photo: Martians riot after seeing the blue-skinned Navi successfully repel colonists from Earth. Apparently these little green folks didn’t realize it was only a movie, the 3-D special effects made it so realistic. A case of Life imitating Art.

This kind of creative confusion and upheaval seen on Mars is typical of a Tiger Year on Earth.

I saw a news release that the Chinese government, tuned into the Tiger Year impulse to change things around radically, have pulled the movie Avatar out of distribution and replaced it with a hot new film on the life of Confucius. Speculation is that they were afraid the film would emboolden those in Chinese society unhappy about being re-located by Chinese developers.

While I was down in the Caribbean for 5 weeks I worked on a book about the Primordial Qigong/Tai Chi for Enlightenment form. This amazing ceremony is the only qigong form that I feel merits an entire book to explore its profundity. It is loaded with all the major aspects of Taoist cosmology, calendrical cycles, and inner alchemy as well as the patterns that govern Chinese medicine.

image: There are infinite levels of yin-yang cycles hidden energetically within our body and the body of Nature. Primordial Qigong captures this spiralling beauty and centers it in our body’s core. This is the most valuable asset to have in times of great change.

The Primordial ceremony offers a practical way to harmonize your life with all 12 streams of zodiacal consciousness, which govern the 12 Terrestrial Animals of the Chinese calendar. In real life we live through each year as a lesson in a different kind of energy. With Primordial Tai Chi, we gather it all in and alchemically concentrate the essence of ALL of the 12 Animals in 15 minutes.

My month long period of deep focus gave me new insights into how the effects of the Primordial ceremony can be even further intensified alchemically. As I am now inspired to write several new chapters, there is still time for YOU to send in your own insights and experiences.

I consider this form to be evolving through our collective practice. I am amazed at the variety and creative applications being explored by many practitioners.

If you know anyone who studied directly with Zhu Hui, the transmitter of the form to the West, please have them contact me.

Please don’t be shy about sharing your own experiences – just click on reply and begin typing from your heart!

photo: farmer proudly prepares to mount his souped up tractor-roadster in Jade Village near Lijiang, China. It may soon be a collector’s item as China leaps ahead.

The Year of the Male Golden Tiger traditionally brings creative innovation in Transportation, which relies heavily on metal element. Chinese motor companies plan to leapfrog over existing Western technologies as they prepare to adopt a new nano-crystal core electric propulsion system. It produces efficiency increases of up to 40% by eliminating gears and has an integrated high-frequency engine and battery system whose torque and speed is totally progrmmable by computer software. By next year it should be available on motor scooters in the USA.

Ironically, the American company (http//:www.KLDenergy.com) introducing this revolution to China was funded by Western Taoists reading this newsletter. Its growth will likely make huge leaps in this metal Tiger year: the Chinese govt. just banned new gas motorscooters from being driven in its largest 160 cities.

I hope we will all be rewarded with a much greener planet, free of polluting gas-driven engines. Hopefully a shift to viable electric motors will inspire application of existing technologies to clean up the power plants supplying the electricity – a much simpler job than trying to clean up hundreds of millions of polluting gas motors.

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photo: Huashan (Flower Mountain) West Peak, with a sheer 3000 foot cliff face. China Dream Trippers 2010 will be staying in a monastery seen as a tiny building in this photo just to the right side of the peak. Others may opt to meditate in caves used by Taoists for 2500 years.

For those who seek a revolution in their personal lives, I strongly recommend considering you take the creative Tiger leap and come on the May 2010 China Dream trip. We have just three spaces left  – all you need a valid passport, we can get the entry visa for you at the last minute. Sign up before March 10 and we’ll hold the low airline-land price advertised. After that expect some airline increases.

See this exciting itinerary on http://www.healingdao.com/chinatrip2010.html.

