魂門 : Hunmen : Gate of the Ethereal Soul

Classifications:

Spirit point
One of the "59 piercings" for clearing Heat in Su Wen Ch. 61
Master Tung's Five Mountain Ranges

Location:

3 cun lateral to the midline, level with the lower border of the spinous process of the ninth thoracic vertebra (T9) and level with Ganshu Bl-18.

Needling:

Oblique insertion 0.3 - 0.5 cun

Warnings:

Deep perpendicular or deep oblique needling in a medial direction carries a substantial risk of causing a pneumothorax.

Classical Needling:

"The Taiyang usually has much Blood and little Qi" (Su Wen 素問 ch. 24) implying this channel should normally be bled.
"The foot Taiyang is to be pierced 5 fen deep and remain inserted for seven exhalations" (Ling Shu 靈樞 ch. 12).
"Locate it with the" (patient) seated upright. It is needled to a depth of five fen and moxaed with five cones" (Huangfu Mi 皇甫謐, 3rd Century, Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing 針灸甲乙經).

TCM Actions:

Spreads Liver Qi and relaxes the sinews
Harmonises the Middle Jiao

TCM Indications:

• Fullness and distension of the chest and lateral costal region, back pain, contraction of the sinews, bone and joint pain of the whole body, corpse collapse walking disorder, aversion to wind and cold.
  
• Difficult ingestion, vomiting, diarrhoea, borborygmus, irregular defecation, dark urine.

Neuroanatomy:

Superficial Innervation: Posterior cutaneous thoracic nerves from T9

Dermatome Segment: T9

Martial Applications & Effects of Injury:

See Montaigue, Dim Mak Locations, Taijiworld.com for explanation of effects.

Major Combinations:

• Heat in the five Zang:
    Hunmen Bl-47 with Pohu Bl-42, Shentang Bl-44, Yishe Bl-49 and Zhishi Bl-52
    (Anon, 400BC-260AD: Huang Di Nei Jing Ling Shu, 黃帝內經靈樞, Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic: Spiritual Pivot, Ch. 23, On Heat Diseases).
  
  
• Chest pain:
    Hunmen Bl-47 with Feishu Bl-13, Yunmen Lu-2, Zhongfu Lu-1, Yinbai Sp-1, Qimen Liv-14 and Daling Pc-7
    (Sun Simiao, 孫思邈, 625: Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang, 備急千金要方, Essential Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold).
  
  
• Cold Stomach with difficulty in digesting food:
    Hunmen Bl-47 with Weishu Bl-21
    (Gao Wu, 高武, 1529: Bai Zheng Fu, 百症賦, Ode of a Hundred Symptoms).
  
  
• Sleepwalking in children:
    Hunmen Bl-47 with Pohu Bl-42 (Wang & Robertson, 2008, Applied Channel Theory).
  
  
• Inability to express anger:
    Needle Ganshu Bl-18 outwards and Hunmen Bl-47 perpendicularly
    (Yuen, 2005, 3 Spirits & 7 Souls, see notes below on mechanism).
  
  
• Excessive anger:
    Needle Hunmen Bl-47 obliquely inwards and Ganshu Bl-18 downwards
    (Yuen, 2005, 3 Spirits & 7 Souls, see notes below on mechanism).

Notes:

Like the other outer Bladder points of the five Zang, despite being named after their spiritual aspect, they have little indication for treatment of psychological disorders in the classical literature but are mainly used for draining heat from their corresponding Zang (Deadman et al, 2001). One possible answer to this is that the Shen is often agitated by excessive Heat making clearing Heat from the Zang a possible protocol for calming the mind.

In five element acupuncture indicated for a wood cf, issues of anger a/or resentment, lack of sense of purpose in life, depression, drug a/or alcohol abuse issues.

The "59 piercings" are named in the Su Wen Ch. 61 and mentioned in Su Wen Ch. 32 and Ling Shu Ch. 23 for treating Heat diseases.

Jeffrey Yuen (2005, 3 Spirits & 7 Souls) suggests for inability to express anger we can direct the Yuan qi to here for expression by needling Ganshu Bl-18 outwards and then this point relatively perpendicularly.
For excessive anger we can direct it back to the Zang by needling this point obliquely towards the inner Bladder line and then needling Ganshu Bl-18 downwards.

In Master Tung's system this point is one of the five mountain ranges (Wu Ling). They consist of five sets of points in three lines representing the phases of the Wu Xing in a series of lines:

The first set is along the midline, below each vertebrae from T2 to T11. From T2 to T8 relate to Fire, T9 to T11 relate to Earth.
The second set is 3 cun from the midline. from T2 to T9. From T2 to T6 relate to Metal, T7 to T9 relate to Wood.
The third set is 6 cun from the midline from T2 to T8. From T2 to T4 relate to Metal, T5 to T8 relate to Wood.

They are indicated for fever, common cold, hypertension, headache, lumbar pain, numbness of the hands and feet, hemiplegia, acute stomachache, vomiting or acute enteritis by releasing heat, wind and stagnation from the organs relating to their phase and treated with a pricking method to release a drop of blood (McCann, 2014, Pricking the Vessels).

This sort of technique may make greater sense than regular needles as shallow depth without retention may be safer over the spine and lungs.

Reference Notes:

Basic information on location, needle depth, TCM actions, indications and combinations is taken from Deadman et al (2001): A Manual of Acupuncture with additional anatomical information researched by reference to Gray's Anatomy (38th Ed., 1995) unless otherwise referenced. Images were found on acupunctureschoolonline.com and can be traced back to Claudia Focks (2008) Atlas of Acupuncture originally. I cannot claim any credit or rights over them. Other sources should be quoted in the text.

For some of the more unusual terms I have created a glossary here