Healing Your Ancestry

The Feng Shui BaGua, an arrangement of eight trigrams and a center, serves as a map to match various components of your life with the corresponding areas in your physical world. This can be placed over the shape of a lot, the floor plan of a house or an individual room.

My friend blogger Leigh at Notes from the Bluegrass said, in her recent blog post, Here, that she had done a ceremony with friends on healing the ancestors, and was going to be writing a post on it. I commented that I was anxious to read it as I had done something like this in Qigong, and she ask me about it, so I am sharing it here.

As I commented to Leigh, it has been awhile so I only have a foggy recollection, thank goodness for Google. So our Qigong Instrucor showed us the Feng Shui BaGua above and had us create it around us mentally, we picturing ourselves in the center facing the Fame trigram. We stood in a Wuji posture and additional did the exercise Lift Chi up, Pull Chi down, to cultivate Chi, a chi burst gives you the energetic fuel to elevate the shin, or spiritual chi.

So as you can see you have your past on your left and your future on the right. I don’t recall the specifics but we went from our own conception, visiting our parents in coitus, filling the room with light and love and back generation by generation, branch by branch repeating this. We also did the future on the right. This is about all I can recall.

This was a hurried post as I now must get back to school work, Speech Interpersonal Communications, Art History and Cinema.

The Golden Orb

The girl awakens to a luminous orb in the center of the room. The stone room is cold an barely a flicker of flame from the  candle on the wall. Were it not for her sense of the environment, she would surely be dreaming. The Orb was life size , as it pulsated, it beckoned her to enter.

~ This picture stoked the flame of my imagination.~

Sindy

Dream Dragon

The Barbary Coast

The Barbary Coast, San Francisco, 1897

The night air was thick and moist, the smell of pork and opium wafted from the lower rooms. Ah Toy stood looking out toward the wharf. She checked her bejeweled watch; she had been pacing the floor waiting on the ship barring her cargo. Her man in China had written her to expect one hundred young girls her had procured, most of them unsuspected until the voyage was underway.  Her business was booming now that she had bought this place on Pacific Avenue. She had rooms for the prostitutes to serve her clients, the stage and bar downstairs, a private opium den and some of San Francisco’s Knob Hill society could be unseen visiting. A knock on the door startled her, “Who is it?” she shouted at the intrusion. “A meek barely clad young girl entered bowing from her waist, “What is it Mi Li?” Ah hissed at the girl. “So sorry Madame Toy, but your man is below. He asked me to tell you. The girl dared to look up at Ah Toy. “Get back to work!” snarled Ah Toy at the girl, who bowed deeper as she left the room. Ah checked her image in the standing mirror, which reflected a slim, striking woman in a red silk dress, with rouged lips, kohl lined eyes and black hair pulled back tightly. The mirror reflected and outer beauty as no inner heart was burning. She was a hard like alabaster and just as cold.

Ah had very large and well paid guards to protect her and her interest. Her guards were a couple of very large brothers, Mick and Mike from Sydney; the pair were brutal and soulless. This pleased Ah Toy greatly as they had no problem executing any order she gave them. The wharf docks were particularly dangerous and she had employed extra men to escort her human cargo back to The Lotus Flower. Ah Toy laughed to herself at the irony of the name of her salon. “Evening Madame Toy,” says Mick removing his hat. Madame Toy merely nodded, “Are all the men in place?” she asked while putting on her gloves. “Yes Mam, Mike here got twelve of his best, meanest guys.” Mike holding his hat on his chest tilted his chin but stayed mute. The carriage pulled up to the steps and Mick opened the door. “One minute,” she said sternly and turned and went back inside. From outside the brothers her Madame Toy shouting loudly that everyone best stay in line and obey her head man Chow, while she was out, or there would be hell to pay. Mike gave Mick a look indicating his healthy respect for his boss, a dangerous woman.