This will probably the only Dream Trip with Mantak Chia attending. He is coming to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Healing Tao with powerful ceremonies atop Mt. Wudang. We have a fantastic group of Taoists coming, folks from all levels of interest and skill. Five people from last year’s Dream Trip are coming again.

There are no pre-requisites, only a willingness to learn the magical Primordial Tai Chi form in advance. (see http//:taichi-enlightenment.com).

We combine the Primordial with another amazing ancient shamanic qigong form that we learn in China, called Seven Star Step Big Dipper Qigong. Doing these two forms together, with a powerful group, in China’s energetic power spots, is apt to cause life-changing leaps in your consciousness. Perfect gift to yourself in a Tiger Year.

I know there are at least three souls out there yearning to visit China and have the spiritual adventure of a lifetime. We are holding those three spots on the trip for you. Extended payment plan is available. Don’t be shy, Tiger year is time for taking a creative leap. Email me now.

First off – check out the new video on Heavenly Mountain on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNP88YPUuig

It was put together by our fabulously talented registrar, Tynne Clifford. Her first film, really good!

For those who are suffering from the economic slowdown, we’re adding an additional $500. Heavenly Mountain summer scholarship for tuition in addition to the workstudy programs we already offer to subsidize room & board.

Just email a short essay on “My Most Powerful Experience inspired by a Taoist Practice” to this email address with subject line “Scholarship”. Anywhere from 2 paragraphs to 2 pages, describing how, when, what, and why you believe it happened, how it affected you or changed your life. Entries are due by April 1. Please list the retreat you hope to apply the $500. towards. Workstudy students are eligible to apply.

If you don’t win a free standard tuition to Heavenly Mountain summer retreat, you can still  submit it to the Healing Tao Instructor’s Association, which is running a similar essay contest on the same theme. That essay is due by April 15, and you may apply to both simultaneously. The winner of that contest gets a $500. subsidy to the Tao Garden 30th Anniversary Congress Sept. 5-14 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I will be teaching a seminar on my overview of Taoist inner alchemy there. Send your Tao Congress essays to: Raven Cohan, Nevarco@aol.com

photo: Tao of Hula dancing. Creative expression of one’s chi on the final night of the larger retreats is one of Healing Tao’s cherished traditions.

Now is the time to pick the summer retreat(s) you want to attend. We’ve got something for everyone at Heavenly Mountain – all the major Taoist  healing, meditation, and movement arts. All at low cost, all with extremely high energy and knowledge transmission. All with great teachers and students alike.

I recently got an unsolicited letter from an Israeli who had travelled to the USA just to attend Tao Retreats at our Heavenly Mountain center at 4000 feet in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. I think he summarizes a lot of the compelling reasons to plan for at least a week this summer to recharge your soul and increase your level of energetic skill. WARNING: it is very hard to attend just ONE retreat. You’ll want to stay for more!

From Aaron Rothenberg in Tel Aviv:

Dear Michael,

Thank you so much for the opportunity to come and participate in the Healing Tao Summer Retreat 2008 in Heavenly Mountain, North Carolina. I was fortunate to be able to be here for three straight weeks and take the following courses:

Fusion 1&2 (we did 3 as well) and Iron Shirt 1 with Marie, Healing love with you and Minka de Vos, Private lessons from Minka de Vos in Tao Basics and how to teach them, Lesser Kan & Li with you.

Besides the meeting, marrying, and loving my wife, and the birth of my three beautiful children whom I love dearly (they should all live long, healthy and happy lives in this world and the next) – this retreat has been the best experience of my life!

Let me explain why:

 1. The people (students come from all over the world)

2. The environment – beautiful and chi-nourishing.

3. The teachers – all top experts.

4. The venue (dorms, views, blue hole, pool, boone, kitchenette, big rooms) – has everything you need.

5. The courses – all superb, challenging.

6. The experience – life-changing!

7. The management (Tynne in admin, Steven in bookstore, Michael in everything, kitchen staff) – were all wonderful.

8. The extra curricular activities (talent show, sing and dance along) were icing on the cake.

9. The bookstore (discounts on review materials, huge selection of pre-screened on Taoist topic materials) – the best anywhere.

