October 30, 2025 • 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_00 (00:38):
In that powerful, powerful portal of Day of the
Dead.
Halloween in between autumn andwinter.
And many traditions have ways ofhonoring this time.
(01:05):
Halloween is a perfect kind ofpretty amazing way that these
some of these older teachingshave survived into them.
The modern the modern worlddreams may become more potent at
this time.
And this idea of um childrenpretending pretending to be
(01:30):
ghosts and going door to door.
This is um of the Celtic way ofimitating what's going on at
this time of year, alsoaccording to Tongue Dynasty
thoughts, traditions.
So the dead ancestors are theones that come to the house
(01:53):
during this time of year, andit's important and potent and
powerful time to make offeringsfor them.
This is the trick-or-treat part.
So they come back.
And then if for the people whoare less nomadic, if you've been
in a house for like eightgenerations, you know, the the
ancestors that lived in thathouse come back this time of
(02:16):
year and they sort of float fromroom to room, you know.
And if you've if you haveofferings laid out for them on
your altar, persimmons and fruitand flowers and all these
things, then they sort of get,you know, get that reciprocity,
get some kind of way of beingfed for, you know, they're
(02:39):
helping us all year long, thenthey're like, okay.
So this is the time when we canum honor them by feeding them,
not just with candy, but withofferings on the altar.
Incense and fruit is a greatway.
(02:59):
So this is replicated by kidsnow going around door to door
just as ghosts.
But um there's also the trickpart, you know.
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 to feedthe ghosts.
(03:22):
It's very, very important tofeed the ancestors this time of
year.
And um if they do, then the thethings are resolved, illnesses
are resolved, sicknesses areresolved, and like sometimes
things that are passed onancestrally, illnesses that are
passed on can be resolved.
(03:46):
It's the the yin right now isrelatively small.
It's not a demonic time of year.
Tense the little the littleghosts dressed up that are so
cute.
Um demons are summertime, right?
That's the heat, the perniciousheat that comes late in the
(04:07):
summer.
But these are cute little yinghosts that get appeased by
offerings of persimmons andthings like that.
And um if you do something likename your child after the
ancestor or make offerings,they'll come back and they'll
just be like, oh, all is well.
Love, love, moving on.
(04:28):
There's there's many customs forhow we work out this
reciprocity, whether we name ourchildren or offer them fruit or
ashes or pumpkins or whatever itis.
But there the veil is very, verythin.
And this is the time where umwhere we have the the capacity
(04:50):
to be very generous in our andand actually reach them in a
really easeful way.
Um they come often because it'sgetting colder and they don't
feel the cold the way that wedo.
So they don't mind, they don'tmind the cold.
It's comfortable for them, thedarkness.
And as we start to slow downbecause of the cold and the
(05:12):
darkness, that's also theybecome more visible.
So there's kind of this built-inperfect timing for their arrival
and us slowing down and thingsgetting darker.
So the gate um kind of getsopened.
And this is your um a profoundtime to die, you know, between
now and winter solstice is areally, really good time to die.
(05:35):
So there was a practice inancient China where at this time
all the chronically ill patientswould be sent home to die, you
know, just like the doctorswould get a vacation.
And this happened even in um notthat long ago.
Uh my teacher, Lou Ming, hewould talk about this, how his
(05:57):
friends would say it during theCultural Revolution, yeah, we
don't know why.
We just, you know, they gave usa this is the time the doctors
all got vacations.
Like it was still left 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 a good time tojust be sent home.
Doctors go on vacation.
And if if people die this timeof year, it's like the best
(06:20):
option.
A lot of prisoners would havebeen put to death rather than
being fed all winter.
And um, we've talked about thisalso as the time to really let
go of any projects that are doneand wrapping them up and just
like getting ready for thewinter winter.
So the the loved ones thatpassed are kind of in the
neighborhood anyway, right now.
(06:42):
So you may see them, you may seethem in dreams, you may, you may
definitely want to go visit anygravestones that you can and go
sweep off the those and makeofferings.
So feeding sweets and caring forrelatives fondly and their
graves fondly is the is the wayto be in reciprocity and
(07:03):
ignoring them.
