Exploring the relationship between the eight extraordinary vessels, and the zangfu and extraordinary organs, this ground-breaking book provides a new way of looking at the deep connection between the flow of qi through the primary channels, the placement of the confluent points of the extraordinary vessels along the primary channel system, and Daoist conceptions of the evolution of consciousness. He emphasizes the importance of the dai mai channel in integration. The author points to direct relationships between the primary channels, the extraordinary channels, and the zangfu and extraordinary organs which demonstrate a deep, underlying, and continuous connection between the individual and their environment, a continuous connection to Heaven above and Earth below, and, perhaps most importantly, an underlying drive of the channel systems to continually, experientially bring us back to the transcendent unity that we are always a part of, the natural state. This book will enlarge the perspective of Chinese medicine practitioners, and martial artists, and prompt new approaches to treatment.

Hogg played a significant role in the success and notoriety of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, the 'Maga', as the magazine came to be known among the contributors, founded in 1817 by the Edinburgh publisher and bookseller, William Blackwood. Hogg's relationships with Blackwood, the magazine, and the major contributors were central to both his literary and personal life. From 1817 until his death in 1835 he published nearly 115 works in Blackwood's Magazine. His contributions showcase the diversity of his talent and his achievement as a writer; his published works include a great variety of songs and lyric poetry, narrative and dramatic poetry, sketches of rural and farming life, review essays, ballads, short stories, satirical pieces, and even a 'screed' on politics. This edition for the first time collects Hogg's 'Maga' publications, as well as provides a comprehensive introduction to Hogg's connection with Blackwood's and full explanatory and textual notes to the works.