5 Major Functions of Light In Your Body: Bring Balance to the Functions of the Body Systems

More than one hundred years ago, physicists and physicians alike focused on the power of light to yield benefits for life and health. They studied its effects on life forms, the functions of the body systems and its therapeutic benefits to humans.

It’s not well known the 1903 Nobel Prize in Medicine went to Niels Finsen of Denmark for his work with light. He was using light to treat tuberculosis and certain skin problems.

Shortly after Finsen’s findings, Indian born Dinshah Gladioli, working in the U.S. with several doctors, established a relationship between colors and the functions of the body systems.

All this work corroborated the knowledge of ancient energy medicines including Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

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Phototherapy versus Chromotherapy for Skin

Phototherapy involves treating disorders with light.

Chromotherapy for skin technologies deliver specific colored light frequencies to skin or body.

PHYTO5’s Chrompuncteur, for example, is a sophisticated chromotherapy for skin device.

Beyond the typical LED lights most cosmetic devices use, PHYTO5 uses dichroic light filters. These superior filters offer a full range of nine colors plus white light frequencies. And they also ensure that no ultraviolet and/or infrared frequencies are emitted. 

The science of chromotherapy for skin and body is actually a centuries old concept. Likewise, the history of color medicine is as old as any other medicine.

The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and people of China and India employed phototherapy and chromotherapy for skin health. They utilized both sunlight and color for healing. Little did they realize they were balancing the functions of the body systems by doing so.

The Egyptians constructed temples with rooms specifically designed to radiate particular colors of light. They placed sick people in various light colored rooms according to their illness.

They also painted various colors on skin then exposing the skin to sunlight to cause the color to emanate into the body.

The Greeks designed temples that broke sunlight up into its component colors of light. They also utilized various colors to treat specific disorders.

People have used color as a tool for treating illness since 2000 BC.

Like most cosmetic devices today that only offer the primary colors via LED, people of more ancient eras used only the primary colors—red, blue and yellow—for healing. Though they were probably unaware of the science behind colors and light, they definitely believed in healing with colors.

Light As Effective Healing Agent and Balancer of the Functions of the Body Systems

Light itself, whether run through a color filter or not, offers therapy and healing to the human body.

Today’s holistic therapies very often include light light to help balance body, mind and emotions.

Light turns on the brain and the body. You can obvisously take it in through the eyes. But you can also ingest light-filled foods to improve your skin and alimentary system.

Light triggers helps stimulate the proper function of the hypothalamus—the organ that regulates the functions of the body systems. Light can help balance the autonomic nervous system, the endocrine system, the pineal gland, and the pituitary gland which is the master gland of the body.

When light triggers the pineal gland the vastly important hormone melatonin is released. This, in part, explains why people who are light-deprived and consequently lack melatonin become depressed.

Melatonin affects every single cell in the body. It turns on each cell's internal activities and causes vibrancy and vitality in the body.

When light triggers the pineal gland it’s better able to carry out its serenity-provoking responsibility. It causes us to feel at one with the universe, our inner being and environment.

With this harmony established, we feel happy and full of vitality. But without such harmony, disorders and diseases arise in our physical, mental and emotional bodies. The functions of the body systems is impaired.

Chromotherapy to Help Balance The Functions of the Body Systems: Complement to Conventional Medicine

An energetic modality rather than a biochemical one, people often only apply chromotherapy when conventional medicine can’t provide healing.

Chromotherapy will often ease the chronic issues that frequently stump medical doctors. It can offer valuable support for patients in psychotherapy and provoke harmonious expansive mental well-being.

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Endnotes:

McCulloch, Joseph M. and Loth, Luther C. Wound Healing: Evidence Based Management. F. A. Davis Co. Philadelphia, PA. 2010.

Martel, Anadi. Light Therapies: A Complete Guide to the Healing Power of Light. Healing Arts Press. Rochester, Vermont. May 2018.

Azeemi, Samina T Yousuf, and S Mohsin Raza. “A Critical Analysis of Chromotherapy and Its Scientific Evolution.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : ECAM, Oxford University Press, Dec. 2005, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1297510/. 

15 Questions a Holistic Practitioner Should Be Asking You

Many alternative healthcare practitioners today call themselves holistic. Some medical doctors say they practice integrative medicine which is supposed to combine allopathic medicine with a holistic approach to health and wellness. Unfortunately, many provide holistic or integrative treatment in name only. Achieving balance in all your systems couldn’t be further from their minds.

It’s an interesting experience to visit a self-labeled holistic physician. He’ll record your history but only based on a finite set of physical factors.

Integrative medicine that combines holistic with conventional medicine claims to be healing-oriented. And if they truly are, those integrative M. D.s will take account of you, the whole person.

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What should you look for when consulting a holistic or integrative medical doctor? And in a related field of medicine, what might be the questions to ask functional medicine doctors?

First, let’s explore the definition of ‘holistic?’ What does it truly mean?

holistic |hōˈlistik|

characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole;

medicine characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the physical symptoms of a disease.

Looking at the whole person includes all aspects of your lifestyle as well as your relationship with your practitioner.

Both holistic and integrative medicine, if authentically practiced, will forge a therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient. They’ll integrate all the evidence of conditions they discover and make use of all appropriate therapies.

Ancestral energy medicine broadly popular in more ancient China ensured doctors’ focus on the health of their patients. They only looked at sickness and disease as a sign they weren’t keeping their patient healthy.

The ancient Chinese family physician was fully paid so long as all family members were in good health. When someone became ill, the physician either tool less pay or took nothing at all until everyone in the household was well again.

In the book, Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance, by Charles A. Moss, M. D., the authro describes a rare medical school experience he had in the late 60s.

The following description summarizes how every healthcare practitioner of any kind should approach you, the patient:

I remember in 1968 hearing a professor of neurology, Dr. S. M. Megahed, discussing the importance of listening to everything the patient had to say while observing with exquisite precision how they spoke and the emotions they expressed.

He emphasized the importance of touching the patient, and the amount of information that a detailed examination would provide. His caring nature influenced me. He approached each person as unique, leading to a greater understanding of the process that resulted in the patient’s illness.

Instead of focusing solely on making a medical diagnosis, Dr. Megahed looked at the whole person.

In the spirit of taking care of the whole patient, a good healthcare practitioner should do more than collect a basic physical and hereditary history.

The authentic holistic physician should take the following issues into account when treating you.

All these factors significantly impact your state of health and well-being:

• overall stress levels

• how resilient a patient in responding to stress

• a person’s line of work; number of hours worked in a week; whether the work is sedentary or physically active; what parts of the body, mind or emotions are most taxed as the patient performs the work

• family structure; a single parent could face many more life challenges; the number of children, especially in the household, is important as this factor can seriously affect a single parent’s health

• the diet and eating habits; how many meals per day; does the patient eat on a regular schedule or only when there’s time? how much time is allotted for each meal? does the patient eat alone or in company? does the patient chew food very well?

• exercise pursuits and how consistent; assessment of spinal flexibility and ability to walk long distances both of which are key indicators of vitality and longevity

• history with and outlook on holistic therapies and remedies

• patient’s income level in order to determine a sliding scale for fees, if warranted

• mental state

• emotional state

• health goals

• level and manner of sexual engagement

• how much fun and enjoyment

• habits or addictions, good and bad, and which the patient would like to be free of

• whether spirituality or belief in a higher power plays any or a central role in the patient’s life

• how often the patient takes time to simply “be” in a quiet space and relax

The practitioner can immediately and superficially assess these in order to get a quick read of your present level of vitality:

• the state and presentation of your skin, countenance and hair

• eye brightness

• physical posture

• weight

• muscle tone

• overall emotion radiated

• the pulse: this can provide info. about key organs beyond the feedback provided by the rhythmical throbbing of blood through the arteries, especially to doctors of oriental medicine

• the tongue as indicator of healthy or unhealthy digestion and elimination

It may be challenging to find a holistic practitioner who will take the time for such an extensive yet important interview. But if your holistic practitioner gets to know who you are as a whole person she or he will quickly know how to serve you best.

When you find a practitioner who asks you the primary 15 holistic questions, that practitioner’s definitely a keeper.

…

Photo courtesy of RODNAE Productions at Pexels

Moss, Charles A. Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance. North Atlantic Books, 2010. 

The Earth Element Personality According to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Understanding Your Archetype for Harmony and Balance

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) embraces a fivefold concept: the Five Element or Five Phase Theory. It explains a wide variety of phenomena from cosmic cycles to the interaction between the body’s internal organs to personality types. One of those phenomena is the personality type for each of the five elements. To summarize the Earth element personality in one word, it’s nurturing.

We all tend to be one predominant personality type from among the five elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. But no one is one hundred percent one type alone. And each element type manifests an in-balance and out-of-balance (maladapted) personality.

Describing this or any other element type is not all black and white. Sometimes we’re in balance and sometimes we’re out of balance in our type. This imbalance often stems from childhood occurrences that impacted us in an indelible way.

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Key Points About the Earth Element Personality

You could very well be an Earth element personality or type if the year of your birth ends in the number 8 or 9.

• Yellow years (the yang color of Earth) end in the number 8.

• Ochre or deep gold years (the yin color of Earth) end in the number 9.

Even if you don’t have an Earth element personality, you can be in or out of balance with the Earth element throughout the year.

This especially occurs when we enter any of the four 18-day transition periods between the four major seasons of TCM. We call these periods bridging the four major seasons Earth.

Earth is when the energies of yin and yang come into balance before one of them begins to dominate the other.

In TCM’s understanding of Earth:

• Earth provides a home for Metal.

• Earth controls Water by forming river banks.

• Fire forms ground for Earth.

• Wood controls Earth through its ability to mold Earth into a dam, for example.

Pay attention to the attributes of Earth and keep yourself in balance with them.

If you’re an Earth element personality and you experience imbalance with Earth, you can get back into balance relatively quickly. Do it primarily by understanding the Earth element and how it correlates to your Earth element personality. Then adapt yourself to live harmoniously with it. (This article will give you insights on how to do balance your Earth element personality.)

Earth is the element of harvest, abundance, nourishment, fertility, and the mother and child relationship. Earth balances and epitomizes the changes of seasons.

So an Earth element personality will be all about nurturing, abundance, change and helping to bridge relationships one person to another.

Physical Attributes of Earth Relating to an Earth Element Personality

Earth associates with the digestive system—the stomach (middle of the body) and the spleen. Earth also relates to the sense of taste.

If you’re an Earth element personality and type, you should avoid foods that antagonize the stomach. You may already have an intolerance to insulting foods.

The Earth element personality and type is often prone to ulcers or indigestion. Consider avoiding indulging in sweet foods and rich desserts.

The Earth element personality and type often develops stomach illness. It shows up as deep sagging facial lines from the base of the nose to the outer corners of the lip.

The energy of the Earth element supports the flow of lymph to detoxify the body.

Lymph is a colorless fluid containing white blood cells that bathe the tissues and drain toxins through the lymphatic system into the bloodstream.

For this reason, each of the four 18-day between seasons periods of Earth are the best times of year to detox skin and body. Toxicity conditions such as acne—a sign of Earth imbalance—can easily flare up during the Earth periods. Toxicity is a condition of Earth imbalance.

PHYTO5’s Earth quantum energetic line of skincare addresses toxic skin conditions of acne, blemishes, and enlarged pores.

Quantum energetic means the skincare line potently helps balance emotions as well as skin and vital energy. (All PHYTO5’s five element lines are quantum energetic.) This is particularly important for the Earth element personality (or any of the other four element personalities). Because the five element lines are quantum energetic, they balance emotion as well as skin.

This means the out of balance emotional state of the Earth element personality can be easily brought to balance using products from the Earth line.

An out of balance Earth element personality ruminates excessively. Feelings of overwhelm and stuckness, for lack of a better word, dominate. The Earth quantum energetic line of skincare work to get the Earth element personality or anyone out of balance during the Earth seasons feeling more free to self-express creatively.

Earth line skincare shifts you or the Earth element personality enough to help you move off dead center and complete unfinished projects. If you’re a nurturer and use the Earth line you get to relax more knowing you don’t have to be all things to all people.

Click here for the dates of the four 18-day periods of Earth.

Earth Element Personality and Energy

As for any element, the Earth element personality feels a whole range of emotions and behaviors: patience, reliability, logic, service and duty to others, militaristic nature, stubbornness, and high energy.

We see the balanced Earth element personality in:

• home

• safety

• stability

• grounding

• support

• love

• nurturance

• practicality

• reliability

• industriousness

• pensiveness

• seriousness

• conservatism

• instinctive awareness

• reflection

• empathy

• honesty

• kindness and prudence.

The home is very important to the Earth element personality who creates a cozy and comfortable home. Their homes are relaxed and put visitors at-ease so much so they don’t want to leave.

The Earth element personality loves to decorate with stuffed furniture, thick rugs and ornate elements. But out-of-balance Earth types will overdo and decorate with lots of clutter.

The maladapted (another way to describe imbalanced) Earth element personality likes to collect, even hoard, material things. It create a sense of security.

The Earth Archetype As It Relates to the Earth Element Personality

• Plains and valleys are the yin or feminine expression of Earth.

• Hills and mountains are the yang or masculine quality.

Well adapted Earth element personality types intimately connect with the Earth. They see being outdoors with nature, plants or animals as complete spiritual experiences.

The Earth element personality epitomizes balance and unconditional love, nourishment and nurturance.

Earth is the Mother Goddess, Mother–Provider, fertile, nurturing, grounding, strong and constantly transforming. An in balance Earth element personality personifies all these.

Mother Earth never stops providing and caring for us. She supports all kinds of copious plant life to grow in her rich fertile soil. She devotes herself to nurturing and sustaining all her children—sentient beings living on Earth.

This is a quality the Earth element personality in balance mirrors by taking care of family, feeding, loving, caressing and encouraging.

The Earth element personality enormously values friendship. Earth types are very kind and nurturing to their friends.

Like the matriarchal Earth archetype, an Earth element personality in balance is pillar of the family and often the community. This personality will create a safe, secure enriching environment and always with a steady hand and loving touch.

The Earth element personality must live in yin-yang energy balance to be well adapted in Earth. This means Earth types are spiritually and emotionally well grounded individuals.

The Earth element personality—when well adapted to the element—nurtures herself or himself as well as family and friends, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

The balanced Earth element personality offers many gifts to loved ones:

• an empathetic ear

• reliability

• comfort

• selflessness

• concern

• grounding for the family.

For all of these reasons and more, everyone wants to be balanced an Earth element personality’s friend.

But the Earth element personality can also be out-of-balance.

• selfish; self-absorbed

• overly pensive; gripped by paralyzing mind chatter

• needy; uncooperative with others, and/or

• judgmental and rigid (including physical inflexibility)

Nevertheless, the out-of-balance Earth element personality or type truly can transform:

• self-absorption>>>to empathy and selfless caring for others

• the prison of an overactive ruminating worrisome mind>>> to the freedom and the comfortable ability to take action

• neediness>>> to dependability so others will know they can be counted on and are loyal.

The Spirit of the Earth Element and How it Supports the Earth Element Personality

TCM calls the intellect Yi. It’s the spirit of the Earth element and also our center. It balances the transformation processes of all the other elements.

Yi gives us the capacity to make scholarly achievements, to set intentions and digest thoughts and information all while keeping us centered in our core. But when an Earth element personality, or anyone for that matter, overthinks and worries, it damages Yi.

On the other hand, when your Yi is healthy, you can remain present and attuned to the gut-brain axis(1) and your solar plexus chakra. The Yi seems somewhat esoteric, but a balanced Yi supports healthy physical digestion which is a very grounded concept.

Especially if you’re an Earth element personality, get really attuned to the element of Earth. It’s very therapeutic. It will bring you into harmony with nature and support the Yi spirit. Then Yi is able to sustain a calm clear mind as it listens to the gut-brain for intuitive information.

Balancing the Maladapted Earth Element Personality

An undernourished childhood—both literally, through lack of nutrition, physical touch and nurturance, and figuratively, through lack of unconditional love and emotional support—often negatively affects the Earth element personality and for life.

The Earth element personality may be unable to resiliently respond to stress because of an inner empty feeling created by an inappropriate maternal experience.

All children need to be held in their mother’s arms, most especially. They need to be told everything is alright. They need to feel a deep connection with Mother. Children require mother’s unconditional love, affection, attention and care.

But a lack of motherly nurturance often affects the Earth element personality’s ability to genuinely and empathetically care for others.

Finding contentment and satisfaction in family, work and relationships can become difficult, out of balance with the  Earth element.

The Earth element personality needs to know she’ll be heard, understood and supported. But lacking this she becomes needy. Out of neediness, the Earth types will often turn to whoever will listen to them as they seek attention through complaining.

They’ll also be constantly striving to fulfill their need to be listened to and understood. The maladapted Earth element personality wants to have her plights recognized. they feel the sympathy and empathy they elicit from others proves their friends and loved ones understand them.

The maladapted Earth element personality can also become overly self-sacrificing. This behavior can often be inappropriate boundaries are crossed in the spirit of helping someone else.

Earth types feel very challenged to simply be empathetic and allow others to work through their problems themselves. The maladapted Earth type wants to solve others’ problems for them.

The Earth element personality out of balance may find self-care challenging. This personality’s driving force and reason for living is all about taking care of others and not himself or herself.

The Earth element personality out-of-balance can also often feel anxious and insecure when his stable predictable lifestyle has been threatened. He may worry about this or other issues excessively and obsessively. And it’s this worry that prevents him from making decisions and completing projects. His mind gets chaotic and feels stuck and paralyzed. 

The maladapted Earth element personality can find a pathway back into balance through service, gratitude, self-care, and mindfulness practices. 