There's, you know, like Lumingwould talk about it, like
they'll just start a littletumor in you.
I don't really like to like befear-mongering, you know, about
it the whole thing, but it'slike that's how he would talk
about it.
He's like, you either get rotteneggs thrown at you or a little
bit of cancer, or I mean, Idon't, this it's a little bit,
(07:23):
it's a little bit um I just notgonna dilute it.
So these are really sensibleholidays right now.
Um the harvest is in, so we havethat to offer.
And this is kind of like a yeah,kind of like a way of of giving
(07:44):
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 aroundthat are your neighbor's ghosts
or whatever, neighbor'sancestors.
You're not gonna go feed them.
(08:05):
You want to feed your own.
So the ash will protect theother hungry spirits from coming
to get that offering for 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
(08:25):
to go, and then pour maybe ifyou're using flowers or fruit,
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 year toto get on top of the ancestor
offering moment.
I'm curious if anyone had um areally clear vision come in when
(08:50):
you kind of tuned into what theywant because the portal is thin,
so they'll they'll just let youknow directly.
Uh, if you notice your practicestart to thin out this time of
year, it's a healthy sign.
Probably people are just stayingat home and cultivating yin.
They feel often people will belike, I'm too tired to come in.
(09:12):
I'm like, good, stay home andrest.
That's a good thing to be doingright now.
The problem isn't not coming in,the problem is if people are
just going like around likecrazy.
Um this is the gan ying, right?
The feeding of the ancestors,this reciprocity principle.
So we're in a kind of a danceright now to adapt our value
(09:37):
system from valuing yang in thesummer, now we're valuing yin.
We're kind of valuing thequieter, slower time.
The dance.
Uh, rest is very, very helpful,and we want to use some of the
extra yin time at the in theevening right now for resting.
(09:58):
So the the most potent timeright now is in in the evening.
And if we use that to get likethe last little things done
instead of using that to rest,then we can increase the
insomnia.
So as much as you can take thekind of quieter downward
sunsetting energy and let thatbe the invocation of rest and
(10:21):
use that extra chi to nourishand calm down, that would be
helpful.
Um calm can seem like somethingwe need to sedate ourselves to
fight if we're pretty youngderanged.
Sedate ourselves to, you know,fighting off like like calm seem
can seem very hard if we havebeen worshiping young all year.
(10:48):
Um, but constant aggression thistime of year is very hard on the
on the system.
Uh, 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.
You know, things that likeremind us about cycles, remind
(11:08):
us about um letting go, remindus about crescendos and
releases.
Um they can be redundant, youknow, because that's kind of the
wisdom of this time of year.
It's like, oh wait, autumnagain, coats again, like time to
time to be quiet again.
(11:30):
We just did this last year.
It's like the the kind of wisdomthat comes with us remembering
that it's like the the rest thecycles keep going.
Um, and the acceptance of this,of like boredom and redundancy
is sort of the medicine that weget to have right now.
It's like, oh, right.
(11:50):
Um and I I know that I'm just inthis particular way of stuff
maneuvering right now.
Like I'm in like this stuff,stuff sorting process.
So a lot of my it's influencinga lot of my counsel, but um
stuff as matter or as yin, youcould say, you know, like maybe
out of out of out of control,yin worshipping is constant
(12:14):
accumulation of matter, butreally it's not, it's actually
like a yang, right?
Because it takes yang toaccumulate stuff.
So shopping and going and buyingand doing all that um holiday
shopping stuff, that's that'slike a can be a conceived as a
deranged yang buying, buying.
Like it takes yang to buy stuff.
Like, yes, you're buying yin,you're buying something that's
(12:35):
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, anddifficulty in in maneuvering and
moving.
Turbid, we call it turbid yin.
(12:55):
So too much stuff could be likea kind of yin turbidity, like a
stuff, you know, increase.
Um so you could look at it aslike moving, sorting stuff as a
kind of way to tonify yin, akind of way to be in a good way
with with yin and matter andmother and grandmother, and you
(13:16):
know.
We be in a good way with matter.
Mudr, mudar.
In Afrikaans, we say mudr.
So there's many, many ancestorrituals happening now.
