Hello Friends of Flying Needle!
Happy Lesser Heat!
- fifth summer solar node -
Hope this finds you well during these challenging times!
Here in Chapel Hill we are getting a respite from the high heat and humidity with a mild 92°F and 59% humidity. As I write this, it is 2p on July 4th.
Happy (belated) Interdependence Day for those who celebrate!
There's a faint breeze. I haven't heard any birdsong today. Not a huge suprise since this is the time of year when they typically diminish their chorus.
Speaking of choruses, here in the North Carolina Piedmont, we aren't in the territory of Brood XIV cicadas so we missed their ecodelic symphony.
Did you hear and feel them where you are?
In the Chinese lunisolar calendar, Summer is almost at its end. Lesser, Minor, or Slight Heat, the fifth of six summer solar nodes, begins on July 6th. Generally, this is start of the hottest time of the year. Though after the recent heat dome induced temperatures, it feels like we got an early start.
Summer's firey expansive heat gives rise to Autumn's dryness and gathering in. You can observe this most easily in the the way the vibrant green leaves begin to lose their lustre and fluid flexibility. Yang and yin interacting and interdependently dancing their ceaseless transformations.
Attending to transormation and change, is the fundamental perceptual orientation and practice that is at the heart of the relationally centered processual worldview that gives rise to Chinese medicine.
Simply put - it is a way of sensing, feeling, and acting within the living world.
That practice is always good medicine. It helps us to flow with the changes irrespective of our preferences.
It is especially precious medicine during particularly challenging times.
Like the times we find ourselves in.
There are numerous spaces in which folks far more eloquent and knowledgeable than myself are speaking and writing about those challenges at length. Given that, it bears stating that I don't mention the following to suggest that they are more important, simply that I am witnessing and experiencing their direct impact.
NC-04, a relatively small congressional district which includes Chapel Hill, Durham, and Pittsboro, has been the recipient of 186 separate DOGE cuts. The entire state of Alaska received 149. For reference the state of Alaska, is 1074% larger than the entire state of North Carolina.
In addition, the private sector lost 33,000 jobs in June. Unemployment numbers are the highest they've been since their Pandemic peak.
Many folks that I work with have lost their jobs, or don't know what will happen to their job once the current money runs out. My heart and well wishes go out to them, and everyone else who is experiencing challenges. It is, to say the least, a time of great precarity on many levels.
I have seen a decrease in the number of new patient inquiries that temporally tracks with the aforementioned cuts, and job losses. This is concerning both on a financial level, and since it speaks to folks who may need support not meeting that need.
Given that here are some options for mutual aid:
There are lower cost acupuncture-only, and 30 min manual sessions available.
Summer Referral Special – if someone you refer books and attends a new patient appointment, you can have an acupuncture only, or 30 min manual session on me as an expression of gratitude. You could also credit that $100 to another session of your choice, or to a friend in need. Please keep in mind, due to HIPAA the new patient will need to tell me that you referred them.
If you find yourself in need of more support than these two options provide, please reach out to me directly and let's find a way to meet that need.
Adjacent to that, I am once again offering mobile community acupuncture for groups of 4+. In other words, if 4 or more folks would like community acupuncture treatement, I will come to you. If that is of interest I'm happy to chat about the details.
Helping to alleviate what suffering that I can where I can is why I'm here.
Please don't hesitate to reach out if there's anything I can do to support you during these challenging times.
May your Summer days be filled with beauty, mystery, and friendship!
May you and your kin feel both rooted and free!
May we walk in gratitude with our Ancestors!
May all being and becoming receive nourishment!
It is my sincere hope that you have found something of use in these words.
If you know folks who you feel would enjoy this newsletter, please forward it their way! Thank you!
Wishing you and all your relations wellbeing and good medicine!
With gratitude,
Taran
