A (Re)Productive Cycle

Posted on November 29, 2017September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

The Pig Month, which covers most of November, marks lap dung in the Chinese almanac. This is the beginning of winter. The winter season also includes the Rat (December) and the Ox (January). In terms of 5 elements, winter is the season of water. Think ice, snow, cold, rain, sleet, hail, flooding, slipperiness, clouds, downward movement, darkness, birth. These are all qualities of water.

Historically, more than any other season, winter was the time when our very survival was in question. Scarcity of food, cold, poor shelter and illness were common hazards. In modern times, our survival is threatened by flu-ridden airline passengers, too many parties, too much alcohol consumption, ennui and seasonal depression. And the weather.

In an attempt to stay healthy and optimistic, in winter we humans like to bring the Wood element indoors in the form of evergreens: wreaths, pine boughs, fir trees, holly, mistletoe. We also like using our fireplaces, twinkly lights and candles. This is how we employ the Fire element.

Santa Lucia, a third century Christian martyr whose feast day used to be the winter solstice (now December 13th), went so far with these ideas as to wear a crown made of evergreen boughs and lighted candles. I know what you’re thinking – and don’t try that.

Santa Lucia is an iteration of Lucina; Roman goddess of light, the moon and childbirth. Here again we see the relationship of the ideas of survival and light, or Fire. The Greek version of Lucina is Eileithyia. The Egyptian version is the goddess Nekhbet. Obviously this creative, birth-like cycle of Water, Wood and Fire go way back conceptually. The peril of giving birth is that while it is happening the survival of both mother and child is at stake. For both, there is light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. In the same way, if you make it through winter, into the light, that’s where life is renewed. It takes Wood, by which I mean growth, to get there.

In winter we crave the Wood and Fire for a reason. We are trying to simulate a cycle of productive energy to help us stay alive through the winter. Don’t get me wrong – holiday decorating is not in itself about Feng Shui, but using Five Elements is.

And is there something psychological about it? Of course. As the ch’i of the year descends, you may find it helpful to draw your attention to the promise of the eternal return that is Wood; the precursor of the light that is Fire.

Fire Rooster : Fire Under Mountain

Posted on November 15, 2017September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

Well, here we are a little over a year after what many people thought was a stunning upset in our Presidential election history. Whichever side you’ve chosen, you’ve got to admit that the Presidential campaigns and election of 2016 marked the dawning of a new era.

The Lap Yum for the Fire Rooster year, which is sort of a summary of a pillar, is Fire Under Mountain. Sounds potentially explosive, right? What was simmering for ages has finally burst through the surface. This applies to all of us everywhere. It’s not just about Donald, Hillary and Vladimir.

This has been a year to come out of the closet but perhaps not in the usual sense. All year people have been coming out, through public remarks and past actions, purposefully or not, as: hateful, damaged, an abuser, a rapist, ignorant, bigoted, misogynist, a traitor, a cheater, racist, homophobic, privileged, fearful, hurt, bullied, a victim, an accuser… It seems like the brakes are off when it comes to what we are willing to say this year. There’s a backlash against political correctness and going along to get along. Maybe this outpouring of disclosure will help clear the decks for next year and make for new ways of wielding power. Obviously it’s going to take more than disclosure. This is just the beginning.

These are the major themes I will remember about 2017

Gaslighting
Lying
Denial
Can’t remember
Pretending everything is okay when it’s not
Vulnerable to being taken advantage of
Disclosure that you feel crazy and of what made you “crazy”
Stand off
Playing chicken

Trust issues
The exposure of lying
No recollection
Blame others
Gullibility
Weathervane – constantly changing direction/opinion
Jealous demands and demonstrations of jealousy
Demands for loyalty and demonstrations of loyalty
Outbursts of honesty

Truth
Name calling
Fake news
Denial
Open disloyalty and covert disloyalty
Covert loyalty and open loyalty
Questions of why after x number of years did so and so come out with that truth/accusation?

Many of these themes have to do with the clash of the Rooster with the Rabbit. On the Luo pan (Chinese compass) they are opposite each other. If you’ve got a Rabbit or a Rooster in your chart* the themes above may resonate more than for others. The Rooster branch is also associated with both a craving for attention and a short attention span. In a Rooster year we are all more inclined to bring attention through our words. The question is – is it the kind of attention you wanted?

Most conversations I’ve participated in this year have revolved around these core ideas whether or not they were spoken of openly. I am usually fairly perceptive about others’ opinions, but this year I’ve found myself surprised by my lack of discernment. Where I thought there was common ground it had either fallen away or was never there in the first place. While following my own path I had assumed that the people in my life had been learning the same lessons. Maybe they thought the same way about me. It’s been very helpful to dispel this illusion. I’ve found I can still love and accept if that is my choice.

If I was to create my own summary for the Fire Rooster pillar it would say “There will be explosions. First react, then respond”. The feelings and the reaction are just as important as what you do with them. What you choose to do is the response. Doing nothing is a choice too. Take that however it hits you.

*Contact me if you’d like to know what your Four Pillars are.

Hunter’s Moon

Posted on November 3, 2017September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

Gardeners learn to observe the cues of nature to properly time their efforts. Simply by paying attention every day to what is going on in the garden you will learn how to identify changes in season by noting the smell of the soil, temperature, precipitation and plant growth rather than relying solely on the calendar. Have you ever noticed that near the middle to end of August the plants seem to already be contracting and going dormant for the season? They may still be showing new growth on the tips but you can see that the shrubs are not as lush and dense even though they have not yet begun to drop their leaves.

For as long as humans have cultivated the land they have used the travels of the sun and the moon for timing and navigation. By using the position of the sun or moon you can determine time and direction without a watch or compass. Observation and practice is all it takes to develop this skill. The sun and moon are constantly changing their positions and path in the sky and at the same time repeat the same cycles over and over again. Just follow the patterns.

In early civilizations, observing the moon was a way to mark time and its cycles would drive agricultural (and other) practices. I am fascinated by the way that the moon affects every living thing on our planet and the fact that this has long been understood by humans. In Native American Cultures each full moon has a name and the names give an indication of what is happening in the natural cycles of the seasons. When the first settlers came to North America they learned from the native people to use the moon for timing and to call each moon by its unique name.

October was considered an important time to hunt in preparation for winter almost everywhere in North America. These are just a few of the names the October full moon goes by:

Hunter’s Moon
Dying Grass Moon
Travel Moon
Blood Moon
Young Animals Moon

These rhythms are common to many cultures. Consider that the Dog month in the Chinese calendar covers most of October. The Dog month was a time of slaughtering the animals that weren’t hardy enough to make it to the next spring. Rather than using up food to keep them going, those animals were used to keep everyone else going.

Gardening is one way that we can keep in touch with nature and its cycles and take comfort in the unchanging repetition of change. Like the Native American people, we need to embrace the patterns of nature because this is a skill we will always need to survive.

I think an awareness of place and constant change enriches our lives in many ways, whether it’s noticing that first fragrance of daphne in winter or seeing the leaves on the trees just beginning to turn in the fall.

The predictability of the seasons gives me something to fall back on when life seems too confusing and unpredictable. No fall will be exactly like another, but I can base my expectations on the pattern.

Understanding where we are in the cycle provides me with a confidence in my own accumulated knowledge and makes me more likely to trust my own judgments rather than the third party advice of people who are not as close to the situation. The ability to do that is just one of the things I get from gardening.