October 31, 2024 • 24 mins
Step into the mystical season between autumn and winter, where Halloween and the Day of the Dead mark a sacred portal for honoring our ancestors. In this episode, we delve into how ancient traditions like Celtic and Tang Dynasty rituals connect us to our roots, calling for offerings that nourish the spirits and ourselves. Discover how these seasonal practices—trick-or-treating, altar offerings, and evening rituals—are not just customs but powerful ways of deepening our connection with the past. We’ll explore the importance of slowing down, embracing yin energy, and setting the stage for a restorative winter, all while feeding the soul and honoring those who came before us.
Listen in and find inspiration for reconnecting with these timeless practices, while preparing your heart and home for the nourishing quietude of winter.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are in that powerful, powerful portal of Day
of the Dead, halloween, inbetween autumn and winter, and
many traditions have ways ofhonoring this time.
(00:24):
Halloween is a pretty amazingway that some of these older
teachings have survived into themodern world.
(00:45):
Dreams may become more potentat this time and this idea of
children pretending to be ghostsand going door to door this is
a Celtic way of imitating what'sgoing on at this time of year,
(01:09):
also according to Tang Dynastythoughts traditions.
So the dead ancestors are theones that come to the house
during this time of year andit's an important and potent and
powerful time to make offeringsfor them.
This is the trick-or-treat part, so they come back.
And for people who are lessnomadic, if you've been in a
(01:32):
house for like eight generations, you know the ancestors that
lived in that house come backthis time of year and they sort
of float from room to room, youknow.
And if you have offerings laidout for them on your altar
persimmons and fruit and flowersand all these things then they
(01:56):
sort of get.
You know, get that reciprocity,get some kind of way of being
fed, for you know they'rehelping us all year long and
they're like, okay, fed, for youknow they're helping us all
year long.
Then they're like okay, so thisis the time when we can um,
honor them by feeding them, notjust with candy but with
offerings on the altar.
Incense and fruit is great way.
(02:20):
This is replicated by kids nowgoing around door to door
dressed as ghosts.
But there's also the trick part.
I think back in the day peoplewere a little bit more into the
trick part, but now it's likenot so much.
But yeah, it's important tofeed the ghosts.
(02:44):
It's very, very important tofeed the ancestors this time of
year and if they do, then thethings are resolved, illnesses
are resolved, sicknesses areresolved and sometimes things
that are passed on ancestrally,illnesses that are passed on can
(03:06):
be resolved.
The yin right now is relativelysmall.
It's not a demonic time of year, hence the little ghosts
dressed up that are so cute.
Demons are summertime.
Right, that's the heat, thepernicious heat that comes late
(03:29):
in the summer.
But these are cute little yinghosts that get appeased by
offerings of persimmons andthings like that.
And if you do something likename your child after the
ancestor or make offerings tothem, they'll come back and
they'll just be like oh, all iswell, love, love.
(03:50):
Moving on, there's many customsfor how we work out this
reciprocity, whether we name ourchildren or offer them fruit or
ashes or pumpkins or whateverit is ashes or pumpkins or
whatever it is.
(04:10):
But the veil is very, very thinand this is the time where, um,
where we have the capacity tobe very generous in our and
actually reach them in a reallyeaseful way.
Um, they come often becauseit's getting colder and they
don't feel the cold the way thatwe do, so they don't mind.
They don't mind the cold, it'scomfortable for them the
darkness.
(04:30):
And as we start to slow downbecause of the cold and the
darkness that's also they becomemore visible.
So there's kind of thisbuilt-in perfect timing for
their arrival and us slowingdown and things getting darker,
so the gate kind of gets openedand this is a profound time to
(04:53):
die.
You know, between now and wintersolstice is a really, really
good time to die.
So there was a practice inancient China where at this time
all the chronically illpatients would be sent home to
die.
You know, just like the doctorswould get a vacation.
And this happened even in umnot that long ago.
(05:14):
My teacher Lu Ming, he wouldtalk about this how his friends
would say it during the culturalrevolution.
Yeah, we don't know why.
