Saturday, 21st of November

Master Mouse Says:

The Lunar Lodge for today is THE STOMACH.  Among the Five Organs in the body, the stomach occupies the center position, and functions within the phase of Earth.  This Lunar Lodge is not the center of the Western Palace;  that comes tomorrow.  But among the four Saturdays in the cycle, this is the strongest, the most tolerant under stress, and the most solidly well-balanced.  In the picture of the White Tiger spelled out this week through the Western Palace of the zodiac, THE STOMACH is almost at the center;  not quite in the center position, but perhaps leading there.

The character for THE STOMACH is a picture of food being contained within the hollow organ.  There, food begins its transmution into a form which can benefit the purposes of the body at large.  This Lunar Lodge thus implies the appropriateness of things going to their proper place, to supply their proper benefit:  money into banks, medicines into the body, even corpses into graves.  The actions most indicated today are not heroic, or highly dramatic, or uncommonly note-worthy.  The emphasis is on the regularities of life, and the way proper actions interact with other proper actions, making rhythm, flow, responsiveness, and vitality.  This is the model of the Five Organs in maintaining health, the balance of the Five Phases in maintaining life.

The spirit animal for THE STOMACH is the Pheasant, which is almost a “mascot” for the Autumn.  After harvest, the fields are cleared.  This makes them attractive to birds and animals gleaning through the fields for fallen grain, and for insects uncovered and easier to catch in the increasing cold.  The fields are also conveniently open for the hunter, able now more easily to see the quarry, to get a clear shot, and to bring home a full bag of game to help fill the larder for the long winter.  Interestingly, pheasant meat is one of the few foods which enters all 12 meridians equally.  Thus the Pheasant points again to the broad tolerance of THE STOMACH, and to its function of receiving the wide and variant richness of the outer world, and effectively beginning its dispersal to all the other organs and body parts, in balance and counter-balance.  The Pheasant is an indicator that on this day, dispersal is not random or unintelligent;  it is direct, efficient, nourishing.

The Solar Index today is DANGER, and is associated with the month of high heat in summer, from early July to early August.  This Solar Index is written with the same character as the Lunar Lodge THE ROOFTOP.  This character is a picture of a person standing on the edge of a cliff or precipice.  In the case of the Lunar Lodge, this means the caution necessary when working on the roof of a house;  working on the roof equals danger, as it were.  In more general use, the character can be translated as “danger,” “daring,” or “tricky.”

The high heat of summer is a condition of “danger” in its own right, as the blast of Yang Heat can sink deep into the unprotected body, and produce a raft of imbalances and difficulties through the following seasons.  Excess Yang Heat deep in the body can well up suddenly during Winter, when it should more properly be slowly sifting out of the body;  this can give opening to disease, and make symptoms during illness more volatile, more problematic to re-balance, and even bring on permanent damage or death.

The day of DANGER also points to the trickiness of this part of the growing season;  the crops are full and high in the fields, and their very fullness makes them open to any number of sources of damage.  Wind and hailstorms, whipped up by the excess Yang in the weather, can bring mechanical damage.  Thunderstorms can bring lightning, and if they don’t also bring enough rain, lightning can lead to fire.  If no rains fall at all, the high heat can quickly wither the crops.  If too much rain falls, some crops will burst open before fully ripe, others may develop mold or other damp problems.  It’s a time of worry for the farmer;  the harvest is so easy to visualize, yet might be so easy to lose!  If all goes well, the worry will turn to relief.  If not, there may be nothing to be done about it.

Though this Solar Index is noted with double black dots in the Ming Li Tong Shu, in many almanacs it is printed in red.  This is both to signify the high Yang energy of the day (which gives it a buoyant, productive feeling), and to note that it is particularly appropriate for weddings.  The feeling of “getting close to the edge” (but not over it!) sets the proper tone of tipsy good spirits so important for family and honored guests.  Capturing the energy of high Yang as it begins to move towards Yin, also nourishes fertility in the couple, and encourages boys to be born in the next generation.  This is a day for feeling “brilliant,” …and not dancing blithely too close to the edge.