Ah Toy was known as the Dragon Lady in San Francisco society and on Knob Hill. She was infamous, feared and respected. Politicians looked away in return for favors, they were given some of her rejects as indentured servants, nanny’s, maids and field workers. Some of the society men had a certain sexual perversity that brought them to her salon, brothel or opium den. Chow opened the door and stood there as Madame Toy descended the stairs, he bowed deeply as she turned back before entering the carriage assisted by Mick. She pulled a silk handkerchief from her bag and held it to her nose. Mick came inside the carriage, while Mike rode shotgun with the driver. The carriage jolted forward along the rutted road toward the docks.

(Excerpt from The Question)

Written by: Sindy (Me)

Ah Toy

 

Photo Still from The Limehouse Blues, 1931

In 1894,  A Chinese woman named Ah Toy landed in San Francisco, tall willowy in shape and beautiful to the eye she was a instant sensation.  She had left China with her husband who died a few weeks into the voyage, she became the captains mistress.  Once the voyage was over it did not take long for her to notice how the men of San Francisco  followed her with hungry eyes.

She rented a two room house, built a stage in one room with a partition  that had hole cut into it.  She hired a couple of big Chinese Men to stand guard and collect one ounce of gold for a short show.  Dressed in a fine silk gown,  slit to her waist on each side and nude underneath she would twist and turn a make exotic moves, she soon had the men stomping and shouting.  Soon the block was lined with men standing line and shouting for their turn.   Business was so good she soon rented several more places,.  Chinese women  were hired too preform in shifts, twenty four hours a day.  However many men started paying in brass instead of gold  causing Ah Toy to rethink he options.

Soon she was sending agents back to China to purchase unsuspecting females and importing them by the ship load.  She would select the best and most desirable ones  for her self and sell the rest a auction.   Some were bought by gentlemen to be used until they tired of them, then they would resale them when the novelty wore off.  These unfortunates had no say in their future, and no protection.  After the Civil War was over and slavery was abolished it did not apply to the wretched creatures.  They were not considered as human, not until 1910 with The Mann act made it illegal to transport women over state lines for immoral purposes, did any legislation exist.  But Chinese slave girls lasted into the 1920′s.

Ah Toy after picking the girls for her own purposes, would often turn the other women over to the captain and the crew to break them in.   Many of these girls ranged from 11 to 22 years in age.  Their lives were embarking on a road of living hell.  Before being sold the vast majority were herded into a vast underground vault known as the Queen’s Room.  Here they were  under the supervision of older prostitutes who were of no value on the street.  These older women taught the younger girls how to please men, and were taught to sing,”Chinese Girls very nice, you come inside please, I make you very happy.”  Hard word’s  for a 11 year old to intone.

Source

 

 

Dragon

Azure Dragon of the East from Chinese mythology.

Art by: Matt Fletcher

(Excerpt from The Question)

Shanzen went to her knapsack and retrieved a small hand flute. She began to play a beautiful and haunting melody that echoed into the valley below. The notes of the music moved with the wind around the mountain tops. Wei Lin began to dance her movements were fluid and graceful. She knew to seduce the wind with movement. Together they were beguiling the wind, mesmerizing into a somnambulist state. Now aware that there was an evil force that threatened her and her sister, she would remain vigilant and in an offensive mode. This was not unopposed ground, how naïve of her, until just a moment ago she had remained innocent and unaware of evil. She had been sheltered to a large degree from darkness, allowing her focus on enlightenment. Things were different now; she and her sister had a foe of dark magic. Still dancing Wei Lin raises her willowy arms in sway, “I call upon the Eight to come upon their clouds to protect us. Shanzen my sister plays the flute for you, Han Xiang Zi, I dance for you, Uncle, we are your kin, oh great immortals. We are the daughters of Quan Yin.”  Shanzen moved her melody to that of the song of love to the Great Mother, Quan Yin. The sweet gentle melody used to lull a babe to sleep. The wind came from the west steadily increasing with each second.  Shanzen increased the tempo of the music as Wei Lin movements were faster and more fluid until she appeared as a white mist whirling with the wind. The music and the wind surrounded her as she watched her sister as a mist materialize into that of a crane with wings outstretched floating on the wind. Shanzen started to feel weightlessness as if she had no body at all. She was no longer playing the flute yet she heard it still the melody in the wind. A strong gust of wind lifted her off the ground, she outstretched her arms, which were not arms at all but beautiful white wings. The pair of magnificent birds circled high above the valley, above the mountain tops. With the help of immortals and their magic, they had triumphed over the trial of the wind.