We just, you know, gave us thisis the time the doctors all got
vacations, like it was stillleft over.
They didn't say why, becausethen of course it would have
stopped being happening, becauseit would be superstitious and
all that.
But it was like a good time tojust be sent home.
(05:38):
Doctors go on vacation and ifpeople die this time of year,
it's like the best option.
A lot of prisoners would havebeen put to death rather than
being fed all winter.
And we've talked about thisalso as the time to really let
go of any projects that are doneand wrapping them up and just
(05:58):
like getting ready for thewinter, winter.
So the loved ones that passedare kind of in the neighborhood
anyway right now, so you may seethem, you may see them in
dreams.
You may definitely want to govisit any gravestones that you
can and go sweep off those, makeofferings.
So feeding sweets and caringfor relatives fondly in their
(06:21):
graves fondly is the way to bein reciprocity.
And ignoring them they just,you know, like Lu Ming would
talk about it, like they'll juststart a little tumor in you.
I don't really like to like befear mongering.
You know about it the wholething, but it's like that's how
he would talk about it.
He's like you either get rotteneggs thrown at you or a little
(06:42):
bit of cancer.
It's a little bit.
I'm just not going to dilute it.
So these are really sensibleholidays.
Right now the harvest is in, sowe have that to.
This is kind of like a yeah,kind of like a way of giving
(07:07):
back.
If you want to make a moreformal offering dagara style,
you know if you go to thegravestone or use flowers or
whatever, you can put a littlebit of ash with your left hand
down on the ground.
That's to protect your offeringfrom the other hungry ghosts
that might be wandering around,that are your neighbor's ghosts
or whatever neighbor's ancestors.
You're not going to go feedthem, you want to feed your own,
(07:29):
so that ash will protect theother hungry spirits from coming
to get that offering or whoeveryou're making it for.
And then you can tap on theground with your left hand in a
heartbeat fashion as you speakyour prayer and thanks and
direct your offering to where itwants to go or where you want
it to go and then pour, maybe ifyou're using flowers or fruit
(07:55):
and then pour water after thatas a way to be super clear that
it's all for the healing.
So it's a good time of yearyear to get on top of the
ancestor offering moment.
I'm curious if anyone had areally clear vision come in and
you kind of tuned into what theywant, because the portal is
(08:19):
thin so they'll just let youknow directly If you notice your
practice start to thin out thistime of year.
It's a healthy sign.
Probably people are juststaying at home and cultivating
yin they feel.
Often people will be like I'mtoo tired to come in.
I'm like, good, stay home andrest.
That's a good thing to be doingright now.
(08:39):
The problem isn't not coming in.
The problem is if people arejust going around like crazy.
This is the Gan Ying right, thefeeding of the ancestors, this
reciprocity principle.
So we're in a kind of a danceright now to adapt our value
(08:59):
system from valuing Yang in thesummer Now we're valuing Yin.
We're kind of valuing thequieter, slower time, the dance.
So rest is very, very helpfuland we want to use some of the
extra yin time in the eveningright now for resting.
(09:20):
So the most potent time rightnow is in the evening and if we
use that to get, like the lastlittle things done instead of
using that to rest, then we canincrease the insomnia.
That to rest, then we canincrease the insomnia.
So, as much as you can, takethe kind of quieter, downward
sun setting energy and let thatbe the invocation of rest and
(09:44):
use that extra chi to nourishand calm down, that would be
helpful.
Calm can seem like something weneed to sedate ourselves to
fight.
If we're pretty young, deranged, sedate ourselves to fighting
off like calm can seem very hardif we have been worshipping
(10:07):
young all year.
But constant aggression thistime of year is very hard on the
system.
But constant aggression thistime of year is very hard on the
system.
It's a great time of year toread like autobiographies and
biographies and like otherthings that remind us that like,
yes, you have this like biglife, but then death.
(10:28):
You know things that likeremind us about cycles, remind
us about letting go, remind usabout crescendos and releases.
They can be redundant, you know, because that's kind of the
wisdom of this time of year.
It's like, oh wait, autumnagain, coats again.
(10:49):
Like time to be quiet again.
