Title : An introduction to alchemical facial acupuncture: Sparking the shen
Abstract:
Alchemy, one of the most venerable of spiritual technologies, with origins shrouded in mystery, represents a transformative journey of the soul; the alchemist strives, through the arcane processes of the opus, to achieve a state of purification, perfection, and ultimately an elevated condition of enlightenment, an enhanced lifespan, even immortality. The quest is not merely external but deeply internal, focusing on refining one’s inner world to reach a state of harmony and profound understanding of the universe. The face, the most emotive part of the body, provides eloquent testimony as to the benefits of healthy aging. Everything is visible in the face; the seven emotions, discoloration, trauma and abuse all reveal themselves to us as we catch a glimpse of the inner workings of the individual’s constitutional functioning. This is reflective of a time-honored axiom of Chinese medicine: “The Shen leads the Qi.” An unbalanced spirit or psyche can disturb the energy, a disharmony which can be discerned from an examination of the facial expression. When out of balance, emotions can directly permeate the organ systems, causing illness. They are the most important causes of internal constitutional dysfunction, and reveal themselves to us in the facial terrain, which has evolved through untold eons of time to express those same emotional states. Unlike the sealed retort of Western alchemy, the body, the alchemical vessel of the Eastern model, has a “window” into its otherwise hidden depths, the face.The facial landscape, with its intricate interplay of nerves, muscles and blood vessels, more readily displays for us changes such as increased Shen, radiance in the complexion, improvements in scars, facial wrinkles, etc., and in the patient’s general emotional/spiritual disposition. These recognizable results of a facial acupuncture treatment provide visible evidence that may not be as readily obtained from a purely constitutional treatment. This permits the alchemist-practitioner to witness the dynamics of alchemical transformation at first hand, simply by observing the patient’s face. This capacity of the face to make manifest the ebb and flow of our inner feeling life, as well as provide a barometer for our well-being, expresses to us an interesting variation upon one of the most ancient and fundamental of alchemical maxims, attributed to the mythical Hermes Trismegistus, the tutelary spirit of alchemy, and inscribed upon the legendary Emerald Tablet – “as above, so below” – which we might reformulate, in this context, as “as within, so without.” In the context of what we can refer to as “facial” alchemy, facial and constitutional needling liberates Shen spirit from within the body, which manifests as increased radiance in the face. The face thereby provides a “window” into the alchemical retort, allowing us to witness the transformative process as it takes place. We refer to this process as “sparking” the Shen.