An ominous roar was heard in the east, the sound of a great beast. Gigantic wings were first seen flapping as the Azure Dragon appeared, looming larger and larger as it neared. The sound heard sounded of mighty thunder. An echoing roar came from the east as the Great Red Dragon approached breathing fire.  “Do not be fearful, sister,” says Wei Lin to Shanzen, “The dragons are our protectors.”

Written by: Sindy

Writers Note:

I am not certain about the dragons? Maybe too much? Or at least ethereal. Any opinions? Any readers of the story? odie mama what say you?

The Eight Immortals

The Eight Immortals have been part of Chinese oral history long befor they were recorded in the works of writers of various dynasties – Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming.
But it was Wu Yuantai (吳元泰 wú yuán taì) of the Ming dynasty who wrote ‘The Emergence of the Eight lmmortals and their Travels to the East’, since than the Eight began to be clearly distinguished.
In Chinese mythology the Eight Immortals are believed to know the secrets of nature. They represent separately male, female, the old, the young, the rich, the noble, the poor, and the humble Chinese.
Each Immortal’s power can be transferred to a tool of power, kind of a talisman associated with a certain meaning, that can give life or destroy evil.
Together, these eight tools are called “Hidden Eight Immortals” or “Covert Eight Immortals”.
The Eight were called the “Roaming Immortals” in Taoist legends.
Not only are they revered by Taoists, but by all Chinese society. They are the base for various literature, folk tales and are pictured in art. Symbols are representing the characteristic attributes of each Immortal and they were depicted on a wide variety of porcelain, bronze, ivory, and embroidered objects.

From the time of the Ming dynasty, there is another work by an unknown writer, called The “Eight Immortals Cross the Sea” (八仙過海; bā xiān guò hǎi). The legend is about the Immortals on a journey to attend the “Conference of the Magical Peach” (蟠桃會 pán taó huì) and on this journey they encounter an ocean. Instead of going across by theirclouds, the immortals way of transportation, their leader Lü Dongbin suggested, that they all together should use their magical powers to get across. Stemming from this, the Chinese proverb “The Eight Immortals cross the Sea, each reveals its divine power” indicates the situation that everybody should show off their powers to achieve a common goal.

The Eight Immortals are:

He Xian Gu (何仙姑; pinyin: Hé Xiān Gū)
The Immortal Woman
He Xian Gu’s immortality is due to a consistent diet of powdered mother-of-pearl and moonbeams. While swallowing it, she vowed to remain a virgin.
According to a different version, He Xian Gu, daughter of a 7th-century shopkeeper, ate a magic peach and became immortal. Since than she is flying about.
She is attributed by the lotus/lotus pond, which can cultivate people through meditation.
Occasionally she is attributed with a peach, the divine fruit of Gods, associated with immortality or a music instrument or a ladle to dispense wisdom, meditation and purity.

Cao Gou Jiu (曹國舅; pinyin: Cáo Guó Jiù)
The Royal Uncle Cao
Cao Gou Jiu is reputed to have been the brother of a 10th century Song Empress, the uncle to the Emperor of the Song Dynasty and the son of a military commander. His attribute, the castanets, are thought to be derived from the pass that gave him free access to the palace, a benefit of his rank.
He is also attributed with a jade tablet, which can purify the air.
According to another version, Cao Guo Jiu’s younger brother Cao Jingzhi was a bully, but no one dared to prosecute him because of his powerful connections, not even after he killed a person. Royal Uncle Cao was so overwhelmed by sadness and shame on his brother that he resigned his office and left home.
He is represented by wearing formal court dress, always the finest dress among all Eight Immortals, and carrying castanets.
Cao Gou Jiu is the patron deity of actors.

