilism, and paranoia. Seeing through appearances can be both liberatory and provocative. While it is always important to stay grounded, or at the very least return to groundedness, it is of extra importance in a Snake year.
Like a snake basking in the morning's eastern sunlight, we have the opportunity to soak up all that is uniquely on offer in this Yin Wood Snake year! Enjoy!
May your Spring days be filled with beauty, mystery, and friendship!
May you and your kin feel both rooted and free!
May we walk in gratitude with our Ancestors!
May all being and becoming receive nourishment!
Snake wisdom strikes through
Appearances and into
Unseen Mystery
It is my sincere hope that you have found something of use in these words.
If you know folks who you feel would enjoy this newsletter, please forward it their way! Thank you!
Wishing you and all your relations wellbeing and good medicine!
With gratitude,
Taran
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