Earth, the time of transition!

This is probably one of the most mentioned and most expansive out of all the Elements in Eastern Medicine for many good reasons. Technically, the time of Earth is said to be Late Summer (like August) in many texts. However, it is actually the only Element that recurs year round! To be precise, the last 18 days of each season is said to belong to Earth since that is when the weather begins to change.

Since us Eastern practitioners (especially myself) love sequences and diagrams, there are many out there depending on what you are looking for. The most basic is what I described in an earlier blog entry giving the sequence of the Phases/Elements which has the order of Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood which constantly repeats. If we want to be more specific as we are in this entry, it should be as follows: Fire, Earth, Metal, Earth, Water, Earth, Wood, Earth and then back to Fire again to repeat the order.

Without Earth, the next Element/Phase does not occur. In diagnosis, if someone has a weak Earth Element, not only are the organs associated with Earth have issues, they typically suffer from illness around the changing of the seasons (Allergies, Colds, and Flus anyone?).

That all being said, this really underlines the point of why eating, wearing proper clothing, and monitoring activity levels according to the seasons is important. Earth is all about harmony and making effortless changes from one time to another. If these transitions aren’t made properly, you will feel the consequences on more than one occasion.