Li Tie Guai (李鐵拐; pinyin: Lĭ Tiĕ Guăi)
The Iron-Crutch Li
Because of his great skill at magic, Li Tie Guai, was able to free his soul from his body and aid and meet others in the celestial realm. Li Tie Guai, a good looking man used his skill frequently. Once, while his spirit was gone from his body, a disciple decided that Li Tie Guai was dead and burned his body as was traditional. When Li Tie Guai’s soul returned from its travels, he was forced to enter the body of a beggar.
He is represented as a lame beggar carrying a double gourd. The gourd, symbolising longevity and the ability to ward off evil, has a cloud emanating from it. The cloud represents the soul, depicted as a formless shape.
The gourd represents also helping the needy and relieve the distressed.
Sometimes Li Tie Guai is pictured riding the qilin.
Li Tie Guai is the emblem of the sick.

Lan Cai (蓝采和; pinyin: Lán Cǎihé)
The Immortal Hermaphrodite
Lan Cai is said to have wandered the streets as a beggar while singing a song about the brevity of mortal life. Her/his attribute is a basket of flowers associated with longevity, which she/he carries to remind viewers of the transience of life and with which she/he can communicate with gods.
She/he is variously portrayed as a youth, an aged man, or a girl; in modern pictures generally as a young boy.
She/he is represented by wearing a tattered blue gown and only one shoe.
Lan Cai is the patron deity of florists.

Lü Dongbin (呂洞賓; pinyin: Lǚ Dòngbīn)
The Chief leader
Lü Dongbin was an 8th-century scholar, who learned the secrets of Taoism from Zhuang Lin Quan. Dressed as a scholar, he is honoured as such. His attribute, the sword, which can subdue the evil, allowed him to travel the earth slaying dragons and fighting evil.
He is represented with a sword on his back and a fly brush in his hand.
Lü Dongbin is also the patron deity of barbers.

Han Xiang Zi (韓湘子; pinyin: Hán Xiāng Zi)
The Philosopher Han Xiang
Han Xiang Zi is said to have been the nephew of Han Yü, a famous scholar of the 9th century. Among his special skills was the ability to make flowers bloom instantaneously and smooth wild animals. His attribute is the flute, which can cause growth.
He is represented as a Happy Man.
Han Xiang Zi is the patron saint of musicians.

Zhang Guo Lao (張果老; pinyin: Zhāng Guǒ Lǎo)
The Elder Zhang Guo
Zhang Guo Lao is reputed to have been a recluse of the 7th or 8th century. He travelled with a white mule that could go incredible distances and then be folded up and placed in a wallet. Zhang Guo Lao had only to sprinkle water to the mule to reconstitute it for further use.
Zhang Guo Lao’s attribute is a drum made of a bamboo tube with two rods with which to strike it. The drum can cure life.
He is represented as an old man riding the mule, at times riding backwards.
Zhang Guo Lao is the emblem of old men.

Zhongli Quan (鐘离權; Pinyin: Zhōnglí Quán)
Zhongli Quan was reputed to have lived during the Zhou dynasty (1122-256 BC). Among his many powers were transmutation and the knowledge of the elixir of life. His attribute is a fan, which can bring the dead back to life.
He is represented as a Fat Man with his bare belly showing.
Zhongli Quan represents the military man.

