Debra Kaatz - Characters of Wisdom: Taoist Tales of the Acupuncture Points

Characters of Wisdom

Taoist Tales of the Acupuncture Points

Published by

The Petite Bergerie Press

4 Somerton Road, Upper Heyford,

Bicester, OX25 5LB

Copyright 2005 by Debra Kaatz

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-0-9570301-0-7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Five Element Acupuncture

The Extraordinary Meridians

Ren Mai-Vessel of Conception

Du Mai-Vessel of the Governor

Chong Mai-Vessel of Great Crossings

Dai Mai-Vessel of Guidance

Yang Qiao Mai-Yang

Vessel of Dynamic Movement

Yin Qiao Mai-Yin

Vessel of Dynamic Movement

Yang Wei Mai-Yang Vessel of Support

Yin Wei Mai-Yin Vessel of Support

The Wood Element-Spring

Dan-Gallbladder

Gan-Liver

The Fire Element-Summer

Xin-Heart

Xiao Chang-Small Intestine

Dan Zhong-Heart Protector

San Jiao-Triple Burner

The Earth Element-Late Summer

Wei-Stomach

Pi-Spleen

The Metal Element-Autumn

Fei-Lung

Da Chang-Large Intestine

The Water Element-Winter

Pang Guang-Bladder

Shen-Kidney

Treatment and Healing Cycle

Bibliography

Author and Calligrapher

PREFACE

UTMOST SOURCE

At the time I became a student of Chinese medicine, I was immediately fascinated by the beautiful Chinese characters of each point. Each day I would find time to study a character and find out its story. Slowly over five years, each of the acupuncture points were transformed into special palaces of energetic richness and vitality. They also began to reveal their Taoist stories of wisdom. Each acupuncture point helps our energy to remain in harmony and balance. When we stray from our path, these points can help us to find our way. This brings great healing and opens our spirit. My hope is that these stories will help to bring alive this energetic potential of each of the points. In re-editing the book I have tried to make this clearer. There are also two new chapters explaining more about five element acupuncture and treatment.

The stories themselves have come from many conversations with Chinese friends, many Chinese alchemical texts and the books of Deng Ming-Dao and Alfred Huang. My special thanks go to Elizabeth Rochat de la Valle for her inspired teaching on the wisdom of Chinese characters, her encouragement and her help with the references. My special thanks also go to Harrison Tu for his beautiful calligraphies that illuminate each of the spirits of the points.

In addition I would like to thank all my friends and colleagues who enjoyed and encouraged my story telling of the points and to the ancients themselves who knew the wisdom of each generation re-telling the tales. This work is really their gift. All interpretations, however, remain my own.

All the Chinese names have the reference numbers of the descriptive lessons in Chinese Characters by Dr. L. Wieger. If there is an R or P in front of the number it is a radical or phonetic reference number. I have given a brief description of the location of each meridian but it may also be useful to have a chart that shows the location of the points. Tao and Dao are the same word.

Debra Kaatz

Soudorgues, 2008

RECEIVING SPIRIT

FIVE ELEMENT ACUPUNCTURE

Acupuncture is an ancient healing art. By intuitively listening to the twelve
pulses on a persons wrists, we can understand what is not in balance and harmony for that person. By respectfully and deeply listening to the person, we can begin to understand where the person is in their life and how they might like to change. By using the spirits of the acupuncture points, we can both balance the persons energy as well as help them along their path in life. Each acupuncture point contains a rich source of vital energy as well as an opportunity to open a persons life, allowing it to blossom forth with richness. Spiritual five element acupuncture is not about matching a point to a symptom. It is about helping someone to become full of balance and harmony in their energy so they can then stride forward and realize their dreams. When we as acupuncturists help to bring someone back into harmony and balance, this also balances and harmonizes all the energy around them. We not only help the person to become happier, but the world as well.

Spiritual five element acupuncture is an ancient wholistic art of healing the mind, the body and the spirit. A healer will deeply listen to the patient and also sensitively read their twelve Chinese pulses. He or she will then balance that persons energy by giving them the acupuncture points of spirit that will help the person to move forward along their path in life. Each of the acupuncture points are palaces of energy that are described by the Taoist tales of their Chinese characters. By using these points we not only balance the persons energy but are also able to give them the wonderful healing spiritual energy contained in many of the points. In this way life creatively opens for the person.

The ancient Chinese healers knew that when a person suffered an imbalance to their energy during one of the five seasons, the corresponding element within that person would be weakened. This would then show in the persons energetic colour, sound of the voice, odour and emotion. When we support this weakness on the corresponding acupuncture meridians of that season, the persons energy comes back into balance again and the person returns to health.

There is a very simple assumption in the theory of spiritual five element acupuncture. This is that at sometime, probably early in life, our energy was knocked out of balance. This also threw our system out of balance in a certain season. This then produced a weakness in our energetic system. When a patient comes to me I can see this weakness in their energetic colour, detect it in their odour, feel it in their energy, and hear it in their voice. If this energetic weakness is not helped it continues to weaken our energy especially in the season when it happened. This weakness is shown in a tint to our energetic colour, in the sound pattern of the voice, in a flavour to our odour, and in an emphasis in certain emotions. For example if the imbalance occurred in the spring, there would be a greenish tint to the energetic skin colour, a shout in the voice, a sharp flavour to the odour and some inappropriate anger. This is not a personality thing, but an energetic weakness that we can support with treatment so the person feels whole again.

The energy of the person, who had their energy imbalanced in spring, for example, can be strengthened and brought back into balance by treating on the two wood meridians, the gallbladder and the liver. A persons spirit is further helped by using the wonderful spirit points on the eight extraordinary meridians, the outer bladder line, and the kidney chest points. This way of treating is both simple and profound in its healing strength and power.

If the seasons of the year are in harmony then spring brings to life the smallest seeds and the world is filled with greenness. There is the sharp sour smell of cut grass, the energy of dynamic growth and the shouting voices of a thousand insects. Summer brings sunshine and long days. There is the smell of roasted dried grasses, fields full of beautiful flowers bringing great joy and laughter, vibrant bird song, and the warmth of the heat of hours of full sunlight. The harvest season or late summer brings the rich ripe golden yellow colours of the harvest, the smell of sweet fruits and vegetables at their peak, the soft song of mother earth offering her bounty without reserve to all and the security of knowing there will be food to survive the winter. In autumn the cold comes with the north winds and all life goes back into the earth to await the next spring. The leaves turn magnificent colours until they too fall back into the earth to nourish her for the next year. The autumn brings the smell of rotting compost, the sighs of letting go and falling leaves, the whiteness of clear skies and the rich metals in the rains to nourish the soil. The bare limbs of trees open the spaces of the sky, giving inspiration in the sharp clear air. By letting go of each old breath, we breathe in the next moment of absolute newness and find the essence of each moment. Winter then comes with the rains and the snows. These fill the reserves of springs, rivers, lakes and seas. Without this water the spring seeds will not germinate. Winter brings the smell of water and snow, the odour of rain in the air, blue water in lakes, the constant rushing sound of a river passing by and the freshness of spring water. Winter is the time of drawing inwards and guarding our reserves. It is a time when these deep resources need to be nourished with warmth and contemplation. Winter is a time to withdraw to the warm fires to find the depth of our inner reserves. Here we can reach the profound mysteries of the depths of our inner sea and sense the Tao itself.