PC-5 Jianshi - The Intermediary

A junction between levels, like a go-between: a point lying between surface and deeper levels, which joins those two levels. It joins body, mind and spirit together and integrates them very well. As the Metal point on Fire, it brings the qualities of Metal into the Fire: balance, quality and clarity, and it can invoke the purifying aspect of Fire; Fire can purify. It brings brilliance through the doors, filled with Fire's power and illumination's brilliance: awe-inspiring. Keep in mind the image of someone entering a space of power and light. It brings some quality to the Heart Protector's function of letting things in and out, and adds to the sense of spirit and spirituality. As go-between it listens to all sides, mediates, calms things down and negotiates, offering hope that things can be resolved. It spreads and fills the energy of connection, Metal being what receives and takes in the world. Picture the bodyguard at the king's side, ready to take the blows: standing at attention, upright but relaxed, seeing in every direction. It clears away negativity and creates a protective space between the patient and the outside world, giving them breathing room.

Provides a place where the sun's intense, active heat and the moon's gentle, cool light embrace. Inner conflict vanishes before the gentle order of the Intermediary, and out of chaos great peace and joy emerge, infusing our relationships with ourselves and others with warmth, ease and grace.

• Among the thirteen classical points for possession, it deals with Gui, earthly spirits that can turn harmful because they have not yet moved on toward heaven. It calms and cleanses possessed behavior such as nonstop talking, uncontrolled activity and recklessness.

Location: On the front of the forearm, 3 ACI above PC-7, between the flexor carpi radialis and palmaris longus tendons.
Needle depth: 3 fen
Moxa: 5 cones

• When different levels are conflicting: a good harmonizer
• When surface and deeper levels differ markedly, for example you still see yourself as sick, but you are better
• When the patient may feel possessed
• To bring peace and calm out of chaos, and to ease fears, panics, terrors and phobias
• When the Heart Protector is cynical with hurt and needs a fresh start
• When a person opens and closes erratically to the world
• When a person is in the in-between place between collapsing and flooding out
• When a person cuts others off quickly because of an earlier wound
• When the person is too vulnerable and feels that something out there is out to get them
• For loss and sadness that slide into emotional decline: grief, resignation, hopelessness, lack of joy and habitual behavior
• When the person says they feel cold, to reach their warmth
• After soul recovery or deep emotional work

• Metal point and River point of the Pericardium; an envoy that mediates between the arm's Yin meridians
• One of the thirteen classical Ghost points, for possession by earthly spirits
• A very calming point that calms and cleanses possessed spirits; may be used after possession treatments
• The Ghost points address Gui: earthly spirits that can turn malevolent, or the spirits of people on their way back to Heaven
• As the Metal point it brings Metal's influence to the Fire, balancing Heart and Lungs and cooling the Heart's fire by sedating the Heart Protector; a key point for how loss (Metal) relates to sadness (Fire)
• When Metal lacks warmth, the Stomach and Lungs tighten up
• Ghost points are especially effective for habitual behavior
• The name stresses the Heart Protector's work of interceding for the Heart, much as a minister absorbs the blows meant for the Emperor