Talk to the Animals

Born in the Year of the Rat: Today’s not a day of “full blockage,” but any way in which you decline the Herculean choice of “duty before pleasure,” will make you feel that you did the right thing.  Staying close to home is more productive than leaving the house, and if your vitality or mental focus sag, try doing something that’s “just a frivolous lark” for 15 minutes or so.  Set a timer.  When you hear the “DING!” you’ll be perfectly ready to get back to work.  Gardening or house-work are fine, but do not allow it to turn into a marathon session.  If you are working outside, avoid the mid-day.  Even if it’s cold outside, the middle hours today have a lot of turbulent Yang in them.  Too much for you!  Meeting and conversing are also fine, though not optimum.  Just don’t let things get serious.  Go on:  giggle!

Born in the Year of the Ox: You may find yourself groaning, rolling your eyes, and muttering: “Here we go again!”  Nothing much to surprise you today, but it’s not really going to last long either, so try to keep a jovial tone.  Well, at least you should think it’s “jovial.”  Folks around you are liable to accuse you of acting grim, or worse.  Do not allow yourself to utter the currently universal “Whatever!” unless you really want to spook people.  They’re liable to interpret it as The Sinking of the Titanic, when you only meant “oh, well….”  If you wanted to act at the height of efficiency, you’d adopt a different phrase: “How are we doing here?”  This should be uttered after a 3 second pause in activity.  The strange thing is that even if those around you think they need a two-hour nap, just that question will feel to them like you’ve hit their reset buttons.

Born in the Year of the Tiger: Today you get to play, play, play.  Planning a clear schedule will keep you available to make happy response to impromptu invitations, or to dash out on calls for a full-on Tiger Team Rescue Response.  You also have the option of packing every hour with Plans (….though, of course, I’d recommend Plans with Three Levels of Alternate Contingency.)  Please pass on what seems to be a “deep opportunity to explain things.”  Those around you want to see the muscles rippling, and the tail flicking, and the Big Teeth glinting in your glee.  And you’ll only really be enjoying the day if you’re satisfying their desires.  Tomorrow you may get the cozy hour by the fireplace to think back, and hold forth in high philosophical tone, either with others or all by yourself.  Today: instead of discourse, roaring and purring, please.

Born in the Year of the Hare: Things relax a bit today, and strangely, also get more exciting.  The whole world will seem like a day at the races;  not that “everything’s a gamble,” but that everything has the tingling sense of danger, possibility, and confusion that fill a world where the people think “everything’s a gamble.”  Now, if you want to turn today into a very instructive experience:  Hey!  Go to the races!  But whether you’re watching the sheets tumble dry at the laundromat, or picking out a tasty-but-not-too-expensive cheese for tonight’s dinner, pay attention to that zing in the air.  If you’re feeling lucky about it, taking a chance is highly auspicious.  If you’re feeling dejected or frustrated, I repeat myself:  ”pay attention to that zing in the air.”

Born in the Year of the Dragon: The reins are falling into your grasp today, but if you’re wise about it, you’ll pass over the obvious Dragon option of swooping off in your most dramatic manner.  Instead, render the trick of slo-mo shock and awe.  Think of it as hypnosis-marrying-art:  first we create rapport, then we test the willingness to go along, and then we lift the huge vehicle miraculously off the pavement.  This advice will also help you avoid the embarrassment of discovering (as you are likely to do tomorrow) that the vehicle wasn’t fully gassed up before you rose up into the clouds.  Even if it’s not your “regular style,” aim for small scale, and precise attention.  The world will give you much more than you seem to be asking for.  If you find yourself arguing, you don’t have to be the one who’s “wrong,” but you do need to stop arguing.

Born in the Year of the Snake: You’re in great danger today of nominating some innocent bystander to be your Immediate Savior, and placing your whole portfolio of irritations into that person’s hands.  Unless you know you’re only engaging in delaying tactics, this will accomplish nothing.  In the words of Ace of Base: “No-one’s gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong.”  Or in the words of the traditional Appalachian saying:  ”Never try to teach a pig to sing.  It’s a waste of your time, and it just annoys the pig.”  That being said, you could flip the whole thing around for everybody, by nominating some innocent bystander to be your Immediate Protegé.  Don’t try to resolve the entire portfolio of their irritations.  Instead, show them what you can see they are good for by leading them to “just do it.”  Sometimes the art of succeeding lies in not pushing your agenda.

