The Calabash

The Calabash or Bottle Gourd (Longenaria Sicerarea) is called a Hu-lu in Chinese. When dried properly it can be used as a handy container. In traditional China, it was often used by the herbal doctors to carry medicines, hence its long association with the matter of health and healing.

The Chinese believe when a person is not well, he or she could have been affected by the Sha qi (harmful energy) coming through the front door or hanging around the bedroom, so a Calabash is recommended to be hung next to the front door or the bed to ward off the undesirable influence and improve one’s health.

In Xuan Kong Feixing (Flying Stars Feng Shui) the stars associated with sickness, the 2 Black and the 5 Yellow, both belong to the Earth element. A Calabash made of copper or brass can transform the Sha qi of the Earth of the 2 Black and 5 Yellow, especially if a Bagua diagram is fixed to the body of the Calabash.

There are four reasons why a metal Calabash with a Bagua diagram can transform the Sha qi of sickness:

1.      The metal Calabash belongs to metal element and metal can weaken earth – the harmful element in this case.

2.      A Calabash has a body made of two spherical shapes joined together and a spherical shape belongs to metal. Therefore the material and the form of a Calabash have the power to weaken earth.

3.      The Bagua diagram is a symbol of transformation representing all types of qi under heaven and earth. As a consequence it can dissolve all types of Sha qi.

4.      The shape of a calabash is like a fish trap with a narrow mouth and neck and a fat body. When the Sha qi is trapped, it will find it difficult to escape.

To increase the metaphysical power of the Calabash, we can take it to a Chinese temple and have it “Kai- Guang” (giving it light), that is to have it blessed by the temple deity.

The Calabash was mentioned in the “Feixing Fu” (A Descriptive Prose on Flying Stars), one of the four classic “Fu” of Xuan Kong Feixing. It has this to say about the Calabash (My Translation): - “7 has a connection with the Calabash and with medicine, divinations and the well being of the family.”

The 7 Red Metal star is the Po Jun Star and is also called the Bandit Star. It is related to robbery and punishment. Since to punish is to cleanse and to rehabilitate, the 7 Red is also related to the shamanic arts of divination and medicine.

In Xuan Kong Feixing, the latent potential of a star (gua qi) can be stimulated by the external form. In this case, if there is a mountain in the shape of a Calabash located in the direction of the 7 Red Star and the star is timely, we can say the house is likely to produce an expert in the art of divination or medicine. When the Red Star is untimely, we can say the house is likely to produce a “Jiang-Hu” (Lakes and Rivers – meaning a lower quality) type of practitioner of divination and medicine.

Since we are still in Period 7 (1984-2003), the art of divination (like Bazi and Feng Shui) and traditional Chinese medicine (like acupuncture) are very popular. So if you want to become a famous Feng Shui consultant or tradition Chinese herbal doctor, then placing a Calabash in the timely 7 Red star direction would help with your study and gathering of knowledge in this area.

Example:

In a Period 7 house, sitting on Zi Mountain (N2), Facing Wu (S2)

It has a double star arriving at the sitting palace pattern. If in the North sitting direction there is a Calabash shaped mountain, the house is likely to produce a famous fortuneteller or doctor. When we arrive in period 8 (after 4^th Feb 2004), the 7 Red Star becomes a declining star and the house will lose its potential and could even produce a lower quality practitioner (a Charlatan) if the Calabash mountain is still there to exert its influence.  

Above: An auspicious paper cut from Inner Mongolia, detail of calabash giving birth.

The Calabash has a long association with Chinese culture and myth. Legend has it that Fu-Yi and Nu-Wo used a boat shaped like a Calabash to escape the Great Flood - later they became husband and wife and created the Chinese race.

So Nu-Wo and Fu-Yi together with the calabash became the symbol of Yin and Yang and the interaction of the two primordial faces. That is, the Calabash became the symbol of fertility and it is not hard to see the reasons: -

1.                  The Calabash produces many seeds.

2.                  The shape of the Calabash can look like a male and female coming together with one half being Yin and one half being Yang. The Daoist used the Calabash to represent Taiji since Taiji can have potential to divide into two from one like the calabash.

3.                  The curvilinear S shape of a Calabash can represent the S line dividing the Yin and Yang forces in a Taiji diagram. To the Daoist, the S line symbolizes the mystery of the coming together of the forces in the universe.

Recent archaeological discoveries have confirmed that the use of the Calabash to ward off harmful influence and to increase prosperity and fertility can be traced back 5-6000 years ago. In some remote villages in China, even today, when a woman finds it hard to conceive or hard to give birth or when her milk dries out, a piece of paper cut in the shape of a Calabash is pasted onto the window pane to ensure that there will be a smooth passage to plenty of offspring to continue the family line.

Our belief in its power to transform has passed down the ages and I have a key-ring attached to a small brass Calabash for good luck.

Some modern Feng Shui experts even advise that a Calabash be hung next to an exposed W.C. to stop the wealth from going down the toilet!