Five Element Acupuncture – Celestial Stems and Branches

Posted by hostacup  at April 23rd, 2012

Celestial Stems and Branches in Five Element Acupuncture

There are 5 earthly stems and 6 celestial branches:

The 5 earthly stems are Water-Kidneys, Wood-Liver, Fire-Heart, Earth-Spleen, Metal-Lungs.

The 6 Celestial branches are Water-Kidneys, Wood-Liver, Fire-Heart, Earth-Spleen, Metal-Lungs, Fire-Pericardium, Fire-San Jiao.

The 2 additional fire elements are responsible for the bridge between the divine and the temporal. They offer ongoing access to and distribution of prenatal Qi.

The connection between the earthly stems and heavenly branches and subsequent flow of prenatal with post natal qi offers man as the vessel between, the opportunity for harmony in his universe.

Because of the disparity between 5 and 6 the connections between these earthly stems and celestial branches are continually shifting. Because of the relationship between 5 and 6 these connections can be mapped.

The Chinese clock is divided into 12, 2 hour blocks each block allocated to an elemental system, each elemental system has a sequence of elemental points.

The mapping of stems and branches connections offers an Extraordinary vessel point (pre natal Qi) and an Elemental point (post natal Qi) for every 2 hours of a 24 hour day.

This offers a very effective addendum to a treatment protocol or the starting point for one.

There are a number of systems and methods for determining these points I have attended 1 workshop on the subject and have applied the protocol I was shown.

I don’t profess to be an authority on the subject but I have found these points have worked very nicely for me at different times. It has also encouraged me to use points I wouldn’t normally consider.

I find them particularly effective for self treatment.