Element Earth, the Gift of the Season Late Summer
Toward the end of summer, it seems as if time has slowed and the bustling activities in our world have calmed down. The air is different. The searing summer heat that felt like it came down from above now has softened like it is being reflected back from the earth. The increasing frequency of rain showers has soaked the thirsty earth and is adding moisture to the heat, creating a balmy atmosphere like a greenhouse that is perfect for ripening fruit for a bountiful harvest. The humidity in the air is enveloping us like a mother’s quilt.
The bees have exchanged pollen for nectar in their intimate union of flora and fauna, and new life has begun to form inside the fruit of this union.
The garden has changed from being a place of beauty and celebration to now providing an abundant banquet on which to feast. The seeds, which are to be propagated to ensure future generations, are embedded in an offering of food to sustain a menagerie of lifeforms, including humans. As Mother Nature is providing a harvest for us, she accepts compost as her food, nourishing the soil and bedding down the seeds into the fertile womb of the earth.
It is time for gardeners and farmers to sit down for a rest and to have a look at their harvest, the fruits of their labor, finding plenty for the dinner table and plenty to be stored away for harsher days. Having enough, feeling safe and provided for, allows us to have fewer worries. Mother Nature is encouraging us to accept a sense of abundance and security in ourselves.
We call this season “Late” Summer, the season of the Element Earth when Mother Nature is reminding us that she is providing, especially now. People who grow their own vegetables are sharing their harvest surplus of tomatoes and zucchini with neighbors and friends. In the store, the produce departments have a great variety to offer. If you are a city dweller and are not sure what is in season, look for what is on sale. These foods come from an abundant source, suggesting a recent harvest. In this Late Summer season, people gather for picnics and potluck parties to share in their abundance and plenty. We have earned the privilege to sit back and reflect on our accomplishments of the year, the fruits of our labor, so to speak, and to share them with others.
Mother Earth is feeding us every day, in her way, just like our physical mother fed us while we were children. When we were born, the first person we perceived across from us was our mother. Being still helpless and not able to survive on our own in this new environment that our spirit incarnated into, placed in this body of flesh, we naturally project all of our expectations of assistance for surviving in this earthly existence onto her. Nature has given our mother all the gifts to provide the needed nourishment and love for her child. The gift of breath, the other necessary substance for being alive, we received after leaving our mother’s womb. The umbilical cord, our intrauterine lifeline nourishing our growth, was cut. We were thrown into the reality of earthly existence. But Mother rescued us, providing precious milk from her breast, allowing us to thrive in this world. In reflecting on our years of growing into an adult, we realize that, in a way, this nursing, the drinking from Mother’s breast,has continued all of our lives, although it has taken other forms. The teeth we have grown help us to masticate our food so we can continue drinking our nourishment, all of which comes from Mother Earth and has been grown in her soil.
When we examine our relationship with our physical mother in more detail, we may realize that she most likely embraced us unconditionally, no matter the circumstances. She took care of our needs without us having to earn them. Although first a person, then a woman, whenever she sees her child, the role of the Earth Mother Archetype is called up for her to embody the character that nurtures and cares for others. We will address the concept of Archetypes in the corresponding chapter further on.
She expresses the emotion of Sympathy. The etymology of the word sym-pathy suggests the meaning “to be with and stay with the pathos,” in other words, to continuously care for someone sick or in need of help.
Our belly button is the scar from the severing of our umbilical cord, the place through which we were nurtured for nine months and received blood, which carried oxygen, nutrients, and even experiences from our mother. After our birth, the opening of the lungs and the stomach gave us our autonomy to live outside the womb and allowed for the cutting of the umbilical cord.
However, we are doubly blessed by nature since this point underneath our belly button still holds a memory that has an energetic connection with the “Cosmic Mother.”
I find this gift very comforting because it confirms that we are not alone; we are being held by Mother Nature. This knowledge is consoling, especially as we see the decline and passing of our physical Mother. If our mother is no longer alive, we still have Mother Earth under our feet all of our lives. She will feed us every day and every year. She will hold us in her arms as we fall asleep on the ground underneath the place we rest our heads. Understanding her role’s energy and function helps us find her comfort again in many other forms. Just as our mother had to get in touch with her inner mother to care for us, she taught us to find this role in ourselves so we can take care of ourselves. This stability and consistency of the recurring cycles of day and night and the seasons are qualities of the Element Earth. The Mother role provides unconditional love and love we can expect and depend on.