We just did this last year.
Time to be quiet again.
We just did this last year.
It's like the kind of wisdomthat comes with us remembering
that it's like the cycles keepgoing and the acceptance of this
, of like boredom and redundancy, is sort of the medicine that
(11:09):
we get to have right now.
It's like, oh right and I knowthat I'm just in this particular
way of stuff maneuvering rightnow, kind of like this stuff,
stuff sorting process of a lotof my it's influencing a lot of
my counsel that, um, stuff asmatter or as yin, you could say,
(11:31):
you know, like maybe out of,out of, out of control, yin
worshiping is constantaccumulation of matter, but
really it's not.
It's actually like a yang right, because it takes yang to
accumulate stuff.
So shopping and going andbuying and doing all that
holiday shopping, stuff that'slike a, can be conceived as a
(11:52):
deranged yang buying, buyingLike it takes yang to buy stuff,
like, yes, you're buying yin,you're buying something that's
solid, but buying, buying likeit takes yang to buy stuff.
Like, yes, you're buying yin,you're buying something that's
solid, but it's like depletingyang to get the stuff.
And then, of course, if we havetoo much of the stuff of the
matter of the yin, then itcreates stagnation, accumulation
, damp and difficulty in inmaneuvering and moving.
(12:15):
Turbid we call it turbidian, sotoo much stuff could be like a
kind of yin turbidity, like astuff you know increase.
So you could look at it as likemoving, sorting stuff, as a
kind of way to tonify yin, akind of way to be in a good way
(12:35):
with yin and matter and motherand grandmother We'd be in a
good way with matter, mothermuder In Afrikaans we say muder.
So there's many, many ancestorrituals happening now and, as
(12:56):
you've heard me say, pretty muchevery week since after summer
solstice, certainly since autumnbegan.
It's a very rude time of yearto be at war.
It's a very impolite time to beat war.
It's not the time to start sortit out through violence.
(13:18):
This is a time of diplomacy andalliance, talking, write poems
see who writes a better poem orhip hop, whatever, like battle
it out on the dance floor, likethrough capoeira or, you know,
through some break dancing.
But don't, don't go to war.
(13:40):
It's a.
It's a time to honor ourfriendships, but that's a time
that comes through like trusting.
You know how you have thosefriends.
We have those friends that like, maybe you don't talk to for a
year, but then you see them andit's just, you just pick up and
like nothing's changed.
It's like that kind of honoringof our friends.
(14:01):
You're just like I know thatwe're solid.
I don't need to text you 30times a day, I don't need to
remember to write your Christmascard, and if I don't I'm
somehow blah, blah, blah.
It's like we're just trustinginto the solidity of those life
allies that we have.
It's the time of year to trustand to feel into the depths in
(14:23):
that way.
And the warmth inside the homerelative to the cold outside the
home is what often bringspeople closer together in more
smaller family settings and thesun is less intense.
So that's like a small yangthat starts to welcome in the
(14:47):
yin, welcome in the kind ofclosing of the doors, the
closing of the storehouses.
Closing of the storehouses Ifyou haven't planned a meditation
retreat yet for the wintertime,or like a time of silence, a
time to be quiet, this would bea good time to do that, using
the last little vestiges of yangbefore.
(15:08):
It's so small that using it upis more depleting To plan in
like maybe a 10-day silent timethis winter at some point.
There's a potent time at wintersolstice, but if that doesn't
work for you because of yourother commitments, it's also
very potent from the new moonafter winter solstice to the
(15:30):
full moon, and then even morepotent from the full moon to the
new moon, and then even morepotent from the full moon to the
new moon, which is that icemoon time from the new moon
after winter solstice to thenext new moon, which is, of
course, the new year, the lunarnew year.
That month would be a reallygreat time to block off as much
(15:53):
retreat and quiet time aspossible.
So I'm saying this now becausea lot of times some of us need
to plan things pretty far inadvance in our modern culture.
So the taking stock of our livesisn't only about possessions,
(16:14):
you know, but it's also likewhere am I right now in my life?
What have I what?
What?
