Happy Summer 2018!

Solstice Qigong Ceremony 

Hsiao Ch'u (Small Restraint)

I Ching Hexagram 9
Hsiao Ch'u (Small Restraint)

Action: Surrender

Hu Gua (hidden influence) 38 Opposition: Yield

Zong Gua (underlying cause) 16 Enthusiasm: Align

There is no real blockage that can withstand submission.

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting
for our wits to grow sharper. – Eden Phillpotts

Do you like stories?...... here is a new one!

The Myth of Sesamoid--

“And so it was” said the old blind mole as he vividly enacted the story of why he had 6 toes on each of his four feet. “But why” said the little one eagerly as they laid in their warm and cozy earthen dens resting. “Why do we have six toes when everyone else has five?” And the grandfather exclaimed “We are of the great Bear clan, made small. The big Blacks and Browns and even the Giant Panda have six toes too! So you see little one, we are small, but we are mighty! And still the little one wanted to know more. “Tell me paw paw, tell me the story about the pearl and how the two-leggeds hid their six’th toe! Didn’t they want their 6th toe?” Well paw paw stretching his toes wide upon the earth feeling every texture of the granules between them said, “We are the diggers, the makers, the root finders and the movers of the Earth. The two leggeds walk upon the land but they have lost their way and their feeling of the richness of the earth between their toes.
So one day as the old man of the mountain lay upon the earth, our old furry ancestor sprung up next to him in a tiny little hole. Watching with delight, the two legged said to the furry one, “I sure wish I could dig a hole like you, then I could get to the other side of the world and see what’s over there too” And the furry one laughed, because he even though he could not see, he had felt his way beneath raging water, and climbed high upon the mountains, far away he had been and come again here he was. As he began to tell the old man his stories, the elder realized that the furry one was blind, but yet he had felt his way magically among all that the man had never seen. He imagined as the furry one told his stories, how it might feel to him too and he asked the mole how it was that the great bears walked on their six toes? And the furry one replied, that in order to stand strong with such big muscles that his bigger brothers needed the extra toe for balance. And then the old man asked “So why do you small one, have six toes when I only have five and I am bigger than you?” and the furry one told him “better to dig with, you see? Oh, said the two legged elder, but I would like to dig a hole so deep that I too can reach the other side of this world and pop my head up to see what is over there too!
And the furry one grinned, because he was but of the magic kind you see, he could feel greater than any of the two leggeds, more than they could see with their own two eyes, because it was his heart that led the way. Well he said to the old man, if you so desire to find the pearl, then you must find the plant called Sesamum. You see Sesamum lives in the land where the bears do not go, and it is far away. Those pesky bears tried to steal all of the pearls, but Sesamum hid a few plants in the land of giants. Where the horses are striped, and the four footed long necks run. Where the beasts of the bellows scratch the trees with their long claws. And Sesamum tends to his garden of these beautiful pearls that hang among the leaves. If you find Sesamum, he can give you a pearl which will help you dig. The old man was very excited, and for hours talked long with the furry one about the plants and the beasts and the trees and of Sesamum and how to find him.
The elder spent many days walking upon the land until upon his map, the mark was there and sitting amongst his dancing plants was Sesamum. Oh my friend he said, you have come a long way, sit and tell me your story. And there they were for many days, and the elder was quite pleased to be with Sesamum and helped him grow his plants with the pearls that hung in long stringy pods from the branches of the great tall plants. However in his heart he remembered the furry one, and that he wanted to dig a hole and feel the world. Sesamum, being the wizard he was, was also a medicine man. He grew the plants to help heal the world and he began to share the stories with the old man. He told the elder that if he wanted to dig a hole to the depths of the seas, that he would have to have his sixth toe. But how? the old man exclaimed, I don’t have one! But do you want our six’th toe? Sesamum asked. Oh yes, the old man said, because then I could see the world. Then we must take a pearl from the seeds of the pods and plant it and make it grow. But how will that give me a sixth toe? And Sesamum laughed with quite a belly full of Joy. He told the old man that he would hide the seed deep in a crevice, deep amongst the red sea and the white bone and it was there it would become the pearl, and the best part would be that no one would know, not unless they too wished for the sixth toe, and then it would be at that time, they would be able to see, not with their own eyes, but with the pearl hidden deep within. I see, I see! said the old man. And then it was done, the seed was planted, and the pearl grew, and each of his thumbs grew his sixth toe, and in each of his feet, and knees, and ears even. He smiled and he thanked Sesamum and started back on his long journey to the top of the mountain. When he returned he found his furry friend once again and told him of his long journey and of the pearls! “Now, he said to his friend, are we ready to dig that hole to the other side of the world?”