Creating this new website I had to build in the many different disciplines in Chinese & Japanese Acupuncture I have been privileged to have been taught over the past 25 years. To do this I decided to change the name of my business – easier said than done! I wanted a name that would reflect myself, my training, my healing and the community that live at the core of my work.
In Chinese folklore, the Rabbit is the companion of the Moon Goddess Chang’e. The Rabbit makes the elixir of life for her and uses a mortar and pestle to mix herbal medicine for Earthly families. But how did the Rabbit become the companion of the Moon Goddess?
According to a Buddhist story:
“The Jade Emperor disguised himself as a poor, starving old man and begged for food from monkeys, otters, jackals and rabbits. Monkeys gathered fruit from the trees, Otters gathered fish from the river. A Jackal stole a lizard and a pot of milk curds.
Rabbit though could only gather grass. Knowing well enough that grass can’t be offered as food to humans, the rabbit decided to offer its own body, sacrificing itself in a fire the man had started. Somehow though the rabbit wasn’t burned. The old man suddenly revealed himself to be the great Jade Emperor! Touched by the rabbit’s selfless sacrifice, he sent the rabbit to the moon to become the immortal ‘Jade Rabbit’.”
It is said if you look up at the moon, you can see an outline of the Jade Rabbit pounding with a pestle. More than just a beautiful story, the Jade Rabbit (also known as the Moon Rabbit) is a symbol of selflessness, piety and sacrifice. Maybe that is why the Jade Rabbit is on the moon – so that no matter where we are on Earth we can look up and see that there is always someone taking care of us.