And um, as you've heard me say,pretty much every week since uh
(13:39):
after summer solstice, orcertainly since autumn began, it
it's a very rude time of year tobe at war.
It's a very impolite time to beat war.
This is not the time to startsort it out through violence.
This is a time of diplomacy andalliance, talking, write poems,
(14:01):
see who writes a better poem orhip-hop, you know, whatever.
Like battle it out on the on thedance floor, or like through
capoeira or you know, throughsome breakdancing.
But don't don't go to war.
It's a it's a time um to honorour friendships, but that's a
(14:25):
time that comes through liketrusting.
You know how you have thosefriends.
We have those friends that likemaybe 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.
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 towrite your Christmas card.
And if I don't, I'm somehowblah, blah, blah.
(14:47):
It's like we're just thattrusting into the solidity of
those life, life allies that wehave.
Um, it's the time of year totrust and to feel into the
depths in that way.
And uh the warmth inside thehome relative to the cold
(15:11):
outside the home is what oftenbrings people closer together in
more smaller family settings.
And the sun is less intense, sothe that's like a small yang
that starts to welcome in theyin, welcome in the the kind of
closing of the doors, theclosing of the storehouses.
(15:34):
Um, if you haven't planned ameditation retreat yet for the
winter time or like a time ofsilence, a time to be quiet,
this would be a good time to dothat using the last little
vestiges of yang before it's sosmall that using it up is more
depleting.
To plan in, like maybe a 10-daysilent, silent time this winter
at some point.
(15:54):
There's a potent time between atwinter solstice, but if that
doesn't work for you because ofyour other commitments, it's
also very potent from the newmoon in after winter solstice to
the full moon.
And then even more potent fromthe full moon to the new moon,
which is, you know, those thatthat ice moon time from the new
(16:17):
moon after winter solstice tothe next new moon, which is of
course the new year, the lunarnew year, that month would be a
really great time to block offas much retreat and quiet time
as possible.
So I'm telling saying this nowbecause a lot of times some of
(16:38):
us need to plan things prettyfar in advance in our modern
modern culture.
So the taking stock of our livesisn't only about possessions,
you know, but it's also likewhere am I right now in my life?
What have I, what what what hascome through this year, what has
(16:58):
been learned, what has been letin go of?
What friends am I gonna pull incloser this winter?
What am I gonna shed?
Um so taking stock in this inthe storehouse or the we're
talked last week, last timeabout closing the vault on the
closing the silos.
(17:18):
It's not only about possessions,it's also what this natural kind
of wintertime contemplation.
Where am I?
What have I because in thewinter we don't want to
contemplate this, we want tojust be in nothingness.
But like now's a little windowwhere like before I go into my
complete retreat and silence anddepths of not knowing, like,
(17:40):
where am I here?
What have I what have I comethrough this year?
Winter is like a kind ofhumbling experience.
Like we get older, kind of likeour birthdays.
Like a right.
There's many ways to to do this.
I'm not really recommending anyparticular one way of assessing
(18:01):
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.
You know, my teacher Lu Mingwould would counsel us to read
Russian novels this time ofyear.
(18:22):
Because they're kind of, youknow, Anakaranana is one of my
favorites.
It's like, it's like, and thenit just all ends tragically and
and that's it, you know.
And it's like there's like somekind of medicine in that.
You're like, how is that sobeautiful?
But it is, it's just sobeautiful, you know, to just
like let it be that way.
(18:45):
It's like humbles us fromthinking that somehow we're
gonna be different, you know.
One of the ways I often remindmyself of this is I say everyone
dies, everybody will die,including me, you know, to like
add the including me part at theend of it.
You know, like some part of thepsyche like wants to imagine
that somehow we're outside ofthat equation.
(19:07):
Okay, just want to emphasize howthe I did talk about how the
best qi is in the evening.
And I'm gonna just remind usthat we don't want to use the
best optimal qi right now topower through and get stuff
done.
We want to use the best optimalqi to help us calm down and
(19:27):
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 thatbecause we're in between the
autumn and the winter, this isthe time when the wind is
pernicious.