Utilizing the Energies of Earth for a Balanced Personality in Any Element

The Earth element is substantive.

Earth can conjure fierce images in your mind like erupting volcanos and intensely vibrating earthquakes.

But Earth also and mostly calls to mind nurturing soil, the bounty, healing crystals and stones buried beneath, and all the plants and animals it sustains.

You might like to visualize Earth itself from space as gentle reminder we live on a magnificent celestial island.

You can call upon Earth’s energies to facilitate your manifestation efforts. She’ll help you put down strong roots so your dreams can grow into reality.

The Earth element can provide you with a sense of reality and productivity. It gives you the capacity to turn nearly everything you touch into something tangible.

Earth can be not only a great ally but wise guide.

Whether you’re an Earth element personality or a personality of any of the other four elements of TCM, call on Earth’s energies for assistance. Call on Earth for help with grounding, growth, protection, your work with the Law of Attraction, and the inner workings of your soul, life cycle and abundance.

Earth holds a gateway enabling you to communicate with animal and plant spirits. She offers you the necessary grounding to keep one foot firmly planted on terra firma. Especially if you’re a gardener, crystal worker or herbalist, Earth will support you in your service.

The energies of the Earth element will help keep you aware of your valuable and enlightening ancestral roots. They’ll also encourage you to keep the garden of your life free of weeds in the here and now.

Whether you’re in or out of balance as an Earth element personality, feel gratified by your Earth Mother archetype. Reach for her wondrous qualities of composure and serenity whenever you feel unsure.

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Endnotes:

1. Gut-Brain Axis (GBA): Researchers now call the gut the second brain having discovered there is an enormous number of neurologic connections and neuro-regulatory bodies in the gut microbiome. From the nasal sinuses to the rectum, the GBA comprises the largest macro-membrane in the body with a surface area of two tennis courts.

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Sources:

Levitt, Susan. Taoist Feng Shui: The Ancient Roots of the Chinese Art of Placement. United States, Inner Traditions/Bear, 1999.

Moss, Charles A. Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance. United States, North Atlantic Books, 2010.

Fall Equinox 2024: Get the Most Out of This Auspicious Event

As the sun passes South across the equator we will experience equal amounts of light and dark on the Fall Equinox 2024. This auspicious solar event is balance point in the year just as the Vernal Equinox was. Energies draw inward. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) calls this yin energy. Harvest time ends and plants wither and die but it's beautiful. We can tap into these energies and live better.

The Spring Equinox expressed dynamic yang energy outwardly with plants sprouting and greening in the sunlight. But with the Fall Equinox we see and feel energies begin to draw inward. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) call this yin energy. Harvest time ends and plants wither and die.

Full moons often happen around the Equinoxes. They bring energy that’s palpable and pivotal. For the ancient Chinese, the Autumnal Equinox full moon represented the beginning of the dark yin or female half of the year.

Our internal and external energy is noticeably winding down this time of year, moving out of the total yang of Summer and late Summer but not yet descending into the total yin of Winter. As such we call this season ‘yang within yin’ to reflect that last burst of yang energy before the complete yin immersion in Winter. Most people love this final burst as it reveals itself through the leaves changing color to the most beautiful bright reds and yellows. —Mindi Counts in Everyday Chinese Medicine

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Fall Equinox 2024 is September 22.

The Fall Equinox occurs during TCM’s energetic Fall and the Metal element on September 21, 22 or 23 each year. This year 2024, the Autumnal Equinox falls on the 22nd.

Depending on how close to the equator you live determines whether you’ll see a bit more or a bit less than 12 hours of daylight.

Once Fall Equinox 2024 arrives, daylight hours will start dwindling. And they’ll continue to dwindle up until the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and beginning of Winter. 

Fall Equinox 2024 will completely oppose the Spring Equinox of 2024.

Both Spring and Fall Equinoxes feature a feast of seasonal produce. During both occasions plants are responding to the shift in balance of light and dark. That shift reaches its pinnacle during the both Equinoxes.

The Vernal Equinox which occurs around Easter, Passover and Nowruz(1) presents:

… the first bitter greens of Spring, a newly-born lamb (perhaps), fresh eggs (plucked from the nest of amorous birds who mated on Valentine’s Day) and often items made from the fresh butter and cream available as the cows, goats and sheep produce milk for their young. — Waverly Fitzgerald in Celebrating Autumn Equinox

The full moon that occurs closest to the Equinox often coincides with the harvest.

Contrary to the fresh green sprouts of Spring earlier this year, Fall Equinox 2024 will yield, as always, its abundance of produce on the edge of dying. Says Fitzgerald:

ripe pumpkins and squashes, elegant jams and jellies, bread made from the freshly reaped and ground grain, wine and beer made from the harvested grapes and hops, and poultry (either game birds shot out of the air or culled from the domestic flock).

The energy of Fall Equinox 2024 you can conveniently tap into to shift your lifestyle.

For most people the Fall Equinox marks the official start of Autumn. And Autumn is an important time of year to cleanse the body.

Lung and large intestine, the organs of TCM’s Metal element, require cleansing at this time.

You need to keep them strong and healthy as we march into eventual Winter. And you can do this by first cleansing the body, then enriching your diet with the more heat producing foods of Fall. These actions will help carry you through Winter.

Notice the changes in light and movement in the heavens on the Fall Equinox 2024.

All of nature responds to these changes that happen on and around Fall Equinox 2024.

And plants aren’t the only living beings responding to changes in light on that day.

You’ll respond to them too whether you’re consciously aware of it or not. The Fall Equinox signals to both human body and mind that now is the time to slow down, gather your energies and go within.

The Fall Equinox of any year will occur when the sun moves into Libra—the sign of balance. And the sun moves into Libra on September 22 explaining the precise date and time of Fall Equinox 2024.

Learn from the balance of light and dark this Fall Equinox 2024.

Equinoxes always strike a perfect balance of light and dark and you can take important cues from this solar event.

Fall Equinox 2024 is the most perfect day to stop and contemplate how much balance you have in your life.

• Do you have balance in body, mind and spirit?

• Where are you out of balance in your life?

• What can you do to regain balance? 

Several months ago, nature turned on the ignition key for the year in the Vernal Equinox. And it ushered in a great revving up of life, growth and activity. You too got more physically active and dynamic.

But now Fall Equinox 2024 begins to pull those active energies in to rest. And you right along with it.

Days shorten and darkness increases. And just like the energy of the Metal element prevailing at this same time, you can shift from outward dynamism to more resting time, even the start of incubation.

Earth is giving up her copious bounty in her last breath and display. And she’s showing that you need to make shortening days, and the need for rest and contemplation the focal point of your life.

While you’ll recognize and celebrate Earth’s spectacular abundance, Fall Equinox 2024 will remind you Earth’s beginning to go into incubation and so should you.

Mirror this phenomenon in your spiritual and lifestyle practices. Resolve to dive deeper into your spiritual essence and foster an intimate connection with it.

These spiritual practices will make your Fall Equinox 2024 meaningful.

Known in various philosophies and traditions by many names—Mabon, Feast of Avalon, Cornucopia, Harvest Home, Festival of the Vine—the Fall Equinox has a mystique all its own.

Tap into this mystique help and get the most out of your Fall Equinox 2024 and the time immediately before and after.

Here are some ideas for celebrating your Fall Equinox 2024:

• Gather with friends around a bonfire in the spirit of your yin energy Fall Equinox 2024 as Summer’s yang outward energies come to a close.

• Find an outdoor place of special beauty and atmosphere. Meditate there or make affirmations to attract your desires into your life.

• Make an altar in your home that pays homage to Earth’s bounty.

• Bake bread from scratch and make rustic sandwiches using grilled harvest type vegetables.

• Make a hearty Fall Equinox 2024 stew appreciating the bountiful produce of the Earth. Serve it to family or friends with rustic decorations all around.

• Decorate your living space with apple garlands, wreaths, candles, homemade centerpieces and sheaves of grain. Light your candles at night and be mindful of the balance of energy.

• Create a bowl of nuts and seeds and share with the birds and animals who are already so tuned in to this auspicious Equinox.

• Give thanks on Fall Equinox 2024. Focus on gratitude for the natural life-giving world all around us.

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Endnotes:

(1) Nowruz is the first day of the Iranian new year, occurring on the Vernal Equinox (usually March 20 or 21).

(2) Fitzgerald, Waverly. Celebrating Autumn Equinox: Customs and Crafts, Recipes and Rituals for Harvest, Sukkot, Mid-Autumn Moon, Michaelmas, Eleusinian Mysteries and Other Autumn Holidays. United States, Genesta Press, 2019.

…

Sources:

Shipway, Jilly. Yoga Through the Year: A Seasonal Approach to Your Practice. United States, Llewellyn Worldwide, Limited, 2019.

Forest, Danu. The Magic of the Autumn Equinox: Seasonal Celebrations to Honour Nature's Ever-turning Wheel. United Kingdom, Watkins Media Limited, 2015.

Counts, Mindi K.. Everyday Chinese Medicine: Healing Remedies for Immunity, Vitality, and Optimal Health. United States, Shambhala, 2020.

Lane, Mary. Divine Nourishment: A Woman's Sacred Journey with Food. United States, Dog Ear Publishing, 2010.

L'Esperance, Carrie. The Seasonal Detox Diet: Remedies from the Ancient Cookfire. United States, Inner Traditions/Bear, 2002.

Fitzgerald, Waverly. Celebrating Autumn Equinox: Customs and Crafts, Recipes and Rituals for Harvest, Sukkot, Mid-Autumn Moon, Michaelmas, Eleusinian Mysteries and Other Autumn Holidays. United States, Genesta Press, 2019.

Photo courtesy of Karolina Grabowska at pexels

The Traditional Chinese Medicine View on Balancing Heart and Spirit with Mindful Speech Practices

According to traditional Chinese medicine,(1) the Heart, the yin organ of the Fire element, is considered the home of Shen—the higher universal consciousness which descends from ‘heaven' and resides within every person. The Shen regulates emotions, consciousness, and many mental functions.

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Heart and small intestine, Fire’s yin and yang organs, respectively, are connected to the Shen and to our chi (vital energy) and link the Spirit with the body’s physical processes.

We can assess Shen by observing the eyes because Shen is especially projected through them. We can see Shen in eyes that are lively and express love.

We can also assess Shen through the degree of vitality that resonates from the exterior tissues and a facial expression that is calm.

We bring vitality and balance to the Heart through the more obvious methods of cleansing and balancing Fire’s other organs (small intestine, circulatory system and autonomic nervous system), but there are less obvious very important Shen-clarifying practices we can perform that will benefit the Heart.

Heart and our speech are inextricably linked. In traditional Chinese medicine,(1) the Heart is said to flower into the tongue. An internal branch of the Heart channel connects with the tongue, therefore it is responsible for our ability to speak appropriately. This refers to emotion charged speech such as insults that stem from an angry Heart and to speech impediments such as the lisp.

Since speech issues forth from the Heart, we must pay better attention to it by listening to and observing the content and quality of our speech in order to either maintain or reestablish a healthy Heart and Shen.

Since speech is said to issue forth from the Heart, we must pay better attention to it by listening to and observing the content and quality of our speech in order to either maintain or reestablish a healthy Heart and Shen.

When Heart is out-of-balance, we can be sure the Shen is disturbed. This disturbance can potentially lead to insomnia, nightmares, and emotional disorder. We can’t concentrate, our memory is compromised, and we’re irritable and anxious. We are mentally hyperactive.

Excessive thought and worry racing through the mind creates an impoverishing energy to Heart. In severe cases, the yang aspects of the Heart—heat, vital energy and Spirit—flood upward into the head causing fever, headache, irritability, insomnia and mental disturbances. And with all this mental disturbance going on, we tend to lash out at others with our words.

The traditional belief(1) is that balanced Shen gives us the ability to transform, accept change, be malleable, and go with the flow. By doing so, we are at peace and so is our self-expression through speech.

Understanding that our words issue forth from the mind, we can see the condition of our Heart and Shen in the reflection of our spoken words resulting from our thoughts. Our words possess the power to be received as truth and alter life.

We can’t see our Shen but when it and Heart are balanced, we think clearly and rationally, we feel calm and peaceful, and we’re able to cultivate healthy relationships with other people. We speak from the Heart which is honest and true and loving. 

A scattered mind and spirit will produce scattered words and hurtful and/or self-disempowering language.

By heightening our awareness of the words that come out of our mouths, we actually can strengthen the Heart. The scattered mind and its Spirit can be collected and organized by way of mindful speech patterns.

Shen- and Heart-focusing practices include:

• prayer

• meditation

• devotional singing

• mantra recitation (in any language)

• chanting

• affirmations and decrees

• quiet contemplation on uplifting images

• out loud recitation/reading of poetry or sacred texts.

Any of these balancing practices should be done in a mindful and deliberate way. They will not only help calm and clear the mind and elevate our speech, they will help bring balance to all our other organ systems as well.

Well known for calming the Heart and Spirit before an energy healing or acupuncture treatment is the practice of first calming and centering the mind of the patient.

Acupuncture physicians will initiate a treatment on the area of the upper back at the Heart associated acupuncture point.

As ancient as the Inner Classic text, we read:

“All proper needling [and healing] first treats the Spirit.”

In energy medicine sessions, the healing practitioner will always first offer a prayer to heighten spiritual awareness and bring calm to the patient.

Once spirit becomes sufficiently concentrated in the Heart, the mind will stop racing and integrated thought (as opposed to superficial flighty thought) begins. The person receiving the healing becomes more fully present, participatory and receptive. 

By using basic speech awareness practices like the ones listed above along with some dietary discipline(1) we are better able to balance our mental wellness, our Shen and our Heart. We can improve the yin energy of Heart so that our Shen is held in the Heart by a protective barrier of yin essences.

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Endnotes:

1. Traditional Chinese medicine references in this article reveal practices and beliefs of antiquity in their historical context.

2. A simple diet with occasional light fasting is wonderful for creating deep, peaceful thinking. Avoiding food habits that scatter the mind or overheat the body will help prevent depletion of yin fluids. Meals with few ingredients, simple and less spicy foods, and refraining from eating in the evenings can encourage healthy sleep and a clear mind during the day.

The following foods are beneficial for Heart and Shen balance according to traditional Chinese medicine(1):

• Oyster shell: excellent for building the yin of the Heart; can be consumed in the form of oyster shell calcium as a nutritional supplement.

• Grains: whole wheat, brown rice, and oats; these grains gently but profoundly calm the mind

• Mushrooms: nearly every form of fungi offer cerebral effects; reishi mushroom is an immune tonic and directly nurtures Heart, soothes the Spirit and calms the mind.

• Silica rich foods: oat straw tea, barley gruel, oat groat tea, cucumber, celery, lettuce; excellent for improving calcium metabolism and strengthening nerve and heart tissue.

• Fruit: mulberries and lemons for calming the mind with mulberries being the stronger of the two. Schisandra berries calm the Spirit and are prescribed in Chinese herbology for insomnia and to add memory recall and concentration.

• Jujube seeds: very widely used remedy in traditional Chinese medicine for calming the Spirit; believed by traditional Chinese medicine to directly nourish the Heart.

• Dill and basil: for a calming effect.

• Chamomile or valerian:  helpful for the nervous person or insomniac until the diet is improved to the extend that herbs are unnecessary; rose hips with these herbs supplies vitamin C for soothing the nerves.

• Animal products like quality cow and goat milk and ghee (clarified butter): to nourish the spirit of the Heart in people who can tolerate these foods.

Sources:

Pitchford, Paul. Healing with Whole Foods. Poland, North Atlantic Books, 2003.

Why and How to Harness the Peak of Yang Energy of the Summer Solstice

The radiant sun is the source of all human life. The cycle of human life revolves around it. People come and go but the sun remains shining day after day. It never fails us. Steadfast symbol of perpetual life and vibrant energy, we take the sun for granted rarely pausing to appreciate its unceasing life-giving nature and live by its example. The Summer Solstice event is always an opportunity for us to honor and harness the energy of the sun and its aspects and to become part of and expand our consciousness by way of this energetic solar event.

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Sunrise on the Summer solstice occurs every year on June 20 or 21. This day is the peak of yang energy ushered in by energetic Summer and the Fire element.

We’ll want to harness this peak of yang energy at this time since the lively energy of yang will begin declining when energetic Fall and the Metal element arrive August 7 and we decline even more profoundly through energetic Winter and the Water element.

We can harness the Summer Solstice peak of yang energy by acknowledging it exists and opening our hearts to it—the heart being one of Fire’s organs according to traditional Chinese medicine. Place your focus on the heart during energetic Summer by 1) feeding the body heart nourishing foods(1) and 2) staying active—a yang energy—so that the heart will receive positive energy and support like improved blood circulation.

When summertime and the Summer Solstice arrives it is very important and integral to your body to remain active. (Please read our recent blog on increasing yang energy here. The article can help you harness this peak of yang energy.)

The quantum energetic Fire element line of skin and hair care by PHYTO5 will also assist you to get the most out of energetic Summer and its yang energy. All products in all five element lines are highly energetic with the highest concentration of this potency found in the Phyt’Ether serums. This unique vibrational quality in the products gives them the ability to balance not just skin, but vital energy and emotions as well.

On the Summer Solstice the sun is at its highest point in the sky and marks the longest day and shortest night of the year. This day marks the start of astronomical summer and the tipping point at which days start to become shorter and nights longer.  The Summer Solstice calls for introspection and presence unto ourselves—a hallmark moment in time calling us to creatively and profoundly experience the spirituality, meaning and vibratory frequency of the solstice energies. This event can be extremely powerful in helping to take us to new heights spiritually and vibrationally.