Source

Tiger

“Transform!” wei Lin cried with a command as forceful as a crack of thunder announcing the onset of a gigantic storm.
Instantaneously the smoldering embers of the campfire exploded into an immense blue flame that shot straight up into the darkness of the cave and rolled along the caves ceiling out into he night sky. The impressive flame blasted the twins with an ice cold wave of air and showered them with a fluorescent blue glow that left azure sparks that shimmered upon their bodies and all around them. The sound of the blast bore the familiar boom and crackle of the new years firecrackers that Shanzen loved. Their pop and fizzle echoed throughout the cave. Shanzen’s mind was filled with confusion but she was certain she felt the freeze of ice crystals on skin precisely where the blue sparks had upon her. She instinctively brushed their icy cool tingle away from her face. Their coldness melted on her palms and turned to water.
Shanzen now knew an incredible truth about her long lost twin sister. Wei line was indeed a powerful entity. Wei lin possessed the all powerful knowledge of magic!
“The ice crystals! They’re real Wei lin!” Shanzen stammered with disbelief. “what in the holy name of all the gods have you done?”
How could Wei lin have done such a thing? No one in the monastery knew magic. The monks knew it was dangerous, strictly forbidden. Practitioners were banished for life, never to return. Some especially powerful mages had been thrown from the cliffs to their deaths.
“Keep quiet sister. Not a word.” Wei lin instructed Shanzen, her form not more than a blue blur.
The brightness of the explosion had shocked Shanzens eyes and left an indigo aura in them that tinted her vision. In the quickness of a second Shanzen thought of how thankful she was that the fireball had contained Wei lins element of water and ice, rather than her own. Surely the two of them would have burst completely into flame and died horrible, painful deaths if it had. It would have been days before the master monks found the devestating site of the twins charred remains clinging to each other in that cave high atop the mounts. By that time their souls would have passed to a place beyond the reach of blessed reincarnation.
The cave was still and dark. In that stillness Shanzen made out a faint noise, like the sound of an animals growl. Or was it a bark? Somehow it was both yet not quite either. What would make such a sound? And how was it that it was just outside the cave entrance and at the back of the cave at the same time. How could this be? shanzen had no answer. She dared not ask Wei Lin.
“Focus Shanzen! Your acuity is what fuels the flame. It must not die.” Wei Lin ordered her sister.
Her sharp tone reminded shanzen of her most trusted kung fu instructor master lee’s barking voice when he instructed Shanzen and the other students on how to perform the dancing crane death kick, the most formidable of the fighting kicks.
Shanzen gathered herself and concentrated all her spirit energy on the fire pit, summoning it to stay lit. The dying blue embers in the hearth responded and began to glow a little brighter.
Wei lin began to chant again in a quieter and softer tone, as if coaxing the embers the way a mother bird might encourage a nestling to take its first flight.
The young woman’s hands started to dance over a medium sized blue flame that now burned at the fire pits center. A rich blue smoke began to rise from the smoldering sapphire embers. It swirled and danced among the two kneeling twins. It took specific shapes that smoke could never have formed if rising naturally….perfect circles and dynamic zig zags appeared and dissipated in synchronized routines that filled the cave with a dizzying blanket of haze. Its movements made whispers about the cave that tickled shanzens ears.
“Open your eyes Shanzen!” Wei lin called. “And your mind..”
“My eyes are open! What am i supposed to see? I only see smoke!” called Shanzen to her twin. But the pleasant whisper of the smoke had grown to a roaring rush louder than all the monks calling for meditation at once had filled the cave and drowned out her questioning voice before it had a chance to reach wei lins ears.
“Transform!” Wei lin yelled again, loud enough to be heard over the roaring sound in the cave.
The blue smoke’s hue began to fade like deep black calligraphy ink fades to grey when water is added to it. but unlike the black ink changing to a lesser shade of itself, the blue smoke ranged the color spectrum of the rainbow as it changed. First it assumed a green as brilliant as any emerald upon the ring of the dowager empress, then a rich red like the crimson lanterns in the great hall when lit. Next it turned purple like the silk robes taoists priest word during special ceremonies during dynasties past, and finally its melted into a warm shapeless yellow that faded magically into a fuzzy orange brown, all the while swirling around the girls in the cave.
Black dots appeared about the length of the coloured smoke as it began to descend from the cave ceiling down onto the twins. Shanzen observed with awe as the burnt orange cloak enveloping them collapsed like a blanket of morning mist on her and wei lins body. The black dots lengthened and became horizontal lines, outlined by a brilliant white in certain places.
“Its…. Embrace.. it…!” Wei lin cried through the roar.
Shanzen only heard parts of what her sister was trying to say. As wei lin spoke she seemed to be inhaling large quantities of the smoke into her mouth and nose, quantities that might kill her.
Wei Lins face appeared to change into a different form under the blanket of the colorful smoke. Her aquiline features took on feline shapes; wide set almond eyes, a broad flat nose and mouth, dagger sharp white teeth, and big round ears..then her body followed. Within the span of a minute shanzen’s twin looked perfectly like a tiger, a tiger wearing Wei lin’s shreded brown tunic and pants. Her deep orange with jet bladck striped fur with beautiful white highlight peaked through what remained of the too small human clothes.
“Sister! Is that you! Shanzen cried through the roar “you’re a…tiger!”..