What has come through this year?
What has been learned?
What has been let it go of?
What friends am I going to pullin closer this winter?
What am I going to shed?
Um, so, taking stock in this,in this storehouse or the we
(16:35):
talked last week, last time,about closing the vault on the,
closing the silos it's not onlyabout possessions.
It's also what, this naturalkind of wintertime contemplation
where am I, what have I?
Because in the winter we don'twant to contemplate this, we
want to just be in nothingness.
(16:56):
But like now's, a little windowwhere, like before I go into my
complete retreat in silence anddepths of not knowing, like,
where am I here, what have I,what have I come through?
This year, winter is like akind of humbling experience,
like you get older, kind of likeour birthdays, like all right,
(17:17):
there's many ways to to do this.
I'm not really recommending anyparticular one way of assessing
life and kind of in order tomove into a deeper winter time,
but certainly throwing up asmany lights as possible is
probably not the way to do it.
Avoiding being in the dark isprobably not the way to get
through.
Honoring yin.
(17:38):
You know, my teacher Lu Mingwould counsel us to read Russian
novels this time of yearbecause they're kind of you know
, anna Karenina is one of myfavorites it's like, it's like,
and then it just all endstragically and and that's it,
you know.
And it's like there's like somekind of medicine in that.
(18:00):
You're like, how is that sobeautiful?
But it is, it's just sobeautiful, you know, to just
like let it be that way, it'slike humbles us from thinking
that somehow we're going to bedifferent.
One of the ways I often remindmyself of this is I say everyone
dies, everybody will die,including me.
(18:20):
To like add the including mepart at the end of it, like some
part of the psyche wants toimagine that somehow we're
outside of that equation.
I just want to emphasize how Idid talk about how the best chi
is in the evening and I want tojust remind us that we don't
(18:41):
want to use the best optimal chiright now to power through and
get stuff done.
We want to use the best optimalchi to help us calm down and
relax and sleep and wind downand let the yin kind of feel in,
because it can be tempting topower through.
And the other thing is that,because we're in between the
(19:05):
autumn and the winter, this isthe time when the wind is
pernicious.
So it's still, or especially,important right now, if you're
going out tonight or, you know,out at night in general and in
the cold and anything that'swindy, to make sure you're
wearing a scarf around your neckand something around your
wrists and like sweater weatherand leg warmers, but especially
(19:28):
the neck, back of the neck,wrists and ankles, are very good
ways to protect ourselves fromgetting sick from xie qi, from
evil qi that's wandering aroundand letting the wind go into the
body which can then causearthritis and things like that
later on this cold wind, it'simportant to make sure to be
cooking things this time of year, eating things warm, drinking
(19:51):
warm water not cold water andjust rest.
When it gets to be nine o'clockand you're like, oh, just
follow it, let it go, try not topush yourself to go out and be
merry.
It's fine to just prioritizerest as being the medicine of
(20:12):
this time of year and rememberthe rest that comes in from now.
You know, these next threemonths is like, unlike any rest
that we can get during thesummer, it's deeply restorative,
deeply nourishing, hasunbelievable power to to uh,
create health in our systems andlongevity.
(20:33):
So the tongshu, this Chinesealmanac, ancient Chinese almanac
I'm going to just read thislittle excerpt from it for this
time of year Does that work foreveryone?
So it's called Frost Descends,yin Encloses Yang.
Earth Buries fire, shuang Jiang, frost surrenders, the frost
(21:00):
descends qi.
Node is when autumn collapsesinto winter.
Lesser yin gives way to greatyin On earth.
Stasis and frost are prevalent.
As the autumn descends intowinter, natural activity appears
to subside.
In fact, activity simplywithdraws deeper and deeper
(21:25):
inward and down.
The northwest wind carries inthe growing cold with
transitional damp.
Days grow short, youngdiminishes During this period.
The environment grows ever moreyin and is characterized by
(21:45):
frost.
Dampness in the earth rises.
Dampness in the form of earthrides the cold wind and is
variable.
Snow threatens.
The blustery wind is pernicious, cold and damp.