The word solstice comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and stitium (still or stopped). The ancients, even as early as the Stone Age, noticed that as Summer progressed, the sun stopped moving northward in the sky as it began to track southward again as Summer advanced to Fall.

Our forebears from all over the world, undistracted from the rigors of modern daily life and who lived in greater harmony with nature than we do today, noticed there was something very special about the Summer Solstice.

Approximately 800 years ago, Wyoming plains native Americans built the famed 80-foot wide Bighorn stone Medicine Wheel. It was built with 28 spokes one of which pointed to Summer solstice sunrise and another to the Summer solstice sunset.

Chumash Indians of California bored carefully placed holes in walls and ceilings of caves through which only the Summer Solstice light would shine.

Anazazi Indians of New Mexico painted two spirals on a rock in Chaco Canyon. At noon on the Summer Solstice a beam of light pointed to the center of one of the spirals.

In Central America, the Aztecs, Mayans and Toltecs built great temples aligned to the moment of the Summer Solstice sunrise.

In the Mayan city of Chichén Itza in Mexico, the Spiral Tower is built with windows and doors that are oriented to the rising and setting sun at both solstices and equinoxes.

At the ancient Mayan observatory Uaxactún in the Guatemalan rainforest, present day viewers can welcome the Summer on a viewing platform to see the sun rise over a series of small pyramids, an astronomy cluster of four structures, built in exact alignment with the great solar event.

The Summer solstice was the most important day of the year in ancient Egypt when the waters of the Nile would begin to rise at this time. From the view of the Sphinx, the sun sets squarely between the Great Pyramids of Khufu and Khafre on Egypt’s Giza plateau on the Summer solstice.

The solstice was joyfully celebrated in ancient Europe with flower head wreaths, games and bonfires. It was believed that bonfires would boost the sun’s energy for the rest of the growing season and guarantee a good harvest for the Fall. And while the actual purpose, function and origins of Stonehenge, the neolithic megalith monument in the south of England, has been long debated by archeologists, the site happens to be aligned with the direction of the Summer Solstice sunrise.

In ancient China, the Summer Solstice was associated with yin, the feminine force, which is balanced by the yang masculine energy of the Winter Solstice. Festivities celebrated the earth, femininity, and the yin force. The ancient Chinese saw the sun prevailing in Summer with yin energies beginning to wax as yang energies began to wane.

According to some ancient Greek calendars, the Summer Solstice marked the start of the New Year and also marked the one-month countdown to the opening of the Olympic games.

In the days leading up to the Summer Solstice, the ancient Romans celebrated Vestalia to honor Vesta, goddess of the hearth. At this time married women left offerings in the temple of Vesta as pleas and prayers for blessings for their families.

Midsummer was a pivotal time of year for the Vikings, who would meet to discuss legal matters and resolve disputes around this auspicious time.

Cultures around the world still celebrate the day with feasts, bonfires, picnics and song. Today, people dance around bonfires that blaze on hilltops in Cornwall, Wales and Ireland. Yoga centers and spiritual circles around the world usher in the solstice with drumming and chanting.

Each one of us has the individual opportunity to dive deeper into life and the Summer season by becoming more deeply acquainted with the Summer Solstice. One way is by intimately experiencing the darkness of the evening preceding the solstice to assist us to know and appreciate the light of the Summer Solstice sun the next morning more fully.

Here is a list of simple yet powerful practices to help us usher in the Summer Solstice more consciously while embracing the peak of yang energy.

• Eat simply throughout the day leading up to evening.

• In the evening, turn out all the lights in your home.

• Unplug your television, computer, and all electrical devices.

• Light candles.

• Go outside, outstretch your arms and breathe in the night air.

• Take a long walk during this evening. Take note of the stars and the clouds.

• Light a fire outside, if possible. If you don’t have a firepit, use a portable grill.

• Play an instrument fireside if you can.

• Sing or chant quietly and reverentially.

• Bake potatoes in the fire you built.

• Lay down on a blanket near the fire and doze.

• Go back inside and read a book by candlelight.

• Take time to sit in silence.

• Wake up before dawn that day to be ready to greet the rising sun.

• Feel the energy and the presence of your ancestors.

• Relish the power of the rising sun.

• Sing a song or whisper a prayer in honor of the dawn.

…

Endnotes:

1. Red fruits and vegetables, (red being the yang color associated with energetic Summer and the Fire element) are considered by traditional Chinese medicine to be beneficial to a warm heart with a healthy chi.

Sources:

“Chinese Summer Solstice Features Feminine Energy and Cold Noodles.” eChineseLearning Blog Chinese Summer Solstice Features Feminine Energy and Cold Noodles Comments, www.echineselearning.com/blog/chinese-summer-solstice-features-feminine-energy-and-cold-noodles#:~:text=Ancient%20Chinese%20saw%20the%20summer,Yang%20energies%20begin%20to%20wane. Accessed 2 June 2023.

“The Vestalia: Celebrating Vesta and Purifying Rome.” History and Archeology Online, https://historyandarchaeologyonline.com/the-vestalia-celebrating-vesta-and-purifying-rome, 6 June 2019

“History of Summer Solstice Traditions.” National Trust United Kingdom, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/history-of-summer-solstice-traditions

Benefit from the Superior Swiss Water Purity of Jurassic History in PHYTO5 Skincar

Water is the most life-sustaining fluid on the planet, and nowhere is it naturally more pure than in Switzerland. PHYTO5 skincare uses this pure Swiss mountain water in all its formulations.

Switzerland is widely known and recognized for providing the best quality drinking water to its citizens. The Swiss enjoy incredibly pure water right out of the tap in a way that no other country quite enjoys. Even though the Swiss tend to consume more high calorie foods, they have one of the lowest obesity rates in the world. A major factor is that the large amounts of completely safe indigenous water Swiss people drink cleanses and purifies their bodies.

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“It will be important to acknowledge that safe water is one of essential components or needs for healthy living, along with adequate sanitation and proper nutrition. Together, these are the essential health needs to be met in the developing and the developed world. All three contribute to reduced disease and increased health, and the lack of one can degrade the beneficial impact of the others.”

— Mark D. Sobsey, PhD., Gillings School of Public Health, University of North Carolina

MySwitzerland.com says:

“The water distributed in Switzerland meets very high-quality standards. Eighty percent of the water comes from underground sources, the rest is taken from the lakes. The establishment of groundwater protection zones makes it possible to distribute half of this water without having to treat it. It can be drunk from every tap without posing a health hazard. Tap water in Switzerland also has a much better ecological balance than bottled mineral water.”

And finally, we see how prized a resource water is to the Swiss as we read this from the Wasser für Wasser (Water for Water) Organization, Switzerland(1):

“Swiss drinking water is of very high quality and meets strict guidelines regarding hygiene and safety. Like any natural product, tap water contains trace substances, but due to the stringent regulations on drinking water treatment, their concentration is at such a low level that it can be drunk without hesitation.

In view of the long-term goal of supplying the Swiss population with natural and healthy drinking water, it must nevertheless be stated: The quality of Switzerland’s drinking water is decisively a product of our use of the resource water. Effective water protection measures and their consistent implementation are essential if we want to ensure the high quality of our tap water for future generations.”

In the process of providing such pure water to their citizens, the Swiss government takes many measures to keep the country’s water resources and environment intact. The country is ranked #1 by the World Health Organization (WHO) for water quality. This is because of the nation’s strict treatment standards and superior natural resources. In fact, Swiss tap water is as pure as its bottled water but it is 500 times cheaper.

The U.S. doesn’t even come close to matching the water quality of Switzerland or several other European nations, for that matter. In fact, the WHO ranks the U.S. currently sixty-fourth in rural drinking water quality and 26th overall. 

Swiss Jura Mountain Water in PHYTO5 Swiss Skincare
Switzerland is known as the water tower of Europe. Most of the largest rivers in Europe are sourced in Switzerland. Eighty percent of Swiss drinking water stems from natural springs and groundwater and the rest comes from lakes. 

Swiss Jura Mountains

The Swiss Jura mountain water in PHYTO5 skincare specifically comes from the Jura(2) mountains. ‘Jura’ is the Celtic word for ‘forest.’

Neuchâtel, Switzerland

The Jura mountains are a sub-alpine mountain range located north of the Western Alps mainly following the course of the France–Switzerland border in the cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Solothurn, Jura, Bern, Neuchâtel, and Vaud. The Swiss lab where PHYTO5 energetic skincare is made, Laboratoire Gibro, S. A., is located in the canton of Neuchâtel. Lakes Neuchâtel, Biel (Bienne), and Morat, connected by canals, are survivors of a former glacial lake in the lower Aare valley located at the base of the Jura Mountains.

Jura mountains near Fleurier, Switzerland, home of PHYTO5’s factory, Laboratoire Gibro

The Jura mountains are rich in mineral and thermal springs. This is because both their tectonic fragmentation and pronounced relief structure allow groundwater to hydraulically rise from great depths to the surface. 

The pristine fresh water used in PHYTO5 skincare comes from a Karst system in the Swiss Jura mountains. Karst topography is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves.

Areuse gorges, Switzerland

Underground stream sources from the Jura are many including the Areuse (situated close to Fleurier, Switzerland and PHYTO5’s Laboratoire Gibro), Schüss (Suze), and Birs rivers in Switzerland. 

Areuse ravine, Switzerland

Quality In, Quality Out
If you’ve ever had the occasion to drink tea, coffee or beer, for example, that have been made using ultra high integrity pure water (not the kind of water we buy in the U.S. labeled “Purified”), you will be struck by the remarkable quality and taste in the end product. Water is actually the most important ingredient in all three beverages. When it is very very pure, the beverage product is remarkably delicious. And just as it works in these beverages, so, too, does Swiss water elevate the quality and performance of Swiss-made skincare products. 

Only water that is free of toxins, pollutants and microbes is allowed to be used in the formulation of skincare products. This water would be distilled or purified by the cosmetic manufacturer. But while other skincare companies say they use purified water in their cosmetics content, almost none overall can say they use Swiss Jura mountain water.

In PHYTO5’s case, the lab in Fleurier, Switzerland additionally passes this already pristine water through high tech filters before adding the water to skincare formulations in order to extra-purify it. This water supports your vitality when consumed by osmosis through the skin.

The pure and balanced Swiss Jura mountain water has a similar mission to the premium grade essential oils, extracts and high tech natural compounds that make up PHYTO5 skincare. Its mineral composition encourages tissue regeneration, revitalizes cellular metabolism, and exhilarates the skin’s natural defense system.

The Vibration of Life and Vitality
So we see how completely the water in PHYTO5 Swiss holistic skincare is ultra-pure, nourishing, and life-supporting. And not only is that water already extremely pure, Swiss Jura mountain water emits a higher vibration than water used in cosmetics manufactured in or near big cities and which has been insulted by being transported through big city piping networks. All things carry a vibratory frequency and this concept is especially evident in water.

Evidence of high vibration in a water molecule crystallized

Water is a carrier of vibration—low or high according to its source and its treatment—and that vibratory frequency gets passed on to you when you consume it through drinking or absorbing it through the skin.

Renowned Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto (1943-2014), who proved human consciousness has an effect on the molecular structure of water and who conducted now famous experiments on water purity and vibration said:

“We strenuously observed crystals of tap water, river water, and lake water. From the tap water from rivers and lakes near big cities, we could not get any beautiful crystals [indicating high vibration]… however from the water from rivers and lakes where water is kept pristine from development, we could observe beautiful crystals with each one having its own uniqueness.”

High vibrational Swiss lake water

So the added benefit of PHYTO5 skincare is the higher vibratory frequency of the principle ingredient, pristine Swiss mountain water. That higher vibratory frequency adds to the product and then to your skin.

Water is the Principle Ingredient In Almost All Skincare
All skincare contains some degree of ‘aqua,’ the name utilized on official ingredient lists in the European Union. Water is the most precious and most widely utilized ingredient in the cosmetics industry, often appearing first on the product’s list of ingredients. Depending on the product category, beauty products may contain anywhere from 60% to 85% water on average. Rinse-off products, such as haircare, shower gels or cleansers, may contain up to 95% water.

While it is difficult to determine the exact percentage of water content in a skincare product, if “water” or “aqua” are the first words appearing in the list of ingredients, this means that the product contains more water than any other ingredient.

Water is a primary ingredient in most skincare because it is a universal solvent. Combined with emulsifiers, water can be mixed with denser ingredients such as butters and oils to facilitate the formation of emulsions in creams and lotions. Water also plays an essential role in the extraction and manufacture of many natural raw materials such as plant extracts.

Water plays an enormous role in all phases of the production, supply and consumer usage of skincare products. There is currently a budding conservationist trend in the formulation of skincare products—that of creating anhydrous solid skin and haircare formulations without water. Water-free cosmetics support the reduction and elimination of packaging while conserving water, but water must still be used on the backend by the consumer to activate the product. Still other companies are beginning to opt for using recycled water in their skincare formulations in their efforts to conserve.

There may be potential benefits to solid anhydrous skincare especially if the water that would otherwise have been utilized must go through somewhat rigorous purification processes. But the Swiss Jura mountain water which is the kind formulated into PHYTO5 skincare does not fall into that category since it does not need such rigorous purification processes.

Today, there is a definitely a movement of growing environmental consumer consciousness. More and more people are opting for natural and organic products not only for their own well-being support but for the well-being of the planet. At the same time, we should look to products made that honor the Earth and the very wellspring that gives life to all—water. And nowhere is it found in greater reverence and purity than in Switzerland.

“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.”

— Jacques Yves Cousteau

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on July 15, 2022 but has been significantly expanded in this post for freshness and comprehensiveness.

#####

Endnotes:

1. Wasser für Wasser is the Swiss non-profit organization with a vision to change the way we use water. We are committed to safe access to drinking water and sanitation for all, to raising awareness of the value of clean water and sanitation, and to the eco-friendly consumption of water. 

2. The term ‘Jurassic’ is an adjective of or pertaining to the geological period between the Triassic and Cretaceous periods and comes from the french ‘Jurassique,’ which literally means “of the Jura Mountains” between France and Switzerland whose limestones were laid down during this geological period.

Sources:

Top 10 Healthy Things To Do In Switzerland, March 29, 2016: http://www.healthfitnessrevolution.com/top-10-healthiest-things-switzerland/

Top 10 Countries With the Best Tap Water by Sammy Said; http://www.therichest.com/expensive-lifestyle/location/top-10-countries-with-the-best-tap-water/

Wonder Water: The Value of Water, EuroGeo Surveys: The Geological Surveys of Europe http://www.eurogeosurveys.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Water-Book-Layout_full-low-double-no-print.pdf

– Encyclopedia Brittanica

Sobsey, Mark D, and S Bartram. “Water quality and health in the new millennium: the role of the World Health Organization Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality.” Forum of nutrition vol. 56 (2003): 396-405.

The Seven Layers of the Aura, Your Spirit: Key to Consciousness and Knowi

By virtue of our existing and without exception, every thing and everyone has a field or corona of light surrounding it called the aura. The term aura is loosely bantered about by many in everyday conversation and with little real understanding, but those who stop to truly learn what the aura is and does may become awestruck for the aura is key to consciousness and knowing.

This corona of electromagnetic light composed of many layers (many say seven layers of the aura) holds together the matter that makes up your physical body as well as the matter that holds together every single particum of creation—animate and inanimate.

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Each thing or being constantly emanates frequency back into the field of consciousness:

1) its own aware consciousness of being and,
2) its awareness of everything else around it.

This field or flow of consciousness is what many call the River of Knowledge, the mind of God, or divine Mind. This is where all things are known—where the answer exists to every question you could ever ask. This is omniscience.

Every living being, plant, rock, star, planet, even every particle of dust emanates the thought of its state of being back into the mind of God—back into its Source. And this is how God, Source, divine Mind knows all.

In a similar way, we have the ability to know all there is to know or all that we would want to know.

The aura is the Spirit of your being and it connects directly to Source, that flow of consciousness where all things are known. Yet we hardly tap into this knowledge, mostly because we have understood neither the aura or how our egotistical mind operates.

In the layers of the aura closest to the body is a powerful electromagnetic field composed of positive and negative electrum, but beyond this field there is no division of positive and negative. There is only one pure energy field of light. This is the part of the aura that allows all thought from the River of Knowledge to flow through your powerful auric field.

The feeling or emotion derived from every thought is recorded in your soul and then is placed into your aura as an expectancy.

This expectancy then activates your auric field to draw to you situations, events, objects, people that will create the same feelings to be experienced in your body and all as the result of all of your thoughts.

The purpose of this never-ending cycle is the acquisition of wisdom and the furtherance of our personal and collective evolution.

Idealistically, we have the potential to know all there is to know, but the aura, our Spirit, draws thought to us depending on what we think.

Through our auric fields, we absorb thought from the River of Knowledge. We feed this into our soul. This causes us to feel emotion. That emotion feeds and expands our entire being. And then we emanate the awareness of our expansion as frequency back out into the river of consciousness. And then someone else is able to pick up and create from the frequency we have sent out through the aura into the greater field—an exquisite demonstration of the connectedness of all creation.

Why, if we are receiving unlimited thought constantly through all the layers of the aura, are we not all-knowing then? Again, the aura, our Spirit, draws thought to us depending on what we think and depending on how open our fields are to expansion.

When thought comes through the aura, the thought we have attracted to us comes through in an unlimited fashion for the aura in its divine essence does not judge, categorize, define or limit it in any way. But these units of thought then travel to the upper left hemisphere of the cerebrum, the seat of the intellect and function of reasoning. This is where the egotistical logical mind is expressed and this part of the mind will refuse to accept any thought that doesn’t fit within its understanding of security and which does not perpetuate survival.

