By Dr Vanessa Strauss, Chinese Medicine Practitioner, Medical Astrologer, Acutonics Integrative Medicine Practitioner
In this article, we will explore four key questions to assess the vibrancy of your heart Qi, learn the tongue and pulses diagnosis, and an Acutonics treatment protocol for each. You will be able to self-treat, and offer it to family, friends and clients.
But first, let’s draw upon a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen called, Snow Queen, to better understand the archetypes of Venus and Capricorn.
In this story, a little girl named Gerda rescues her childhood sweetheart, a little boy named Kay, through the purity of her heart.
When an evil Hobgoblin places a cursed mirror in the sky, it shatters and breaks into a million pieces which are carried on the winds and fly into the eyes and hearts of the innocent, making everything they see ugly and bad. This is what Venus in Capricorn can feel like. Our relating faculty can become hardened and stoic, and we may lose sight of the beauty around us due to Capricorn’s ruthless shadow side that lacks compassion.
Meanwhile, little Gerda and Kay grow up next door to one another. They delight in growing roses together on the adjoining roof between their homes. Come winter, Gerda's grandmother tells the children of The Snow Queen, the mythical being in charge of all that is winter.
Not long after, Kay is struck by a piece of mirror. His personality turns sour, and he is especially cruel to Gerda and her Grandmother. One night, the Snow Queen appears and takes Kay to her palace in the north. She kisses him twice so he can not feel the cold and so he can forget about Gerda.
A cold winter climate with the heavy shadow-side of Capricorn’s energy, we too may feel numb and bleak like little Kay. The positive side of Capricorn is to endure and to have self-discipline, which is what little Gerda does out of love for Kay. She endures a long quest in search for him when everyone else has given up. After many adversities, Gerda succeeds in finding the whereabouts of Kay and her enduring love for him melts his heart, and the tears streaming from his eyes clears the shards of the cursed mirror.
This Snow Queen fairytale demonstrates the power of love through even the most grueling of times. With Venus retrograding in Capricorn this season, we may need to ignite Gerda’s prevailing love within our own hearts.
Venus holds guardianship over the heart, and we can draw upon Angeles Arrien’s description of ‘The Four Chambered Heart’ when assessing the aliveness of the Venus archetype in our consciousness and physiology. She explains “the four chambered heart as an internal tracking device that has been used cross culturally to assess if we have become depressed, disheartened or dispirited.”
All Venus themes, and particularly what can happen to the heart Qi with a Capricorn transit, can be well assessed by these four questions:
Is your heart full?
Does your heart feel open?
Is my heart clear?
Is my heart strong?
Before we explore the meaning of these questions, I would like to clarify what the Shen is in Chinese Medicine and Acutonics Integrative Medicine. We consider the heart to encompass not only the biological and physiological functions as an organ itself, but also the qualities of our consciousness. In fact, Shen (consciousness) is housed in the heart and can have two understandings:
1. Shen indicates the complex of mental faculties and thereby corresponds to the mind yet is specifically related to the heart.
2. Shen is considered to be the entire spectrum of mental and spiritual aspects related to a human being. Shen encompasses the spiritual components of all other organs - that is the Ethereal Soul (Hun/Liver), Corporeal Soul (Po/Lungs), Intellect (Yi/Spleen), Will Power (Zhi/Kidneys) and the Mind (Shen) itself.
Therefore, the Shen includes: all mental activity, the Five emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear, and pensiveness), our behaviors, the clarity of thought we have, memory, sleep and thinking.
To make a simple assessment of the Shen we can ask the four questions above.
1. Where in life am I half-hearted rather than full hearted? Am I living with enthusiasm, and do I have inspiration in my life? Is there an aspect in my life that I have outgrown or do I feel in the wrong place?
This can indicate the heart is not full which may be represented in Heart Qi, Yin, Yang or Blood Deficiency.
Acutonics Treatment 1
Earth Day middle frequency, Mars middle frequency and then Solar 7th middle frequency on ST 36 Su San Li and REN 6 for Qi deficiency (Tongue: normal color with quivering). Venus and Mars layering on P 6 AND SP 6 for building blood (pale tongue color and thin pulse), If yin deficient (Tongue peeled and mirrored pulse thin and choppy) use Sedna and Full moon layering on the water points: LIV 8, KID 10 and HT 3. If yang deficient (Pale tongue and slow or tight pulse) apply Solar 7th to KID 7, BL 23 & DU 4 to strengthen Yang and the Ming Men fire.
2. Where in my life do I carry a closed heart? This can be assessed by feeling shut down to life, feeling like you cannot set healthy boundaries and then fall into avoidance patterns and closing off to opportunities. Do you feel a curiosity towards your day? Can you allow yourself to be delighted by surprises and the unexpected?
In this situation we would need to resolve stagnation of Qi and possibly blood. To differentiate: The tongue will be purple in areas that have blood stagnation. The pulse will be wiry in the presentation of Qi and blood stagnation. So, we want to move the energy and invigorate the Qi and blood.