10. The Private sessions: In addition to the courses I took, I also had private sessions with Judith Poole, Danielle Creaksong (past life regression), Minka de Vos (Medical Qi Gong), Chi Nei Tzang (Marie Favorito and Sylvette), Astrological reading (Patrick). Wow!

11. The friendships – lifelong.

12. The memories – I already want to go back!

I would recommend these retreats to everyone from the novice to the advanced practitioner. There was so much abundance of knowledge in an environment of trust and sharing.

In gratitude, Aaron

__________________________

It only takes $100. to save a spot at your favorite retreat. We have generous extended payment plans. Call Tynne if need help in choosing or to arrange financing: 888 750 1773.

Please visit http//:www.HealingTaoRetreats.com

Chinese Astrology is based on a Balance Theory of Five Phases or Elements. Each animal is really just a symbol that can be converted into the Five Elements, here based on Tiger’s birth date on Feb. 4. Tiger has mainly Wood, Fire and a little Earth.

Wood and Fire together will make Fire stronger, so Tiger is very fiery. Then we add in Yang Metal from the Earthly Year cycle. Metal is afraid of Fire – it is melted by Fire. Metal also attacks the Tiger’s Wood nature, it tries to chop it and control it.

That means the 2010 Tiger is not a happy one – he has internal conflicts that generate fear and control struggles. Metal Year and Wood Tiger will fight each other, implying 2010 won’t come quietly or depart peacefully.

White Tiger is also seen as a jinx in China history, leading some Chinese to consider 2010 will be a bad year. One astrologer likened it to the image of a Tiger wearing armor. Tigers don’t like metal armor atop their body, so it keeps jumping around.  That makes money investments insecure, and relationships more fragile.

photo: Siberian tigers playing with each other – fun for them, but a bit rough for others. That’s why we need to be careful with a tense Male Tiger in 2010.

Tiger is a symbol of power and authority. So this kind of personality is good for leadership. That is why some astrologers think the Tiger’s positive characteristics will get us through the changes, tapping into the Tiger’s lucky nature and its ability to stay on its feet no matter what. But is our political and economic leadership up to such a task, after getting us into the current mess?

So we need to be alert. Tiger has the potential to become excessively vigorous, ferocious and cruel. For safety, we keep our distance from Tigers, even at the zoo. Circus Tiger trainers who have loved their animals for years have suffered, sometimes fatally from sudden inexplicable changes in their temper. This trait, on a macro scale, suggests military oppression or martial law.

If you have Tiger in your chart, along with an inflexible or destructive personality, it may suggest poor people relationship, especially with family members. Some traditional Chinese families would not invite people born in Tiger year to a private wedding ceremony.

Tiger has “Fighting and Hurting” potential in 2010 with anyone with Snake and Monkey in their chart. But if your weakest Element is Metal, Wood or Fire, then 2010 may nourish you and bring luck. Most people have all five elements present in their chart. This complex tension between the Tiger’s elements suggests most people will gain some and lose some in 2010.

The year of the Golden Tiger is traditionally associated with massive changes and social upheaval. According to cycle theory, 2010 is more likely to be volatile on the world scene, as well as on a personal level. Self-cultivation is the key to dealing with these changes.

I did an I Ching reading to get a direct read on the nature of the changes in 2010.

The answer was very revealing. It suggested we are in the middle of a global spiritual initiation ceremony that began with this new 12 year cycle of the zodiac, beginning with the Year of the Male Earth Rat in 2008 and continuing in the Year of Yellow Empress Earth Ox in 2009. The planet has certainly been shocked into a global wake-up call. .We won’t be settling back down in the old “business as usual”

The Year of the Tiger, the third in the new zodiac cycle, will be the second phase of this initiation. It will likely continue into the Yin or Female Golden Rabbit 2011 year.

