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This is a Legendary Moment
Hi! I’m Jiling, an acupuncturist, herbalist, and artist in coastal southern California bridging medicine and expression through my Ventura acupuncture clinic, Five Elements classes, and Elemental book-in-progress that interweaves nature, art, movement and ritual for thriving personal and ecological wild beauty. Learn more about me here, join events here, and get acupuncture here. Enjoy this January 2025 newsletter! Get monthly letters at Jiling.Substack.com
~
Happy New Year!
Chinese legends say that on the night of the Lunar New Year, the great monster 年 nian traipses through town wreaking havoc. So villagers make some noise: firecrackers, drums, gongs! Everyone wears red. They hang red paper on front doors with lucky words to dispel harm and welcome beauty. Nian flees to his cave. The villagers are saved for another year. Legends and traditions continue.
Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday of the year in my ancestral lands of Taiwan and China. People still light fireworks, honor ancestral rituals, and hang 春聯 chun lian— or lucky words— for this intact ancient tradition of clanging out the old and banging in the new. We still wear red. Clean our homes. Light incense. Families gather to eat circular foods around circular tables, symbolic of 團圓 tuan yuan, unity and harmony. The circle comes together again. The disparate threads of our scattered communities and experiences reunite. We start fresh. Alone and together. Circling.
年 Nian means year. The monster represents the year ahead, full of unknown beauty and terror. We stand at the edge, gazing down the abyss. What lies ahead?
In protecting ourselves from the nian-monster, we adorn ourselves and our homes to welcome delight, abundance, ease— all that we wish to call in. We clean and shine to make space for loveliness to reenter. We hang the word 春 chun, or spring, upside down. The word for “upside down,” 倒 Dao, sounds like 到 dao, or to arrive. Painting “spring” on red paper and sticking it on the door upside down, we welcome spring’s arrival.
Lunar New Year honors the first new moon of the new year, the first full darkness. We begin again. Soon, the birds return. The first buds of spring pop open. But we must first survive the dark. Court the monster. January and February can be dark, cold, and destructive. We survive together, shoulder to shoulder, clanging drums and chimes, grinding ink, writing lucky words that remind us of who we are and what we hold dear. We uplift our collective light to the sky, come clouds, storms, darkness. We stand together.
The next year— and next four years— will be ______________.
We fill in the blanks. We choose our words. We choose our destiny.
What new year stories and traditions surrounded your childhood— and the lives of your ancestors? What still feels pertinent or poignant today? How are you adapting and honoring ancient ways for modern days? Which powerful words and phrases guide your way?
May this new year of the Wood Snake slither luscious loveliness into your life. Call out your intentions and deepest heart’s desires, paint them on your door, and may those flowers bloom, bloom, bloom.
Tea & Ink: An Invitation
Come make 春聯 chun lian and sip tea with me, Madeleine Colvin, and other beautiful humans in Koreatown at Madeleine’s new Tile Cat Teahouse! We’re both first generation Asian-American women, offspring of flowing ink and tea, experimental bridge-walkers and culture-weavers extraordinaire. Come join us!
We’ll grind ink the way my 爺爺 yeye grandpa taught me with traditional Chinese art tools from Madeleine’s artist grandmother. Play with mark-making skills that translate across any fluid artistic medium to reignite creativity for the new year. Experiment with auspicious Chinese words and phrases for traditional chun lian or write in English, and bring home your own chun lian for the year ahead!
Wood Snake Astrology
I love these two annual Chinese astrology forecasts. They’ll usually publish new forecasts for the new year sometime soon.
* Artist Yu Hua Meng (missTANGQ)
* Gregory David Done, LAc
Auspicious Dates
* Lunar New Year is January 29. Light incense, sip tea, play music, write lucky words— do something to mark this transition, or intentionally do nothing and rest into the darkness of the first new moon of 2025.
* My birthday— the final year of my 30s— falls near the lunar new year. I’m wearing red, painting rainbows, and opening to wonder.
* Schedule your acupuncture or creative coaching for the fresh year— and I’ll see you on the Harmon Canyon trails for Ventura plant walks next month!
