Magick is the esoteric component of any activity. There have been magickal practices involved in fishing, hunting, building, you name it. If it’s old enough, it has a magick connected to it, and there are even some new magics. Today, we are talking about one of the oldest systems on the planet. No body knows which is oldest and I really don’t think it matters.

The system we are talking about is known as wuxing, pronounced wu-shing. Wuxing is connected to ancient Chinese physics more than their religion which makes it different than many other systems. It is a set of disciplines that are all focused on the behaviour and manifestation of the force they call chi. Chi gets translated into many different words in English, and pretty much isn’t ever translated really well. English is bad for discussing mystical concepts, but it is my only language.

Chi is the force of first cause. It’s the seed force of every other form of existence. It’s connected to breath, but it is not the same as air. The best human example would be in the feats of unusual strength and resilience shown by infants and toddlers. The original energy of a human being has a quality about it that isn’t subject to the usually pattern of depletion, because it is a purer state of chi. The force of a hurricane also has chi.

Like a primal energy? Exactly. The most primal. It’s the force behind the manifestation that another school of Chinese thought called the Tao.

In wuxing, they identify different patterns in energy and matter, but they don’t embrace an idea of separate forces. It is a sort of unified field theory without the modern trappings, but the chi diverged into five basic categories.

Would the “big bang” have been an expression of chi? Yes. Indeed it would be.

In fact, the four states of matter do correspond to parts of the wuxing model. Solids are the earth category. Liquids are the water category. Plasma is the fire category, but they don’t give gasses a treatment we understand in western thinking. They instead use a model perhaps similar to miasmatic theory (related to humoral theory). This is where we get the notion of putting on airs in western culture. Air is considered an alchemical medium for the other states of being. The other two I haven’t mentioned so far being wood and metal.

How does air correspond to acting snotty? Air does correspond to acting snotty in western theory. They call that temperament phlegmatic, and it’s associated with being too analytical.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~