Fourth Month of Pregnancy

(Art by Shinichi Maruyama)

In the fourth month of pregnancy, the fetus opens to the essence of the element of water. This element constitutes the pool of genetic inheritance, including the "unconsious reservoir of intuitive intelligence, will, and life-force energy". It relates to the "divine love, power, and spirit" that is ancestrally available to the fetus.

In the fourth month of pregnancy, the connective tissue develops, the matrix by which everything is connected in this new being. It is the matrix of "intercellular communication," and can be thought of as the scaffold of the astral body.

Acupuncture during this stage of development can be particularly beneficial to the pregnant woman.

(Primary source: Sui Dynasty Imperial Physician Chao Yuan Fang as written in Energetic Anatomy and Physiology (Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy, Volume 1) by Jerry Alan Johnson)

Third Month of Pregnancy

Photo by Naoyuki Kurita

In the Third Month, the mother's qi, spirit, body fluids, and primordial essence combine to cleanse the spirit of the fetus. This process creates heat, which ultimately rouses the baby's ethereal soul. The ethereal soul is what fuels our purpose in life and propels us to achieve our destinies.

In the Third Month, the Prenatal Five Agents (Wu Jing Shen) begin to energetically awaken. There are five agents, one for each of the five elements found in nature. Jing Shen can be described as the essence and spirit.

The first set of characters is for Jing, which depicts an exploding rice grain next to a young sapling shooting out of the earth. I think of the cycle of life, how the decomposition of the rice is linked with the propulsion of life in the tree. Death and destruction nourishes life.

The second set of characters is for Shen, which depicts heavenly influence on earthlyn natural forces.

We have the cycle of life bringing manifestation to the spirits of heaven and earth.

This begins in the third month when the heart beat can first be detected.

Second Month of Pregnancy

In the second month, the mother's breath conducts the symphonic movement of embryonic qi in its minute currents, eddies, and whirlpools that ultimately grow into the baby's organs, flesh, bones, meridians.

Be aware of the breath.

In their beautiful book on mindful parenting, Everyday Blessings, Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn say this about the breath:

"Through ongoing practice, it is possible to develop an intimacy with the breath that extends your awareness into whatever else is happening in your world at that moment. Cultivating awareness in this way allows the deep potential in each moment to become available to you."

Would could have deeper potential than the child growing in your womb?