If you fancy 2012 theories of planetary shift, this I Ching reading clarifies that change as more of a spiritual initiation than an “end time”.

The I Ching Reading:

Hexagram 20, Guan: Viewing. Wind above Earth. These are the Winds of Change.
Second stage of an initiation, after the purification (Rat & Ox years) but before the libation, the pouring of wine or blood to attract the spirits. A time to let go of old ideas and see the new patterns have arrived.

Hidden Potential: Hexagram 23: Stripping. Cutting away old flesh/past with a sharp metel knife.

This reading suggests we should spend time in meditation or quiet receptive prayer, opening ourselves to the new spirits that are arriving to re-shape planet earth. Those who open to a state of detached “Viewing” (guan describes an “observatory”) will find peace in the middle of this initiation by turbulent spiritual and worldly change.

Those who find themselves pulled into the drama may be amongst those whose “blood” is poured to further attract the spirits. Spirits come when blood is poured because it is a release of the ancestral spirits trapped in the blood. The blood spirits could be released through revolution or dramatic earth catastrophes.

Or they could be simply shocked into a new spiritual level of consciousness by the energetic death of the Old Earth as they knew it. Blood/wine could be a metaphor for oceanic shifts in the water element that dominates earth consciousness and holds all her memories. Once blood is spilled, the spirits who lived in it all need guidance on where to go next as they pass into other dimensions beyond this physical life.

Tigers who thrive on chance and unpredictabilty are best suited to navigating the many upheavals predicted in the years ahead. Those compatible with the Tiger — especiailly those with Dragon and Horse in their chart  — may also find 2010’s erratic circumstances inspiring them to ever bolder action, and ultimate success.

Those born under other signs will suffer, by degree, depending on how flexible they are to change. Those who can keep a steady psyche may be shaken, but ultimately undeterred by the typically thunderous events of any Tiger year.

It’s a good time to deepen your Inner Smile practice, the simplest method of entering the heart-centered internal state of Guan or “Viewing”. To order a guided audio CD on the Inner Smile: https://healingtaousa.com/ckf1.html#order. This is the $15. solution to antidote the effects of too much Tiger volatility.

photo: Two young white tigers.

Tigers are extremely protective in the workplace. In business and personal relationships, they exude an air of charismatic authority that commands respect. They have very strong protective tendencies. They are known to strike out to defend against any perceived threat to home or children.

photo: An enraged Tiger reveals the uncontrolled, irrational, and destructive side of those born in Tiger Year.

The following is a result of my survey of the ideas of many other Chinese astrologers, mixed with my own observations.

Tiger Years are good for some, as Tigers are passionate and romantic. It’s a time for rash plans and wild dreams, strong feelings and many quarrels. Depending on the elemental mix of the two partners, hot affairs could bond permanently or quickly pass. Despite all the emotional volatility, it is definitely a good year to explore new relationships and re-shape your old feelings about self and love.

This is a good year for brothers getting along and for male friendship and bonding. The energies of the Tiger year also give increased strength to other groups of men such as gangs and the military.

In family life, the Tiger’s regal attitude may sometimes turn into an arrogant belief that they know what’s best for everyone. They can inflict retribution if they fail to get their way in family relationships. Standing up to a disgruntled Tiger is the quickest way of earning their respect — just be ready for a dramatic battle.

Tigers are notorious for NOT sustaining their fury for long. So if you can ride out the storm, then eventually peace will reign again. This philosophy of dealing with love and family turbulence also applies to dealing with the financial and political storms that may continue to surface in this Tiger year.