(22:08):
Young withdrawing in anddownward must not be called back
up and out.
Dress warmly and stay out ofthe wind During this period.
Qi is best at 8 pm.
Neigong is practiced insidewhere it is warm.
Rub your belly until it turnsred.
Eat warm and nourishing mealsand go to bed early, even if the
(22:30):
weather is not cold andtemperature.
Do not get caught in the wind.
We are in that powerful, powerful portal of Day
of the Dead, halloween, inbetween autumn and winter, and
many traditions have ways ofhonoring this time.
(00:24):
Halloween is a pretty amazingway that some of these older
teachings have survived into themodern world.
(00:45):
Dreams may become more potentat this time and this idea of
children pretending to be ghostsand going door to door this is
a Celtic way of imitating what'sgoing on at this time of year,
(01:09):
also according to Tang Dynastythoughts traditions.
So the dead ancestors are theones that come to the house
during this time of year andit's an important and potent and
powerful time to make offeringsfor them.
This is the trick-or-treat part, so they come back.
And for people who are lessnomadic, if you've been in a
(01:32):
house for like eight generations, you know the ancestors that
lived in that house come backthis time of year and they sort
of float from room to room, youknow.
And if you have offerings laidout for them on your altar
persimmons and fruit and flowersand all these things then they
(01:56):
sort of get.
You know, get that reciprocity,get some kind of way of being
fed, for you know they'rehelping us all year long and
they're like, okay, fed, for youknow they're helping us all
year long.
Then they're like okay, so thisis the time when we can um,
honor them by feeding them, notjust with candy but with
offerings on the altar.
Incense and fruit is great way.
(02:20):
This is replicated by kids nowgoing around door to door
dressed as ghosts.
But there's also the trick part.
I think back in the day peoplewere a little bit more into the
trick part, but now it's likenot so much.
But yeah, it's important tofeed the ghosts.
(02:44):
It's very, very important tofeed the ancestors this time of
year and if they do, then thethings are resolved, illnesses
are resolved, sicknesses areresolved and sometimes things
that are passed on ancestrally,illnesses that are passed on can
(03:06):
be resolved.
The yin right now is relativelysmall.
It's not a demonic time of year, hence the little ghosts
dressed up that are so cute.
Demons are summertime.
Right, that's the heat, thepernicious heat that comes late
(03:29):
in the summer.
But these are cute little yinghosts that get appeased by
offerings of persimmons andthings like that.
And if you do something likename your child after the
ancestor or make offerings tothem, they'll come back and
they'll just be like oh, all iswell, love, love.
(03:50):
Moving on, there's many customsfor how we work out this
reciprocity, whether we name ourchildren or offer them fruit or
ashes or pumpkins or whateverit is ashes or pumpkins or
whatever it is.
(04:10):
But the veil is very, very thinand this is the time where, um,
where we have the capacity tobe very generous in our and
actually reach them in a reallyeaseful way.
Um, they come often becauseit's getting colder and they
don't feel the cold the way thatwe do, so they don't mind.
They don't mind the cold, it'scomfortable for them the
darkness.
(04:30):
And as we start to slow downbecause of the cold and the
darkness that's also they becomemore visible.
So there's kind of thisbuilt-in perfect timing for
their arrival and us slowingdown and things getting darker,
so the gate kind of gets openedand this is a profound time to
(04:53):
die.
You know, between now and wintersolstice is a really, really
good time to die.
So there was a practice inancient China where at this time
all the chronically illpatients would be sent home to
die.
You know, just like the doctorswould get a vacation.
And this happened even in umnot that long ago.
(05:14):
My teacher Lu Ming, he wouldtalk about this how his friends
would say it during the culturalrevolution.
Yeah, we don't know why.
We just, you know, gave us thisis the time the doctors all got
vacations, like it was stillleft over.
They didn't say why, becausethen of course it would have
stopped being happening, becauseit would be superstitious and
all that.
But it was like a good time tojust be sent home.
(05:38):
Doctors go on vacation and ifpeople die this time of year,
it's like the best option.
A lot of prisoners would havebeen put to death rather than
being fed all winter.