So it's still or especiallyimportant right now if you're
(19:50):
coming out tonight or you know,and 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, and but
especially the neck, back of theneck, wrists, and ankles are
very good, good ways to protectourselves from getting sick from
(20:11):
she qi, from evil chi that'swandering around, and letting
the wind go into the body, whichcan then cause arthritis and
things like that later on.
This cold wind.
It's important to make sure tobe cooking things this time of
year, eating things warm,drinking warm water, not cold
water.
And just rest when it gets to benine o'clock and you're like,
(20:34):
oh, just follow it.
Let it go.
Try not to push yourself to goout and be merry.
It's fine to just prioritizerest as being the medicine of
this time of year.
And remember the rest that comesin from now, you know, these
next three months is like unlikeany rest that we can get during
(20:57):
the summer, it's deeplyrestorative, deeply nourishing.
It has unbelievable power to uhcreate health in our systems and
longevity.
So the the Tung Shu, thisChinese almanac, ancient Chinese
almanac.
I'm gonna just read this littleexcerpt from it for this time of
(21:18):
year.
Does that work for everyone?
So it's called frost asdescends.
Yin encloses yang.
Earth buries fire.
The frost descends qinode iswhen autumn collapses into
(21:40):
winter.
Lesser yin gives way to greatyin.
On earth, stasis and frost areprevalent.
As the autumn descends intowinter, natural activity appears
to subside.
In fact, activity simplywithdraws deeper and deeper
(22:02):
inward and down.
The northwest wind carries inthe growing cold with
transitional damp.
Days grow short, youngdiminishes.
During this period, theenvironment grows ever more yin
and is characterized by frost.
(22:23):
Dampness and the earth rises.
Dampness and the earth dampnessin the form of earth rides the
cold wind and is variable.
Snow threatens.
The blustery wind is pernicious,cold and damp.
Yang, withdrawing in anddownward, must not be called
(22:47):
back up and out.
Dress warmly and stay out of thewind.
During this period, qi is bestat 8 p.m.
Negong is practiced inside whereit is warm.
Rub your belly until it turnsred.
Eat warm and nourishing mealsand go to bed early.
Even if the weather is not coldand temperature, do not get
(23:11):
caught in the wind.
In that powerful, powerful portal of Day of the
Dead.
Halloween in between autumn andwinter.
And many traditions have ways ofhonoring this time.
(01:05):
Halloween is a perfect kind ofpretty amazing way that these
some of these older teachingshave survived into them.
The modern the modern worlddreams may become more potent at
this time.
And this idea of um childrenpretending pretending to be
(01:30):
ghosts and going door to door.
This is um of the Celtic way ofimitating what's going on at
this time of year, alsoaccording to Tongue Dynasty
thoughts, traditions.
So the dead ancestors are theones that come to the house
(01:53):
during this time of year, andit's important and potent and
powerful time to make offeringsfor them.
This is the trick-or-treat part.
So they come back.
And then if for the people whoare less nomadic, if you've been
in a house for like eightgenerations, you know, the the
ancestors that lived in thathouse come back this time of
(02:16):
year and they sort of float fromroom to room, you know.
And if you've if you haveofferings laid out for them on
your altar, persimmons and fruitand flowers and all these
things, then they sort of get,you know, get that reciprocity,
get some kind of way of beingfed for, you know, they're
(02:39):
helping us all year long, thenthey're like, okay.
So this is the time when we canum honor them by feeding them,
not just with candy, but withofferings on the altar.
Incense and fruit is a greatway.
(02:59):
So this is replicated by kidsnow going around door to door
just as ghosts.
But um there's also the trickpart, you know.
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 to feedthe ghosts.
(03:22):
It's very, very important tofeed the ancestors this time of
year.
And um if they do, then the thethings are resolved, illnesses
are resolved, sicknesses areresolved, and like sometimes
things that are passed onancestrally, illnesses that are
passed on can be resolved.
(03:46):
It's the the yin right now isrelatively small.
It's not a demonic time of year.
Tense the little the littleghosts dressed up that are so
cute.
Um demons are summertime, right?
That's the heat, the perniciousheat that comes late in the
(04:07):
summer.
But these are cute little yinghosts that get appeased by
offerings of persimmons andthings like that.
