REN-8 Shenque - Spirit Deficiency

Spirit Deficiency is in the belly button, and the name says it all: a spirit that's just deficient. It is the life cord itself, our original source of life in the umbilicus, where we went to the mother for nourishment, and the love that flowed from mother to child is here in this point. Spirit Palace Gate names the watchtowers that stand on each side of the palace gate, through which the spirit comes into the body at birth and goes out at death. Moxa here is like a funnel opening into the spirit level; the heat and warmth warm and build the spirit, fill and refill it, and reconnect us to our original source. Every Official needs its share of spirit to work with enthusiasm. Once the reserve is full, a person can turn outer experience into wisdom, as alchemists turned base metal into gold. It nourishes the whole: fundamentally a spirit deficiency, it works to unify body, mind and spirit. By connecting more on the inside, you are connecting to the world, and there is more to connect to. It sets a floor beneath the spirit to support it, filling a person with life's spirit when that was not handed on early or has since been depleted, and reviving the fresh, pure spirit given in the womb. It warms and feeds the Shen, the light and playful spirit, rekindling a fire that went out, connecting the soul with the ancestors and making the person ready to welcome the spirits; it centers and strengthens the spirit and helps it rise. Our connection to what nourishes us has to be real and embodied; a person must be able to nourish their spirit or they become dead inside.

• Worsley singled this point out as especially helpful for people caught in drug addiction, alongside its use for general weakness and low spirits.
• The salt in the navel acts as a leveler. Salt belongs to Metal, so warming the salt warms the Metal within the Metal.

Location: At the centre of the umbilicus.
Needle depth: Do not needle
Moxa: 3-30 cones, applied on salt

• When someone doesn't have the strength to deal with it all anymore
• When there is emptiness and a lack of substance, a void in their center
• When someone has surrendered their spirit and is exhausted and depleted, resigned or collapsing
• When the spark is deficient or the person seems washed out, green around the gills
• When a person may improve physically yet still not feel better in themselves
• When the spirit is uptight and strained and the person is functioning in desperation
• When someone has been worn down over a long time, or there has been birth trauma
• When even minimal tasks seem overwhelming and are met with resistance, indifference, apathy or obstinacy
• When reserves are drained by the steady pressure of daily life as well as by occasional traumas
• When nothing is happening at all, like the Sufi song 'Spirit, I love you'
• For anyone who cannot be kindled, or who loses it as soon as it starts to rise
• For a lack of determination, including spiritual determination, when the person has lost the connection to the source of their being
• For people struggling with drug addiction
• When the spirit cannot rise; it puts the patient in charge of their spirit
• When the spirit is present but depleted, rather than resigned or buried: it tops off the tank (Secondary source)

• REN-14 Great Deficiency with REN-8: for heartbreak; consider doing REN-8 before REN-14 to build up the spirit from a relative void
• KI-24 Spirit Burial Ground with REN-8: encourages the spirit after it has been awakened

• Forbidden to needle; moxa only, with the belly button filled with salt; the person may not feel the first one or two cones
• Moxa is contraindicated with hypertension; with high blood pressure or a protruding umbilicus, use REN-14 instead
• If the deficiency is there, do this before you treat the meridians; there would be nothing feeding the meridian otherwise
• Among the points used most often; it will become a good friend
• Can take anywhere from 3 to 30 moxas, according to how deficient the patient is
• If we are not connected to Spirit, everything is very difficult
• If doing more than five moxas, wait between cones so the salt can dry; if the navel sticks out, build up a salt tower