And we've talked about thisalso as the time to really let
go of any projects that are doneand wrapping them up and just
(05:58):
like getting ready for thewinter, winter.
So the loved ones that passedare kind of in the neighborhood
anyway right now, so you may seethem, you may see them in
dreams.
You may definitely want to govisit any gravestones that you
can and go sweep off those, makeofferings.
So feeding sweets and caringfor relatives fondly in their
(06:21):
graves fondly is the way to bein reciprocity.
And ignoring them they just,you know, like Lu Ming would
talk about it, like they'll juststart a little tumor in you.
I don't really like to like befear mongering.
You know about it the wholething, but it's like that's how
he would talk about it.
He's like you either get rotteneggs thrown at you or a little
(06:42):
bit of cancer.
It's a little bit.
I'm just not going to dilute it.
So these are really sensibleholidays.
Right now the harvest is in, sowe have that to.
This is kind of like a yeah,kind of like a way of giving
(07:07):
back.
If you want to make a moreformal offering dagara style,
you know if you go to thegravestone or use flowers or
whatever, you can put a littlebit of ash with your left hand
down on the ground.
That's to protect your offeringfrom the other hungry ghosts
that might be wandering around,that are your neighbor's ghosts
or whatever neighbor's ancestors.
You're not going to go feedthem, you want to feed your own,
(07:29):
so that ash will protect theother hungry spirits from coming
to get that offering or whoeveryou're making it for.
And then you can tap on theground with your left hand in a
heartbeat fashion as you speakyour prayer and thanks and
direct your offering to where itwants to go or where you want
it to go and then pour, maybe ifyou're using flowers or fruit
(07:55):
and then pour water after thatas a way to be super clear that
it's all for the healing.
So it's a good time of yearyear to get on top of the
ancestor offering moment.
I'm curious if anyone had areally clear vision come in and
you kind of tuned into what theywant, because the portal is
(08:19):
thin so they'll just let youknow directly If you notice your
practice start to thin out thistime of year.
It's a healthy sign.
Probably people are juststaying at home and cultivating
yin they feel.
Often people will be like I'mtoo tired to come in.
I'm like, good, stay home andrest.
That's a good thing to be doingright now.
(08:39):
The problem isn't not coming in.
The problem is if people arejust going around like crazy.
This is the Gan Ying right, thefeeding of the ancestors, this
reciprocity principle.
So we're in a kind of a danceright now to adapt our value
(08:59):
system from valuing Yang in thesummer Now we're valuing Yin.
We're kind of valuing thequieter, slower time, the dance.
So rest is very, very helpfuland we want to use some of the
extra yin time in the eveningright now for resting.
(09:20):
So the most potent time rightnow is in the evening and if we
use that to get, like the lastlittle things done instead of
using that to rest, then we canincrease the insomnia.
That to rest, then we canincrease the insomnia.
So, as much as you can, takethe kind of quieter, downward
sun setting energy and let thatbe the invocation of rest and
(09:44):
use that extra chi to nourishand calm down, that would be
helpful.
Calm can seem like something weneed to sedate ourselves to
fight.
If we're pretty young, deranged, sedate ourselves to fighting
off like calm can seem very hardif we have been worshipping
(10:07):
young all year.
But constant aggression thistime of year is very hard on the
system.
But constant aggression thistime of year is very hard on the
system.
It's a great time of year toread like autobiographies and
biographies and like otherthings that remind us that like,
yes, you have this like biglife, but then death.
(10:28):
You know things that likeremind us about cycles, remind
us about letting go, remind usabout crescendos and releases.
They can be redundant, you know, because that's kind of the
wisdom of this time of year.
It's like, oh wait, autumnagain, coats again.
(10:49):
Like time to be quiet again.
We just did this last year.
Time to be quiet again.
We just did this last year.
It's like the kind of wisdomthat comes with us remembering
that it's like the cycles keepgoing and the acceptance of this
, of like boredom and redundancy, is sort of the medicine that
(11:09):
we get to have right now.