And um if you do something likename your child after the
ancestor or make offerings,they'll come back and they'll
just be like, oh, all is well.
Love, love, moving on.
(04:28):
There's there's many customs forhow we work out this
reciprocity, whether we name ourchildren or offer them fruit or
ashes or pumpkins or whatever itis.
But there the veil is very, verythin.
And this is the time where umwhere we have the the capacity
(04:50):
to be very generous in our andand actually reach them in a
really easeful way.
Um they come often because it'sgetting colder and they don't
feel the cold the way that wedo.
So they don't mind, they don'tmind the cold.
It's comfortable for them, thedarkness.
And as we start to slow downbecause of the cold and the
(05:12):
darkness, that's also theybecome more visible.
So there's kind of this built-inperfect timing for their arrival
and us slowing down and thingsgetting darker.
So the gate um kind of getsopened.
And this is your um a profoundtime to die, you know, between
now and winter solstice is areally, really good time to die.
(05:35):
So there was a practice inancient China where at this time
all the chronically ill patientswould be sent home to die, you
know, just like the doctorswould get a vacation.
And this happened even in um notthat long ago.
Uh my teacher, Lou Ming, hewould talk about this, how his
(05:57):
friends would say it during theCultural Revolution, yeah, we
don't know why.
We just, you know, they gave usa this is the time the doctors
all got vacations.
Like it was still left 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 a good time tojust be sent home.
Doctors go on vacation.
And if if people die this timeof year, it's like the best
(06:20):
option.
A lot of prisoners would havebeen put to death rather than
being fed all winter.
And um, we've talked about thisalso as the time to really let
go of any projects that are doneand wrapping them up and just
like getting ready for thewinter winter.
So the the loved ones thatpassed are kind of in the
neighborhood anyway, right now.
(06:42):
So you may see them, you may seethem in dreams, you may, you may
definitely want to go visit anygravestones that you can and go
sweep off the those and makeofferings.
So feeding sweets and caring forrelatives fondly and their
graves fondly is the is the wayto be in reciprocity and
(07:03):
ignoring them.
There's, you know, like Lumingwould talk about it, like
they'll just start a littletumor in you.
I don't really like to like befear-mongering, you know, about
it the whole thing, but it'slike that's how he would talk
about it.
He's like, you either get rotteneggs thrown at you or a little
bit of cancer, or I mean, Idon't, this it's a little bit,
(07:23):
it's a little bit um I just notgonna dilute it.
So these are really sensibleholidays right now.
Um the harvest is in, so we havethat to offer.
And this is kind of like a yeah,kind of like a way of of giving
(07:44):
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 aroundthat are your neighbor's ghosts
or whatever, neighbor'sancestors.
You're not gonna go feed them.
(08:05):
You want to feed your own.
So the ash will protect theother hungry spirits from coming
to get that offering for 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
(08:25):
to go, and then pour maybe ifyou're using flowers or fruit,
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 year toto get on top of the ancestor
offering moment.
I'm curious if anyone had um areally clear vision come in when
(08:50):
you kind of tuned into what theywant because the portal is thin,
so they'll they'll just let youknow directly.
Uh, if you notice your practicestart to thin out this time of
year, it's a healthy sign.
Probably people are just stayingat home and cultivating yin.
They feel often people will belike, I'm too tired to come in.
(09:12):
I'm like, good, stay home andrest.
That's a good thing to be doingright now.
The problem isn't not coming in,the problem is if people are
just going like around likecrazy.
Um this is the gan ying, right?
The feeding of the ancestors,this reciprocity principle.
So we're in a kind of a danceright now to adapt our value
(09:37):
system from valuing yang in thesummer, now we're valuing yin.
We're kind of valuing thequieter, slower time.
The dance.
Uh, rest is very, very helpful,and we want to use some of the
extra yin time at the in theevening right now for resting.
(09:58):
So the the most potent timeright now is in in the evening.
And if we use that to get likethe last little things done
instead of using that to rest,then we can increase the
insomnia.
So as much as you can take thekind of quieter downward
sunsetting energy and let thatbe the invocation of rest and
(10:21):
use that extra chi to nourishand calm down, that would be
helpful.
