Autumn falls with cool
Mornings and shorter days. Hail
The turn of seasons!

Hello Friends of Flying Needle!

Happy White Dew!

Happy Labor Day!

– third autumnal solar node –

Hope this finds you well during these interesting times!

Seasonal Musings & Reflections

Dawn comes later, dusk comes earlier. Twilight sunlight has begun its shift towards the tawny and metallic. Here in the North Carolina Piedmont, after another blistering run of days, mornings have just begun turning towards being considerably cooler as we move into the third autumnal solar node – White Dew.

While summery lantana still abounds and crickets are singing, we also see our early autumn comapnions – black eyed Susan, blanket flower, boneset, milkweed, and passion flower blooming. Ragweed and grass pollen abound. School is back in session. This transforms Chapel Hill from being a quiet town to one thronged with college and graduate students. It’s our most robust semi-annual migratory pattern.

As the days continue to shorten and we receive the gift of cooler mornings, Yin’s presence continues to increase and accrete. While there is never a bad time for contemplation, Autumn invites us into slowing down and finding space-time to gently observe in ways that Summer’s vibrance may not.

Are you feeling, and accepting this invitation?

If so, how are you meeting it?

In the spirit of Autumnal contemplation, I will share a more personal reflection:

I am often asked whether my continuous educational explorations are because I am interested in the subject matter, or because I want to be a better (more skillful) practitioner. My answer is always – yes.

I am a constitutionally curious person. There are more subjects that interest me than I have time to explore, and anything I am exploring is compelling enough that I choose to devote my time and attention to it. The question of how to support as much thriving as possible within the challenges of our beautiful burning world holds the place of primacy. My particular relationship to that koan is through the practice of medicine.

The ‘gong’ in gong fu (kung fu is the older transliterative variant) can be translated as “sustained focused practice over time.” This is a definition of the process through which we develop and refine skill. While it is possible to sustain focused practice over time with something you are uninterested in, it doesn’t tend to bear the kind of fruit that the long term study of something that captivates one’s curiosity bears.

For me, there is a reciprocal relationship between my profound interest in the practice of medicine, and my aspiration to continue developing as a practitioner of medicine. While it is fundamentally the innate intelligence of the person seeking support that does the healing, the greater the skill of the practitioner who is supporting that process, the higher the likelihood of moving into a preferred future – a future in which some amount of suffering has been alleviated.

In Mahayana Buddhism, the Bodhisattva Vow, which is taken by some practitioners, states that though the number of sentient beings is as vast as all the stars in the skies, and all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world, I vow to liberate them all before I take final enlightenment. Even if one takes reincarnation as a given, which Mahayana Buddhists do, this is an impossible task. And yet, the gravitational field of this sincere commitment to an impossible project of profound and near limitless compassionate action helps to draw those who take it to alleviate what suffering they can where they can.

In celebration of my 54^th birthday (which was Saturday), I embrace more fully continuing to study and practice to refine my capacity to consciously participate in the beautiful dance of reconnecting to the breath of the Dao – the movement of Yin and Yang – to support the flourishing of life and the alleviation of suffering.

May your Autumn 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!

Gratitude to all
Ancestors for another
Lap around the sun!

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