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Pregnancy Poster
The 10 Lunar Months
Use this poster to visualise the unfolding growth and beauty of your baby. Just like a rose or your favourite flower, that starts as a bud full of potential, opening up to its full fragrance as a fully developed flower.
Medical professionals, in order to have a standard reference, assume the gestational age of pregnancy is 280 days or 40 weeks. Gestational age is based from the first day of bleed of the woman’s last menstruation cycle, rather than from the date of fertilisation, which means they could be two weeks ahead of the actual time of conception. So when you have reached 40 weeks – gestational age – your baby may be more around 38 weeks from the time of their conception. In energetic terms, women relate to the energy of Yin and the lunar cycle of the moon which has a cycle of 28 days. (Men relate to the energy of Yang and the solar cycle of 24hrs). Pregnancy is 10 of these lunar cycles which adds up to the same 280 days or 40 weeks. The baby is ready to be born in the 10th Lunar month and I often say that birth will happen before, after or on the 10th full moon, counting the first full moon after the first day of bleed of the last menstruation cycle.
Visualisations
I have created 10 beautiful audio visualisations, each one corresponding energetically and spiritually to what is unfolding in your baby during each of the 10 lunar months (each roughly 4 weeks) of pregnancy. These are for you, your baby and your partner to listen to during each lunar month. Use them as a moment for deep connection to your baby and a time of relaxation for yourself. As the first lunar month starts from the first day of bleed of your last menstrual cycle, and you may not know that you are pregnant until you are a few weeks into your pregnancy, start the visualisations from where you are in your pregnancy, so this may not necessarily be with the first visualisation.
Explanation of Chinese Characters
Heaven
Earth
Man
Heaven creates Earth which creates Man. This is the Creative sequence, as in pregnancy the baby is being created. This also represents the 3 trimesters of pregnancy, with Earth in the centre, Heaven the origin of life and Man/baby, fully formed at the end.
The Ten Heavenly Stems
乙 甲 丁 丙 己 戊 辛 庚 癸 壬
The Ten Stems which are related to the Heavenly energies, influence the growth of the embryo and the foetus. Pregnancy is a time of Heaven coming to Earth as form. The Stems are also related to the Sun, which represents our Source (a Sun) both in terms of the physical components of life, but also in the Spiritual sense of Source being constant Light / warmth / Love. The Ten Stems usually follow the sequence; Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren and Gui, but in utero they switch around to; Yi, Jia, Ding, Bing, Ji, Wu, Xin, Geng, Gui and Ren. This is the sequence you see above and on the poster.
Acupuncturists note this is namely; Liv in Metal, Gb in Earth, Ht in Wood, Si in Water, Sp in Earth, St in Fire, Lu in Water, Co in Metal, Kid in Fire and Bl in Wood.
This allows the creative action of Yi which is the Liv (Yin) to initiate growth. Yin is the origin of life, and the unseen world in mystical traditions. The Liv (according to the theory of Stems and Branches) has the deep energy of Earth and earth is essential for something to take root and grow. This is followed by the Gb (Yang) which has water energy (according to the theory of Stems and Branches). Water is essential to life and we are surrounded by water in utero. Yang is the origin of visible life and is creative and commanding. The Stems follow the sequence of the 5 phases or elements starting with Wood, as above. The two Wood phases overseeing the development of the embryo. Then the foetus begins with the Fire phase – Ding and Bing and in the centre of the pregnancy, as in all things, the Earth phase with Ji and Wu. Then coming into the phase Man is the Metal element with the Xin and Geng and finally the Water phase with Gui and Ren.
In my Acupuncture treatments, during the 10 lunar months, I take into consideration the sequence of the Heavenly Stems, when I am supporting a woman through her pregnancy.
My thanks to; Josie, Peter Van Kervel www.landipress.com and Joan Duveen www.joanduveen.nl for your help on this poster. The concept of this poster © Amanda Edwards 2015. Photographer: Frazer Visser www.hamiltonstudios.com