Um calm can seem like somethingwe need to sedate ourselves to
fight if we're pretty youngderanged.
Sedate ourselves to, you know,fighting off like like calm seem
can seem very hard if we havebeen worshiping young all year.
(10:48):
Um, but constant aggression thistime of year is very hard on the
on the system.
Uh, 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.
You know, things that likeremind us about cycles, remind
(11:08):
us about um letting go, remindus about crescendos and
releases.
Um they can be redundant, youknow, because that's kind of the
wisdom of this time of year.
It's like, oh wait, autumnagain, coats again, like time to
time to be quiet again.
(11:30):
We just did this last year.
It's like the the kind of wisdomthat comes with us remembering
that it's like the the rest thecycles keep going.
Um, and the acceptance of this,of like boredom and redundancy
is sort of the medicine that weget to have right now.
It's like, oh, right.
(11:50):
Um and I I know that I'm just inthis particular way of stuff
maneuvering right now.
Like I'm in like this stuff,stuff sorting process.
So a lot of my it's influencinga lot of my counsel, but um
stuff as matter or as yin, youcould say, you know, like maybe
out of out of out of control,yin worshipping is constant
(12:14):
accumulation of matter, butreally it's not, it's actually
like a yang, right?
Because it takes yang toaccumulate stuff.
So shopping and going and buyingand doing all that um holiday
shopping stuff, that's that'slike a can be a conceived as a
deranged yang buying, buying.
Like it takes yang to buy stuff.
Like, yes, you're buying yin,you're buying something that's
(12:35):
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, anddifficulty in in maneuvering and
moving.
Turbid, we call it turbid yin.
(12:55):
So too much stuff could be likea kind of yin turbidity, like a
stuff, you know, increase.
Um so you could look at it aslike moving, sorting stuff as a
kind of way to tonify yin, akind of way to be in a good way
with with yin and matter andmother and grandmother, and you
(13:16):
know.
We be in a good way with matter.
Mudr, mudar.
In Afrikaans, we say mudr.
So there's many, many ancestorrituals happening now.
And um, as you've heard me say,pretty much every week since uh
(13:39):
after summer solstice, orcertainly since autumn began, it
it's a very rude time of year tobe at war.
It's a very impolite time to beat war.
This is not the time to startsort it out through violence.
This is a time of diplomacy andalliance, talking, write poems,
(14:01):
see who writes a better poem orhip-hop, you know, whatever.
Like battle it out on the on thedance floor, or like through
capoeira or you know, throughsome breakdancing.
But don't don't go to war.
It's a it's a time um to honorour friendships, but that's a
(14:25):
time that comes through liketrusting.
You know how you have thosefriends.
We have those friends that likemaybe 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.
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 towrite your Christmas card.
And if I don't, I'm somehowblah, blah, blah.
(14:47):
It's like we're just thattrusting into the solidity of
those life, life allies that wehave.
Um, it's the time of year totrust and to feel into the
depths in that way.
And uh the warmth inside thehome relative to the cold
(15:11):
outside the home is what oftenbrings people closer together in
more smaller family settings.
And the sun is less intense, sothe that's like a small yang
that starts to welcome in theyin, welcome in the the kind of
closing of the doors, theclosing of the storehouses.
(15:34):
Um, if you haven't planned ameditation retreat yet for the
winter time or like a time ofsilence, a time to be quiet,
this would be a good time to dothat using the last little
vestiges of yang before it's sosmall that using it up is more
depleting.
To plan in, like maybe a 10-daysilent, silent time this winter
at some point.
(15:54):
There's a potent time between atwinter solstice, but if that
doesn't work for you because ofyour other commitments, it's
also very potent from the newmoon in after winter solstice to
the full moon.
And then even more potent fromthe full moon to the new moon,
which is, you know, those thatthat ice moon time from the new
(16:17):
moon after winter solstice tothe next new moon, which is of
course the new year, the lunarnew year, that month would be a
really great time to block offas much retreat and quiet time
as possible.
So I'm telling saying this nowbecause a lot of times some of
(16:38):
us need to plan things prettyfar in advance in our modern
modern culture.
So the taking stock of our livesisn't only about possessions,
you know, but it's also likewhere am I right now in my life?
