Salt

[Päivi Vilkki]

Last month I spent a couple of weeks in Transylvania, in an area, which is called the ”salt country”. I participated in a qigong retreat in Sovata, which is known for its salty heliothermal lakes, and had an opportunity to visit Praid, the center of the Szekely Salt Country, where the most notable salt mine is located.

The mountains contain huge salt deposits, which have been mined at least from the Roman times. Because of the nature of the soil, agriculture does not thrive there. Salt and forestry are the most important industries. Another important product of the region is honey and you can't avoid the gentle honey bees, who make themselves busy everywhere.

I had time to reflect on trigrams and the practices of fengshui when I was getting to know the area.

In Shuoguazhuan (or Shuo Gua Zhuan), trigram Dui is given meanings like salty soil and wetland (lower land, where water gathers when it flows down from the mountains forming marshes, swamps and lakes). Dui is also the youngest daughter, the concubine, whose important task was to give birth to sons. We also need to remember that Dui is metal, which represents such things as mouth, lungs and skin.

Trigram Kun and the related star Black-2 is often called the star of sickness. Dui or Red-7 is used to ”cure” it.

What has all this to do with the salt country, except for the fact that obviously Dui represents this salty ground?

In Sovata, on the 27th May, 1875, at 11 a.m. there was a downpour of rain and lake Ursu (Bear) was born. It took six years to grow into its final size. Around lake Ursu there are five smaller salty lakes. Very soon after the birth of lake Ursu, its saltiness and warmth enticed people to bathe in its water for health. The main problems people find cure for in it are gynecological problems and infertility (remember the concubines and their babies?). The list of other illnesses treated in the salty lake is very long.

One of the smaller lakes is frequented for its black mud, which people take straight from the embankments of the lake and apply to their skin (again that metal).

In Praid, rock salt has been exported all over the continent and what's left, are huge underground vaults. The older parts of the mine are now used for halopathy or salt therapy. Guess what are the illnesses treated by salt/metal: respiratory (metal) diseases.

I am now using salt soap (pure salt) on my face and it has cleared up the skin of a 30-year thing in a way I never thought possible.

One application of the healthy effects of salt is more widely known: the salt lamps, which are recommended to improve the quality of air we breathe.

[cheo]

Yes, salt is good to me. I use it to cure my sore throat (by gargling it).
However, I am told that salt lamp is no good for feng shui.
Salt Lamps
[from an article obtained in the World of Feng Shui magazine).
I [not me] have a Himalayan salt lamp which I placed in the SW corner of my home. However a friend told me that in Feng Shui, salt lamps are bad. Is this true?

Salt is a powerful cleansing agent and it can have the properties of cleansing any space. That is why salt is used in space clearing rituals, particularly when you are moving into a new home, or you need to cleanse stagnant energy from a piece of old furniture or a property where something bad has just taken place such as an illness or a death. However, when using salt to cleanse, you always humbly ask permission from any spirits that may be lingering there still before using the salt; otherwise some people say you could anger the spirits.

Salt lamps on the other hand are extremely harmful and they do not even have the power to cleanse. Salt lamps will soak all your chi energy from you leaving you feeling listless and tired. Salt lamps absorb all the good energy from the room so I strongly recommend that you remove it. Otherwise you will feel your essence flowing out of you making you sick even. Surely you must already be feeling it already?

I thought of buying it but was forbidden by my wife.
Cheero
Cheo

[Päivi Vilkki]

Hi Cheo,

Wow, this is the first time that I heard about salt lamp being a hazard. It goes against everything that's known about them. For sure there is plenty of information all over the internet about the health effects, but here's one (staying in the subject of Transylvanian salt): http://www.kristalbrizo.ro/lampa_de_sare_en.html

I've had a salt lamp for years (as has an enormous amount of other people) and have never experienced anything negative from it. On the contrary, it is an excellent cure for certain difficult flying star configurations. When our radiators heat up for the winter, I will be placing my salt soap on the one closest to our bed to see, if it alleviates the effect of drying my skin, which happens every winter.

