Chinese Five Elements: Metal
The 5 elements start with the Element of Metal each day, at 3am.
The season of Autumn is generally seen as starting in August and is also represented by the element of Metal.
Metal quite simply is connected to metal! That can be a metal ore or a piece of gold jewellery. Metal is connected to dryness, which tends to be most strong in Autumn time. Autumn time is the time when everything starts to be ready to be harvested after summer, and this is characterised by the fruits that begin to drop down, and the harvesting of the crops and plants, literally Autumn is when everything is ripe after the period of maturity in summer. For animals, it’s when they become older and start to slow down – they are slightly beyond their peak.
Thus, for human nature, Metal represents the kind of qualities we see represented in Autumn time and by the flora’s and fauna’s characteristics of harvesting and preparation for winter hibernation.
This means that the attributes of letting go, cutting, righteousness and simplicity are the characteristics we see for the Metal type of behaviour patterns we can see in humans. It is like old age in human terms of ageing.
The ancient’s also saw that the lungs and large intestine organs were also connected with the element of Metal. Thus, when the lungs (the main Metal organ) are out of balance, the person can feel grief and become an uninspired type of person, who finds it hard to do let go of the past and move into the future. They can be jealous, grief stricken and worry some when they are out of balance.
This is when you can also see that lung problems will start to develop, if they don’t learn to develop and heal their lungs… if they don’t change and move on.
When someone has lungs blockages and/ or weakness, it was discovered that they can get nose problems, dry or brittle hair problem-, respiratory problems such as colds and flu, and they will generally be experiencing a lack of energy and inspiration in their lives.
By using relaxation and massage and other such natural healing methods , we can combat these imbalances and also start to have the energy and drive to change and let go of bad lifestyle behaviourisms.
