Adano Ley (Swami Nitty-Gritty) warned …

“A-framed toenails mean a person is slowly dying. Toxins cause this condition.”

A hormone imbalance or a fungal infection can also distort the shape of a toenail.

Age-related A-framing usually begins at the little toe – EARTH toe – and progresses in the direction of the big toe – METAL toe.

Hormone-related A-framing tends to be confined to the METAL toe.

The Liver Meridian ascends from the lateral side of the nail bed of the METAL toe, and the Spleen-Pancreas Meridian ascends from its medial side.

The “equilibrium point” is also on the medial side of the METAL toe.

The “emergency sinus point” is between the EARTH and WATER toes.

Adano also referred to this point the “ESP point,” “emergency sinus reflex,” and “spigot point.”

A bone-like mass often forms between these toes – it’s actually calcified lymphatic tissue.

The sinuses can be drained with a Bipolar Contact: simultaneously holding the thumb – METAL digit – on the foot’s Diaphragm Point and the index finger – AIR or WOOD digit – on the ESP point.

Adano advised …

“The emergency sinus reflex is effective for terminal emphysema. Lay the person on his stomach just like treating a drowning man. Raise the legs by the knees to work the emergency sinus reflexes of both feet. The pain should feel like a red-hot poker. Working the ear points will also get mucus out fast.”

Hugh Milne (The Heart of Listening: A Visionary Approach to Craniosacral Work, 1995) wrote …

“I learned from a former CIA agent that the CIA teaches novice agents to watch the suspect’s body language, especially his feet. Under duress, the body signals the truth that the voice attempts to hide. With some it is the eye movements, with others the hands. I particularly love the feet – especially the toes. Ever since I worked with the retired agent, I have watched toes out of the corner of my eye and smiled to myself at the wisdom of his many insights. It is amazing what tales a toe can tell you. The person says one thing, the toe says another.”

My method of Toe Analysis runs circles around the CIA’s version.

Here’s a “cookbook version” of some Toe Analysis highlights …

The METAL (ETHER) toe often indicates ego and self-worth issues, including suicidal tendencies and Death Imprints.

The WOOD (AIR) toe often indicates an education trauma or an inability to “digest” information. “Old sores” are fuel for the “stories” that no longer serve us.

The Stomach Meridian ends on this toe.

The FIRE toe often indicates fear and anxiety, including the fear of pregnancy and childbirth – tokophobia (TOE-kophobia?).

The Kidney Meridian begins on this toe – not at Kidney 1 at the “heart of the sole.”

The WATER toe often indicates annoyance, vexation, and exasperation, as well as the proverbial “lack of gall” – and an overcompensating “excess of gall” too.

The Gall Bladder Meridian ends on this toe.

Annoyance causes the stomach to act like a vacuum cleaner.

It sucks bile out of the duodenum up through the pyloric valve and interferes with digestion for hours.

The “Father of Gastric Physiology” – William Beaumont, M.D. (1785-1853) – is credited with PROVING this in the 1820s by observing it many times through a permanent gastric aperture in the stomach of Alexis St. Martin (1794-1880).

The WATER toe, like the FIRE toe, can indicate fear – “pissing one’s pants” – but it often indicates being “pissed off.”

The Urinary Bladder Meridian begins on the little toe – “And this little piggy went WEE WEE WEE all the way home.”

PS: If some of these correspondences seem confusing, it’s because microacupuncture and reflexology systems OVERLAP.

One microsystem sits within another microsystem in turn sitting within another microsystem – a series of OCTAVES or FRACTAL patterning.

There’s also three surface-level depths of microsystems – relating to the endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm.

Also, the traditional version of the Creative and Destructive Cycle of the Five Elements is only 3/5th correct.

METAL and WOOD are reversed, seriously compromising the interpretation of the Mother-Son and the Husband-Wife cycles.

If you don’t believe me, read or re-read the introduction to an acupuncture textbook highly regarded by bodyworkers and used in many – if not most – acupuncture schools …

Kiiko Matsumoto & Stephen Birch, Five Elements and Ten Stems, 1983.