This is the monthly live event, on the second Friday or Saturday of each month, as part of my Imperial Tutor mentorship. I either present a more formal lecture myself, followed by a lively discussion (what used to be called “History Train Lectures”), or I invite an important voice or two in Chinese medicine (practitioner of the East Asian healing arts, philosopher, anthropologist, historian, translator, author etc.) for a casual chat. While this is a members-only event, the general public can always join for a 9-day $9 trial to check it out.

For this month, I am meeting with Sean Bradley and Daniel Altschuler in Seattle in person to discuss a question I received from a student:

The first is about the holes, or points, themselves -- I'm very curious about their natures, or the "whys" and "hows" that they are...and then how that translates to practice! For example, there's the level at which the holes are physical holes in the body, locations that you can palpate and feel. And then there's the energetic "action" level in the Zangfu system, e.g., Quchi LI-11 (apologies for my lack of tonal notation, I don't know the tones) "clears heat from the yangming, drains damp, cools the blood," etc. But then you also have the symbolic layer! Using Quchi as an example again, "marsh at the crook," a location in the energetic body where qi gathers and pools deeply, fertile and nurturing when unobstructed, or stagnant and noxious when blocked -- like a marsh. Dennis Willmont, in "Energetic Physiology in the Acupuncture Pointnames," also talks about how an alternate name for Quchi is Guichen, "Ghost Minister" -- when the marsh is overrun with gui, who harm the Po and cause stagnation or toxicity, LI-11 can be engaged in its role as Ghost Minister, to perform an exorcism (or at least, that's how I understand it! Any mistakes are my own).

So my question relates to intention: when you decide to enlist a hole for a given treatment, do you also decide what "role" you're giving to each point? (e.g., are you exorcising gui? or are you simply clearing heat from yangming?) Do you think of these roles as separate, or do you think they all accomplish basically the same thing? Does Quchi relate more to the physical body, and Guichen to the psycho-emotional or spiritual body? John Pirog, in "The Practical Application of Meridian Style Acupuncture," very strongly emphasizes intention in treatment, and I've noticed many older Neidan texts do as well. Which then makes me think of imaging: from what I understand, imaging is strongly related to intention; e.g., the practitioner can choose to see the wrist not as the wrist, but as the neck, and treat the neck by needling the wrist. The possibilities here seem quite literally endless.

I have one more question, sorry, I know it's already been many, and this one is kind of Out There as far as questions go, but it's been needling at me! It builds off the other questions, also relating to intention and imaging: if the microcosm is a mirror of the macrocosm, what would it mean to understand the body in treatment as a model universe? For example: the Heart/SI resonates with Fire, the Sun, and Heaven, while the Kidneys/UB resonate with Water, the Moon, and Earth, and so on. What are the practical implications to understanding the Heart and Kidneys as having the same fundamental relationship as the Sun and Moon? That's a HUGE question, and probably has no one satisfactory answer. But on a smaller level, what does it mean that Taibai, 太白, SP-3, has the same name as Venus, also 太白? Is the point actually named for the planet, or is it a coincidence? If intentional, why is the Earth point on an Earth channel named for the planet that resonates with Metal? And ultimately, what would it mean to work with an image of SP-3 as Venus, clinically?