This part of the brain, the frontal lobe, is the limited fear-based mind which refuses to allow all thoughts constantly flowing in through the aura to be fully received and embraced within the body and mind of the person.

If we desire to receive more divine unlimited thought, we must expand our auric fields and awareness through intention and more thought that invites expansion.

We have some knowledge of the seven layers of the aura, each layer surrounding the body and greater than the one preceding it. Yet if existence is infinite and very many of us believe it is, and if the human person is a microcosmic expression of existence, and it is easy to see that this is true through the myriad examples of the natural universe, then these layers of the aura truly extend from the density of electricity closest to the body out into the infiniteness of thought.

Each layer of the aura could be equated with one of seven fundamental consciousnesses: 1) reproduction and survival, 2) fear and pain, 3) power, 4) felt love, 5) expressed love, 6) ‘God seen in all life,’ and 7) Oneness.

The first physical etheric layer closest to the body could be associated with the consciousness of reproduction and survival. It relates to the root or muladhara chakra.

The next layer out, the emotional layer, may be associated with fear and pain. It aligns with the sacral or svadishtana chakra.

Still further out is the mental layer which corresponds to power. It is relative to the solar plexus chakra where our ‘second brain’ resides. This chakra is also known as the manipura chakra.

Next is the astral layer connected to the heart or anahata chakra and this relates to ‘felt love.’

The etheric template layer connected to the throat or visshudha chakra corresponds to ‘expressed love.’

The sixth layer of the aura aligns with ‘God seen in all life’ as it aligns with the third eye chakra also known as the ajna chakra.

And the seventh layer of the aura, the ketheric layer (from ‘kether,’ named for the topmost sephirot or infinite emanation of the Kabbalah Tree of Life translated as ‘royal crown’) is realized Oneness. This chakra is the crown seal or sahasrara chakra.

Looking at these associations, it is easy to see where we sit in terms of focused awareness. With intention and even a very slight shift in the way we think, we can begin to expand the auric field and allow more beneficial, uplifting and creative thought to waft through the seven layers of the aura to permeate our consciousness.

Wherever you have placed and focused your consciousness, that is the reality (your heaven or hell) you will find yourself living in for the electromagnetic field of your aura, the Spirit of your being, will always and only draw you to the vibration of that sphere of consciousness.

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Earth Element Symbolism

Traditional Chinese medicine’s (TCM’s) season of the Earth element is an 18-day period of transition between each of the four major energetic seasons. Each of the five elements is rich with indigenous symbology and expression. Historic Earth element symbolism is rich with teaching metaphors that also give clues for health and a harmonious Earth lifestyle.

“… symbols have come to be placed within conscious, traditional and dogmatic systems, but their inner life still pulses beneath this rationalized order, even becoming audible from time to time.”

— J. C. Cirlot in Dictionary of Symbols

The Earth element not only refers to the actual soil but the character, dynamic state, and elemental force of the element.

We commonly see Earth element symbolism as feminine. Earth represents infinite creativity, the great mother, fertility, giver of nourishment, and longevity.

In a more general sense, when we juxtapose Earth with the spiritual heavens, Earth element symbolism represents matter.

In TCM, Earth element symbolism depicts the balance of yin and yang. As complementary equals, yin and yang relate to each other to create a dynamic balance and a harmonious whole.

“…there can be no sharp distinctions between spirit/nature, subject/object, good/evil, and victory/defeat. Each exists o­nly because of its opposite… yin and yang are direct opposites interacting together in harmony. The weakness in o­ne is overshadowed by the strength in the other. Yet, in weakness resides strength waiting to be used.”

— Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D.

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Enjoy balance of the Earth skin condition: toxic skin with acne, blemishes and enlarged pores.

PHYTO5’s quantum energetic Earth line of skincare will help bring this condition to balance as it balances your emotional state too.

Earth type personalities sometimes embrace the Mother-Provider archetype too exuberantly. Out-of-balance Earth types take care of others but often to their own detriment. The quantum energetic Earth line of skincare will help you balance this emotion if you feel stuck and in overwhelm because of over-careteaking.

We find Earth element symbolism well articulated in landscape and building forms.

TCM associates the flat shape to the element of Earth. Earth mountains are flat topped mountains.

This particular Earth element symbolism we see evidenced in the Jura Mountains in France and Switzerland near to PHYTO5’s Swiss factory.

Another example is the twin peaked Mount Asgard(1) on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada.

We see Earth element symbolism in buildings, flat rooves and square or oblong structures like the Viking longhouses of antiquity.

Earth element symbolism manifests as a bridge or transition.

TCM observes Earth element symbolism as a transition aspect linking one season to the next as a kind of hyphen or dash punctuation mark.

Earth element symbolism points to yin and yang, famine and masculine aspects.

The Earth element embodies intrinsically yin energy. This means Earth presents primarily as a feminine energy element.

But each of the five elements express both yin and yang energy—one being more predominant.

When Earth expresses as yang masculine energy, Earth element symbolism appears as a hill and Earth’s color is yellow.

Earth element symbolism shows up in human characteristics.

Many people enjoy active yang energy cheery bright sunlight yellow. The Earth element symbolism displays in them as intellectualism, faith, and goodness.

Gold or ochre exhibits Earth element symbolism in yin energy expression. The valley illustrates Earth’s yin aspect.

We see yin aspect Earth element symbolism in people inclined to ochre or gold. They live more calm, passive, conservative, dependable, practical and grounded.

TCM tells us Earth’s location is center and center always stabilizes energy and balances yin and yang.

In the home, we can utilize Earth element symbolism to nurture ourselves and family.

The Earth room of the home is the heart of the home where nourishment occurs—the dining room.

Even before we see Earth element symbolism in the dining room, we see it in the fields. Earth’s grain is rice. It ripens in the yellow-ochre Earth and stabilizes the body with nourishment.

Earth element symbolism reveals itself as sign of stability and grounding.

Earth element symbolism runs through ancient Chinese history.

During the reign of the legendary Chinese king Huang Di(2)—the Yellow Emperor—the color yellow found enormous popularity.

The epitome of Earth element symbolism, they named Huang Di the Yellow Emperor. The people gave Huang Di this honorific because he and his army honored the value of two things:

• the Yellow Earth—the symbol of farming;

• and the Yellow River of their home, the central land they called China. 

We see Earth element symbolism in ancient Chinese lore as the Yellow Dragon.

In addition to dragon, the Earth element governs rat and ox signs of the Chinese zodiac. 

This same ancient Chinese lore depicts Earth element symbolism in the Yellow Earth Tiger (solar in color). Yellow Earth Tiger inhabits the Earth and reigns supreme over all the other element tigers: Wood, Fire, Metal and Water.

Very direct Earth element symbolism associates Yellow Earth Tiger with the heart of China. The center of the zodiac houses Yellow Earth Tiger just as the Yellow Emperor was situated in the heart of China, the center of the compass in the Chinese cosmos.

Earth element symbolism runs through much other ancient history too.

In Indian mythology, the elephant stands for Earth element symbolism.

We observe the square or cube dominant in Earth element symbolism. It’s the great cosmic symbol for Earth representing the cradle of humanity, home, and a place of origin.

The square or cube in Earth element symbolism hints at the end of material life while it simultaneously maintains life.

Earth embodies earthly progeny. It offers a sense of eternity. 

In Tibetan buddhism, we see Earth element symbolism represented by a yellow square or a tiered yellow cube (four or five squares nested within each other).

The Roman standard or signa romanum carried the symbol of the Earth element represented by a cube. It was a banner that identified a Roman unit or cavalry.

In Greek mythology, the anvil embodies Earth element symbolism. The anvil reminds us of the passive feminine principle (as opposed to the hammer that represents the fruitful making of things.)

In Vajrayana buddhism(3), the swastika expresses Earth element symbolism and Earth’s indestructible stability.

The Renaissance was fond of personifying the elements as gods from antiquity.

The great nature goddess Cybele of ancient Phrygia in Asia Minor stands as epitome of Earth element symbolism. She was called Mater Kubileya (Mountain Mother) and was given the latin name Magna Mater meaning Great Mother. Cybele was partially assimilated to aspects of the Earth goddess Gaia and to the harvest Mother goddess Demeter.

For South American Indians the spear has historically represented the Earth element.

In TCM, various types of catastrophes associate with an element. Earth element symbolism and the earthquake equate with each other in TCM.

We’ve derived the name Adam, the name used to personify primordial man, from the Hebrew adama meaning Earth.

According to Gershom G. Scholem in On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, we conceive Adam as a “vast representation of the power of the universe” on Earth concentrated in humankind.

Observe Earth element symbolism in geometry and numerology.

he quaternary in Earth element symbolism—a thing consisting of four parts and concept of the number four— corresponds to Earth and the material pattern of life. The quaternary also reveals feminine energy, matter created from the thought or idea, and reason. 

“The ternary is the number pertaining to the idea; the quaternary is the number connected with the realization of the idea.”

— Plato

Earth element symbolism aligns with the number eight—a double-four representing and bringing balance. This symbolic numerology speaks that what we sow, we also reap.

For further reading on aspects of the Earth element, be sure to read our article on the Earth Type personality: The Earth Type Personality According to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Understanding Your Archetype for Harmony and Balance.

…

Endnotes:

1. Asgard: a god of Norse mythology

2. Huang Di is the emperor that is said to be the ancestor of all Han Chinese people; he ruled from 2697 BC to 2598 BC, approx.

3. Vajrayana buddhism is a form of esoteric buddhism with vajrayana being one of three vehicles to enlightenment (the other two are Sravakayana and Mahayana).

…

Sources:

The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols. United Kingdom, Serindia, 2003.

Becker, Udo. The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols. United Kingdom, Continuum, 2000.

Cirlot, J. C. Dictionary of Symbols. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2006.

Scholem, Gershom. On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism. United Kingdom, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1996.

Levitt, Susan. Taoist Feng Shui: The Ancient Roots of the Chinese Art of Placement. United States, Inner Traditions/Bear, 1999.

Chinese New Year 2023: Great Fortune Year of the Black Water Rabbi

Chinese New Year 2023 falls on January 22. Not only are new years in Chinese astrology represented by one of twelve animals, the five elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water are also incorporated as the zodiac moves through a different element each year. This year is not only the Year of the Rabbit, it’s the Year of the Black Water Rabbit and this is because the yin Water element is associated with the color black.

Black Rabbit is a very specially gifted and creative Rabbit who has not been seen since 1963, so this year 2023 promises to be a year of great fortune.

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Black Water Rabbit of 1963
1963 was a year in which Water energy flowed abundantly, especially enhancing communications of all sorts. Pop culture truly created roots with television shows like The Beverley Hillbillies, The Lucy Show and the Dick Van Dyke Show while films like The Pink Panther and The Birds became the rage.

The year had begun with the historic wintry “Big Freeze” followed by March’s inevitable thaw and gushes of water. And then in October that year, rain relentlessly poured on Northern Italy’s Dolomite Mountains until the ground was so waterlogged the earth could absorb no more. On the night of October 9, a landslide ensued that pushed half a hillside into the recently completed Vajont Dam, in turn creating a 300-foot high wave wiping out the town of Longarone in minutes and taking 2,500 lives that night.

On the political front, it was the year of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which astrologers believe was actually initiated during the preceding aggressive Tiger year.  Martin Luther King made his “I Have a Dream” speech and the Beatles were zooming to their zenith (soon to appear early the next year on the Ed Sullivan show in the states which virtually sealed their rise to incredible fame). There was civil and violent unrest which is never Rabbit’s way but Rabbit isn’t a pushover either and will allow these if necessary for change.

Welcome 2023

“ After the chaos and tumult of the departing Year of the [Black Water] Tiger, Water Rabbit energy promises to restore peace and harmony and shower the world with sparkling opportunities. But will you benefit from the Rabbit’s generosity?”

— Linda Dearsley in "2023: Thrive in the Year of the Rabbit"

The main source of energy in the Chinese calendar for 2023 is the Water element in its yin form indicating that 2023 will be a more restful time for contemplating our values and goals in life. In 2023, the Water Rabbit energy helps us bring our major life’s goals to life. 2023 also provides fertile timing to become a highly paid specialist, so apply yourself and you just may become significantly more abundant than you already are.

2023 is also the year for honing our skills of perception, intuition, and forging the way of peace—both inner and outer. Representative of youth and optimism, the Water Rabbit will be important on the political front as diplomacy, good negotiation skills and new more creative leaders step up to the plate. While previous enemies probably won’t get cozy with each other, they may at least begin to talk this year. Political leaders should know that Black Water Rabbit’s energy is no friend to indiscretions, especially the sexual ones.

For the sincere of heart, Rabbit, no matter its color or element, represents good fortune both materially and in relationships. (Remember the rabbit’s foot people used to carry in their pockets for good luck?) Rabbit may not be the most robust animal, but its charm and speed are the qualities that attract money, fertility, lovers and success. These gifts are even more acutely present when Rabbit is combined with the Water element.

Rabbit prefers quality over quantity and views home as sanctuary so his energy may influence many this year to choose natural, classic, youthful and often upcycled fashion for home and clothing. Creatives like interior decorators, gardeners and upholsterers just may have an incredibly busy year.

Communications as another metaphor for Water will be big in 2023 as people will thrive for the sociability they missed the previous two years. People-in-the-flesh festivals, rallies and outdoor markets will be popular as online meetings forced by the previous two years diminish. And as it happened in 1963, communication through entertainment will blossom with unparalleled innovations and a birth of new stars in every field. In fact, the urge to communicate will be unstoppable this year since Water doesn’t return until the Water Rat of 2032.

Tiger years like last year are all about activating change, highlighting injustices, and breaking down barriers and because Tiger is who he is, he doesn’t tred lightly. He powers through. So after Black Water Tiger’s good long year of constant, sometimes shocking change but often change that leads to necessary changes, Black Water Rabbit’s time of tranquility is just what we need—a time to contemplate, adjust our creative endeavors and enjoy ourselves along the way.

Soft pawed Rabbit now hops in to counterbalance the outrageous Year of the Tiger that 2022 was as restful antidote. It’s time for Black Rabbit’s balancing sweet and happy fluffiness.

Why do we have two years of Water back-to-back?
According to traditional Chinese medicine, years are paired and each of the two years in a pair are ruled by the same element. This pairing occurs in order to create balance.

First the element sweeps in, in its strongest most potent form in year one and in the following year two, it works its way out in a quieter softer manner. Rabbit won’t undo all of Tiger’s work though. Rabbit modifies and refines, smoothes and repairs where necessary which ends up making a lot of Tiger’s collateral damage acceptable, if not, welcome.

So last year, Black Water Tiger brought us a number of flood events you may even have forgotten. Interestingly, most of them were 500- or 1000-year rain or flood events. These were events like the Pakistani floods between June and October 2022 which killed 1,739 people, and caused 3.2 trillion rupees worth of damage and 3.3 trillion of economic losses.

In the states, Yellowstone National Park endured a 500-year flood event costing more than one billion in damages. So, too, did Jackson, Mississippi and Dallas, Texas incur billions in damages for 1000-year flood events, not to mention Hurricane Ian that caused 30 to 60 billion in damages killing many people.

According to Taoist astrologers, we’re quite done with extremes like these—at least for the time being. Now Black Water Rabbit brings us water in the most pleasant of forms: soft Spring and Summer rains, gentle snows and Water’s more metaphorical flow materialized as financial wealth. Some economists may predict financial stresses for 2023, but this is not Black Water Rabbit’s way and these economists may very well be proven wrong.

Moreover, “… the Black Rabbit of 2023 is aiming to sprinkle the healing energies of Water across the whole year.” —Linda Dearsley in 2023: Thrive in the Year of the Rabbit

The key is not to be a nervous scared bunny or you might shoo Black Water Rabbit’s good fortune away. Instead, as master crafter of your life, remember that you choose how you’ll respond to this Rabbit year. Don’t leave it all up to Rabbit but instead remember that it’s the choices you make that will determine your 2023.

Dearsley advises everyone:

“Play it clever and you can charm shy Rabbit into snuggling close all year, showering you with bunny blessings. Get it wrong, and Rabbit will turn timid and hop away, taking all the goodies with him.”

#####

Endnotes:

–Dearsley, Linda. 2023: Thrive in the Year of the Rabbit. Bennion Kearney Limited. 2022. Print.

–Levitt, Susan, and Jean Tang. Taoist Astrology: A Handbook of the Authentic Chinese Tradition. p. 171. Rochester, VT: Destiny, 1997. Print.

The Winter Solstice Spiritual Meaning Across Time and Cultures

The Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, is an annual solar event taking place between December 20 and 23. On this day the sun reaches its waning limit. By the next day, daytime hours increase once again. If you’re tuned in even a little, you can’t help but feel there’s a profound Winter Solstice spiritual meaning you can apply in your everyday life.

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The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning is evident throughout history and cultures.

Cultures have felt the depths of the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning for aeons. They all noticed darkness was falling earlier than at any other time of year. And the sun was shining at its lowest point in the sky.

They identified the Winter Solstice as moment of the sun’s death and inevitable rebirth. And they marked the Winter Solstice the formal beginning of the Winter season.

But the ancient Chinese and thus traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) placed the Winter Solstice smack in the middle of one of TCM’s five seasons—energetic Winter and the Water element. Like other cultures, the ancient Chinese viewed and TCM still does view Winter as an introspective hibernating time of year.

No matter the culture all have found Winter a time of deep inward searching giving dimension to the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning. The Winter Solstice signified the turning point of time and moment of new beginnings. The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning became metaphoric to life. It offered the people clues for harmonious cyclic living.

In ancient Egypt, the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning related to Ra, the sun god. The Egyptians saw it as the return of Ra.