It's like, oh right and I knowthat I'm just in this particular
way of stuff maneuvering rightnow, kind of like this stuff,
stuff sorting process of a lotof my it's influencing a lot of
my counsel that, um, stuff asmatter or as yin, you could say,
(11:31):
you know, like maybe out of,out of, out of control, yin
worshiping is constantaccumulation of matter, but
really it's not.
It's actually like a yang right, because it takes yang to
accumulate stuff.
So shopping and going andbuying and doing all that
holiday shopping, stuff that'slike a, can be conceived as a
(11:52):
deranged yang buying, buyingLike it takes yang to buy stuff,
like, yes, you're buying yin,you're buying something that's
solid, but buying, buying likeit takes yang to buy stuff.
Like, yes, you're buying yin,you're buying something that's
solid, but it's like depletingyang to get the stuff.
And then, of course, if we havetoo much of the stuff of the
matter of the yin, then itcreates stagnation, accumulation
, damp and difficulty in inmaneuvering and moving.
(12:15):
Turbid we call it turbidian, sotoo much stuff could be like a
kind of yin turbidity, like astuff you know increase.
So you could look at it as likemoving, sorting stuff, as a
kind of way to tonify yin, akind of way to be in a good way
(12:35):
with yin and matter and motherand grandmother We'd be in a
good way with matter, mothermuder In Afrikaans we say muder.
So there's many, many ancestorrituals happening now and, as
(12:56):
you've heard me say, pretty muchevery week since after summer
solstice, certainly since autumnbegan.
It's a very rude time of yearto be at war.
It's a very impolite time to beat war.
It's not the time to start sortit out through violence.
(13:18):
This is a time of diplomacy andalliance, talking, write poems
see who writes a better poem orhip hop, whatever, like battle
it out on the dance floor, likethrough capoeira or, you know,
through some break dancing.
But don't, don't go to war.
(13:40):
It's a.
It's a time to honor ourfriendships, but that's a time
that comes through like trusting.
You know how you have thosefriends.
We have those friends that like, maybe you don't talk to for a
year, but then you see them andit's just, you just pick up and
like nothing's changed.
It's like that kind of honoringof our friends.
(14:01):
You're just like I know thatwe're solid.
I don't need to text you 30times a day, I don't need to
remember to write your Christmascard, and if I don't I'm
somehow blah, blah, blah.
It's like we're just trustinginto the solidity of those life
allies that we have.
It's the time of year to trustand to feel into the depths in
(14:23):
that way.
And the warmth inside the homerelative to the cold outside the
home is what often bringspeople closer together in more
smaller family settings and thesun is less intense.
So that's like a small yangthat starts to welcome in the
(14:47):
yin, welcome in the kind ofclosing of the doors, the
closing of the storehouses.
Closing of the storehouses Ifyou haven't planned a meditation
retreat yet for the wintertime,or like a time of silence, a
time to be quiet, this would bea good time to do that, using
the last little vestiges of yangbefore.
(15:08):
It's so small that using it upis more depleting To plan in
like maybe a 10-day silent timethis winter at some point.
There's a potent time at wintersolstice, but if that doesn't
work for you because of yourother commitments, it's also
very potent from the new moonafter winter solstice to the
(15:30):
full moon, and then even morepotent from the full moon to the
new moon, and then even morepotent from the full moon to the
new moon, which is that icemoon time from the new moon
after winter solstice to thenext new moon, which is, of
course, the new year, the lunarnew year.
That month would be a reallygreat time to block off as much
(15:53):
retreat and quiet time aspossible.
So I'm saying this now becausea lot of times some of us need
to plan things pretty far inadvance in our modern culture.
So the taking stock of our livesisn't only about possessions,
(16:14):
you know, but it's also likewhere am I right now in my life?
What have I what?
What?
What has come through this year?
What has been learned?
What has been let it go of?
What friends am I going to pullin closer this winter?
What am I going to shed?
Um, so, taking stock in this,in this storehouse or the we
(16:35):
talked last week, last time,about closing the vault on the,
closing the silos it's not onlyabout possessions.
It's also what, this naturalkind of wintertime contemplation
where am I, what have I?
