the Anywhere Clinic

Today is the beginning of fall, 立秋 lìqiū by the Chinese agricultural calendar.

This is the season and the element I had the most trouble translating, even though the essence of the silent, killing season resonates in me so strongly that I started invoking her as ying in high school, years before I would learn about 容平 róng píng, acceptance and balance, reserve and poise...

Today is 立春, lìchūn, the Beginning of Spring by the lunar calendar. Interestingly, the Spring Festival, AKA Chinese New Year, does not begin for another 12 days. It starts on February 16 this year, and traditionally lasts 15 days.

I haven't really figured out yet how New Year is calculated in relation to the end of winter and beginning of spring.

Back to the solar term though, today we move into t...

Yesterday was the solar term 立夏 lì xìa, the beginning of summer. I lost my first patient on this day three years ago. Exactly one year later, we lost my partner's maternal grandfather. 

Since I became aware of the turning of the seasons and its effect on people, I've become...increasingly judgmental of the Gregorian? calendar which thinks that spring and autu...

Yesterday was Easter, as well as the solar term gu-yu, Grain Rain. It took me a little while to figure out that, unlike the (neo-)pagan Ostara, Grain Rain does not always coincide with Easter Sunday. Last year, for example, Easter Sunday was March 31, four days before qing-ming, Clear Brightness. Sometimes I wonder how I never noticed that the days and nights get longer and shorter with the seasons before I started studying Chinese medicine.