The Egyptians had noticed changes in the position of the sun in the sky. This made them believe the sun’s warmth and strength might not return. And they feared they might not be able to grow food or sustain their animals.

So in keeping with the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning the people so deeply felt, they created a ritual and ceremony period. This was a time of camaraderie, goodwill, forgiveness and love so the sun would continue to be reborn. They celebrated the Winter Solstice to thank Ra for warming the land and blessing the people with abundant crops.

Almost nowhere else is the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning more dramatically outpictured than at Stonehenge in Southern England. People some 2500 years ago erected stones to frame the setting sun on the Winter Solstice. So vital to their spirituality was the sun they positioned the stones to allow the last rays of sunlight to gleam through a space between the stones.

The ancient Romans were no strangers to the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning either. They held a special week long Winter Solstice celebration to honor the god Saturnalia. The Romans intended their ceremonies and rituals to gracefully poise nature as it stepped over the border of the year.

The Saturnalia Winter Solstice festival revolved around sacrifice, gift-giving and feasting. In the spirit of the deepest Winter Solstice spiritual meaning—equality of all souls (at least temporarily)—Masters served their servants and citizens treated criminals with honor and respect.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning influences the Christmas celebration.

In the Romans’ celebratory rituals, we see the seeds of our Christmas celebrations today. The Romans all gave each other presents. Roman businessmen gifted their customers with their wares and parents gave their children clay or wax dolls. They hid coins and tiny gifts in pudding and brought evergreen trees into the home.

Our Christmas tree today was the Saturnalia evergreen back then.

We also see evidence of the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning in their Yule, Yuletide or Yulefest.

The Romans’ back then and our current burning of the yule log, decorating the evergreen tree and English wassailing(1) dates all the way back to the ancient Norse people. They called this time the festival of Jul (prononouced just as we say ‘Yule’).

Their lives revolved around the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning they held at heart.

Anonymous broadside in the public domain of the words of the carol "The Holly and the Ivy", published by H. Wadsworth, Birmingham, 1814-1818. Source here.

Original celebrations of Yule link also to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Mothers’ Night(2).

Eventually, the Christian church sought to co-opt the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning for itself. They absorbed and christianized pagan customs. Now the festival of yule, which happened on the Winter Solstice, would mark the start of the famous Twelve Days of Christmas.

The Christmas carol, The Holly and the Ivy, derives from pre-Christian times when the Lord and Lady of the Greenwood were honored by the hanging of green garlands from the ridge poles of houses.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning naturally reverberates from the intense solar event it is.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning emits a profound, even life-changing energy. It extends to you the very real potential to activate and heighten your spiritual senses if you’ll allow it.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning equates to a supreme hush moment in time. It calls on all of us to pause, rest and restore ourselves in preparation for more lively seasons ahead.

Be acutely aware of when the Winer Solstice is about to occur and pay close attention to slight or potent shifts in your psyche. When you do you get the very most out of the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning.

Amplify or awaken your spiritual senses in meditation on that day and on the days just before and after. Open your being to the spiritual world of light and love.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning follows nature’s cues.

In this darkest period of the year around the Winter Solstice, our days are short and darkness falls early in the day. Nature’s inviting you to slow down.

Visit with nature. Take in the fragrance of pine needles or the glow of the dark night Winter moons.

Your own soul will respond in kind, asking you to put down what you’re doing, connect with loved ones and maybe enjoy a cup of warm tea together. Perhaps, in the spirit of the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning, choose to listen rather than speak.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning reflects in the entire Winter season.

TCM always tells us to take our cues from nature so we can know how to live in harmony with any season. The same kind of winding down we feel on and around the Winter Solstice are the same we feel throughout TCM’s energetic Winter and the Water element.

During the dark of Winter, seeds rest in suspended animation under the ground. Animals hibernate. Flora and fauna gather strength for the coming season of energetic Spring and renewal and we should, too.

Growth—whether it’s physical, mental, emotional or spiritual—actually happens in the times when we draw inward and rest.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning reminds us we need to open to change and accept it.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning is all about change and new beginnings. As in Buddhism where nothing is permanent the Winter Solstice calls on us to embrace life in flux and change.

To amplify the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning for you make it a point to meditate on that day and night. Intend to be well prepared for coming changes. Invite in the energy of the Winter Solstice. It will assist you to accept and flow with inevitable upcoming changes in a resilient way.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning brings hope. It signifies your sorrows will indeed return to joy. Your limitations can be cancelled out by abundance one day soon. And no negative thing in your life will remain that way forever.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning begs us to let go of strict dogmas and rigid ways of being.

Understanding this world, the swirl of incessant information, and peoples’ opinions and agendas is not an all black or all white thing. It would be easy if it were all mapped out for us but that just isn’t life. If everything were neat and tidy, you wouldn’t ever have to call on your own inner voice to discern if something is true or not. You’d be more automaton than human.

TCM tells us that kidney is the yin energy organ of the Water element active during the Winter Solstice. Kidney provides us with the energy we need to be wise and in spiritual faith.

In our blog, “Energetic Winter and Transcending the Emotion of Fear: The Kidneys are the Root of Life, Regeneration and Vitality,” we wrote:

The Winter Solstice energy and the energy of the Water element call on you to be a Sage. The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning embraces wisdom, introspection and flow. Like the flow of water, it calls on you to be less rigid in thinking and open to certain truths you perhaps couldn’t embrace before.

Kidney is our spirit storehouse. It holds a reservoir of energy we can tap into for self-assurance, trust, and faith in surviving our challenges in life.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning derives from a pivotal solar event that reinforces the vitality and happiness we enjoy from cyclical living.

In our blog, “Cyclical Living Is the Key to a Vitality Filled Life and Our Producing the Frequency of Love,” we write:

“Not all that long ago, the people of Earth lived in concert with it. They had to. There were no technological inventions to “make life better” and to keep them occupied, busy, even distracted. Instead, they were forced to look up at the sky for their entertainment and wonder. Many of our ancient ancestors noticed the cycles not just of the Earth but of the heavens and they came to understand that living in harmony with these cycles was key to their vitality and happiness.”

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning and the solar event itself help us see that cycles and seasons are important in life. The Solstice is a day that opens the door to a proving period of patience.

TCM teaches us all about the passage of cycles. It shows us how to live in harmony with this celebration day and season. It will help you remain patient with life and live in the present.

Living during the season of energetic Winter and the Water element is like living in the darkness of the womb. You must wait patiently to emerge into the light. But until then you remain quiet in the dark and allow the womb to nurture you increasing the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning deep within you.

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning endures throughout the entire Winter season.

The stillness, hush and energy of Winter have all the energetic ingredients we need to feel supported in our quest to know ourselves.

These energetic and spiritual ingredients of Winter and the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning encourage you to rest and dream. Then you’re strengthened to reach the sublime heights of spirituality.

Still, this is almost a feat for many. We’re so accustomed to running all the time. And even when we’re not running, many of us may sit quietly but artificially stimulated by smartphones while we sit motionless.

This isn’t true rest and inward journeying. And it doesn’t increase our spiritual foundation either.

When you learn to live in harmony with the five element seasons according to TCM you can remain emotionally stable. You come to understand the importance of each season and solar event. It leads you to embrace the attributes each has to offer.

This makes life more purposeful and exciting. 

The Winter Solstice spiritual meaning radiates the faith and trust intrinsic to TCM’s Water element of Winter.

Take the example of the sun at the time of the Winter Solstice to heart. It always returns to create the daylight. Know now that your desires will indeed manifest.

“The Holiday of the Winter Solstice celebrates the presence of Spirit and the power of faith and hope that our visions of the future will come into manifestation.”

— Ruth Barret, mysticmamma.com

May your Winter Solstice day and night be filled with magic, awareness and deep insights. And may you resonate with this solar event and the Winter Solstice spiritual meaning for vitality and abundance on all levels of your life.

…

Endnotes:

(1) Wassailing: a) drinking plentiful amounts of alcohol and enjoying self with others in a noisy, lively way; b) going from house to house at Christmastime singing carols.

(2) Mōdraniht or Modranicht (pronounced [ˈmoːdrɑniçt]; Old English for "Night of the Mothers" was an event held at what is now Christmas Eve by the Anglo-Saxon pagans.

The Spring Equinox. The Real New Year Is In Spring.

For many ancient cultures the real New Year is in Spring. It happens at or around the time of the Spring Equinox every March 20 or 25. But in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII changed that for followers of the Church moving the start of the New Year back to January 1. He took the very natural rhythmic lunar-based calendar and made it an unnatural calendar misaligned with the moon that affects Earth so much.

Understanding the Spring Equinox Makes Sense that the Real New Year Is In Spring.

The Spring or Vernal Equinox 2022 happens every year on March 20 or 21. This special day, when the sun crosses the celestial equator, marks the middle point between the Winter solstice and the Summer solstice.

On the Spring Equinox day every spot on the entire planet experiences an equal amount of time in the light and in the darkness. From that day on in the Northern hemisphere, each day thereafter we leave behind more of the dark of Winter as we receive a greater amount of the light and warmth of the sun.

Now all of nature begins reviving in earnest after its Winter hibernation.

Although for huge swathes of the global population the New Year begins on the first day of January, some societies and cultures celebrate the real New Year at some point in early Spring.

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It’s logical that the real New Year is in Spring.

Spring—a season of rebirth and the planting of new crops—is a logical time to start the New Year for many people. It doesn’t make sense to celebrate the New Year in the middle of the dark, cold hostile Winter.

“March tests our faith. It can summon all the bluster of its namesake to convince huddled mortals that the power of winter, like that of any tyrant, is not soon or highly surrendered. On a night in late March the wind can blow with a force unfelt all winter. Fear not. Beneath the angry skies, fragile as parchment but as irresistible as time, crocuses push their shafts up through the damp earth.” —Michael Judge in The Dance of Time: The Origins of the Calendar.

Ancient cultures lived more in harmony with nature. It was logical to align their celebrations with lunar movements.

Somewhere around 2000 BCE, the Babylonian New Year began on March 25. Very many cultures in ancient times regarded their New Year as the traditional fixed date for the Vernal Equinox.

In ancient Persia and now present-day Iran, the new year, called nowruz meaning new day began and still begins on March 21.

For some native tribes the arrival of certain animals for the hunt or the appearance of certain shoals of fish marked the beginning of another year.

In some parts of the ancient Near East, the people celebrated the New Year in the Fall when rains ended the long drought of Summer.

For the ancient Egyptians, Sirius, the dog star, held its place unrivaled as the most important star in the sky. It formed the foundation of the Egyptians’ entire religious system. The Egyptian calendar system was based on the heliacal rising of Sirius that occurred just before the annual flooding of the Nile during Summer, signaling their start of a New Year and new life.

In the more ancient Northern hemisphere New Year celebrations were a way to rejoice in the resurrection of life. The people acted out the seasonal changes ritually—from the symbolic death of the earth in Winter to its resurrection vibrantly enacted through the sprouting and blossoming that came with Spring.

Throughout the ancient world New Year’s Day was quite logically and almost always celebrated in the Spring when the world seemed new once again. After months of long nights and short days, both day and night now lasted an equal amount of time. The people knew that on the Vernal Equinox the cosmic balance would now swing in favor of the sun.

Here’s When the New Year celebration date got changed.

Originally, the ancient Roman calendar had only ten months which we can see reflected in the names of many of our months derived from Roman numerals.

When a New Year began in March as month one of the year, they named the months very logically:

• the seventh month | September meaning seventh (septem from latin meaning seven)

• the eighth month October meaning eighth (octo from latin meaning eight)

• the ninth month they gave the name November meaning ninth (novem from latin meaning nine)

• the last and tenth month, they named December meaning tenth (decem from latin meaning ten).

Back then the calendar year was lunar-based and ten moons long, and the remaining roughly 70 days of Winter occurred without being assigned a month name. This is the time period we now call January and February.

The beginning of a New Year started the calendar afresh and signaled to farmers to trellis their vines, prune the trees, and sow spring wheat. On this auspicious first day of the New Year concurrent with the Vernal Equinox people could expect equal parts day and night. And the New Year observance always took place on the first new moon before the Spring equinox.

The Romans eventually transitioned away from a lunar to a solar calendar. It seemed to them a solar calendar better reflected the seasons. But as before, they still didn’t consider the remaining now roughly 60 Winter days part of the calendar.

Even Following a Solar Calendar, the Real New Year Was Still In Spring.

The calendar began each year with the first day of Spring falling a few days after the Ides(1) of March. This put the New Year at approximately the twentieth of March. The 60-day margin of Winter days which existed in a sort of limbo outside of the calendar is how the early Romans handled not truly knowing the actual length of a year.

In about 715 BCE, the months January and February were added to the Roman calendar.

Over time, many empowers continued to tamper with the calendar. They knocked the calendar out of synchronization with the sun.

In 46 BCE, this precipitated Julius Caesar to decree the start of the New Year the beginning of January. And so January 1 became a day of great festivities for all Roman people. But even though Julius Caesar decreed such a change, for some time Romans of city and country continued to celebrate the New Year with the onset of Spring. They felt nature was telling them more accurately than any calendar could that the Earth was about to be reborn.

But with Christianity taking hold, the Church outlawed their New Year celebrations, banning all Christians from participating in any festivities under threat of excommunication. The Church believed the celebrations were pagan and encouraged idolatry since the day’s festivities evolved from the feast of January’s namesake—the two-faced god Janus.

The Flip-flopping Church Made the Real New Year January 1 to March 25 and back again to January 1.

By 567 CE, the Christian Church’s power was massive and so, at the Council of Tours, they officially moved the start date of the New Year from January 1 back to March 25. They did this to remove potential for too many pagan celebrations. For centuries thereafter all European countries celebrated the new year on March 25.

But in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII was not to be outdone. He introduced our current and rather inaccurate Gregorian calendar. Once again, they officially moved the start of the New Year back to January 1.

Not all European countries adopted January 1 as the official opening of a New Year right away. The Catholic countries did so, but Protestant countries took their time. It’s only been a few hundred years that these northern European countries have observed New Year’s Day as January 1.

…

Endnotes:

(1) Ides: (in the ancient Roman calendar) a day falling roughly in the middle of each month (the 15th day of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th of other months) from which other dates were calculated.

Strange but True: A Historical Background to Popular Beliefs and Traditions. N.p., Crux Publishing Ltd, 2014.

Judge, Michael. The Dance of Time: The Origins of the Calendar. United Kingdom, Arcade, 2012.

photo pexels-pat-whelen-6369229.jpg

The Power of Mantra: Utilizing Language to Create and Decree Our Hearts’ Desir

Mantras are a form of empowering spoken word we can utilize as creational incantations. 'Mantra' literally means 'instrument of thought.' And since our thoughts are instrumental in the creation of things, it might make sense to utilize mantras in your daily life for personal upliftment and even to manifest what you desire in life. An example of a mantra is one PHYTO5 would love every person to know and believe: “I am a beautiful person.” (Or in French, it’s “Je suis une belle personne.”) And because balanced emotion creates happiness and thus natural beauty that radiates from within, this mantra is the inspiration behind PHYTO5’s mini five element Phyt’Ether serum kit (right column) for balancing emotion, skin and vital energy.

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Mantras can also be described as decrees, affirmations or incantations we make just once or repetitively. They can be formed in any language and when vocalized from the heart have creative energies embedded within them. It’s best only to recite a mantra if you feel it. Rote chanting and just going through the motions will cancel out what you wish to create.

You may be acquainted with ancient Sanskrit* and Tibetan* mantras that were composed to accomplish healing and protection. These mantras are a very important part of Hindu and Tibetan ritual and practice. They are treated as sacred and prayerful and are spoken, sung or chanted repetitively.

Here are a few examples of simpler yet very potent Sanskrit and Tibetan mantras transliterated into English:

The heart calming Buddhist mantra found at the end of the Heart Sutra**

Gate gate para gate para sam gate bodhi swaha

The Sanskrit looks like this: गते गते पार गते पार संगते बोधि स्वाहा

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Tibetan mantra for purification

Om benza satto hung

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Tibetan mantra for prosperity

Om zambala za len drah yeh soha

To learn how to pronounce these, you can easily find them in beautiful audio recordings by various artists, the Gyuto monks as one example. In addition to the words, Tibetan monks like the Gyuto monks chant mantras with deep guttural voices creating a vibration that pushes energy behind the words.

Concerning pronunciation of mantras in such sacred languages as Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese or Aramaic, the key to keep in mind if you’re American is not to use the short ‘a’ vowel sound ever. And an ‘e’ by itself or followed by an ‘h’ is pronounced like the long ‘a’ vowel sound.

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Even if you don’t speak languages such as Sanskrit or Tibetan, learning to recite the various mantras in the language can be very effective since not knowing the language assists us to bypass the analytical ego mind. With the ‘monkey mind’ out of the way that always needs to analyze and even sabotage our creative effort, pure true thought and the mantra’s frequencies are now free to assist you to create your desire.

Very many Sanskrit mantras are taken from hymns found in the Vedas*** and were viewed since the earliest of times of Vedic recorded history as ‘sacred message' or 'text,' 'charm,' 'spell,' and ‘counsel.’

Perhaps the mantra’s ability to create is best expressed by Yogi Bhajan:

"Mantra moves the elements—all five elements, plus the heavens, plus the earth."

Probably the best known mantra or chant in the world is known as the “Compassionate Buddha Mantra.” The Buddha of Compassion is known by the Chinese as Goddess Quan Yin. Its six-syllable expression is:

Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ

This mantra translates to, "Hail to the jewel in the center of the lotus.”

The mantra is said to calm fears, soothe concerns and heal broken hearts and if you begin to chant this mantra for yourself you will discover this is true. This mantra has also been adapted into Chinese Taoism.