Born in the Year of the Horse: We are all very much aware of how much you take delight in “getting to work,” and feeling the results drop artfully into the slot.  Today there’s a confusion between “the work” and “the delight.” This may cause you to think the entire machinery of your world has developed a deep and serious flaw.  This isn’t really the case, and looking deeper and deeper into the space between “what is done” and “why it’s done” will produce only deeper and deeper confusion.  Fortunately, no one around has any investment in letting you jimmy around with the machinery in this way, today.  In fact, almost everybody around you has a Really Cool Idea of what to do at the moment (whenever that turns up) that requires only one reponse: “Let’s try that!”  Soon you’ll be up and running, and who cares how?  Tomorrow, if you’re still interested in that question, you’ll have several chances to button-hole a wandering professor, and demand a sidewalk seminar.  Tomorrow: “Why?”  Today:  ”Wheee!”

Born in the Year of the Sheep: Not everyone around you today is interested in clarification or explanation, but some are.  Not everyone around you today is looking for a waltz across the floor, a deep bow, and a polite departure, but some are.  Not everyone around you today is asking you to take a look at the whole problem, draw up a white paper, and submit it in triplicate for dedicated review, but some are.  So, quite obviously, your task today is to figure out:  Who is who???  Think of it as a social matching puzzle.  Ask some brief, simple questions, and start the Contingent Lists in that enormous mind-space you’ve got going.  Once you’ve got the greatest likelihoods lined up, the questions can get deeper and more definitive.  The whole thing will be highly entertaining, I promise you, even if slightly tinged with possibilities of doom.  Possiblities, I say.  (That’s just to keep it interesting.)  Tomorrow:  Chocolate pudding.  Yum.

Born in the Year of the Monkey: It will be easy to focus today, and really get some things accomplished if you just remember not to play “Good Cop, Bad Cop.”  Truth of heart is key, and we’re not talking here about talking about “truth of heart.”  If you’ve said more than three words in explanation, then you’re no longer explaining;  you’re still trying to figure it out.  That’s not bad, as far as it goes, but it will mean you miss the opportunity of the moment.  It’s better to excuse yourself for a moment, lapse into silence, and then just start giving directions.  If it seems fitting to dress them up with exuberance and showmanship, that’s fine.  Just not necessary.  The brave among you will take this advice as permission to drop into Full Drill Instructor Mode.  To which, I say:  ”SIR!! YES, SIR!!”

Born in the Year of the Fowl: Things today are made difficult by the issue of pace.  The slower you go, the faster you’ll make progress.  This will seem the opposite of your inclinations, but it’s nonetheless true.  If you’re busy with things, take any opportunity to put a pause into the affairs of the day.  Even 1.5 seconds between words in a sentence will work wonders.  Practice saying to yourself:  ”Relax!… There’s all… the time… in the world….”  Better, say it aloud in any conversation you can!  The world, I promise you, will be hungry for this reassurance.  And your famous exactitude will suddenly appear brilliantly clear, and even heart-warming, to the others-in-the-room.  As remarkable and captivating as hummingbirds are, one cannot truly appreciate their special powers and elegance until they are seen in super slow motion.  Catch that pace today, and you will hummmmmmm…….

Born in the Year of the Dog: You may well have promised yourself that this would definitely be the day you get to ease off the pace, and (finally! >whew!<) get caught up and recuperated.  Strangely, that will most likely happen in full by about 10 in the morning.  Well…. Then what are you going to do?  The answer is:  follow pretty much whatever passes under your nose!  This is one of those truly sweet days when each event folds seamlessly into the next, with no concerns over completion, or rationality, or schedules, or even (gasp!) good manners.  Well, …I say “no concerns,”  but I mean: “no concerns, today.”  There might be a bill to pay tomorrow, but it’s not going to be onerous, and it might well be quite satisfying.  So: “no concerns, today.”  And:  ”Enjoy!”

Born in the Year of the Pig: Today you can exercise the delicacy of your taste, and the sophistication of your view, to your heart’s content.  Almost everyone is willing to pull up a chair, and drink it all in.  The only danger for you is the teasing temptation to go right off the deep end.  Even if you’re telling The Truth As It Actually Happened, going into every detail is frequently more interesting to the teller than to the audience.  Leave some mystery in the air.  Practice the art of the tease.  It’s not that you’re not going to follow through, but that you want to save something to savor next time.  Your “character from history or literature” is Scheherazade, who began each new story with no intention of completing it …until tomorrow!  Come on, you’re good at this!

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Words to the Wise: The Year is Purple Fire:  traveling north is difficult.  The Moon is Yellow Earth:  don’t go out the door.  The Day is Purple Fire:  north-west for lucky repose.

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“First three bites: soothe starvation.  Last three bites: shorten life.  Middle three bites:  balance Five Organs .”

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