HT-7 Shenmen - Spirit Gate

As with every gate, the Spirit Gate has to open and close freely so the Shen can travel. We need the light and the day, and the dark and the night: if the gate is open all the time the person will be overwhelmed, because they can't have the sunshine all the time, and a shock can slam shut the gate, leaving us in perpetual darkness. Through this point we can reach the Spirit of the person, a gate inward and outward, so the person can be connected to themselves inwardly and outwardly. It brings the Earth's stability and security to the Heart Official; Fire rests on Earth, and crumbling Fire needs the support of solid Earth. The spirit can be cut off in either direction: locked out of its home, so it can never settle, or locked in, so love and joy cannot get out. The gate also carries the Supreme Controller's contact with the other Officials, his instructions, his listening and what he provides. Through an open gate, joy and purpose can come in.

• Worsley gives it as a First Aid point for tooth extraction, shock, hysteria, heart failure, fainting, electric shock and anxiety.

Location: On the wrist flexure crease, over the ulnar artery, at the proximal edge of the pisiform on its radial side. The artery lies in the furrow separating the flexor carpi ulnaris tendon from the flexor digitorum superficialis tendon.
Needle depth: 3 fen
Moxa: 5-7 cones

• For someone who has 'given up the ghost' (a closed mind); their spirit can be revitalized by this point
• When the person's spirits are exceedingly high and the gate won't close: very talkative and out of control, high spirited but with nothing to say, heading for exhaustion and collapse
• When the gate is shut: the person may have shut down and retreated behind a barrier, with excessive control, mental shut-off and no speech whatsoever
• When the person might be using the gate as a barrier and needs it to be flexible so they can access their spirit
• For serious trauma, for example rape, when something terrible has happened
• For shock, physical or emotional, to bring them back into who they are as a Spirit
• After a possession treatment
• When a person needs assistance on the journey; it can point out to someone where to go on their path, and can be just the right point
• For problems of the spirit: anxiety, lack of enthusiasm and joy, hysteria, heartache, a broken heart, a restless spirit, or trust issues
• For insomnia as an issue of trust: when we sleep we are in our most trusting space
• For chronically sick people with depleted spirits, a wall standing between them and life, their hearts no longer light; their spirit needs re-awakening. They may say, "My will's broken; I haven't got the spirit for that"
• For the heart that is wobbly on any level
• When the person is forever restless, unsteady and uneasy, or the spirit is locked inside and they cannot express love, joy, inspiration and fun, all that makes life worth living
• When a person cut off from the spirit hungers for its contact and tries to compensate in destructive ways, such as abusing drugs or alcohol, overeating or promiscuity
• When the Heart turns over-controlling and tyrannical: the patient with a Fire imbalance who micromanages what everyone else is doing until they wear themselves out to the point of collapse
• When clarity has been lost, along with awareness of oneself and one's mission
• When the Supreme Controller won't delegate: the Heart's role is to see that the job gets done, not to do it all himself
• When the Heart's energies collapse and the person needs courage

• HT-7 Spirit Gate with HT-4 Spirit Path: first open the Gate, then guide the Spirit along the path

• Earth point, Sedation point, Source point. As the Source point it invigorates the channel and the energy within the Supreme Controller; as the Sedation point it moves energy to the following element on the Sheng cycle. Source points are often Gates and Pathways
• Earth point: the Heart is also about nourishment. It brings the Earth element into the person, stability, nourishment and compassion, and gives extreme nourishment on the spirit level. It strengthens all levels
• A point to strengthen the spirit: with a strong spirit, everything falls into place
• A nice addition to any Causative Factor (CF) treatment when control is an issue
• With the gate closed, the other Officials lose the love and warmth the Supreme Controller gives them. Cut off from his contact they are left alone, and soon chaos sets in and order is lost
• On gates: in Chinese medicine, as in the empire, it was important who opens and closes the gates. A good messenger was let in and an enemy was shut out. With our conditioning we get confused about the gates, about who we should let in and who we shouldn't, so it's important to know when to open and when to close
• Very safe point
• The name describes a gateway along the Heart channel that gives direct access to the energy dwelling in the Organ, the Spirit. In Taoism, Shen Men also means the eyes, which reveal how present and strong the Spirit is, and through which it comes and goes
• Calms the fire and earths the Official; on the old charts Earth sat at the center
• On the Yin meridians every Source point is the Earth point and the third point in from the end. Three stands for Heaven, Human and Earth, the primordial Dao, so Source points can connect the person with primordial Qi and with Earthly source Qi. If this gate rusts, stuck either open or closed, the Heart is stressed and cannot comfortably house the mind and spirit