Ghost Points
22/04/26 Filed in: Spiritual Acupuncture
This is the first in a series of posts on the thirteen Ghost Points: an ancient set of acupuncture points used for deep psychological and spiritual work.
The Ghost Points: An Introduction
There are thirteen Ghost Points. A coven of them, appropriately enough. They have names like Ghost Palace, Ghost Fortress, Ghost Heart. They were described over fourteen hundred years ago by Sun Simiao, a Chinese physician of the Tang Dynasty, and although they have never quite disappeared from the literature, they are seldomly used today.
This, I think, is a significant loss.
What They Were For.
The ancient framing was possession by an external spirit. Conditions we might now call psychosis, mania, or severe dissociation: states in which a person is no longer quite themselves.
The modern Chinese medicine description is excess phlegm misting the Heart: an accumulated obstruction, built from trauma, shock or chronic emotional difficulty affecting the natural expression of a person's spirit.
What a Ghost Actually Is.
A ghost, in this tradition, is something that has taken up residence in us and is shaping our perception, our feelings, our responses: without our full awareness.
It influences how we see the world, how we relate to people, what we believe is possible. It has its own momentum. And the longer it goes unaddressed, the more it feels like simply who we are.
We are all subject to such things. We just don't call them ghosts any more.
The difference now is that we don't have to wait until such patterns become unmanageable. We can use the Ghost Points consciously, purposefully, as part of a process of personal growth, to move through patterns that have outstayed their welcome.
Who They're For.
In my practice, the Ghost Points are used for a wide range of life-situations: long-term depression, unresolved grief, long-standing trauma, addictive patterns, habits that we want to shed, emotional numbness, and the particular kind of flatness that settles in when we have lost contact with our own inner life.
They are also used to support those engaged in serious spiritual practice: to 'clear the decks' before an important period of work, to carry out what I think of as a spiritual detox or simply to shift something that one's own practice has been unable to move. Some thresholds cannot be crossed carrying the baggage we have accumulated. The Ghost Points help us set it down and let it go. A hugely important step for our personal development.
The Structure
The thirteen points are arranged in the Four Trinities: four groups of three, each representing a deeper level of disruption to the spirit. There is also a thirteenth point, standing alone, used to support the final trinity of points.
Over this series I'll look at each in turn, beginning with the First Trinity.
A Note on Ghost Points in Practice.
The Ghost Points are not an easy treatment to have (they can be physically uncomfortable). Their use can surface uncomfortable emotions and perceptions, and so rather than offer them as a standalone treatment, they are given a context within which to operate. They are a powerful conclusion to the end of a series of 8 Extra Meridian treatments for example. For those working at a particularly deep level, with an existing practice, they can be used at the start and end of a series of sessions working with the chakra centres and extra meridians together.The Ghost Points work at a profound level. Each Trinity forms the basis for a single session. Rather than treating symptoms in isolation they address the root of a disturbance: the presence in our life of something that is not authentically ours, that has shaped us without our consent, or that we have simply outgrown and wish to be rid of. They enable it to be released.
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Lynden Swift practices Transformative Acupuncture in Bristol, treating on Sundays at the Healing Centre above Bristol Buddhist Centre, Gloucester Road. If you would like to discuss whether this work might be relevant to you, please get in touch.