• Taoism has a fondness for symbols and patterns largely taken from the natural world and seasons. Presumably these arose as a means of passing on teaching and traditions; of simply having a conversation without misunderstanding. As in the ancient world, so now.
  
• White Tiger Green Dragon – is another way of describing YinYang and there are many permutations in its imagery that would have been commonly understood as far back (and further) than we can imagine. (It is perhaps hard for us to grasp this fact: that the cultural history of China is one that – until the coming of the Red Tide less than a hundred years ago – is largely unbroken in its sweep of over five thousand years.)
• White Tiger is Earth and Sacred Moon: in the body, subtle Yin Chi – sexual fluid energy of the feminine, component of the Elixir of Immortality, to be nourished and absorbed.
• Green Dragon is Heaven and Sacred Sun (star): in the body, subtle Yang Chi – sexual rising energy of the masculine, component of the Elixir of Immortality, to be cultivated and conserved.
• As implied in the above, White Tiger Green Dragon found its place, too, in the bedroom arts; these also becoming a part of the spiritual journey for some. Looking through my books for a suitable image to show you of the Tiger and Dragon aspect of meditation (which I have misplaced somewhere) I came across the following expressive piece of bedroom erotica, which I thought you might like to see instead. It is in porcelain – mid C18^th Ching dynasty and less than two inches high – from a series: Thirty Heaven & Earth Postures. It is described thus: ‘In this position Lord Yang lies on his back and faces upwards. Lady Yin seats herself on his stomach placing her feet firmly in the bedding. She then reaches behind for his Jade Root, then slides on to it with backward movement.’ It is called Hovering Butterflies position; or as we might say for our purposes here, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon…

late March 2012  ©