The Earth contains, shares, cares for, and is very patient, grounding, and steady, much like a mother who will love her child unconditionally no matter how good or bad the child is.
The Gift of the Stomach to our Body
The stomach’s function is to break down food and process it so that the small intestines can absorb it. This Official is like the cook stirring the pot on the stove till it is done and can be digested easily. The stomach meridian runs from our eyes, passes our nose, mouth, and throat, allowing us to see, smell, and taste food, and continues through our breasts and our stomach, down our legs to our feet. This explains why the ancients recommended taking a walk after a meal since it uses our large leg muscles to help burn some of the calories. Nature, in her wisdom, has the Earth meridians begin and end in our feet, providing us with the physical connection with the Earth so we can feel grounded.
The Gift of the Stomach to our Mind
For the mind, the stomach provides the function of processing information we have taken in so that we can understand its meaning and relate it to other things we have learned. When the function is disturbed, and we are unable to process our thoughts, we begin to worry, repeating our concerns in our minds over and over again. We could call this “mental indigestion” because we ruminate (which is derived from the word “rumen,” the stomach of a cow). As we learned above, walking helps digestion, which is why walking also helps reduce worries since it helps process and digest circular thinking. At the same token, anything that “settles” the stomach, like ginger or peppermint tea and the like, will also help any “mental indigestion.”
The Gift of the Stomach to our Spirit
The sound of the Earth is singing. It is the spirit-calming lullaby that reassures the restless child, so it feels harmony and safety and is able to surrender to sleep. We have experienced how soft, gentle dinner music makes taking in nourishment a nurturing experience that feeds our spirit. Some say you can judge the restaurant and anticipate your dining experience by the music being played there.
Our spirit remembers being held by our mother and feeling accepted and loved. As adults, even though we left home or our mother passed away, it is important to be aware that we are still being held and carried by Mother Earth all of our lives; we stand, walk, and sleep on her belly. She allows us to feel centered, grounded, and stable.
The Gift of the Spleen/Pancreas to our Body
Understanding the functions of the spleen and the pancreas meridian and correlating it to the Earth Element may appear challenging at first. The Ancient Taoists referred to it as the function of “Distribution,” delivering nutrients processed and prepared by the Stomach to every cell in the body. We can understand that the pancreas produces enzymes to aid digestion as well as insulin needed to bring glucose into the cells. In other words, the Spleen/Pancreas Official makes it possible for the cells to receive the nutrients from the stomach and transports and delivers our food to the far ends of the “kingdom,” so to speak and therefore is in charge of peripheral circulation. The spleen has an important role in the immune system,” it recycles old red blood cells and stores extra blood.
The Gift of the Spleen/Pancreas to our Mind
Processing is the function of the stomach, and distribution is the job of the spleen. For our mind, then, this would suggest the ability to take the information that has been processed and make connections with other ideas, delivering to that part of our mind where similar thoughts and ideas already exist, “nurturing our understanding.”
The Gift of the Spleen/Pancreas to our Spirit
It is the task of the Spleen/Pancreas to distribute the nourishment received from the Stomach to every part of the internal empire so that every cell feels equally taken care of and you have prosperity and justice in the land. The pictograph for this meridian is a young woman serving the guests in a restaurant, a waitress, making sure every guest receives the nourishment needed, much like a mother having to sense the needs behind the cries of the child. We could describe this as the action of caring, like the farmer tending the crops, anticipating the weather and season changes, and knowing when to bring the harvest in and to the market, or like the nurse anticipating what conditions and procedures are needed to allow the wounds to heal, or sensing what someone needs who cannot talk, all requiring patience and care. This affirms that the spirit of this Official is the Spirit of Caring and Empathy on a collective level.
The imbalanced Earth Element manifests in the following way:
Color: yellow, like saffron or earthen, muddy
Odor: fragrant, like overripe fruit, diabetes
Sound: singing, melodic, soothing, like a lullaby
Emotion: sympathy, craving it or giving it
Summary of the Gifts of the Element Earth:
Attributes: Nurturance,caring, nursing, providing for needs, attending to detail.
Official: The Spleen/Pancreas
Attributes: Nurturance,nursing, caring, attending to detail.
Official: The Stomach
Attributes: providing for needs, attending to detail.
Meditation for Element Earth
~ Walking, feeling the ground underneath your feet
~ Taking care of a plant
~ Taking care of a pet, reading their non-verbal mind
~ Preparing food for someone
~ Saying grace and eating mindfully, remembering who all touched this food before it ended up on your plate.
One World 