Acutonics Treatment 2
Using the 4 gates: LIV 3 and LI 4 Will promote the movement of Qi and Blood with Zodiac 3rd and Jupiter combination layered. Use Sedna and Jupiter on LIV 14 as Jupiter specifically relates to the Liver and has an expansive quality coupled with Sedna being a superconductor this feels potent for resolving stagnation and freeing the Liver Qi. In the event of Blood Stagnation, you may like to add in SP 10 and BL 17 using the same fork combination as for Liver 14. You may still need to address an underlying Qi and blood deficiency as this pathology can also result in avoidance patterns and the feeling of shutting out life due to a lack of energy, motivation, and inspiration.
3. Where in my life am I carrying the clouded doubting heart? When did you stop being enchanted with story, particularly your own life story? What are your favorite childhood stories? What are the stories you pass onto peers, children, or your colleagues?
Stories can help us clear the clouds of doubt by transmitting values and ethics. They instigate profound states of emotions enlivening the heart once more.
This pathology will involve a spleen QI deficiency and requires tonification of the spleen and the resolving of damp. You will notice a scalloped tongue with a thick white coat and a slippery pulse in this presentation.
Acutonics Treatment 3
Point combination: SP 9, ST 40 for the resolving of phlegm and damp using tuning forks Solar 7th layering. If hot and damp (tongue coat thick and yellow) then use Earth Day 5th on SP 6 and ST 36 to strengthen the Spleen and Stomach and SP 9 to clear damp heat. Then to clear the mind and lift Qi to the head, use Ohm/Mercury layering on DU 20 and an extra point Si Shen Gong.
4. Where in my life do I carry weak heartedness rather than strong heartedness? Where do I lack the courage to be who I could be?
Being strong hearted is stepping forward with courage from a foundation of your own merits. Strong hearted people believe they can make a difference. They are willing to move beyond the familiar and comfortable.
In this presentation we may find an underlying blood deficiency or Kidney Qi deficiency.
Acutonics Treatment 4
For blood deficiency use P 6 and SP 6 to build blood with Mid Earth Day 5th, Ohm/Mars, then Solar 7th. You could also use REN 4 layering with Venus and Mars. For Kidney deficiency, given the Kidneys house the Zhi/Will Power and Courage use KID 3, BL 23 and BL 52 with Ohm/Mars layering. Mars is the planet of courage and bravery. You may also find if the person lacks gall to make decisions and step forward into life, that it is helpful to use Ohm/Mars Layering on LIV 14, BL 18 and BL 19.
General Acutonics Treatment for the Heart
An effective treatment for people who feel disheartened or dispirited.
Anterior Treatment:
LU 1: Chiron/New Moon 5th, Chiron/Full Moon 6th, Sedna Chiron Middle interval.
REN 17: Layering Solar 7th
ST 36: Layering Solar 7th Buddha’s Triangle: HT 7, P 6, LU 9. Layering Venus and Mars on HT 7 and P 6. Layering Ohm/Mercury LU 9. The intention of this point combination is to open up and promote the free flow of energy in the chest. When there is a depression within the being there is generally a sensation of a stuffy heavy feeling in the chest, lungs, and a heavy heart. I have found this point combination can lift the person’s disposition, attitude, and physical posture.
Then add in the additional points given in the Four Chambered Heart assessment relative to the patients underlying presentation.
Follow up with a posterior treatment:
Spiritual points on the Bladder Meridian
BL 42: Po/Corporeal Soul for the spirit of the Lungs. Mercury/New Moon layering
BL 44: Shen/Mind for the spirit of the Heart. Jupiter/Venus Layering
BL 47: Hun/Ethereal Soul for the spirit of the Liver. Sedna/Jupiter layering
BL 49: Yi/Intellect spirit of the Spleen. Earth Day layering
BL 52: Zhi/Will Power spirit of the Kidneys. Layering Venus and Mars or if Yin deficient Sedna/Venus layering.
DU 4: Ming Men fire Solar 7th layering
KID 1: Grounding.
If available apply appropriate chimes off body following the meridian lines. For example: Ohm/Mercury chimes from LU 1 tracing the meridian above the person to LU 11.
You many like to end with 10 minutes of symphonic gong to release subconscious patterns and to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
Administer this treatment every day if you are self-treating or have access to a family member daily, otherwise 2 session per week for 2-3 weeks. If chronic then treatments may be administered three times in the first week, two sessions in the second week, one session in third week, and then one session every four weeks for maintenance.
Dr. Vanessa Strauss a Registered Dr of TCM is from Queensland, Australia. She is an Acutonics Integrative Medicine Practitioner, an Evolutionary Astrological Counsellor, and a Senior Kundalini Yoga Teacher. She is available for Astrological Counselling at Vanessa@centreforlife.com.au and can be found on Instagram: vanessa_strauss_astrology, and Facebook as Venessa Strauss.