(Excerpt from The Question)

written by: odie mama

Zhangjiajie Mountains, China

-Zhangjiajie Mountains, China-

These are the mountain peaks that inspired Golden Globes Best Director winner James Cameron for his latest blockbuster, Avatar. These Mountain Peaks that were usually referred to as “South Pillar of the Heaven” were recently official renamed “Hallelujah Mountains”.

Zhangjiajie is about 150 meters above the ground at the height of 1,074 meters above sea level, is a nationally renowned scenic attraction, among “three thousand mountain peaks” in the tourist city of Zhangjiajie in central China’s Hunan province.

Copyright: Vladimir Popov

Chamber Of Lights

The two girls looked around and found themselves in another candle lit room that was even bigger than the towering great tapestry room had been. Perhaps 3 times as large. But where the other room was tall, this room was long. The two lengthwise walls of the rooms were lined with goblets too numerous to count. They filled the whole length of the room. Master Wu stood and motioned to Wei lin to choose a goblet from the right side of the chamber where a gigantic length of expensive blue silk covered the wall, and for Shanzen to pick a goblet of her own from the opposite wall, covered with a what must have been the kingdoms entire supply of blood red silk. The twins were unsure which cup to pick for there were so many. “Where to start….?” they thought.
Each felt a gentle push from Master Wu that helped them to step forward. Shanzen approached the fire colored side of the room and Wei lin approached the side filled with the hue of ice blue. The twins forced all remaining fears and anxiety out of their minds and began the important task of goblet picking.
Shanzen chose her goblet first at Master Wus urging; another gentle push. She made her way quickly down the row. She was only 9 paces away from Wu and LIn when her hand shot out seemingly of its own volition and grasped a cup. “This is the one!” she whispered as her own voice jumped out of her. She wasnt sure how it had all happened, but there was a doubtless certainty to her own voice and the swift movement of her hand as shed done so.
With her delicate fingers wrapped tightly around the large goblet she returned to master Wus side. For the first time she gave her decision a genuine look. She had chosen a chalice of unusual shape. It was only rounded and bejeweled on three sides. The fourth was flat except for a few strange jagged points and had no ornamentation or gold, as if it had fallen on its side or on the ground while it was being made. Shanzen prayed that she her unconscious self had chosen wisely, bur her fully aware self was worried . Why she had picked such a lopsided object from the infinite number of perfectly shaped, beautifully ornamented choices before her?
“Ive failed” she thought. She wanted to cry, but bit her lower lip instead as she handed the goblet to Master Wu. He showed no reaction to her choice. He simply pointed to Wei Lin that it was her turn to choose. Would her twin fail as well Shanzen thought. “Please be our redemption”

(Excerpt from The Story)

writing in this section

odie mama