Scientific Qi Exploration – Energy of Stars 5b

Forms of Qi: Heaven Energy of Stars – Part 5(b)

Martin Eisen, Ph.D.

Part 5 (b) is a continuation of Heaven Energy of the Stars, Part 5(a). Section 5 discusses the Chinese calendar, which can be used to describe time variations in Heaven’s Qi. This leads to a discussion of fluctuations in the body’s Qi in Section 6.

5. The Chinese Calendar

As early as 1500 to 2000 B.C., each year, month, day and hour was associated with one of the Twelve Earthly Branches and Ten Heavenly Stems. The Earthly Branches have several associations as shown in Table 3. Then Ten Heavenly Stems and their energetic relations appear in Table 4.

3. The Table Twelve Earthly Branches

Table 4. The Ten Heavenly Stems

In ancient China, the Twelve Earthly Branches represented two hour period time units. They were mainly used to represent the twelve months in the Lunar Calendar. Qigong doctors used the Heavenly Stems to determine the flow of Heavenly Qi and its corresponding relation to the Qi of man. Both the Branches and Stems represent the characteristics of growing, declining, and dying of all life as well as the development and transformation of all natural phenomena. The energy of the Stems appears within the five energetic movements (front, back, right, left, and center) as well as within the elemental energy of the body’s main internal organs.

Table 5. The Sixty Year Cyclic Chinese Zodiacal Calendar

60 year cyclic Chinese zodiacal calendar is constructed by using a Stem and Branch to denote a year. The current cycle began on 2nd February 1984 AD. The beginning of the cycle is based upon the alignment of the sun, moon, Jupiter, and Polaris. The first year is associated with the first Stem and first Branch and so is designated jia-zi. Jia correspond to Wood and zi to the rat. Thus, the first year is the year of the Wood Rat in Chinese astrology. The second year is represented by the second Stem and Branch, and so on. For the eleventh year, there are no new stems and so it is represented by the first Stem and eleventh Branch or jia-xu. Similarly, the thirteenth year is represented by the third Stem and first Branch or bing-zi. The cycle continues in this manner until it returns to the first Stem and first Branch. The 60 year cycle is shown in Table 5, together with the Gregorian year numbers for the current cycle.

From Table 5 this is the year of the Wood Ox. How do you find the Chinese year for a date not listed in Table 5? If you like to do mathematical calculations read (2) and (3); otherwise, use the program in (4). References (2) and (3) also show you how to find the Stem-Branch for any month, day, and bi-hour (column 5 in Table 3).

6. Qi and the Chinese Astrological Calendar

The variation in Heaven’s Qi produces even more complex changes in the bodily Qi flow. At given time certain acupuncture points are open – that is, full of energy and are more responsive to treatment. At other times they are not open, have less energy and are less responsive to treatment. The Ancient Chinese, using astrology and metaphysics developed a theory to find open acupuncture points called “Zi-Wu Liu Chu Liao Fa” (5).

Zi-Wu Liu Chu Liao Fa consists of six Chinese ideograms. From Table 3, the Earthly Branch Zi denotes the time period 11 p.m. – 1 a.m., during which Yin is at its peak, and Wu the time period 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., during which Yang is at its peak. Recall that Zi also stands for November and Wu represents May. The winter solstice in November is the time when Yin begins to transform into Yang and the summer solstice in May is the time when Yang begins to transform into Yin. Thus, these two ideograms represent the change in Yin and Yang within a year as well as a day. Liu means flowing and Chu means entering. This can be interpreted as the energy and blood flowing and entering into acupoints varies with time. Liao mans therapy while Fa means technique. Together, these six ideograms can be interpreted as the techniques of therapy according to the temporal flowing and entering of meridian energy.

The acupoints which are used in Zi-Wu Liu Chu Liao Fa are the Command Points – Jing (Well), Ying (Spring), Shu (Stream), Jing (River), and He (Sea). In addition, the Yuan (Source) Points are also employed. The Yang meridians have their own separate Source Points. However, the Yuan Points on the Yin meridians are the same as their Stream Points. Since their there are 12 meridians and 6 Yang meridians, only 66 points are selected for treatment.

The five Command Points are also used in Five Element Acupuncture. For the Yin meridians, the above sequence of Command Points corresponds to the Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water Points, respectively; while for the Yang meridians the corresponding sequence is Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth. The Five Element School of Acupuncture believes that most diseases can be treated by just using the Five Element Points.

References

1. Johnson, J.A. Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy. Int. Institute of Medical Qigong, Pacific Grove, Ca, 2000.

2. Fong, H. How to Calculate the Chinese Solar Equivalent date for any western dates without using the Ten Thousand Year Calendar? Part 1 of 2. http://www.absolutelyfengshui.com/library/solar-year-month.php.

3. Fong, H. How to Calculate the Chinese Solar Equivalent date (Ba Zi) for any western dates without using the Ten Thousand Year Calendar? Part 2 of 2. http://www.absolutelyfengshui.com/library/solar-day-hour.php.

4. Fong, H. Ten Thousand Year Calendar. http://www.henryfong.com/10000.htm This calendar gives you the Chinese Lunar and Chinese Solar (or Hsia) calendar equivalent of any Western Gregorian dates. Does it have 10,000 years of dates data? Nope, just a 100 years from 1924 to 2024.

5. Lu, H.C. The Time-Honored Techniques of Acupuncture. Academy of Oriental Heritage, Vancouve, B.C., 197