❤️ May this be the best season of your life,
Jiling Lin, L.Ac. • Acupuncturist, herbalist, artist • JilingLin.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jiling.substack.com
View all episodes
By Jiling Lin, LAcHi! I’m Jiling, an acupuncturist, herbalist, and artist in coastal southern California bridging medicine and expression through my Ventura acupuncture clinic, Five Elements classes, and Elemental book-in-progress that interweaves nature, art, movement and ritual for thriving personal and ecological wild beauty. Learn more about me here, join events here, and get acupuncture here. Enjoy this January 2025 newsletter! Get monthly letters at Jiling.Substack.com
~
Happy New Year!
Chinese legends say that on the night of the Lunar New Year, the great monster 年 nian traipses through town wreaking havoc. So villagers make some noise: firecrackers, drums, gongs! Everyone wears red. They hang red paper on front doors with lucky words to dispel harm and welcome beauty. Nian flees to his cave. The villagers are saved for another year. Legends and traditions continue.
Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday of the year in my ancestral lands of Taiwan and China. People still light fireworks, honor ancestral rituals, and hang 春聯 chun lian— or lucky words— for this intact ancient tradition of clanging out the old and banging in the new. We still wear red. Clean our homes. Light incense. Families gather to eat circular foods around circular tables, symbolic of 團圓 tuan yuan, unity and harmony. The circle comes together again. The disparate threads of our scattered communities and experiences reunite. We start fresh. Alone and together. Circling.
年 Nian means year. The monster represents the year ahead, full of unknown beauty and terror. We stand at the edge, gazing down the abyss. What lies ahead?
In protecting ourselves from the nian-monster, we adorn ourselves and our homes to welcome delight, abundance, ease— all that we wish to call in. We clean and shine to make space for loveliness to reenter. We hang the word 春 chun, or spring, upside down. The word for “upside down,” 倒 Dao, sounds like 到 dao, or to arrive. Painting “spring” on red paper and sticking it on the door upside down, we welcome spring’s arrival.
Lunar New Year honors the first new moon of the new year, the first full darkness. We begin again. Soon, the birds return. The first buds of spring pop open. But we must first survive the dark. Court the monster. January and February can be dark, cold, and destructive. We survive together, shoulder to shoulder, clanging drums and chimes, grinding ink, writing lucky words that remind us of who we are and what we hold dear. We uplift our collective light to the sky, come clouds, storms, darkness. We stand together.
The next year— and next four years— will be ______________.
We fill in the blanks. We choose our words. We choose our destiny.
What new year stories and traditions surrounded your childhood— and the lives of your ancestors? What still feels pertinent or poignant today? How are you adapting and honoring ancient ways for modern days? Which powerful words and phrases guide your way?
May this new year of the Wood Snake slither luscious loveliness into your life. Call out your intentions and deepest heart’s desires, paint them on your door, and may those flowers bloom, bloom, bloom.
Tea & Ink: An Invitation
Come make 春聯 chun lian and sip tea with me, Madeleine Colvin, and other beautiful humans in Koreatown at Madeleine’s new Tile Cat Teahouse! We’re both first generation Asian-American women, offspring of flowing ink and tea, experimental bridge-walkers and culture-weavers extraordinaire. Come join us!
We’ll grind ink the way my 爺爺 yeye grandpa taught me with traditional Chinese art tools from Madeleine’s artist grandmother. Play with mark-making skills that translate across any fluid artistic medium to reignite creativity for the new year. Experiment with auspicious Chinese words and phrases for traditional chun lian or write in English, and bring home your own chun lian for the year ahead!
Wood Snake Astrology
I love these two annual Chinese astrology forecasts. They’ll usually publish new forecasts for the new year sometime soon.
* Artist Yu Hua Meng (missTANGQ)
* Gregory David Done, LAc
Auspicious Dates
* Lunar New Year is January 29. Light incense, sip tea, play music, write lucky words— do something to mark this transition, or intentionally do nothing and rest into the darkness of the first new moon of 2025.
* My birthday— the final year of my 30s— falls near the lunar new year. I’m wearing red, painting rainbows, and opening to wonder.
* Schedule your acupuncture or creative coaching for the fresh year— and I’ll see you on the Harmon Canyon trails for Ventura plant walks next month!
❤️ May this be the best season of your life,
Jiling Lin, L.Ac. • Acupuncturist, herbalist, artist • JilingLin.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jiling.substack.com