Part of the sophistication and subtlety of Chinese medicine is the understanding of time and season. The San Fu treatment combines medicine with electional astrology in order to harness the seasonal yang qi.

Solar Fortnight 小暑 Xiao Shu (Slight Heat)
Saturday July 6th 2024 22:58
Solar Month 辛未 Metal Sheep

When we get to Solar Fortnight Slight Heat, it’s time to ask your acupuncturist about San Fu Tian treatments. They can tell you if it would be helpful or not for you. The next Solar Fortnight is Great Heat. The one after that is the Limit of Heat. See where this is going?

The San Fu cold moxa treatment combines Chinese electional astrology with Chinese Medicine, that is to say, it is best done within the proper timing. It’s a once a year opportunity to harness the heat of seasonal qi. I’ve noticed some acupuncturists are offering it as a treatment for long Covid and elementally that makes sense to me.

Some Chinese doctors say that the San Fu Cold Moxa reinitiates your growth phase – yes I mean the one that stopped probably in your early 20s. I don’t know if that is true, however I have done this treatment and I can tell you that it has changed the baseline of my health for the better. It fit me.

My Experience of San Fu Tian

This is the second year I am receiving the San Fu treatment. Since late 2019 I have had “mysterious health issues” and in early 2020 I was very ill. I will never know for sure, but logic suggests Long Covid. I attribute the extent of my recovery mostly to Chinese medicine, herbs and acupuncture. San Fu Tian has been one of the most impactful treatments for me.

An interesting side effect of the San Fu treatment (for me) is that it feels like a psychedelic experience. I feel very open and energized. I would attribute that to the effect of the treatment on my natural deficiencies.

I started my 2024 round of San Fu Cold Moxa on Monday July 15, which is the first Fu day in a series of three. It was a Metal Dragon day.

The cold moxa is applied as a paste to the appropriate points and taped in place. You leave the paste on until it feels too warm or too itchy or for 6 hours – whichever comes first. I left mine on for 2 hours this time. Everyone has different reactions to the treatment. I get blistering and it’s very itchy for days afterward. Apparently some who work with this method consider the blister to be a sign of successful treatment.

For Practitioners of Chinese Medicine

Because the San Fu days are determined by particular days within two seasons, there is a calculation you can learn to figure out when the San Fu days occur in any given year. If you want to do it yourself you can use the Hsia Calendar (10,000 year Calendar) or the Tong Shu.

The Fu days are included in my 2025 Wood Snake Almanac to make them easy for you to identify. It will be available for pre-order soon. Please email me if you are interested.

The yang Metal 庚 days are what you look for. In Qi Men Dun Jia, 庚 signals where the trouble is. I find that very interesting since yang Metal is cold and San Fu treatment is like applying Fire for an extended period of time.

Date Selection for San Fu Tian

After the summer solstice, the third 庚 day in the calendar is the first Fu day.
Because there are 10 Heavenly Stems, the next 庚 day is 10 days later. That’s the second Fu day.
The third and final Fu day is the first 庚 day after Solar Fortnight Li Qiu (Autumn begins). In some years (like this one) there is an extra Fu day before the final one.

2025 Offerings for Feng Shui & BaZi, Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine

If you can’t read the Chinese calendar or would like someone else to do these calculations (me!), I will be offering two tools to assist your Date Selection and Year Forecasting: The 2025 Wood Snake Almanac and the 2025 Wood Snake Wall Calendar.

2025 Wood Snake Almanac
乙巳

If you’d like to be notified when preorders open for the Wood Snake 2025 Almanac, please use the link below to let me know.

2025 Wood Snake Wall Calendar
乙巳

I’m also offering a wall calendar for 2025 that includes the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch for each day. Email me if you’re interested.

For more information about the San Fu treatment itself, I have found Heidi Lovie to be a great source for information as well as the San Fu herbs.