The Elements part 6 - Time to take a Breath

The Elements - Time to take a Breath

The sun was only starting to rise over the Lake of Li, in the Forest of Kan when the old sage prepared himself for the next lesson with his students. He had risen in the dark and walked through the forest. Now he was sitting on his favorite rock as he looked across the Lake of Li. It was a special place. There by the shoreline with sun beginning to rise it was as if all the Elements had joined together as one to give him this gift of beauty. He took off his shoes and dipped his feet in the water. The coldness rushed into him, but rather than be a shock it was a wonderful experience as the Element of water gave up more of its secrets.

His students had been excited about the teachings of the Elements, but it been Huo who had shown not only an eagerness to learn but an affinity with the Elements themselves. Whenever the old sage had given him a lesson he took time on his own in nature to digest what he had just learned and then would allow the seasons, silence and nature itself to increase what he had learned. He knew that he was a part of all things and by allowing himself to stay open he was able be one with everything.

I have now shared the first five parts of the teachings and it is time for the student to step back for a moment and review what they have learnt. For me, like the student in the story above, I always found that time spent meditating in nature or even a simple walk in the woods pondering on what I had learnt allowed more of the teaching to come from within. The more you open up to or in some cases surrender to the teaching of the Elements of Man the more they will reveal their secrets. I found when I first learnt the elements that the when I was at my most open, it was as if the Elements themselves conspired to give me a deeper teaching. I would have these amazing moments of synchronicity. I would be thinking about one of the Elements when the element itself would start to become active. I was wondering whether my thinking about the element and being open to its teaching had actually caused the event, although afterwards I would always decry what I had seen or experienced and say that it was just coincidence. That was until these coincidences kept happening again and again. Sometimes I think I am a bit slow or that my skeptical mind was too strong in those early days. Now I am clever enough to allow these synchronistic moments to just occur when they need to. For males it just always seems a bit harder to let go of trying to control life. The only real way to be in control is to give up the need to control and develop an openness to the life you are meant to live.

In a earlier blog I talked about the twelve disciplines of the initiate. If you have a moment open up that blog and have a look at the disciplines and choose one or two and have a play with them. If you are really keen or like me a touch obsessive, then do all of them in a rotation. If you follow these disciplines I will promise you two things. Firstly you will be constantly challenged by them. The day you are not meant to drive your car will be the day you will need it most. The day you don't watch television or other forms of electrical media will be the day when there is something that you desperately need to see. That is the downside, but it is not really a downside as you begin to see that we are trapped in our lives. These disciplines will in the end set you free. The wonderful upside is that you will begin to notice a little voice inside you, a voice that is your own, that will begin to express itself in mysterious and wonderful ways.

With regards the first few blogs of the Elements I hope by now you have begun to understand what a wonderful gift that is being offered to you. If you are willing to allow them the Elements of Man is a gift that will keep on giving for the rest of your life. Some people will have instantly seen their own or other people's Element. For others it is not so easy and it may seem difficult. The Fire Elements will already think they understand everything, but they need to be careful, as they can often only have a shallow perception of what is available.

At this stage all I would expect is that you would have developed some insight into what has been offered and are starting to see aspects of yourselves in the Elements. Each of us has a dominant Element, a secondary Element and aspects of the other two. Sometimes you will begin to get excited when you start to see the Elements in others and in this excitement you will want to share your wonderful insights. Don't! It is the one discipline that I want everyone to follow. Do not talk to anyone about the teachings unless they are also following them. This may sound a little cruel because some of you will want to share everything you know, but this teaching is one that grows from within. It is like a small bud trying to grow, expose it too quickly to others and it will shrivel up and die.

Give the Elements a month or better three months of this discipline and one day you will thank me for it. Remember the old sage asked the Emperor to be away from his people for a year. I am only asking you to be quiet about it for three months. 

The 33rd Sage is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

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The Elements of Man Part 5 - Earth

Earth - Autumn

If you live in harmony with the seasons your life will begin to take on a wonderful flow or rhythm, and your life will become more interesting as you become a part of all things.

