Ancient Chinese sages considered the Moon to be a passive silver entity because it merely reflects the light of the Sun. In the worldview of one of the oldest cultures, Yin-Yang represents the endless movement and interaction of light and darkness, men and women. Moon – Yin, feminine and feminine essence, with a silvery light it illuminates the darkness of the night, protects with secret knowledge and herbs, provides peace and rest after a day of active life.
Today we know about the influence of the Earth's satellite on the processes occurring on our planet about the ebb and flow, about the influence of lunar cycles on health. I would like to know more how the sages who sought immortality, a long life without decrepit old age, subordinated the rhythm of their lives to the influence of nature and the Moon in particular. How secret knowledge, hidden by time and altered by retellings, can become healing habits of our vain everyday life.
One of the curious questions that comes to mind even with a superficial acquaintance with Chinese philosophy, unfortunately, in many of its practical manifestations already lost, is how are the phases of the moon and the 4 main elements related?
We can only assume, as the ancients thought, testing all their conclusions in practice, which is confirmed by the surviving theories that have come down to us in the canons, but many practices, alchemical experiments with which Avicenus and Confucius glorified their names among contemporaries have not been preserved.
Every morning, ancient people woke up with the first rays of the Sun to fall asleep already in the dark, when the illumination could only give them the flame of tamed fire and the moon. The light of the moon was different, in the full moon it was enough to move away from the fire far enough and see everything around it well, in the new moon the sky was illuminated only by the stars, and even taking into account the lack of television and the Internet, there was little light.
Winter gave way to summer, snow and ice turned into water, the water was either calm, like in a small lake, bubbling in a cauldron or falling like a waterfall. So, perhaps, a book of changes appeared, describing in 64 hexagrams the state of the elements: earth (earth, mountain), water (water, pond), air (wind, sky), fire (fire, thunder) in a sequence of 6 states of passivity and activity. The book of changes in antiquity has been edited repeatedly, in its history, of course, there are changes made by time, ruling dynasties and sages. Today, as before, the Canon of Change (I Ching or in the edition of the Zhou Dynasty – Zhou Yi), however, served as a key, in modern language – for divination, at the time of writing for predictions of the future.Hexagrams connect rhythms, sequences of changes in wildlife and in the bioenergy of a person who wants to know his future and make the right decision. Apparently, the sages were able to draw parallels between different events, their sequences and consequences.
Poets call the canon of changes a hymn to the eternal changing world, where light replaces darkness, and darkness is light.
In ancient times, twigs or flowers of yarrow were used in the prediction, is it strange that the position of the moon in the sky was not used, or did we simply not pay attention to this information?
Whatever the explanation, there are no practices for women in the canons of Confucius and other Chinese sages. In any case, since the middle of the 20th century, China has been actively collecting and popularizing the preserved knowledge and practices offering either a "warrior's way" such as in the Shao-lin monastery or methods of psychophysical health prevention are the same for men and women. Naturally, interest in martial arts is replaced all over the world by a craving for a healthy lifestyle, but the female essence, its difference and uniqueness somehow do not fall into the field of view of the recreated Chinese wisdom.
Leaving the territory of Chinese thinkers, we will preserve the foundations of their worldview, the structure of natural phenomena and the world around us, but in search of daily female habits, "morning exercises" and a healthy lifestyle, we turn to China's neighbor India, where the art of dance has been preserved for the glory of Indian cinema. Let's watch the dances of other countries of the East and the world.
Perhaps, in the repeated phases of the changing Moon, we will find a place in the dance for each of the elements and for the development of our unique female individuality, beauty and health.