Learn to pronounce the sacred languages correctly if you are going to use them. Vocalizing sacred language mantras for purposes of creation is like placing a key into a lock. The words or mantras are the keys. If the key–the pronunciation–is not 'configured' correctly for the lock, the lock (manifestation desired) will not open.

Mantras are usually recited with feeling repetitively however to decree a mantra only once indicates a type of faith—a knowing that all it takes is to invoke the desire once and it is done.

Even one solitary powerful word, when invoked, can assist in your manifestations.

One word incantations can truly work:

Peace!

Still!

Vitality!

Om

The last one word mantra in the short list above, Om, is known as the primordial sound of the universe, and though generally associated with Buddhism, has been often used by Taoists as part of their chanting practice.

Whether it’s English, French, Sanskrit, Tibetan or any other language, mantras exist and can be crafted by you to accomplish any goal: abundance, protection from dangerous weather conditions, removal of obstacles, liberation and enlightenment, improved digestion, sharper mental clarity, radiant feminine or masculine consciousness, better sleep, lucid dreaming, and the list is endless.

Our words have power but we rarely stop to think about how true this statement is. We actually are constantly creating by our choice of words and emotions behind them as we speak.

"All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.” —Friedrich Nietzsche

For the ancient spiritual initiates, writing and magic were considered the same thing. They understood the power of the word.

"The Word was in the beginning, and that very Word was with God, and God was that Word.” — John 1:1

Even though English or many other languages are derived and have somewhat degenerated from the ancient ones, there can still be power in our native tongue. This imbued power will happen by virtue of your intention.

May your new year composed of a succession of 365 new days be charged with the power of your consciously invoked word. Hopefully, one of your new mantras will be:

I am a beautiful person. Because you are.

#####

Endnotes:

*one of the five sacred languages and an ancient Indo-European language of India, in which the Hindu; the five sacred languages are Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, Hebrew, and Egyptian

** a set of rules in Hindu philosophy

*** the most ancient Hindu scriptures, written in early Sanskrit and containing hymns, philosophy, and guidance on ritual for the priests of Vedic religion; believed to have been directly revealed to seers among the early Aryans in India and preserved by oral tradition scriptures and classical Indian epic poems are written and from which many northern Indian (Indic) languages are derived

Hurtak, J. J. The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch. The Academy for Future Science. 1977. Los Gatos, CA.

Image credit: byheaven/Getty Images via Canva

February 1, 2022 Is The Chinese New Year of the Black Water Tiger: Here Are Portents for the Year and Strategies for Resilient Livin

In Chinese astrology, February 1, 2022 will begin the year of not just the Tiger but the Black Water Tiger.(1) A Water Tiger year only occurs every 60 years.

China abounds in myth and legend of the Tiger. Anyone born in the year of the Tiger is believed to possess the traits of unpredictability and color, adventurousness, power and passion.

In China, the Tiger is at once a symbol of darkness/new moon and brightness/full moon.

There are five mythic Tigers in Chinese lore, each one symbolizing direction, season and element:

Blue Tiger: East, Spring and Vegetation
Red Tiger: South, Summer and Fire
White Tiger: West, Autumn and all Metals
Black Tiger: North, Winter and Water
Yellow Tiger is supreme among all five and ruler of the Earth and all energies upon it.

In Chinese astrology, the behavior of the Black Water Tiger is a forewarning for the year 2022 (as is any animal assigned to its year). Going far back to the ancient Chinese and their approach to health, vitality, ‘medicine,’ and life in general, we are able to see their uncanny knack for getting it right. Years and years of careful and astute observation annotated and proven out has coalesced to form a massive body of dependable information and data that repeats itself through the cycles of life.

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Especially in these turbulent times, we might read what follows as a sort of intriguing “fortune-telling” for the year 2022, though it is based on real-live concepts which have also been lived out 60 years ago. Considering what follows might assist us to live with a proactive stance so that we can be resilient and joyful in life instead of being caught unaware.

The Black Water Tiger is a figure of awe and respect but it is combined with a hint of dread. Tiger indicates that the beginning of the year might be especially volatile and as a result, people will tend to take bold, spontaneous action, moving towards extremes.

Like Tiger, many people will be extra bold and cantankerous, making big life changes and many of them on a whim.

Where last year, people were forced to keep their noses to the grindstone and live life on the sidelines, now the Water Tiger energy springs onto the scene.

Feeling shut in, restricted, and relegated to rule after rule, 2022 will manifest a strong desire for fun and adventure. Many people are more than ready to cut loose and try new things. They may be willing to break perceived rules for the sake of having adventurous experiences just like Tiger.

Tiger’s courage comes into play in 2022 as it will be a risk-taking year with those taking the risks doing so to express themselves fully. Everyone has been through an awful lot since 2019 especially, and while much has not been resolved Tiger indicates a growing feeling that it’s time to let our hair down. But throughout 2022 there will also be quiet periods because like any cat, a Tiger needs his naps. Approaching year’s end things will begin to calm down as 2023 approaches with the energy of the peaceful Water Rabbit approaching.

Tiger is affectionate but with hidden claws and Tiger’s territorial. It could be that in 2022, the issue of national borders will become even more important.

Tiger’s ferocious roar will be reflected in changes in governments, party leadership and parties in power. There will be much roaring at each other with loud voices signaling dominance and shouting warnings of skirmishes and battles.

It could happen that deals and partnerships formed in 2021 become fragile and snap. Tiger jabbers a lot and the sound of squabbling will drown out cooperation as governments and corporations focus more on their own agenda rather than serve the common good. The silver lining is this ferocious, clawing-at-each-other energy has the strong potential to cause people to turn to smaller independent businesses many of whom are struggling to make it.

In your personal life, you may find yourself acutely aware of the need to have boundaries with others established. Chief among those to shut out are the Simi Valley data collectors. Protecting your data, passwords, and accounts becomes enormously important in 2022.

On the same vein as boundaries and territories, there will be many who feel to pick up and move to find the space or region of the world (their personal prairie) that truly speaks to them.

Tiger’s playfulness will be seen in many a get-together and celebration. People will hunt for that which satisfies them. And appropriately, Water will find ways into their lives in more ways than a shower or bath, this Tiger being the Water Tiger and the cat that can swim.

2022 will show more emphasis on parenting and the inherent rights of parents. Fights will ensue over a parent’s right to decide the medical care of their children and not the school system. More people, especially mothers, will either fight the school system or opt to homeschool their children.

Like the Tiger wanders the prairies in search of a good hunt, college-age students may more likely take time off school to go backpacking or become entrepreneurs. Those desiring more education will tend to opt for accelerated programs that end in certificates they need for new jobs and rewarding work.

Water Tiger is talkative and 2022 will be all about communication even if it’s dysfunctional. Battles concerning free speech and political correctness will not only continue into 2022 but become louder than before.

Tiger is known for passion and courage and success will come to those who embrace those traits in 2022. Pick a direction in 2022 and move forward quickly knowing that risk-taking will be rewarded even if your project doesn’t result as you wished it would. In a Tiger year, being active and moving is better than being still. You may not begin 2022 feeling all that strong or confident but the zodiac says you will be by the end of 2022 simply because of the new things you’ve done.

Create a life you are passionate about in 2002 even if it looks unconventional. Tiger loves excitement and the unconventional is exciting.

Colors will seem to be brighter and voices louder in 2022. When periods of intense energy come to you, take advantage and be active. This is the year of the active individual player.

In the year of the Tiger, you may find yourself making money (Water flows) because you are taking more risks. Many people will have more faith in themselves during this time than at any other and this is why they will succeed.

People are more passionate in a Tiger year but can also be less romantic. There may be more shallow relationships than deep and long-term ones established so those looking for long-term relationships need to be patient. Some people will find a lover who had been in their lives one day and vanished the next returns in 2022 as though he or she had never left at all.

A Tiger year makes it easier for you to recognize your anger and begin to deal with it appropriately but expressing problems in a relationship may not fall on friendly ears.

Tiger’s energy is dynamic which can work in everyone’s favor. It inspires more activity and exercise and less sofa-sitting. There will probably be a greater focus on gaining greater health and vitality by changing routines and eating habits.

The Water Tiger year can bring you the courage and sense of adventure you need to make significant changes in your life. And you can come to the end of 2022 feeling proud of what you accomplished and with a renewed sense of confidence.

The Water Tiger patiently stalks and strategizes for its hunt, moving with an easy grace through the jungle of life. We can emulate Tiger for this ease of grace for life and this world certainly seem like a jungle.

Call upon the Black Water Tiger to renew vitality and passion in your life in 2022. Invoke Tiger for a greater awareness of pace and stamina especially as we move through energetic Winter and the Water season.

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Endnotes:

1. The Chinese astrology cycle follows a pattern of twelve years (an animal assigned to each) for each of the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) comprising a 60-year pattern. The twelve animals of Chinese astrology are said to hide in the hearts of those born during their year. Chinese New Year always occurs at the time of the second New Moon following the Winter solstice.

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Sources:

Stellhorn, Donna. Chinese Astrology: 2022 Year of the Water Tiger. N.p., ETC Publishing, 2021.

Theitic, Andrew. The Witches' Almanac 2022-2023 Standard Edition Issue 41: The Moon — Transforming the Inner Spirit. N.p., Witches' Almanac, 2021.

Zakroff, Laura Tempest, et al. Llewellyn's 2022 Sabbats Almanac: Samhain 2021 to Mabon 2022. United States, Llewellyn Worldwide, Limited, 2021.

Andrews, Ted. Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small. United States, Llewellyn Worldwide, Limited, 2010.

The Water Type Personality According to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Understanding Your Archetype for Harmony and Balance

At the time of our birth, the prevailing cosmic and telluric energies have an important effect on our personality. It can be said that at the time of birth these energies give us our own individual rhythms that seem to transcend our genetic makeup and upbringing.. Traditional Chinese medicine embraces a fivefold concept known as the Five Element or Five Phase Theory that help explain these rhythms. Traditional Chinese medicine points out that we all tend to be one predominant ‘type’ from among the five elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, though no one is one hundred percent one type alone. In this article we discuss both the in-balance and out-of-balance (maladapted) Water type personality.

The Mystery of Water

Water, hidden and unseen, is the deepest part of our energetic system. It’s the root of aliveness and vitality in the human body. Water is essential for the maintenance of life. It carries evolutionary memory and powers the activities of the body including healing and regeneration.

Traditional Chinese medicine has assigned a color to each of the elements and Water’s color is black. Appropriately, we begin our life’s journey in the unknown—in water, floating in amniotic fluid—our eyes closed creating black darkness in a womb which, too, is absent of physical light, it, too, mirroring that black darkness. The Water element is the most yin of the five elements.

The Primary Archetype

The archetype that best describes the Water personality in balance is the wise one or philosopher. The wise one strives to bring the dark black mysteries of life into the light. She knows when to be active and when to retreat. She understands the intricacies, paradoxes and enigmas of life and is able to astutely share these insights she has developed in order to help others live more fulfilled lives.

The Water personality is all about searching for meaning. Water runs deep and so do Water type personalities.

“The Sage, the Water element archetype, represents the power of the Water energy to transform fear and doubt to wisdom and trust and to promote acceptance of the unknown and the unknowable as part of life.” —Charles A. Moss, M. D. in Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance

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This wise Water personality knows he has benefited from all the knowledge and experience he has garnered from generations before him. He loves applying the lessons he has learned from that history. At the same time, it takes all the wisdom Water has developed to maintain his or her equilibrium, grounding and balance in this type.

“The cafés in Paris, the hookah lounges in the Middle East, and the urban coffeehouses in America are filled with them. They love to sit with close friends, ruminating about life, waxing eloquent about all this is right and wrong with the world. They are great conversationalists, and the deeper the conversations, the better.” —Dondi Dahlin in The Five Elements: Understand Yourself and Enhance Your Relationships with the Wisdom of the World's Oldest Personality Type System

Water loves to plumb the depths of life, losing themselves as blissfully in the arts as they do grocery store aisles searching for just the right wine. Water takes life very seriously often not getting the jokes along the way.

Theirs is a slower rhythm. They take their time. They have patience. Hurry is not part of their consciousness. Calm is evident in their manner of speaking and speech, their gait, their breathing and their response to life. They find rituals, symbols and traditions alluringly poignant. You have to be well-read to keep up intellectually with an in-balance Water.

Water type personalities are very people oriented and will readily allow new people into their lives but tend not to initiate these relationships. Water loves to help other people succeed. If Water can help others succeed, then Water has succeeded.

A good listener, Water does not enjoy confrontation and will work to achieve harmony among people however he can.

Water must live a life that is fully aligned with his core values and beliefs. Deeply philosophical and profound, Water tends to see menial tasks as art. In fact, Water types are very artistic themselves. The most creative and artistic people the world has ever seen tend to have strong Water personalities. Their creations are awe-inspiring.

Water type personalities live in their minds. They prefer predictability. They need to make sense of life, but out-of-balance or maladapted Water will have difficulty reconciling a world that looks very warped to them. This causes them to feel depressed as the world looks murkier and quite different from what others perceive.

Two Types of Water

For most people Water is the most challenging of the five element personality types to understand. This is because there are two types of Water: 1) the wise philosopher archetype and 2) the new baby full of wonder, delight and playfulness.

The philosopher spends time reading, journaling, writing, studying, and contemplating life. The philosopher prefers time spent alone. He or she has a keen interest in the past and how it has influenced the present. Even when it comes to meeting a new person, the wise one type of Water wants to know everything about her new acquaintance's history so that she can better understand who is before her.

The second archetype, that of the playful new baby, is the adult who is still quite childlike, bubbly and radiant. This type of Water will follow a crowd or easily make new friends simply because she is curious and finds it fun and interesting. This Water type can be very endearing, delightful and even spontaneous.

Their primary challenge is that they have so many ideas they never follow through on many. They lack motivation to see their ideas through. They need someone to push them along.

Both archetypes of Water, the philosopher and the playful baby both have a yin energy. The influence of the strong yin energy is translated as intense inner focus. Both archetypes of the Water personality tend to be quieter than others, more introverted and more private.

Water-in-balance can be an enormously captivating personality with a zen-like air, but out-of-balance can have inhibitions, low self-esteem, a tendency to overcautiousness with a preoccupation for worry and agitation. False bravado is another of maladapted Water’s personality traits.

The maladapted Water type will tend to feel overwhelmed, agitated through crisis, resigned to what she cannot conquer, isolated and fearful.

She finds a pathway back into balance through tapping in to her innate sense of calm and wisdom where she can once again begin to confidently manage life’s crises. Regaining her balance by diving in to her core essence she will no longer feel alone but instead supported by the universe whether she has people around her or not.

Whether you are in- or out-of-balance as a Water type, embrace your wondrous archetype of wise one, philosopher and playful child. Stand in your essence of life. You are Water.

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Endnotes:

Dahlin, Dondi. The Five Elements: Understand Yourself and Enhance Your Relationships with the Wisdom of the World's Oldest Personality Type System. United States, Penguin Publishing Group, 2016.

Moss, Charles A. Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance. United States, North Atlantic Books, 2011.

Our Bodies’ Cells Sing! Discover How 'Singing Cells' Are the Foundation of Your Health and Vitality

Living cells in the human body create sound as a natural aspect of their metabolic and life process. Each cell has a unique ‘song’ that changes in response to our thoughts and emotions. Our cells literally sing. ‘Singing cells’ have long been part of non-Western belief systems(1) and have recently been explored by modern Western scientists.

It has long been known that cells communicate with each other in nature: “Every living organism makes noise, but most of us aren't sensitive to it," says Bernie Krause, author of Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World.

Every cell is in contact and continuous communication with every other cell and holds the unique imprint of YOU. The cells communicate without ceasing about the tasks they perform in order to establish harmony and balance in your body.

Every individual cell holds a unique vibrational tone which is light (intensity, color) and vibration (resonance, sound). This communication actually creates a chatter, a cacophony or a symphony depending on how we treat our bodies. Moreover, these cells are not just communicating with each other, they are communicating with and responding to you every second.

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Our cells let us know when something is out of balance:

“… diseases in organisms are often the results of disturbed or damaged communication between cells.” — Joseph Seckbach in Biocommunication: Sign-mediated Interactions Between Cells And Organisms.

The cells of humans (and animals) may not be the only forms of life that emit sound or ‘sing.’ Plant life communication has been the focus of intensive research over the last 20 years.

"Sound is overwhelming, it's everywhere. Surely life would have used it to its advantage in all forms,” says Monica Gagliano, plant physiologist and acoustics researcher at the University of Western Australia in Crawley.

Further she says, “We have identified that plants respond to sound and they make their own sounds. The obvious purpose of sound might be for communicating with others.”

Vibration creates sound. Without vibration there is no sound.

The field of plant bioacoustics tells us that plants vibrate at various frequencies and thus emit sound: Plants emit audio acoustic emissions between 10–240 Hz as well as ultrasonic acoustic emissions (UAE) within 20–300 kHz.

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PHYTO5’s five element quantum energetic skincare lines are known to vibrate at very high frequency which is proven in this video, therefore it might be said that the molecules of flower and plant essential oils comprised of cells that vibrate and ‘sing’ are what ‘speak’ to the skin and body. This form of plant cell to human cell communication creates the quantum healing effect provided the host accepts and allows it.

“All coordination between cells, organs, and organisms depends on successful biocommunicative processes. There are abundant cases of communication in the biological world, both within (intraspecific) and between (interspecific) single-cell and multicellular microorganisms and higher animal forms.”  —Joseph Seckbach

Camilo Sanchez in Daoist Meridian Yoga: Activating the Twelve Pathways for Energy Balance and Healing tells us that information, which comes in a variety of forms, namely, light, electromagnetic radiation, and subtle energy, travel through the network of chi channels and they control the communication of biochemical messages between cells. These same channels of chi work like “magnetic vectors” that give direction to the flow of vital energy.

