FIVE SPIRITS
Alchemical Acupuncture for Psychological and Spiritual Healing
“The system of the Five Spirits is a symbolic representation of human consciousness. Each spirit presides over a particular aspect of the nervous system, a specific form of awareness and a precisely defined level of the psyche. Each spirit not only has its own function and terrain but also functions as an expression of the divine in human life.”
Five Spirits has been capturing the hearts and imaginations of practitioners and people all over the world since its publication in 2006. The book introduces readers to wushen, the little-known Taoist “chakra system”—a mythical map of the nervous system that returns the sacred to the domain of embodied healing. Part I presents an over-view of the alchemical principals that form the foundation of acupuncture’s esoteric psycho-spiritual tradition. In Part II, we descend the mountain of the spirits with individual chapters for each spirit that includes the psychological or soul function as well as common associated symptoms and treatment. Part III explores the stages of transformation and offers guidance on how to skillfully navigate the chaotic waters that are a necessary part of any truly transformational healing experience.
The book resists the temptation to translate Chinese medicine into a Western form of understanding, but instead supports and expansion of Western consciousness that allows us to access the magical-mythical awareness at the heart of acupuncture’s inner tradition. Through myth, symbols, dreams, and clinical case examples, Five Spirits will open you to Chinese medicine as a form of alchemy. This perspective helps us to recognize the spiritual implications of our everyday suffering and to work effectively with the anxiety, confusion, anger, addiction, and other non-physical ‘soul’ symptoms that plague modern culture. The five spirits come to us through the mists of time to shine a light for the path of healing.
THE BOOK INCLUDES
- A new, unique, and personal exploration of key concepts at the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine, including Tao, yin and yang, wuwei, authentic nature, the Five Elements as well as Lorie’s original vision of the Five Spirits as the inner mountain or spiritual axis of the Self.
- Individual chapters on each of the Five Spirits with etymological references, poetic associations, symptoms, treatment strategies, transformational possibilities, and illuminating case studies.
- Treatment protocols and practices for specific spirit-level symptoms.
- An in-depth exploration of alchemical ideas and symbols that will deepen your understanding of transformational healing and your effectiveness in the treatment room.
- A revisioning of impasse, chaos, and uncertainty as necessary stages of personal growth.
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ENDORSEMENTS
Michael J. Gelb
Author, How to Think Like Leonardo daVinci and BodyLearning: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique
“In Five Spirits, Lorie Dechar brings the long-forgotten tradition of the Mysterious Feminine back to the practice of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. She presents a compelling vision of the body as a vessel of spiritual transformation and provides life-changing, vivifying revelations about the true nature of health. This book offers a unique, invaluable approach to healing.”
Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée, Sinologist
Author, Rooted in Spirit and The Seven Emotions
“A journey into Chinese medicine through a very personal vision. The author looks for a psychospiritual healing and development and presents it with her rich imagination and poetic language, inspired by Chinese characters and thinkers as well as by Western philosophers.”
Rober M. Duggan
President Tai Sophia Institute, author, Common Sense for the Healing Arts
“Every healer creates a new medicine – a new form of service for each individual who comes to her. Readers of Five Spirits are privileged to catch a glimpse of the vast array of possibilities from ancient wisdom that have arisen in this wonderful practitioner, who creates a unique world of transformational healing through her hands, her needle, her touch and her word.”
Library Journal
“Dechar’s book is admirable in its scope…. She strives not to translate Chinese medicine into a Western form of understanding but instead supports Western expansion of consciousness to allow for an understanding of this type of reality. Recommended for public libraries and alternative medicine collections and highly recommended for students in the field.”
Alison Hartman
“Thank you so much! I have not been this inspired in a long time as I have through hearing your distillation and perspective of the Five Spirits. This is certainly a big missing piece in our original education years ago. I have read and heard what others have said about this subject over the years, but the way you have woven it into a “system” or way of seeing in its own right is really magical.”
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