Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Valley Spirit

“The dragon and tiger are none other than yin and yang, the female and male. They are the cauldron and furnace of alchemical literature, the medicinal substance required to compound the golden pill. The cauldron, cool and limitless as the element Water, fills herself and nourishes the Fire that would not die. You have read in the Great One of the miraculous pass, the portal into all knowledge. I will tell you what this pass is. It is none other that the inexhaustible female. Must I be blunt? Can you grasp the concept of the dragon and the tiger, water and fire, cauldron and furnace, pestle and mortar? The mysterious female is the key to the firing process. This talk of base metals into gold and drinking an elixir of mercury is not the real alchemy. Enter into her and take it into yourself, again and again. Lao Tzu said, “The valley spirit is the mysterious female. Her door is the root of heaven and earth.” It replenishes itself continuously. There is no coercion, but it is freely given. Opening up, you will enter the cinnabar chamber where all knowledge is stored. Conserving your essence, you will draw her into yourself, up through the lower and middle tan tien into the seat of ecstasy. Her you will find madness and death … or the knowledge that will give you eternal life.”
- Simon Marnier, White Tiger, Green Dragon, p. 23

White Tiger, Green Dragon: A Tale of the Taoist Inner Alchemy.
By Simone Marnier. San Jose, California, Authors Choice Press,
2000. Bibliography, 143 pages. ISBN: 0595125751.

Valley Spirit (Gu Shen): Bibliography, Links, Quotes, Notes. By Mike Garofalo. 90Kb

Valley Spirit
Gu Shen, Ku Shen
The Dark and Empty Ground of All Beings
The Ever Giving Mysterious Mother of Life

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:04 PM PST

    Synchronicity again!!!
    Would you believe that I read this yesterday and was blown away...not only by the content but by the fact that today I'm due to dress up as an 'alchemist' and run a stall at my school's xmas fayre.
    Weird eh?
    Just want to say thanks for all references you add to your blog/web page - it give me a neverending reading list.

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