In fact, the entire premise of PHYTO5 is to balance vital energy, a precondition to overall wellness. This balanced flow of vital energy benefits the skin, in particular.

The study of cell sounds or ‘singing cells’ has been dubbed “sonocytology" by its founder, Jim Gimzewski, a UCLA chemist. He conducted the first sonocytology experiment(2) with yeast cells.

The researchers found that the frequency of the yeast cells remained roughly in the same high range, "about a C-sharp to D above middle C in terms of music," says Andrew Pelling of the UCLA Chemistry Department. They found that sprinkling alcohol on a yeast cell with the intent to kill it raises the pitch. Conversely, they found dead cells to give off a low, rumbling sound. 

To view and listen to the video documenting this experiment, click here. You will also be able to witness a series of complex geometrical forms that comprise the yeast cell in motion.

“Cells can be observed and their sounds recorded but they can also be manipulated, which results in a change of sound. A ‘singing cell’ can be turned into a ‘screaming cell’ by altering its living environment.” —Anne Niemetz in her thesis, Singing cells, art, science and the noise in between

That living environment looks one way in the laboratory but in the natural laboratory called the human being, the manipulations of the cells equate to our thoughts and emotions, and still further, even to the nutrition we give our bodies and all the externals to which we subject them.

But our body’s cells can be energized and purified by the very thing they emit: sound.

Githa Ben-David, author of The Note From Heaven: How to Sing Yourself Into a Higher State of Consciousness presents a method for liberating the natural voice using what she calls ‘regressive cell singing.’ She says this method is one of the most direct ways to get in contact with the subconscious mind. She utilizes what she calls the ‘note from heaven’ to establish this contact.

Ben-David describes the ‘note from heaven’ as the tonal expression of the divine state—the quantum field. This field is inherent in all of us and we have the ability to contact it. 

In the regressive cell singing method, the ‘note from heaven’ one sings acts like a tuning fork retuning cells to their former harmony. The cells not only sing, they dance, according to Ben-David and this causes a reorganization of cells and brings the body back to its original balanced matrix.

“We are all born in tune, with a beautiful composition in our cell.” —Githa Ben-David

We are constantly imprinting either our cohesive or chaotic thoughts and emotions upon our cellular structure.

The topic of ‘singing cells’ and how they relate to our mental, physical and emotional well-being should give us pause. It’s not just an interesting topic, it is a vital one.

Without managing our thoughts and emotions with awareness, we might negatively feed our cells in such a way that they respond to us darkly, emitting a base, droning tone without quantum spiral or cohesive ecstatic aliveness.

We should want to give our cells a positive frequency or radiation of light causing our cells to create a beautiful sounding symphony and incessant lovely chatter.

…

Endnotes:

(1) The indigenous of the Ecuadorian rainforest is one example.

(2) In 2002, Professor James Gimzewski and Andrew Pelling at the UCLA Department of Chemistry first made the discovery that yeast cells oscillate at the nanoscale. When they amplified this oscillation they found the resulting sound lies within the human audible range. They used an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to ‘listen’ to the sounds of cells. The AFM isn’t exactly a microscope. The device ‘touches’ a cell with its small tip similar to a needle that ‘feels’ the bumps in a groove on a vinyl record. The AFM ‘feels’ oscillations taking place at the membrane of a cell. The researchers then amplify and distribute these electrical signals via speakers.

Niemetz, Anne. “Singing cells, art, science and the noise in between.” http://users.design.ucla.edu/~aniemetz/Niemetz_Thesis2004.pdf. MFA Thesis 2004, UCLA Department of Design/Media Arts.

Ben-David, Githa. The Note From Heaven: How to Sing Yourself Into a Higher State of Consciousness. Watkins Publishing. March 22, 2016.

Seckbach, Joseph et al. Biocommunication: Sign-mediated Interactions Between Cells And Organisms. World Scientific Publishing Company. November 2016.

Sanchez, Camilo. Daoist Meridian Yoga: Activating the Twelve Pathways for Energy Balance and Healing. Singing Dragon. October 21, 2015.

Krause, Bernie. Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World. Yale University Press. May 24, 2016.

Trussell, Dianne, and BSc(Hons); 17 years in medical and biological research. “Singing Cells – Science and the Music of the Human Body.” Unimed Living, https://www.unimedliving.com/music/the-science-of-music/singing-cells-science-and-the-music-of-the-human-body-part-2.html.

Bright, Richard, et al. “The Rhythmic Sound of Living Cells.” Interalia Magazine, 14 Sept. 2015, https://www.interaliamag.org/blog/the-dark-side-of-the-cell/. 

Magazine, Smithsonian. “Signal Discovery?” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Mar. 2004, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/signal-discovery-104663195/. 

Image by agsandrew from Getty Images Pro via Canva.

13 Tips for Balancing Your Chakras

In our blog post entitled, “Energy and Chakras,” we explored what chakras are and why it’s a very good idea to not just understand them but keep them in balance. In this article, we look at a number of ways to create that balance in our energetic centers that generate a healthy harmonious body, mind and spirit.

“The yogis have used the chakra system for thousands of years as an integral part of holistic healing; knowing that a person’s illness often first manifests itself in the chakras, before the body, mind, and emotions. Moreover, they knew that no one could be completely healed if the chakra system continued to be out of balance… However, by understanding how each chakra affects a particular body function and emotion it is possible to identify where a chakra is malfunctioning.”

— Teresa Hale, founder of the Hale Clinic, London

“Chakras can be aligned with relative ease, and the way in which you do it is ultimately up to you, whether you use everyday tools and situations, or create a personal ritual or ceremony to heighten the effect.”

— Margaret Ann Lemo in Chakra Awakening: Transform Your Reality Using Crystals, Color, Aromatherapy and the Power of Positive Thought

Following are a number of tips for balancing your chakric system:

• Because the chakras themselves each primarily radiate one of the seven colors of the rainbow, eat a good balance of foods the colors of the rainbow. The key is simply to align many of your food choices with the colors associated with the chakras.

  • Root chakra/red: beets, red carrots, radish, tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, red grapes, watermelon, red currant, red onion, red potatoes, red sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, chili powder, paprika

  • Sacral chakra/orange: mango, orange, tangerine, cantaloupe, papaya, apricots, mamey sapote, persimmon, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkin, orange bell pepper, edible nasturtiums, curry, turmeric

  • Navel chakra/yellow: banana, pineapple, peach, durian, jackfruit, longan, yellow plums, passion fruit, starfruit, rudabaga, organic yellow corn, yellow squash, yukon gold potatoes, yellow bell pepper, honey, edible chrysanthemums, mustard, yellow curry

  • Heart chakra/green: honeydew melon, green beans, broccoli, kale, lettuce, chard, spinach, sprouts, microgreens, collard greens, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, celery, asparagus, brussel sprouts, avocado, green bell pepper, green curry

  • Throat chakra/turquoise: there are almost no naturally occurring teal or turquoise colored foods.

  • Third eye chakra/indigo blue: blue corn, blueberry, elderberry, black raspberry, black currant, borage

  • Crown chakra/violet: damson plum, purple potatoes, purple carrots, purple grapes, purple sweet potato, eggplant, lavender

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• Enjoy energetic skincare infused with essential oils such as PHYTO5’s five element skincare lines (according to traditional Chinese medicine). High grade well balanced essential oil blends create physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits that naturally bring the chakras into alignment and balance.

• Balance your chakras with high quality essential oil blends designed for this purpose. We offer a chakra oil for each of the seven chakras here.

• You may wish to explore flower essences such as Bach flower remedies.

• Practice mudras; similar to a pose in yoga, mudras are powerful energetic poses or gestures for the hands and fingers; here’s a beautiful, easy-to-follow guide from MindBodyGreen.

• Salt is well known for having the ability to cleanse negative energies. Many people sprinkle kosher salt around the perimeter of their property and Himalayan salt lamps inside the home help cleanse the air.

Take a bath or shower with PHYTO5 Selextreme Swiss mountain exfoliating salts. They’re infused with essential oils designed to help balance emotion and your skin condition. There’s a Selextreme for each of traditional Chinese medicine’s five elements. 

• Mantras and affirmations. What is a mantra? The word mantra is two words in one: man and tra. Man means mind and tra means tool, therefore a mantra is a mind tool we utilize to accomplish something. Mantras have nothing to do with prayer but are a form of incantations.

“To start, just thinking the thought, ‘I want to align my chakras,’ helps create the intention to restore balance.”

— Margaret Ann Lemo in Chakra Awakening: Transform Your Reality Using Crystals, Color, Aromatherapy and the Power of Positive Thought

• Explore Solfeggio sound healing for the chakras; check out “The Frequency of Love: Solfeggio 528 Hz–DNA Healing and Activating Higher Consciousness” by PowerThoughts Meditation Club on iTunes. (We are not an affiliate and make no money when you click on this link.)

• Learn to understand the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical domains of each chakra so you can ultimately know where balancing is required. Please read about the seven chakras on our page which features chakra balancing essential oil blends. When you click through on the grey button for each individual oil, you will be given a very good overview for that chakra.

• Herbal teas are earthy and carry source energy of the planet; they can assist us to balance our chakras.

• Discover the use of gemstones placed on your energy centers. Just as quartz emits a constant voltage that keeps a watch running with incredible accuracy, other gemstones also emit frequencies that can help to recharge our chakric energetic centers. You can study what others have to say about which stones correlate to each center and you can also approach it from your own intuitive sense. Not every stone will work the same way for every person.

• Place yourself in experiences and places you love and enjoy and which are safe for your energetic field–in other words and as an example, a beautiful park as opposed to a dark bar. Love and joy are the best remedies.

• For more on the topic of emotions and the potential they have to keep us in balance energetically, which includes our chakras, and physically, please visit our blog, Wei Chi and the Beauty of Emotions.

• “Alternate nostril breathing is one way to bring balance into your breath and harmony to your chakras, mind, body and spirit. It connects and energizes the two hemispheres of your brain. It calms your mind. It allows energy to move freely through your body, which empowers your body to use it’s natural healing abilities.” –Yogi Amrit Desai

• Experience a chakra balancing session with a reputable practitioner. PHYTO5’s Chromapuncter also helps balance chakras though they are available only to sskincare professionals.

Here are some creative exercises anyone can perform in association with each chakra:

Root chakra: Abate fear by connecting with the present moment to help balance the root chakra.

Sacral chakra: Learn more about sacred sexuality, taoist sexuality, and tantra for perhaps a more fulfilling journey into this energetic center.

Solar chakra: Create order in your life wherever you can for the solar plexus chakra. Energy goes where energy flows. Let improved energy flow move throughout your freshly organized and decluttered home. Practice yoga and approach big projects one small step at a time for the sacral chakra, your seat of creativity.

Heart chakra: Join a support or study group to create new meaningful relationships in your life for the heart chakra.

Remember, the greatest love of all is the love you have for yourself so don’t compromise yourself for another.  Practice feeling and envisioning your open heart.

Throat chakra: Journal your feelings or express them through art for the throat chakra.

Learn how to communicate directly and honestly without alienating another person.

Speak up. Don’t suppress what you feel to say.

Learn to say what you mean and mean what you say.

Third eye chakra: Practice periods of stillness for the third eye chakra. Meditation is also perfect for this chakra as is visioning, imagination, and daydreaming.

Crown chakra: Meditate or chant sacred songs for the crown chakra.

…

Endnotes:

Lemo, Margaret Ann. Chakra Awakening: Transform Your Reality Using Crystals, Color, Aromatherapy and the Power of Positive Thought. Llewellyn Publications. April 8, 2011.

The Body Only Understands Emotio

The body only understands emotion. It’s a feeling-response mechanism. It doesn’t think. It feels. It feels for the information we give it in the shape of emotion and it acts on that emotion. This may be both a simple and complex concept to embrace.

We have all heard how “thoughts are things” and “thoughts create.” Yes, this is true, partially, but it is more so that the thoughts we think provoke an emotion or feeling within us and it’s the combination of the thought plus emotion that creates. It isn’t that we feel an emotion first and then produce the thought. We think the thought first and feel something as a result.

Thought alone does not create. In fact, there can be no thought in humans without a resulting emotion. Emotion is the powerful engine required in the process of creating but so often, in our ignorance, we misuse emotion and do not understand thought.

This will explain why we may think we want something and it doesn’t materialize because deep down we harbor contrary feelings. Without a feeling of joy or love or other positive emotion, that thing we want will not manifest. In fact, the opposite will manifest as it corresponds to the contrary negative emotion we truly feel.

When we allow random thoughts to take over our thinking mind—which is a subconscious programming and understandably for most of us a “normal” way of being—we are either in the past which is old and done or the future which has not yet occurred.

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Past memories (which aren’t truly thoughts but simply old past events dredged up) and thoughts of the unknown future all too frequently elicit destructive negative emotion within us. Feelings of anxiety, anger, sadness, regret, frustration, overwhelm and more engulf our beings before we even realize it.

“Much human suffering stems from destructive emotions, as hatred breeds violence or craving fuels addiction. One of our most basic responsibilities as caring people is to alleviate the human costs of such out-of-control emotions.” —Daniel Goleman in Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them?

Destructive emotions wreak havoc not just on our ability to create the lives we want in general but on our ability to heal our physical bodies or keep them functioning in a state of balance.

“What you feel emotionally becomes how you feel physically.” —Don Colbert in Deadly Emotions: Understand the Mind-Body-Spirit Connection

“You can do much to improve your physical health by addressing first and foremost your emotional health.” —Daniel Goleman in Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama

For example:

“A person with a scarcity mindset selects negative thoughts and adopts a victim mentality. The strong emotions they experience on a daily basis creates stress in the body with the range of emotions shifting from anxiety, fear, worry, anger and resentment. Their negative emotions, thoughts and beliefs create illnesses in the body leading to general poor health.” — Dr. Jyoshi, Dr. Piyush and Dr. Ritu Choudhary in Wings of Wisdom: Realize Your Inner Strength.

PHYTO5 provides quantum energetic skincare that can actually assist you to make a shift in emotion toward greater balance. All the high grade essential oil rich five element lines are formulated in such a proprietary way that they actually register very high on the vibrational scale. These products assist us to begin to access the deepest core of the mind-body system. As Deepak Chopra says, this is “the junction point between mind and matter, the point where consciousness actually starts to have an effect.”

We need to get into the habit of actively and consciously choosing our present moment thoughts because it is in the Now that we create our future. We cannot create our future in the past or in the future!

Consciously choosing our thoughts will help us to believe new things and thereby shift our subconscious programming to a new more desired programming, if you will.

Once we have more dominion over our thoughts and consequent emotions we begin to connect to the quantum field of all possibility where all of creation is connected as ONE.

Another way to describe this is as we develop a state of more heightened aware consciousness we spontaneously, naturally and electromagnetically, connect our now higher mind to the feeling heart. And it is the heart that pulls from the quantum field all that is a match for our emotion to bring it in to our reality.

If we want to know where we stand as we create our vitality on all levels all we have to do is look to our current state of emotionality.

If it’s negative, we have a shift we need to make and it can be as simple as shifting the quality of our emotion up even if just by one notch or by as little as three degrees, so to speak.

The shift need only be slight to make a difference and create a new positive momentum. And since we usually can’t get there without some sort of uplifting thought this will involve a slightly new thought process in the moment.

Lining up the sequence of:

1. our higher more conscious aware mind

2. in turn connecting to the ever feeling heart,

whether we allow PHYTO5 quantum energetic products to facilitate this sequence or we go about it on our own, is the key to pulling from the quantum field all that we desire. These desires include everything from perfect health to the accomplishment of an enormous project to bringing new enriching relationships into our lives—whatever we can conceive of.

There is nothing that can prevent what we desire when we consciously line up this sequence of chosen thought to feeling heart. But we must first get into the habit of choosing our thoughts rather than allowing the ego mind to run rampant with random past memories or negatively conjured imaginations of the future! Pause. Take a breath. Inhale a drop of Phyt’Ether Serum and feel more emotionally balanced and empowered to consciously direct your thought.

…

Endnotes:

Jyoshi, Dr. Piyush and Choudhary, Dr. Ritu. Wings of Wisdom: Realize Your Inner Strength. Booksclinic Publishing. India. 2021.

Goleman, Daniel. Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Bantam Books. 2003.

Colbert, M.D., Don. Deadly Emotions: Understand the Mind-Body-Spirit Connection. Harper Collins. 2003.

The Flower of Life Meaning: Junction Point Between Mind and Matter

The Flower of Life pattern is a captivating sacred geometry form. Awareness of the Flower of Life symbol dates back several centuries but it has always existed. The Flower of Life design is both simple and intricate. Without words, the Flower of Life speaks ‘quantum energy’ and all that issues from that energy: quantum health, quantum mind and quantum beauty.

For this reason, PHYTO5 adopts the Flower of Life symbol to depict the quantum energetic nature of its five element lines of skincare (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water).

The Flower of Life Pattern Is Mathematical.

Sacred geometry holds that mathematical and geometric principles form the foundation of all life forms and structures in the universe.

The Flower of Life symbol is considered one of sacred geometry’s most important. It represents the interconnectedness of all living beings.

Epitomizing cosmic order the innately powerful Flower of Life symbol encompasses ancient spiritual wisdom and the secrets of creation.

The Flower of Life pattern consists of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles that form a mesmerizing flower-like pattern.

