Magic in Medicine and the 13 Ghost Points

by Thomas Hodge I am no scholar of the history of medicine or the anthropological etymology of traditional healing practices around the world, but I can guess that the medicine of early human was a split between the heroics of emergency care and the magical battle against the demons of disease. It was Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's improvements on the microscope and his subsequent studies of microbiology that lead to germ theory and immunology that faltered these supernatural conclusions. Now we use words like bacteria and virus, autoimmune disorder to describe the monsters that, seasonally or otherwise, usurp our body and mind. Most of us cannot see demons or devils or ghosts so we dismiss the notion as superstition and therefore not of physical importance. But we can at various magnifications witness, study and categorize the germs representing these superstitions. No longer do we count on the shaman's communion with the Spirits and our ancestors to intervene to exorcise the pernicious influence out from our body. It is pharmaceutical science we believe in, it is pharmaceutical science that works. But was the treatment by the shaman or the priest any less effective than our modern science? Was the non-scientific understanding of the clinical nature of the devil-forpathogen any less accurate than the science of how a pathogenic enzyme weakens a cell wall thus allowing a virus, say, to hijack the cell in order to industrialize its "evil" genetic material? A devil by another name doesn't sound so sweet; but, really, were our ancient brothers and sisters of the healing arts off the mark when they considered our spiritual and mental delinquencies a correlation--if not a direct cause--of the ghosts and devils that ravaged our well being? Let's consider the human form. It is a sack of ghastly viscera held between an armature of cartilage and bone; it is a machine of complicated circulatory pumps and muscular devices able to manipulate matter and do work; it is a material construct of a spiritual consciousness; it is a biological super-bug; it is alive. Regardless of how we approach the object of us and its function, we understand it as comprised of three elements: the body, the mind and the spirit and as a result of the balance between the communion of these three, susceptible to illness. Chinese Medicine is one of many medical traditions that embrace this natural trinity when considering the health of each patient. Of course it is not without its history of demonized conditions exorcised through ancestor worship and prayer, repentance, etc. Illness within the body was understood early on as consequences of the patient whose actions were out of sink with the movements of nature and reflected in the body through various patterns of the 8 principles: hot, cold, damp, dry,internal, external, yin & yang. What about mental/brain disorders and emotional disturbances? Particularly mania and epilepsy was thought to be the work of ghosts. Ah... But these ghosts or devils could be tamed and led outside and away from the body by a physician utilizing, through acupressure or acupuncture, a prescribed pattern from the thirteen ghost points developed over 2000 years ago. See below:

13 Ghost Points * GV26 --Gui Gong--Ghost Palace LU 11 LU 11--Gui Xin--Ghost Convincing SP 1 SP1--Gui Lei--Ghost Fortress PC 7 PC7--Gui Xin--Ghost Heart BL 62 BL62--Gui Lu--Ghost Road (Fire needle 3-7 times) GV16--Gui Zhen--Ghost Pillow ST6--Gui Chuang--Ghost Bed (Fire needle) CV24--Gui Shi--Ghost Market PC8--Gui Ku--Ghost Cave GV23--Gui Tang--Ghost Hall CV 1 CV1--Gui Cang--Ghost Hidden (Moxa only) LI11--Gui Chen--Ghost Official (Fire needle 3-7 times) Hai Cuan--Gui Feng--Ghost Seal (Needle or Prick) *Source: www.tcmstudent.com/study_tools/Ghost Points.html which sourced the information from "Sun Si-Miao's Ode to 13 Ghost Acupoints for the Treatment of Mental Disorders". American Journal of Acupuncture. Vol 20, No 3, 1992, p267-268. No longer are these points used to exorcise a patient of their demon but, interestingly, to help treat various onsets of psychological illness such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, mania, epilepsy, etc. But how often do Western practitioners of Chinese Medicine use these points to treat a patient's mental illness? Would they even describe these points as "ghost points" to their Western patients? Are these practices still used in the People's Republic of China? In his March 1979 article Mental Illness in China: A 'Contradiction among the People', Joel Greenberg reports about two groups of American psychiatrists who visited the People's Republic of China to study the treatment practices of Chinese psychiatric doctors on a growing patient population of mentally ill. Oddly enough, the subject of ghost points was never addressed in the article. Of course the common practices of herbal prescriptions, acupressure, acupuncture and moxabustion were used in conjunction with Western pharmaceuticals ("antischizophrenic drugs") and a dose of communist idealism: "'The doctors believe that patients have arrived at wrong conclusions because they have not made thorough investigations' into their illness. Inhospital classes are held, where the patients study Chairman Mao's philosophical works and articles on how to handle 'the contradictions among the people,' or interpersonal difficulties." The points that were needled--"in front of each ear canal for phobias; at the temples for ruminative states and at the mandibular joints and vortex for schizophrenia"--do not appear to match any of the 13 points listed above. But this is Chairman Mao's China. Traditional Chinese Medicine has publicly replaced Classical Chinese Medicine practices. "Superstition" in Chinese medicine has all but been completely rid of and the integration of Western science and biomedical theories and practices is the

mainstream in Chinese hospitals and with the government trained "barefoot doctors" administering aide and health education to rural China. The literal ghosts of illness and disease were replaced by figurative ones which still let us consider the mind-body disturbance that elicited the imbalance that fostered the pernicious influence to ravage the body and the mind. Then those figurative ghosts were busted and now remains the symptoms of disease to be managed. More and more, though, through the integration of Western and Eastern medical practices into mainstream medicine and the health care reform's focus on wellness and prevention, we're learning that managed disease care doesn't have to be the singular work of modern medicine. Health care professionals can actually promote health and wellness in the communities by educating the public of the curative magical practices of our bodies. The act of someone fostering wellness in another may be without its magical paradigms, but there is something sacred to the act, the ritual of giving of oneself to help heal a stranger in need. Modern healers may no longer be our village shamans or country priests but they can be guides to help us see the invisible that afflicts us, to understand the intentions of that heated influence and to educate us to know our bodies, our lifestyle (without judgment) and our environment so that we may avoid future altercations with the Devil pathogen that's keeping us from enjoying the full life we all deserve.