“There is no place like home.”
Earth is the glue that holds everything together.
Much of the Earth Element is consumed with the routine repetitive tasks that sustain the kingdom. It is through our Earth Element that we are able to be satisfied, to feel as if we have enough, to no longer be hungry. It also has to do with the ability to stand firm and remain grounded in an ever-changing world.
We all have needs. How we go about satisfying our needs and the needs of others depends largely on our Earth Element.
Are we able to acknowledge our needs? Are we able to ask for help without feeling guilty? Can we take our place in community knowing that “community” means shared responsibilities, shared burdens and shared accomplishments? Can we see that when one hand feeds the other then we all get fed? For such a community there needs to be an equal and free flowing exchange of giving and receiving.
Are we able to receive nourishment from this world, really take it in and break it down so that it can become apart of us and then offer something back in return. The whole movement of the Earth Element is a never ending cycle of receiving, digesting and offering back. On a physical level it is about how we meet our basic needs of home and hearth — ecology. On a mental level, it is about thoughtfulness — the ability to perceive and respond to our community’s needs. On a spirit level, it is about our ability to receive nourishment from and be in communion with the whole of existence. If we are able to feel satisfied on all three levels than most likely owe it to our well functioning Earth Element.
The season associated with the Earth Element is late Summer/early Autumn. The time of year when the harvest is collected from the fields. Everything we need to know about the Earth Element can be observed in nature during this time of year. After the joy and excitement of Summer, the season of Earth brings us back around to the fundamentals of caring for the needs of our community as well as tending to our own basic needs.
The main organ systems associated with the Earth Element are the Stomach and Spleen.
Signs and symptoms that our Earth Element may need support:
The primary issue will have something to do with how we get our needs meet, and our ability to experience satisfaction. Which may show up in one or more of the following ways;
- Digestive issues
- Stomach aches and pains
- Loose stools
- Fatigue, weakness which is made worse by exertion.
- Some food sensitivities, difficulty in digesting certain foods.
- Edema, or other forms of dampness building up in the body.
- Chronic fatigue
- Irritable Bowel
- Feeling foggy and heavy.
- Obsessive circular thinking.
- Obsessive worry.
- Unclear or muddled thinking.
- Guilt associated with having needs.
- Inability to feel satisfaction.
- Deep worry.
- Feeling ungrounded.
- Feeling uncentered.
- Feeling disconnected from community.
- Feeling like you must of been a starving child in a past life.
- Feeling that your deepest needs can never be meet.
- Perpetual “caregiver” to others while our own needs go unattended.