THE YEAR OF THE EARTH DOG
Ok, doggone it. I best be writing something up about the Dog year already, I’ve given a talk, and wagged my tongue about it quite a bit at work, so hot diggity, here it goes…
Earth Dog – It’s Double Earth (Dog is considered Earth Element). All in all a rather boring year compared to the last couple of firework years. (And we all say ‘hallelujah’! ) However there may be earthquakes, volcanos (earth making more earth), and landslides, literally and culturally.
The year presents the energy/Qi that is most at hand and most available, personally and culturally. It’s as if there is some kind of cosmic banquet and what’s being offered this year – the main seasonal dish being served – is what they are describing in this system
The Qi energy of the year is represented by animals – as seen in Nature and are directly observable (there is a Dragon too – who is a little bit of all of them). This cycle as described over thousands of years has a 60 years endlessly revolving cycle of 12 animals, who are then subcategorized into having 5 different elemental types. When we are 60, we are said to have been around the cycle once and now are fully ‘adult’ and human – so the last Earth Dog was in 1958. (there is also a Fire Dog, Metal Dog, Water Dog, and Wood Dog year in the 60 year cycle) The Dog in general is 11th in the cycle of 12 animals, so next year is the last of the 12 – the Pig. Than it returns to the 1st with the Rat providing initiation into a new cycle in 2020.
So the available energy of this year we can associate with what we observe in Dogs and their unique abilities.
So what do Earth Dogs do well? Where’s the good Qi? Simply put they are good sleeping, eating, protecting, loyalty, loving their family, worrying and generally can be friendly good characters.
Dog energy can teach us the wisdom of sleep. Dogs are great at that – they can be all worked up and yet instantly go into deep sleep. That’s big for us in this culture, we can learn more about that. About sleeping, and napping. You may need it after the last few years. Often a side-benefit of an acupuncture treatment is a really good nap, it can go very deep sometimes. If during sleep at night we can experience very deep. below REM sleep, it very nourishing and resetting and helpful in overcoming all kinds of pain, illness, and factors limiting longevity. Even someone wracked in pain during the day can experience a pain-free existence during deep sleep. Waking up well-rested is a sign of health and something I’m always asking about during a patient intake. It is a very good sign when it starts happening for someone who hasn’t experienced it in a long time. With Chinese medicine we use dietary and herbal therapy to address different causes and conditions that negatively affect sleep.
Dogs appreciate food. They like to eat, regular food, and they are not too particular. They don’t over-think it. So its a good year for home-cooked meals, gathering with your close friends and family, eating and – commonly – overeating. It’s a good year to work with strengthening your digestion so you have the capacity to be able to digest well and not have problems. There are simple remedies from many cultures – time tested diet and good herbal ideas properly prescribed. These might work better than preciousness and exclusion, or diets verging on food faddism. Figure it out a little, and pay attention (try not to eat with your ‘eyes’- ie reading at the same time) as it’s an easy year to gain weight in.
“Over-thinking weakens the Spleen” in Chinese medicine. Brooding creates a knot in the upper part of the digestion . There are very creative and complicated theories about what happens when we don’t initially digest food well as the result of problems further down in the intestinal tract. When the gut isn’t working well it can affect many aspects of life and instigate allergies, immune issues, and also affect sleep, energy, and the quality of life in general. So many ideas about ‘leaky gut’, ‘sibo’, ‘ibs’ and so on there are many ideas and countless expensive supplements and diet approaches. Better to address it simply at the source if possible. A good diet isn’t that complicated, start while you are still healthy.
And don’t forget to ask yourself – how’s my appetite? There’s a lot of intelligence in asking that. One reason that formulas like “Six Gentlemen” are called that is that is that the six herbs in that formula enhance the inherent intelligence of the upper digestion (known as “Spleen/Pi” in Chinese – and certainly involving the fascial area related to the spleen/pancreas/stomach/upper bowel/nerve connections to the brain).. No computer is as smart as you are in desiring the perfect meal that will instantly turn into good blood and create no more problems for you as it is digested so perfectly! So many cofactors – such great biological intelligence! A good appetite will help food digest more thoroughly, and help prevent problems further down the digestive track. Appetite is good, but keep in mind that ancient Daoist precept to “cease with sufficiency” ✋🏼
Trust your gut a little – not just with food, but with people, with creative endeavors, with finding the Justice inherent in the Dog year. Use your sensible and developing appropriate appetite to assess if that dogpack you’ve joined in is worthy of following.
It’s a good year for receiving acupuncture regularly – at least seasonally – as it’s so supportive at what we call ‘regulating Qi’. Often clients who initially come in for musculoskeletal pain syndromes wind up finding that acupuncture therapy is perhaps even more useful for everything else that seemed out of whack but hard to quite talk about. Indeed it helps ‘regulate’ digestion, respiration, energy, and sleep, and can restore primordial flow in a truly calming and deeply nourishing way,
I mentioned in this years Chinese New Year talk at Jacksonville that two events happened within hours of the Chinese New year day that seemed perhaps indicative of an aspect of the Dog year. One was the mass shooting in Florida, and the way the response of the students seemed to have some traction in the media and in society that which wasn’t true in past shooting events. Right away there seemed a dawning perhaps of a general feeling that things might just change this time around, that maybe the kids were right and just. That same day Mueller delivering his first actual indictments in the Russian probe. Looking a little dog-like himself, he suddenly seemed to be holding all the cards, and that dismissing him wasn’t going to be easy. People in an Earth Dog year want it to make sense in a plain-speaking, fair way. There’s just not a lot of energy left for clever manipulators and hucksters. People should appreciate old-fashioned authority IF its perceived as being even-handed and fair. Politically the clever Fire Monkey year (2016) shook up society and threw a lot of stuff in the air, in the clarity of the Fire Rooster (2017) people got to speak out (#metoo) and research and analyze and peck through, clean up. In the Earth Dog year the sentiment is more of the heart, how does this feel and who do I trust? It can be a great year for those who speak up and act from that place.
So I’m going to consider being a relaxed Dog whenever possible, though the past years have set up some turmoil for a lot of us. And though intolerance may seem to be on the rise, it may not be in style this year as Dogs don’t really care what color you are. They will bark at you if they don’t trust you, and roll over and let you love them once they do. It’s kind of simple, yet profound that things change, new circumstances arise. And clever bandits and invaders of society find themselves this year mired down in the mud. There’s a more than decent chance the villagers can come together and work with each other despite their differences to deal with these rascals while they are exposed and create a sea change in society. It’s a good year for that. Good for societal tectonic changes if we are not too comfortably snoozing the boring Earth Dog year away. And we may be too busy cozying up to their local family and friends while being unnecessarily concerned about security, as a dog can when it isn’t well-trained and barks out of fear. It’s up to us, folks….because…
even though it is a Double Earth year – in reality there is only one Earth.
Have a happy Earth Dog year!
🌏
Ken
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