"The Emperor and the sage walked into the Equinox of the fall. And the sage told him it is time for the leaves to fall, for the season to begin to go to sleep. It is the time for all things to come to an end. It is the time, the cycle of all livingness. Not only does this mean that the individual should relax, they should review, but they should maintain their strength, in the time or the time of their passing. It is a time when things are re-fertilised, where they go back to the earth, where the animals stock their homes. It is a time of refurbishing, of rebuilding, of shaking off the old, so the new can come forward within the Winter. It is a time of great growth, for there is always an over-amount of growth when you begin to cut away the deadwood. This always happens. It is vital for all to know that as you walk within the Fall, you begin to see the dying of things. That is why the colours are red and orange and yellow-because they try to bring the life of brilliance in their end. It is the last breath. As things become quiet and the first snow falls and the ice is frozen, the blanket has been laid and things are asleep. It is a time of great rejoicing within, for you have, in essence, completely refurbished your body. You usually find yourself in a place where a lot of old things can fall away. And where new begins to fall into your life, the right way.

    "The Emperor and the sage walked and they talked, and saw all of these things; the squirrel getting ready for the sleep, the bear, even man, as they were putting together the wood for the Winter, making ready their homes. This was truly a time of getting rid of the old to repair for the new. They walked toward the Winter Solstice, the Emperor seeing more than he had ever seen in his life. He had seen the seasons; had walked within the leaves of the Fall. And the sage said, "You have learned about people. You have learned people are the same as seasons. The person of the Earth is in a lifetime of rebuilding; is in a lifetime of trying to get away, to throw away the physical, the material, and refurbish themselves; you will know such persons for they will be dealing with physical and material lives. Look at them as the Fall, and you will know what to do; they will be creative, they will be highly inventive artists; but within that, they will have a tendency to go through great rejuvenation, great involvement of their life. Know that and you will know your people!’

    “The sage walked on with the Emperor."

Earth Element

The Earth Element's time is the Autumn. It is the time after the harvest, when all the work has been done and energy begins to diminish. It is the time of brilliant colours emerging, as if they are Nature’s last denial of the end about to come. It is visual, exciting and dramatic. It is the time when the old falls away to allow space for the new. The autumn leaves fall to the earth to allow fertiliser for the new growth that is to come. The bear eats ravenously and stores fat for the Winter. It is a time of relaxation and review as the end draws near. The colour of Earth is green and the symbol is the square.

       The Earth in relationships; it suffocates Fire; causes Water to lose clarity; is disturbed by Air and joins together with itself...

The Earth Element

   The earth element rules the choleric temperament and has its seat in the gall bladder, the bowels, the adrenals and its control point is the anus. It is associated with the digestive and eliminative systems and it is in charge of the assimilation of food and drink. Its nature is warm, dry, firm and steady and its energy moves downward. Some of the keynotes for the earth element are dryness, solidity, stability, substantiality, steadiness, and resistance. In alchemy it stands for the precipitant, the material substances and essential residue of an alchemical solution. Its negative root emotion is fear and more typically they need to be in control, which creates irritability, impatience and anger. Its color is green. 

   In general, the earth element rules the formative principle that causes the materialization of forms, the sense of ego, and the sensation of touch.

The Earth Temperament.

   The psychological basis of the Earth type is the formative consciousness, which relates through the sensation of touch and kinesthetic awareness. When in balance they are clear thinking, precise, dependable, honest, practical, organized, skillful, serious, hard working, steady and strong. They consider themselves to be "grounded and rational" by nature but they can easily become dry, critical, over realistic, as well as materialistic, pessimistic, skeptical, and sarcastic. Their strengths are that they are bold, practical, adventurous, dependable, competitive, self reliant, industrious steady, strong, logical, decisive and persuasive. Their weakness is that they are easily angered, irritable, impatient, critical, pessimistic, bossy, hostile, rigid, argumentative, aggressive, demanding, unresponsive, resistant, revengeful, abusive, and have a tendency toward brooding. Such attributes makes a very intense, dynamic, and at times, difficult combination of temperamental qualities.