Because in the winter we don'twant to contemplate this, we
want to just be in nothingness.
(16:56):
But like now's, a little windowwhere, like before I go into my
complete retreat in silence anddepths of not knowing, like,
where am I here, what have I,what have I come through?
This year, winter is like akind of humbling experience,
like you get older, kind of likeour birthdays, like all right,
(17:17):
there's many ways to to do this.
I'm not really recommending anyparticular one way of assessing
life and kind of in order tomove into a deeper winter time,
but certainly throwing up asmany lights as possible is
probably not the way to do it.
Avoiding being in the dark isprobably not the way to get
through.
Honoring yin.
(17:38):
You know, my teacher Lu Mingwould counsel us to read Russian
novels this time of yearbecause they're kind of you know
, anna Karenina is one of myfavorites it's like, it's like,
and then it just all endstragically and and that's it,
you know.
And it's like there's like somekind of medicine in that.
(18:00):
You're like, how is that sobeautiful?
But it is, it's just sobeautiful, you know, to just
like let it be that way, it'slike humbles us from thinking
that somehow we're going to bedifferent.
One of the ways I often remindmyself of this is I say everyone
dies, everybody will die,including me.
(18:20):
To like add the including mepart at the end of it, like some
part of the psyche wants toimagine that somehow we're
outside of that equation.
I just want to emphasize how Idid talk about how the best chi
is in the evening and I want tojust remind us that we don't
(18:41):
want to use the best optimal chiright now to power through and
get stuff done.
We want to use the best optimalchi to help us calm down and
relax and sleep and wind downand let the yin kind of feel in,
because it can be tempting topower through.
And the other thing is that,because we're in between the
(19:05):
autumn and the winter, this isthe time when the wind is
pernicious.
So it's still, or especially,important right now, if you're
going out tonight or, you know,out at night in general and in
the cold and anything that'swindy, to make sure you're
wearing a scarf around your neckand something around your
wrists and like sweater weatherand leg warmers, but especially
(19:28):
the neck, back of the neck,wrists and ankles, are very good
ways to protect ourselves fromgetting sick from xie qi, from
evil qi that's wandering aroundand letting the wind go into the
body which can then causearthritis and things like that
later on this cold wind, it'simportant to make sure to be
cooking things this time of year, eating things warm, drinking
(19:51):
warm water not cold water andjust rest.
When it gets to be nine o'clockand you're like, oh, just
follow it, let it go, try not topush yourself to go out and be
merry.
It's fine to just prioritizerest as being the medicine of
(20:12):
this time of year and rememberthe rest that comes in from now.
You know, these next threemonths is like, unlike any rest
that we can get during thesummer, it's deeply restorative,
deeply nourishing, hasunbelievable power to to uh,
create health in our systems andlongevity.
(20:33):
So the tongshu, this Chinesealmanac, ancient Chinese almanac
I'm going to just read thislittle excerpt from it for this
time of year Does that work foreveryone?
So it's called Frost Descends,yin Encloses Yang.
Earth Buries fire, shuang Jiang, frost surrenders, the frost
(21:00):
descends qi.
Node is when autumn collapsesinto winter.
Lesser yin gives way to greatyin On earth.
Stasis and frost are prevalent.
As the autumn descends intowinter, natural activity appears
to subside.
In fact, activity simplywithdraws deeper and deeper
(21:25):
inward and down.
The northwest wind carries inthe growing cold with
transitional damp.
Days grow short, youngdiminishes During this period.
The environment grows ever moreyin and is characterized by
(21:45):
frost.
Dampness in the earth rises.
Dampness in the form of earthrides the cold wind and is
variable.
Snow threatens.
The blustery wind is pernicious, cold and damp.
(22:08):
Young withdrawing in anddownward must not be called back
up and out.
Dress warmly and stay out ofthe wind During this period.
Qi is best at 8 pm.
Neigong is practiced insidewhere it is warm.
Rub your belly until it turnsred.
Eat warm and nourishing mealsand go to bed early, even if the
(22:30):
weather is not cold andtemperature.
Do not get caught in the wind.
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