Very often really stupid things are suggested in the name of fengshui.

[Päivi Vilkki]

Hi Dagmar,

A very good remark. Salt is indeed a drying agent, which is why it is also used in ghost-busting.

As for the effect here, there isn't much moisture that the piece of salt can take form the air. Mainly I am thinking about the ionization of the air plus a potential remedy for the 2-6 and 2-7 combinations , which are meeting in our bed:-) - this is where I scratch my skin. The best place to try out the effect of anything is my own home. I want to see, if salt used like this can strengthen the metal stars and take care of the sickness star.

Päivi

[Päivi Vilkki]

Hi Dagmar.

I hope that you mean by "traditional medicine" Western medicine. In fact I've been for some months on a Chinese TCM diet (propolis being part of it) and it has made away with problems, which surfaced last year. Western medicine has no cure.

Honey massage is also healthy and can alleviate certain problems.

Päivi

Transylvanian honey and onions on sale:

[Despina Tsobani]

Hi Paivi,Dagmar

Nice article about the salt lakes.I have heard about the old mines with the magnificent sculptures of salt ,but never heard about the lakes and the therapeutic value of salt.Once it is good for your face then it seems to be good.Besides I have offered as gifts two or three salt lamps but never used one for me.In Feng Shui I use salt with 6 coins in a ball of water but for #5 yellow# not #2 Black#.

Now Dagmar you have mentioned MY MEDICINE propolis.I call as MY because I have used it for more than twenty years in many cases . I get the raw kind of propolis from a friend of mine who has bee hives and then I proccess it to make oinments and liquids which I use only personally and for my family.The remedies I make have saved me from much trouble and have cured some very serious cases.You know Propolis is the natural anibiotic and the word derives from the Greek word ΠΡΟ _ΠΟΛΙΣ that means in front of the town.As in old times there where walls around towns to protect the citizens from any enemy attack,the same with propolis ,it is like a wall around our immune system to protect our body from any bacteria,viruses,biotics invasion.

It is worthwhile to make a further research on propolis and find out more about its benefits

Despina

[Despina Tsobani]

Hi Dagmar,

No,I have not tried it on asthma and bronchitis ,but in badly cut and swollen parts of the body,in burns,in breast cystes,in darduff,in swollen man's genetic organs after a bad accidental kick,bee bites ,body pains,sore throat, staphylococus to refer to some serious cases that I had to face

Despina

[Charles Younger]

Hi Paivi, interesting article. There is a book called "Salt" that is an historical account of the importance of salt on the development of civilizations and economies. It should come up on an Amazon search. It's a quick read and packed with small and large revalations about influences in history that are so fundamental to a society that they are overlooked by historians.

Warm regards,

Charles

[kong foo lau]

Hi Despina,

I like to find out more by using salt with 6 coins in a ball of water. If you can illustrate it out much better. Why not #2 Black, coz #2 are more of an illness star? Since all palace comes with a combination of sitting and facing star and the palace. Or you mean just the visiting star? Please share with us when #5 combine with other stars. Thanks

Lau

[Annie Pecheva]

Hi all,

talking about honey and propolis, according to the date selection method in China, there are even special days for collecting honey (!) - when there is a day with the symbolic stars Heavenly Virtue (Tian De), Lunar Virtue (Yue De), Combination of Heavenly Virtue (Tian De He) and Combination of Lunar Virtue (Yue De He). Hm... ;-)

Besides, there are bad days for collecting honey:

- in the Spring: jia yin (Wood Tiger) and geng wu (Metal Horse) days
- in the Summer: chen (Dragon) and xu (Dog) days
- in the Autumn: wu chen (Earth Dragon) days
- in the Winter: bing xu (Fire Dog) days


Annie

[Jodi Brunner]

Hi All when I was in Tokyo this year, and also in Chinatown in Melbourne, the Japanese restaurants and shops put small conical pillars of salt on either side of the front doo to scare away the 'evil spirits.'

Most likely to absorb sha qi.

Jodi