In early October, I gave a short overview of the Five Element sheng (nourishing) cycle and discussed the transition from late summer to autumn (see How Earth Feeds Metal). Now we are coming to the end of autumn when we can most clearly see Metal feeding Water. In nature, it is not always easy to…
In ancient China, autumn was the traditional time of year for the beheading of criminals. In each autumn, in each village, how many criminals were beheaded was relative to the counting up of the stores and calculating how much food we have to take us through the winter. Metal is poised between Earth and Water,…
Autumn is a time when the energy of the season supports us to hone, refine, and pare down—and yet like the loss of the leaves on the trees, this honing and paring down becomes an opening. For instance, I may lose a relationship that I cared about, a job opportunity, or an angora hat that…
Autumn and the Metal element do not exist independently of the other elements and seasons. In the Five Element tradition, each element is said to be the “child” of the preceding element, and the “parent” of the next element. This parent-child flow from season to season is referred to as the sheng (nourishing) cycle. This…
Living the Elements: Metal Autumn Could we take a moment to remember that autumn is not just about grief and loss? Yes, it’s about that too—but it’s also about the beauty, and about what is essential, and what lasts forever inside of us. It’s about what we treasure, and how we keep our treasure clean…
Healthy Anger, in Autumn What is healthy anger? That’s an easily politicized question—and I‘d like to disrupt the binary of healthy/unhealthy anger by instead suggesting that we consider anger along the polarity of healthier anger and less healthy anger. This is important for many reasons, chief among which is that anger is a dynamic process,…
