Daoism and Celestial Practices

Daoists traditionally worked with celestial bodies and events through the macrocosmic/microcosmic relationship that both affects and reflects the bodies of human beings. Full moons and eclipses, for example, offer extraordinary opportunities to use the energy of the “heavens” to transform what is inside you. The “blood” moon caused by a lunar eclipse can be a particularly powerful time to dissolve obstacles and tap into the light of your true nature.

During the evening of Monday, Nov 7th and the early morning of Tuesday, Nov 8th we will experience the last full lunar eclipse for almost 3 years. The next one will occur in March 2025.

This one will be visible from the Energy Arts Dao Guan here in Colorado, weather permitting. But if you can’t see it where you are, it can still be felt and worked with. Likewise, full moons and eclipses of any kind can be felt for days before and after the date they are marked on the calendar. Thus, the window of opportunity is wider than just an exact moment or particular location.

The Nature of the Moon and the Lunar Eclipse

In Taoist energy theory, lunar eclipses are yin in nature and have a more penetrating effect than solar eclipses. Yin is dark and shadowy and much is hidden within it. Things that are yin morph in strange ways and it is hard to recognize or predict exactly what will come out of them.

Everyone has within them, within their yin nature and their unconscious mind, all sorts of things that they want, or don’t want, or are indecisive about. The value of an eclipse is that it can amplify these hidden areas inside of you. This does not guarantee that you’re going to understand what they mean, but you might at least begin to get the outlines, the shapes, or the conditions that compose them. During this time, thoughts, feelings, or sensations may arise that give you a hint of what these things are, or a direction that you think your life could go, though you don’t exactly know what it is. You just know it’s out there.

If you practice Daoist meditation, this is a time to really focus on inner dissolving until you crack through the many layers of the unconscious mind. You might find that those hidden answers begin to come to you. If you’re lucky, they will appear directly to your conscious mind and you’ll be able to start a dialogue with them. But even more importantly, they might start coming into things which you will manifest in the future, without exactly knowing why you’re doing them.

If you aim toward uncovering and resolving these things, you have a better chance that they will become more fruitful.

How to Practice

To work with the full moon or the eclipse, sit comfortably and settle in. Then take your time to do the following:

1. Let everything inside of you go very quiet
2. Let the energy of the moon penetrate inside you, from the skin to the bones
3. Let your mind expand outward
4. Go deep into stillness and emptiness
5. Begin the dissolving process

Try not to have any expectations or projections about what you’ll experience. Simply let it be what it is.

Listen below to an audio recording of further instructions and how to incorporate qigong moving practices (previously recorded but applicable to all lunar eclipses).

I hope you find this useful and that you take time to enjoy this rare phenomenon of nature. It is a good reminder of the wondrous universe we inhabit.

-Bruce Frantzis