The Wood Element
Spring is the season of the Wood Element, the time of rising Yang energy, creativity and birth:
"Simple and fresh and fair from winters close emerging, as if no artifice of fashion, business, politics, had ever been, fourth from its sunny nook of sheltered grass – innocent, golden, calm as dawn, the spring's first dandelion shows its trustful face". (Whitman ,W, 1819 – 1892, American Poet)
The Spring is the time when we look forward to the coming year with optimism and excitement or rather we should if our Wood Element is in balance. The Spring is all about fresh starts and new things bursting into life, it is seen in the plants and the trees around us and the wildlife coming to life after the long sleep of winter. We should be starting to make plans for the future now, putting to rest memories from the past and looking forward with optimism.
"Spring is the time of birth and regeneration. The burst of activity which surges out of the stillness of the winter has no equal elsewhere in the year; there is an energy and dynamic force abroad which brings life and vigor to everything". (Worsley,J.R.1998, p1.2)
The Springtime can be a very active and noisy time with people starting to go about there business and planning for the new year. The animals are starting to show more activity in the fields as the spring lambs bounce around. It is generally a time when things start to happen after the shutdown of the winter months. The gift of this season is the optimism and chance to look to the future. It brings to us an opportunity to start again and to put failure behind us and take a fresh approach to things. Obviously this only works if we are in balance, as if we are suffering from an imbalance during this season we will find it very hard to plan or look forward, we would have no energy no drive and no ambition. If we have no energy then we can become depressed and anxious, these are all signs that something is not right.
Spring is linked with the Wood Element because of the opportunities for growth and development. If a tree is not nourished and given a chance to grow then it will wither and die, very much like the body and also the spirit of a person who is suffering from an imbalance. Again like a tree we must be able to bend and be flexible adapting to things that may come our way, we must stay strong rooted but flexible enough to give a little should the need arise.
"And so the tree grows according to its destiny, in harmony with the seasons, in constant battle with the natural forces. As it grows strong, the winds and weather do it less harm. The tree maintains enough flexibility to sway in the wind, yet stays firmly rooted in the ground." (Herrmann,Christa-Maria 2000 p 180)
The Wood Element will show itself as someone who is well motivated and organised, someone who is a scrupulous planner; perhaps they might be self-employed or a director of a company, a person who is used to having things mapped out ahead of them. They are people who like to be pushed and their abilities tested and stretched. A Wood Element will be totally dedicated to anything that he or she pursues. This may be to do with work or the family, this can be taken literally to the point where that person would lay down their life for that cause. If we look at an example of a martyr in history who shows an example of this we could say somebody like Joan of Arc who was so totally dedicated to what she believed in, that she gave her life for it.
The spring is truly a time for inspiration, when things look more positive than perhaps at any other time of the year, this is the time when we can achieve and get things done.
"My beloved spake, and said unto me, rise up, my love my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. (The Song of Solomon verse2: 10-13)
The emotion that is linked with the Wood Element is that of Anger or lack of Anger. When a Wood Element is in balance, this emotion will not necessarily be portrayed as the usual idea of Anger, but perhaps more as a forcefulness of a wanting to get things done, not tolerating laziness or sloppiness. Whereas a lack of Anger will come across as someone who is very timid and perhaps who seems to have had the stuffing knocked out of them.
"The voice of thunder is heard and through the spring equinox, the Yang makes its victorious rise more visible. Celebrations are in the making and everyone is excited, pushed on with a slight feverishness. The songs of the workers rise in harmony with this awakening of spring. These are the aspects of the second month: the awakening of insects and the spring equinox." (Larre,C.1994 p28)
The Organs of the Wood Element are the Liver and Gall Bladder
These two Officials can be likened to the Architect and the Site Foreman on a building site, one makes the plans and the others makes the decisions on how to put theses plans into progress. The Gall Bladder is the Official of decision making and judgment.
"The Gall Bladder weighs 3 liang and 3 chu, is 3 ts’un long and lies within the shorter leaf of the liver. It can hold 3 ho of liquid essence (Bile). The Gall Bladders spirit is Lung yao "Splendor of the dragon" its epithet is " the stately and the radiant one" and its shape is that of a hybrid of turtle and snake." (Wallnofer,H and Von Rottauscher,A ,p 83 – 84)
The Gall Bladder is the Official that converts the plans into actual decisions, it excels in making decisions, and of course if this Official is suffering from an imbalance then the opposite applies and decisions will be very difficult to make. As we know a lot of thinking and decision making is done when we are asleep sometimes answers can come up for problems during this time. The Gall Bladders "Horary" time is between 11.00pm and 3.00am this ensures that we start the day with new optimism and new plans for the day ahead.
Our whole existence involves decision making on one level or another. On the physical side, for every movement that we make, a decision has to be made as to what direction, or how much weight, or when, can that arm or leg move. That is why people who's Gall Bladder is not functioning correctly might show signs of movement disabilities or stiffness of the joints. Obviously decision making is more evident in a mind situation and without this Official functioning to its best capability then the person will stagnate and be unable to make any decisions -they will flounder without any direction or purpose. They may also resort to being very judgmental about others they have a fixed idea of how they think things should be and there is no room for reason or discussion over the matter.
The Gall Bladder is one of the most influential Officials in the body becoming involved with all the other Officials it directs and organizes the rest of the Officials. It stands above all the others not coming into contact with polluted or dirty energy.
"In Chinese medicine the Gall Bladder is said to be the only Official who works with pure essence; all of the others either store or come into contact with polluted or dirty energy." (Worsley,J.R. 1998 p 10.10).
The Liver is the Official responsible for Planning, This manifests itself in body, mind and spirit. We must all have a plan, be it long term or short term otherwise, we would lack direction and meander aimlessly without one. The Liver Official is always evident in a Wood Element as they are always very serious planners. They usually have everything mapped out to the finest detail, they will also have a contingency plan laid out for those times when things don’t go quite as they expected. A Wood Element in balance will have all the angles covered. When things are planned to this degree this can give us the peace of mind to be able to relax as we know we have all eventualities sorted.
The body has many contingency plans of its own that spring into action when they are required. When we cut ourselves a plan is launched that begins to clot our blood, there are many plans that are laid down which release hormones into our system when our reserves are becoming depleted. Another example of a plan, this time in women is that of the menstrual cycle. This is a plan that is regular when we are in balance, as soon as we suffer an imbalance these plans go out of the window, the menstrual cycle can become irregular or can even cease.
The Liver carries on planning for our futures and without this service we would flounder and loose direction. The Liver also gives us the power to be flexible, when things don’t quite go to plan the Liver will give us the adaptability to change our plans. When there is an imbalance any change of plan, such as this, would be devastating and we would not be able to cope. The ability to plan is more important than ever to our spirit, we need to be able to look to the long term and we need to be able to realize the goals that we have set for ourselves. Without this ability to plan and look ahead we would almost have no reason to exist.
The Liver is the Official responsible for managing the flow of Qi and also blood, an imbalance in this official would emanate in the mind as an inability to move forward, a feeling of being stuck in the same place and eventually becoming stagnant as nothing is moving. On a more physical level an imbalance may show in the form of anemia or some other blood disorders, also it may be evident in poor circulation as the blood is not flowing freely to the extremities of the body. This in turn can cause poor joint conditions and arthritis, also the nails on the fingers and toes usually show signs of being in a poor condition, these are obviously at the extremities and not receiving the circulation that is required.
(This essay is the intellectual property of Paul Adkins)
