Daffodils arrive
Glorious harbingers of
Spring – The Green Dragon
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. Here in Chapel Hill, daffodils are blooming. If you live in the North Carolina Piedmont, you may have heard Chorus frogs singing on warmer rainy days, or the first songs of bluebirds. The twig ends of red maples and box elder are beginning to color, red and green respectively. Piedmont Almanac author, Dave Cook, reminds us that now is the time to look for paired wrens, and mourning doves, and to forage Creasy greens. Even though it continues to often feel chilly, we see and hear the signs of the arrival of Spring.
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.
If we don't, how might we "allow [creative] intent to come to life," within our day to day rhythms?
How might we see our life as art, as creative play?
If this feels foreign, but of interest, try pretending you already know how to art your life and see what happens.
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 22nd was the Chinese lunar New Year.
Happy Yin Water Rabbit!
This is not my area of expertise. I will share a few impressions I have garnered from reading and listening to folks better versed in this topic than myself. Rabbits are very social. This is considered a year to lean into collaboration, especially with your most close and intimate companions. Rabbits live in underground burrows, and in Chinese mythology, on the Moon. They are sensitive, and intuitive. They dwell in the liminal. They eschew confrontation. This is a great year to stop and feel before we act, and spend more time in contemplation. Yin Water deepens and enhances all these dynamics. If you would like to dive deeper into this topic, reach out and I will send links to my favorite essays and talks on Yin Water Rabbit.
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!
Water Rabbit swims
Through boundaryless Moon tides: Ears
Open and dreaming
This is the 1 year anniversary issue of Flying Needle News.
Thank you for accompanying me on the journey thus far!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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