Long Summer, Turning Ground : INCENSE for the 4th Qi : July 22nd - Sept 22nd
長夏轉土 — Long Summer, Turning Ground 2 grams stick incense approx 30 mins burn time per stick Fourth Qi Incense · July 22 to September 22 (大暑 - 秋分） The Season: 大暑 Da Shu to 秋分 Qiu Fen. Guest & Host forces are both 太陰濕土 Tai Yin shi tu. Both positions hold the same qi. 濕 damp, doubled with nothing set against it. 濕性重濁黏滯 damp is heavy, turbid, sticky, lingering. 阻遏氣機 it obstructs the qi dynamic. 困脾 it encumbers the Spleen. A pure senkōh for the long summer, the stretch between summer and autumn that belongs to neither, when the year stops rising and begins to settle. Composed to open the chest, lighten the middle, and let the head clear. Dragon tree juniper, agarwood, patchouli, magnolia bark, cangzhu, calamus, cardamom & others. In late July the high brightness of early summer had been at its peak. Then it handed over, and what replaced it is weight. The fire that is on a few climatic layers did not go out. It got covered. So now we have the damp heat most would expect of late summer. This year the weight settles over a cold that has been running underneath since January, so the quality is different. Heaviness in the middle rather than heat. A thickness behind the eyes. A chest that feels occupied rather than open. Sleep that does not quite return you to yourself. Appetite that is present but unrewarding. And the particular tiredness that gets worse from sitting still and better from moving. There is also something missing this year. The green, coursing quality that would ordinarily break up what has settled, the thing that turns the soil, has no place in the calendar at this point. It came and went in spring. Nothing is moving the ground. This 4th Qi incense brings back some "green", coursing quality the season is missing and puts it into the heavy middle. It warms and moves rather than draining or drying. And it gathers, drawing inward at the close instead of scattering. Suited to humid days. Heavy afternoons. Rooms that feel close. Work that has stalled. Mornings that begin thick. Evenings when the chest wants opening but not stimulation. The stretch of the year when the body wants to sit still and shouldn't. ------------- An aromatic composition made in relation to a seasonal pattern, in the tradition of stem and branch calendrical practice. It is not a medical or therapeutic product and makes no health claim.