Silk banner depicting the temptation of The Buddha by the demon Mara and his army of demons. The banner is notable for being the first known depiction of a firearm, with one of the demons brandishing a fire lance. China, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, c. 950 CE.
[Guillaume Gris]
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"As we approach the longest day of light at the summer solstice we are also moving from the Wood element of spring into the element of Fire in TCM, Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Fire element is our consciousness, our passion, our joy, our enthusiasm for this life journey. It is also our heart and our capacity to care for our heart. In TCM our heart is the supreme Monarch or the Emperor. Essentially all the other 11 meridians are in service to the heart because if the heart stops, life as we know it stops. The Heart's Yang partner in the Fire element, Small Intestine, acts like the alchemist to separate the pure from the impure. It grants us the gift of discernment to know, and to have the capacity to choose, what is nourishing and life supporting for ourselves in every moment.
The Fire element also rules our relationships and grants us the capacity to love and to be loved."
~ Sabina Pettit
[Ian Sanders]