“The Flower of Life pattern can be extended as a fractal, containing variations of itself within itself at all scales. It is the template of the fundamental symmetries of form in all the infinite dimensions. ”

— Narada Dan Vantari in Understanding Sacred Geometry and the Flower of Life

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Image courtesy of Sonu John @psyyych at Unsplash

The pattern of the Flower of Life symbol exhibits evenly spaced repeating, overlapping circles of equal radii in two-dimensional space.

If you love the mandala(2) of Hindu and Buddhist symbolism, you’ll immediately recognize the the Flower of Life design in most mandalas.

The oval-shaped spheres in the Flower of Life form a flower-like pattern with a sixfold symmetry similar to a hexagon.

Look closely and you’ll see the center of each circle in the pattern sits on the circumference of six surrounding circles of the same diameter.

The Flower of Life symbol exists as sacred geometry blueprint representing two fundamental desires every human being holds:

Image courtesy of Zoltan Tasi @zoltantasi at Unsplash

• our primordial desire for completion

• and Oneness with Source.

These quantum(3) concepts abound in all of nature of which humans are an integral part.

The Flower of Life In Nature Unfolds Its Beautiful Design and Radiates Mathematics.

Gaze at the Flower of Life symbol and the overlapping circles seem to infinitely repeat themselves. This pattern tells us life goes on forever.

Look closely at the dahlia (pictured above) or the seed core of the sunflower blossom.

They typify the Flower of Life in nature repeated within their blossoms. The pineapple and pine cone are other good examples.

Countless examples of the Flower of Life in nature wait for you to notice and enjoy them.

Whether it’s in a flower blossom or a diagram of the Flower of Life design, you’re witnessing the unfolding of the sacred geometry concept of phi or the golden ratio.(1)

Phi appears virtually everywhere—in architecture, art, nature, the human body form and technology.

We find the most inspiring appearances of the Flower of Life’s golden ratio demonstrated in nature and art.

To see phi in action, notice how plants grow and the Flower of Life pattern unfolds. You see repetitive arrangement (called phyllotaxis) of petals, seeds, florets, and some branches.

Where flowers demonstrate the Flower of Life design and the mathematical phi, you’ll also see the rows of petals numerically unfold in the Fibonacci sequence.

The Fibonacci sequences is a series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers. The simplest is the series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so on.

Take the dahlia flower and count the number of petals in each row. Each row of petals will demonstrate quantities in the Fibonacci sequence.

Sometimes called the Genesis Pattern, esoterics also call the Flower of Life symbol the Language of Silence and the Language of Light.

“[The Flower of Life] is the source of all language. It’s the primal language of the universe, pure shape and proportion.” ”

— Drunvalo Melchisedek in The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life

The Flower of Life Symbol Conveys Quantum Energy in Health and Healing.

For quantum physicists inclined to the spiritual, the geometric pattern of the Flower of Life symbol represents the essential concept of quantum mechanics.

Many mathematicians believe that all linguistic languages can be mapped from the sacred geometry of the Flower of Life form and design.

They tell us the Flower of Life patterns shows us in a visual way that language is energetic vibration. And just like the nested petals of the rose, the Flower of Life design forms ‘petals’ that are nested. It blooms too illustrating the first vibratory patterns of the universe.

The Flower of Life symbol communicates to you that all things emerge from one perfectly organized quantum pattern.

The dahlia is one of the best depictions of energetic vibration in the Flower of Life in nature and in language. Just as energetic vibration always radiates outward from its core so too do the petals of the dahlia in the Flower of Life design.

Quantum energy is the subtle energy that permeates all matter. It connects everything in the universe. We influence this energy by our thoughts, emotions, and intentions.

In other words, quantum energy responds to our thoughts, emotions, and intentions. And for this reason, it plays a vital role in our well-being.

• PHYTO5 five-element skincare is quantum energetic. It’s extremely high vibrational skincare going beyond the level of skin to the quantum level of thoughts, emotions and intentions.

• We incorporate the energy of the Flower of Life pattern and vibration into our innovative five-element formulations.

• PHYTO5 five-element skincare works to align with the natural rhythms of your body. It works to restore balance and vitality to skin and exalt your natural beauty. And beyond surface beauty, because our skincare is quantum energetic, it creates overall well-being and emotional balance.

Both the Flower of Life symbol and PHYTO5 skincare remind us of the infinite healing potential that lies within each of us.

Anytime you gaze at the wonder and beauty the Flower of Life in nature, see it as the symbol of creation, beauty and eternal life it is. It embodies the potential of quantum health and healing.

And it actually emits quantum energy in its exquisite Flower of Life pattern of boundless elegance. We find no better icon to represent PHYTO5’s quantum energetic skincare than the Flower of Life symbol. Our missions and functions are intertwined and the very same.

The Flower of Life pattern illustrates the first vibratory patterns of the universe. These first vibratory patterns are your healing essence.

1. First, we create physical balance where our systems work harmoniously with each other and we enjoy good health.

2. The next level of health is called high vibrational or potently energetic. Here vital energy abounds and flows freely in the body. We’re less prone to sickness and disease at this level, but if we become ill, we can venture into the quantum realm for healing (#3).

3. We achieve the quantum level of health by accessing the higher quantum-spiritual realm as Deepak Chopra describes below. We go there to provoke the true healing response.

PHYTO5’s five element skincare lines are formulated to be quantum energetic. We utilize an unduplicated proprietary method to substantially elevate the vibratory frequency of essential oils of flowers and plants—the quantum frequency range.

This means that, at the very least, you can treat your skin, the largest organ of your body, to the quantum healing vibration and essence.

Remember, we said the Flower of Life illustrates the first vibratory patterns of the universe.

These first vibratory patterns form your healing essence. They’ve always existed within you.

“Quantum healing moves away from external, high-technology methods towards the deepest core of the mind-body system. This core is where healing begins. To go there and learn to promote the healing response, you must get past all the grosser levels of the body–cells, tissues, organs, and systems–and arrive at the junction point between mind and matter, the point where consciousness actually starts to have an effect.”

— Deepak Chopra, MD

Dive deep into the mysteries of the Flower of Life symbol and quantum energy. Open yourself to a world of limitless holistic healing. Elevate your skincare routine to a transformative self-care ritual.

The Flower of Life Meaning Lives in the Foundational Beliefs of Ancient Spiritual and Philosophical Sages.

The Flower of Life pattern has always fascinated artists, scientists, and philosophers alike. Its exquisite precision and harmony hold significant meaning across various cultures and spiritual practices.

They found connection with higher consciousness and divine energy by integrating the Flower of Life symbol into their art, architecture, and spiritual practices.

Many spiritual and philosophical sages believe the Flower of Life symbol illustrates the fundamental forms of space and time.

Still other scientifically-rooted philosophical groups say the Flower of Life symbol is the foundation of the universe.

Many present day physicists like Nassim Haramein, founder of Resonance Science Foundation (resonancescience dot org) have resolved quantum theory mathematics to the same geometry as the Flower of Life.

The temple of Osiris at Abydos in Egypt contains the Flower of Life pattern carved in granite. This is completely appropriate since Osiris was the God associated with immortality and the afterlife.

The Phoenicians, Assyrians, people of India, Asia and the Middle East all knew about the Flower of Life symbol. And they featured it in their art. Eventually the Flower of Life design made its way into medieval art too.

R. Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome (nicknamed the ‘Jitterbug’) is an obvious representation of the Flower of Life.

The Flower of Life Pattern Gives Birth to Many Other Sacred Geometry Forms.

If we connect points in the Flower of Life design, we can identify many other sacred geometry forms nested within it.

• Metatron’s Cube

• Vesica Piscis created by the interaction of two circles.

• Tree of Life

• Seed of Life

• Egg of Life

• Fruit of Life

We also find all five platonic solids in the Flower of Life symbol:

• tetrahedron with four faces; the pyramid

• cube with six faces

• octahedron with eight faces

• dodecahedron with twelve faces

• icosahedron with twenty faces.

Metatron’s Cube Within the Flower of Life Symbol

Metatron’s Cube is a pattern composed of thirteen circles dating back at least many centuries BCE.

It’s called Metatron’s Cube since Archangel Metatron played a crucial role in the creation of the universe (according to Jewish mysticism or Kabbalah.) Each of the thirteen circles represents one of the thirteen spheres of the Kabbalah Tree of Life.

Vesica Piscis and the Tree of Life Nested in the Flower of Life Symbol

The image of the Tree of Life nests itself within the Flower of Life and so does the Vesica Piscis.

The Vesica Piscis forms when the centers of two equal radius circles are placed on each other’s circumferences.

Every line in the Tree of Life measures out to either the length or the width of a Vesica Piscis in the Flower of Life pattern.

Leonardo DaVinci was very interested in the Flower of Life design. He studied its form and mathematical properties. The way the Flower of Life pattern seemed to connect physical reality to consciousness intrigued DaVinci.

Da Vinci very often used the golden ratio (phi) in his artwork. Remember, we discussed this mathematical concept above, also known as the Fibonacci sequence or spiral. The Fibonacci sequence and spiral derive from the Flower of Life pattern.

The Seed of Life Nested Within the Flower of Life symbol

In the Seed of Life six circles, without exception, always exactly fit around a seventh circle of the same size.

Similar to the fractal, the number seven also repeatedly appears in spirituality:(4)

• seven chakras

• seven colors of the rainbow

• the heptonic seven-note scale in music.

The Flower of Life Symbol Contains the Egg of Life.

Adding six additional circles to the Seed of Life you produce the Egg of Life.

The Egg of Life is the second iteration in the construction process of the Flower of Life.

The Egg of Life represents fertility, new life, and rebirth.

The Flower of Life Pattern Contains the Fruit of Life Symbol.

The Fruit of Life symbol composed of 13 circles is also nested inside the Flower of Life.

It’s called the blueprint of the universe because it contains the starting point for the design of every atom, molecular structure, and life form in existence.

The Flower of Life meaning can help us begin to understand universal creation.

Sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and proportions.

You only have to look at the Flower of Life symbol once to recognize the platform it creates for contemplating universal creation.

To start, think of it this way: Each sphere contained within the Flower of Life symbol explains another aspect of reality.

And they all interconnect and relate to each other.

The Flower of Life symbol is only limited by the circle we draw to frame it.

Left unframed, it radiates into infinity in both directions—inward and outward. It’s no wonder it represents creation of the universe.

You Are the Flower of Life Design Yourself.

Today, many use the Flower of Life a focus point for study and meditation. The Flower of Life's intricate design and harmonious structure resonate with quantum energy frequencies.

By meditating on or simply observing the Flower of Life pattern in nature, you can intensify your connection to this universal energy field. You may even feel and experience a sense of balance, harmony, and alignment.

All objects and creatures in our tangible world are believed to have emerged from the Flower of Life design in sacred geometrical essence.

We are all products of the Flower of Life’s higher intelligence, consciousness and vibration.

While the Flower of Life symbol connects all individual souls within the web of life, the universal concept of ‘as above, so below’ applies here.

You yourself are the microcosmic aspect of the Flower of Life pattern.

We emerge from our mother’s sacred womb as repeating fractals of humanity. Humanity is constantly replicating itself in the same way of the Flower of Life pattern.

And this pattern is encoded in the deepest recesses of the human body. We can access its creative nature in the quiet places of our beings—the junction point between mind and matter as Chopra describes it.

This is the quantum realm the Flower of Life represents.

And it’s where true healing begins.

We invite you to explore PHYTO5’s quantum energy formulated five lines of skincare. No one else is doing what we do.

“The higher dimensional patterns and principles revealed in the Triangles, Hexagons, and Circles of the Flower of Life, attract the human spirit back to its source and accelerate the evolution of consciousness.”

— Narada Dan Vantari

…

Endnotes:

1. Golden ratio is the ratio of a larger to a smaller quantity when this is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities (i.e. 1 to about 1.618), describing a geometric proportion that is considered to be particularly pleasing to the eye.

2. Mandala: a geometric figure representing the universe and the search for completeness and self-unity; a symbolic meta-geometric circle used by Buddhists in meditation, 1859, from Sanskrit mandala "disc, circle;” adopted 20c. in Jungian psychology as a symbol of unity of the self and completeness.

3. Quantum: the smallest discreet quantity of some physical property that a system can possess

4. Fractal: "never-ending pattern," 1975, from French fractal, ultimately from Latin fractus "interrupted, irregular," literally "broken," past participle of frangere "to break" (from PIE root *bhreg- "to break"). Coined by French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot (1924-2010) in "Les Objets Fractals.”

Sources:

Sacred geometry images from https://pardesco dot com blogs / news / sacred-geometry-art-symbols-meanings

Roth, Stephanie. The Cosmic Visions of Hildegard of Bingen. TheEcologist dot org. January 2000.

Melchisedek, Drunvalo. The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life. Light Technology Publishing, Flagstaff, AZ. 1999.

From Archangel to Geometry: Metatron's Cube and Its Spiritual Legacy. N.p., M.A. Hill

Vantari, Narada Dan. Understanding Sacred Geometry and the Flower of Life: A Higher Dimensional Perspective on an Ancient Wisdom Stream. Australia, Dan Vantari, 2017.

Harper, Douglas. “Quantum.” Etymology Online. 2001. Search: quantum

Harper, Douglas. “Quantum.” Etymology Online. 2001. Search: mandala

Harper, Douglas. “Quantum.” Etymology Online. 2001. Search: fractal

Spring Equinox 2021–A New Solar Year and a New Astrological Age. Is It Any Wonder It Would Be So Pivotal At This Time?

The Spring or vernal equinox 2021* is Saturday, March 20. This special day, when the sun crosses the celestial equator, marks the middle point between the Winter solstice and the Summer solstice. On the Spring equinox day every spot on the entire planet experiences an equal amount of time in the light and in the darkness. From that day on in the northern hemisphere, each day thereafter we leave behind more of the dark of Winter as we receive a greater amount of the light and warmth of the sun. Now all of nature begins to be revived after its Winter hibernation.

Many believe that this equinox is most important because they see it as marking the beginning of the Age of Aquarius.** In this understanding, our civilization has been hibernating for aeons and celestial events of December 2020 solstice and March 2021 equinox revive us and herald the light of a new epoch in time, a time that could be called Earth’s  ’Summer’ period of existence.

The Spring equinox 2021 is especially pivotal in light of all the challenges the entire world has been experiencing literally since 2020’s Spring equinox. In addition, the Winter solstice of December 21, 2021 also created a powerful energetic pathway into this new year 2021. And though we technically began a new year on January 1, the apparent movement of the sun crossing the celestial equator can be seen, particularly in the Northern hemisphere, as the start of the new “solar” year full of potent energy and hallmarking a renewal.

If this equinox would be given a name it would be “New Earth Rising.” Although it appears that in the world today there is an enormous amount of negativity, chaos, confusion and destruction afoot, New Earth is to be born of these fires and their ashes. 

This equinox places polarity squarely in our faces and forces us to make serious choices that will form how we choose to experience, see and perceive our reality. Will we, unaware, minimally stay comfortable within the “third dimension” simply because it is a known factor, or will we choose to see with higher sight, awake and aware, and strive toward a higher state of consciousness? 

Once the Spring equinox opens the door to a myriad of polarity choices throughout the year, over and over again, we will have to make many choices between all sorts of pairs of opposites, such as:

                light/dark

                service to others/service to self

                love/fear

                good/evil

                truth/lies

                positive/negative.

This is an invitation to become more conscious, awake and aware. We must learn to live through these polarities embracing the universal Law of Balance – to maintain balance between our beliefs, thoughts, and emotions to achieve a greater vitality of being. In fact, it is very much a core approach to the vital energy balance that is the fundamental premise of PHYTO5:

                • vital energy flow within our bodies that enables us to mitigate or heal physical challenges

                • emotional balance and happiness–the foundation for healthy and balanced living

Both of these fundamentals for conscious living are described further in our blog,  “Wei Chi and the Beauty of Emotions.”

Thought this year, we’ll need to be patient and do our best to live in the now because to yearn to go back to normal, to wonder when this will all end, will not be healthy for us mentally or emotionally. A process of transformation is under way as we are now entering the Aquarian Age and leaving the Piscean Age behind. It may take some time, but it is ours to embrace. 

We are invited to focus on opening ourselves to excitement, wonder, bliss, joy, and happiness for this will strengthen our beings and our lives. It balances our needs with those of others; it encourages cooperation, civility and respect for others as well as for our environment. Rather than dwell on the chaos, confusion and negativity we see with our eyes, let’s focus on the new reality that is now being birthed beginning this Spring equinox.

The Spring equinox 2021 is all about allowing the light to blast open our consciousness so that we make choices that make us strong, sustainable and balanced–each of us contributing vitally to the whole and consequently uplifting Earth to the positive, cooperative, unified vision of itself we hold. It begins intensely March 20, 2021.

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Endnotes: 

* Roughly every 2,150 years, the sun’s location in front of the background stars – at the time of the March, or vernal, equinox – moves in front of a new zodiacal constellation. For example, the Age of Aquarius begins at the point when the sun is no longer in front of the constellation Pisces at the time of the March equinox. At that point – sometimes called the March equinox point, or vernal equinox point – the equinox sun will be in front of the constellation Aquarius.

**Astrologers do not agree upon exact dates for the beginning or ending of the ages,** with given dates varying by hundreds of years. For this reason, many believe we entered the Age of Aquarius years ago, others believe we are entering this age around the Spring equinox 2021 and still others believe it is several hundred years away. 

***An astrological age is a time period in astrologic theology which astrologers claim parallels major changes in the development of Earth's inhabitants, particularly relating to culture, society, and politics. There are twelve astrological ages corresponding to the twelve zodiacal signs in western astrology. Advocates believe that when one cycle of the twelve astrological ages is completed, another cycle of twelve ages begins. The length of one cycle of twelve ages is 25,860 years.

Photo by Bessi at Pixabay