Is the ghost orchid a lesbian symbol?

Answer 1

The Spiritual Orchid is part of the title of Chapter 8 of the medical classic the Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen. The title suggests something different to the more technical medical information of most of the book. This chapter describes the internal organs of the body in a way that differs in many respects from the more usual way they are presented. It sees the organs as like the officials or cabinet ministers who rule the empire. At the head is the Emperor; however, despite this patriarchal symbolism the ideas contained are paradoxically suggestive of something other. One is reminded of the symbolism in the Dao Te Jing. Where it says that ruling the empire is like cooking a small fish - i.e. something that one has to do very gently or the fish will break. So contained within these passages are the more feminine, spiritual, heart, based medicine rather than the more technical. What better way to hide the feminine Taoist than dressed up in apparent Confucianism. Of course it is not very well hidden. The title of the Chapter the Secret Treatise of the Spiritual Orchid is a give away that someone is trying to say something rather different. And yet people do not see this unless they already have the keys to understanding. I am reminded of a book by Sukie Colgrave: The Valley Spirit, in which she suggests that although history shows China to have been a very patriarchal culture there is contained in its culture many references to a more feminine world view.