Out of all twelve Chinese horoscope signs, this year is one to be active and take a creative new leap in your life. You will be supported in seizing new opportunities and making the most of  individual talents. Things happen quickly and dramatically in a Tiger year – blink and you might miss an important chance.

image: Tiger calligraphy

Drama, intensity, rapid change and sudden travel are some Tiger  buzz words for 2010. Unfortunately,  conflicts and disasters tend to occur during Tiger years, so it won’t be a dull 12 months for anyone. Peace is harder to negotiate. This may just end up being an ongoing war of words between countries waving their sword. It could mean the imposition of international sanctions on Iran for its nuclear policy, or some new hostility by North Korea.

The last Gold Tiger Year was 1950, and that was the year that Truman ordered the US to build its Hydrogen Bomb and the nuclear arms race began. The Korean War began and China invaded Tibet. There were numerous revolutions around the world in smaller countries.

It could bring far reaching changes for everyone. New inventions and incredible technological advances have a good chance of occurring. I’ve written above about the breaking changes in the new electric motor. In 1950 the pager and the TV remote control were introduced, foreshadowing a later wireless computer and cellphone revolution.

Large scale natural disasters in the form of earthquakes, volcanoes or other
weather related catastrophes are also possible, with increased chance of damage to trees, either by drought, forest fires or volcanoes with unfortunate possibility of many human
and animal casualties. It might come as another nuclear disaster.  Last Earth Ox year had a similar tendency and we had the earthquake disaster in Haiti.

In 1950 Moana Loa in Hawaii and Mt. Etna in Sicily erupted. Earthquake and floods in Assam, India killed 574 and left 5,000,000 homeless.

Some Chinese astrologers believe economic progress can be expected from Tiger’s upbeat ambition. A more tempered view would be that some sectors of the economy should be on a path to recovery with the stock market reflecting the Tiger volatility. While its a good year to bet on your own strength, It is not a good year for taking financial risks on other’s schemes. Trade wars are also likely to accelerate.

Business involving “earth, metal or fire” should do well.  Those involving “wood or water” have
to work much harder.

Currency: paper money will be cut by Metal for the next two years. That means the dollar will suffer. Last year I suggested the Ox would be the US dollar lumbering along in the midst of crisis. True to form, after being greatly weakened by trillion dollar deficits, the dollar recovered most of its losses in the final months of the Ox Year.

But now Metal is here, chopping away at paper/wood-based currency. It’s possible the US dollar could face devaluation within several years and lose its status as the world’s reserve currency. That would force tremendous changes on American politicians and force fiscal discipline on the US public. It’s part of gradual shift of the USA to becoming a 2nd world country and many of the 3rd world countries moving up to 2nd world economic status.

Two years of Gold/ Metal dominance also bodes well for investors in Gold. However, due to Tiger volatility you could lose a lot of money by running out to buy gold right now. Wait until later this year to let the metal cycle play become more clear.

The travel industry, tourism and the airlines (metal planes) should do very well as more people get bitten by wanderlust. As metals are concerned, automobiles should continue to revive, thus leading recovery of other related businesses.

Property will stay the same or struggle to only slightly improve in value. In USA, north-eastern states would recover faster than others. Wood element businesses are being cut by Metal: logging, home building and construction, newspaper and magazine companies will all have a difficult year.

The banking industry, computer and chip companies, transportation and manufacturing plants with machinery, bio-tech medicine, acupuncture, surgerical business, nano-tech and nuclear, wind turbines, solar, LED lighting and micro electronics may improve as they are metal element businesses.

It is a problematic year for health, particularly for those with weakened immune system.
Many will suffer trouble with their lungs, intestinal system and skin rashes. Problems with air pollution and sandstorms, increased allergic reactions or asthma. It is also
likely that there will be outbreaks of severe intestinal problems possibly due to natural disasters – this is already a major concern in Haiti when the rains come. Clean air and water will become more important to governments than before.

Metal years also bring an increased concern about justice and support for the underdog. Charitable giving will increase as people will feel the urge to give to those who are suffering. Stories about strength, male athleticism, stamina and heroic bravery will be most popular.