What have I, what what what hascome through this year, what has
(16:58):
been learned, what has been letin go of?
What friends am I gonna pull incloser this winter?
What am I gonna shed?
Um so taking stock in this inthe storehouse or the we're
talked last week, last timeabout closing the vault on the
closing the silos.
(17:18):
It's not only about possessions,it's also what this natural kind
of wintertime contemplation.
Where am I?
What have I because in thewinter we don't want to
contemplate this, we want tojust be in nothingness.
But like now's a little windowwhere like before I go into my
complete retreat and silence anddepths of not knowing, like,
(17:40):
where am I here?
What have I what have I comethrough this year?
Winter is like a kind ofhumbling experience.
Like we get older, kind of likeour birthdays.
Like a right.
There's many ways to to do this.
I'm not really recommending anyparticular one way of assessing
(18:01):
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.
You know, my teacher Lu Mingwould would counsel us to read
Russian novels this time ofyear.
(18:22):
Because they're kind of, youknow, Anakaranana is one of my
favorites.
It's like, it's like, and thenit just all ends tragically and
and that's it, you know.
And it's like there's like somekind of medicine in that.
You're like, how is that sobeautiful?
But it is, it's just sobeautiful, you know, to just
like let it be that way.
(18:45):
It's like humbles us fromthinking that somehow we're
gonna be different, you know.
One of the ways I often remindmyself of this is I say everyone
dies, everybody will die,including me, you know, to like
add the including me part at theend of it.
You know, like some part of thepsyche like wants to imagine
that somehow we're outside ofthat equation.
(19:07):
Okay, just want to emphasize howthe I did talk about how the
best qi is in the evening.
And I'm gonna just remind usthat we don't want to use the
best optimal qi right now topower through and get stuff
done.
We want to use the best optimalqi to help us calm down and
(19:27):
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 thatbecause we're in between the
autumn and the winter, this isthe time when the wind is
pernicious.
So it's still or especiallyimportant right now if you're
(19:50):
coming out tonight or you know,and 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, and but
especially the neck, back of theneck, wrists, and ankles are
very good, good ways to protectourselves from getting sick from
(20:11):
she qi, from evil chi that'swandering around, and letting
the wind go into the body, whichcan then cause arthritis and
things like that later on.
This cold wind.
It's important to make sure tobe cooking things this time of
year, eating things warm,drinking warm water, not cold
water.
And just rest when it gets to benine o'clock and you're like,
(20:34):
oh, just follow it.
Let it go.
Try not to push yourself to goout and be merry.
It's fine to just prioritizerest as being the medicine of
this time of year.
And remember the rest that comesin from now, you know, these
next three months is like unlikeany rest that we can get during
(20:57):
the summer, it's deeplyrestorative, deeply nourishing.
It has unbelievable power to uhcreate health in our systems and
longevity.
So the the Tung Shu, thisChinese almanac, ancient Chinese
almanac.
I'm gonna just read this littleexcerpt from it for this time of
(21:18):
year.
Does that work for everyone?
So it's called frost asdescends.
Yin encloses yang.
Earth buries fire.
The frost descends qinode iswhen autumn collapses into
(21:40):
winter.
Lesser yin gives way to greatyin.
On earth, stasis and frost areprevalent.
As the autumn descends intowinter, natural activity appears
to subside.
In fact, activity simplywithdraws deeper and deeper
(22:02):
inward and down.
The northwest wind carries inthe growing cold with
transitional damp.
Days grow short, youngdiminishes.
During this period, theenvironment grows ever more yin
and is characterized by frost.
(22:23):
Dampness and the earth rises.
Dampness and the earth dampnessin the form of earth rides the
cold wind and is variable.
Snow threatens.
The blustery wind is pernicious,cold and damp.
Yang, withdrawing in anddownward, must not be called
(22:47):
back up and out.
Dress warmly and stay out of thewind.
During this period, qi is bestat 8 p.m.
Negong is practiced inside whereit is warm.
Rub your belly until it turnsred.
Eat warm and nourishing mealsand go to bed early.
Even if the weather is not coldand temperature, do not get
(23:11):
caught in the wind.
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