   The Russian psychologist, Pavlov, called them the "impetuous" types because they are marked by strong excitation of the nervous system. This is quite obvious in their psychological makeup as they show strong extroverted tendencies, while at the same time, they are prone to “fight” rather then “flight’.

   Jung described them as "sensation" orientated individuals because they experienced things through their tactile senses. When they are healthy they are industrious and are often very successful, yet they may have a tendency toward being dictatorial and miserly. They are worse < late nights, too much rich food, and alcohol, yet they seem drawn toward these kinds of things. They have a difficult time in their relationships with people because of their argumentative nature. In the work environment they are bossy and will become angry quite easily if their wishes are not fulfilled.

   At home they can be irritable, critical, and dominant which makes home life difficult. Although they may wish to terminate their relationship, they have a hard time letting go of the control they have over other persons. Control is a very important issue for them; because they always fear being out of control they are always trying to control others and the situations they are in. Under stress they become increasingly more frustrated, excitable, restless, heated, cross, irritable, impatient, and angry. When an Earth is in " bad humour" everyone will know it because they become more and more “bitter”. When they lose control they may become bitter, resentful, revengeful, angry, abusive, and violent. They have dual personalities that can be as courageous as a Dr. Jekyll, and then in an instant transform into terrible Mr. Hyde.

Strengths

Practical 

Adventurous

Bold 

Dependable 

Competitive 

Self-reliant 

Hard working 

Courageous

Steady 

Strong 

Decisive 

Persuasive 

Rational 

Weakness

Aversion 

Angry 

Morose 

Irritable 

Impatient 

Critical 

Pessimistic 

Bossy 

Hostile 

Rigid 

Immovable 

Argumentative 

Bold [overly] 

Demanding 

Unresponsive 

Resistant 

Revengeful 

Smoldering 

Brooding 

Abusive

Controlling 

The Physical Constitution.

   The physique of a Earth type is square, angular, firm, and muscular or lean with tight connective tissue and strong. Generally there is a compression in the upper body.

Predispositions

   The Earth type is prone to digestive complaints including nausea, loss of appetite, burning, flatulence, constipation, piles, liver and gall bladder diseases, intestinal disorders, and skin eruptions. They often suffer from headaches that often revolve around the eyes and the temples and are worse < sun, heat and warm environments.

In the coming blogs we will look at the differences between the Elements; how to easily tell them apart and begin to dig deeper into them as people and also we will start to look at the combinations. In truth we all made up of all the Elements, but we generally have a dominant one. This dominance comes with its strengths and weaknesses. The aim for all of us is to move towards the Element of Ether, where we move beyond the individual Elements. 

The 33rd Sage is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

Twitter @GeofSpalding

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The Elements of Man Part 4 - Air

Air - Summer 

"The Emperor went with the old sage from the Spring into the Summer Solstice. Here they saw what has been known as the great celebration of the coming of the harvest period, when the sun is at the highest peak, and the moon at its lowest, when night is the shortest period within your world and day the longest. The old sage sat up that night and talked to the Emperor about his empire and how he had to nurture and develop the fruit in his people, how he had to take time to see what they had produced, to like it, to commend it. The Solstice was a time of commendations, a time of appreciation for what had been created, a time of appreciating the Winter, the Spring, and the beauty that had come forth. It was also a time of strengthening the bodies for the coming harvest and the preparations for the Equinox, or the Fall.

    "They walked into the Summer and they saw the storms, the winds, the rain, and the tornadoes, for the Summer was one of great turmoil within wind. It was a time when crops, or when individuals that had not looked at their budding as a positive Element, lost everything. What they were trying to build was shattered or was eliminated, within the Summer. Within a matter of these months, what had been created for the year either rose to beauty or was destroyed immediately. Depending on the balance of Nature and the insects and the animals, those things that had come forth naturally were either honored or worshipped in their own way, or were, in essence, stepped upon by the beauty of Nature itself. Within the centre of Summer came the stillness; within it came the time when the heat was the hottest; within it came the time when the wind was the warmest, when the dust began to flow. In between the water and the refreshing, and in between the earth and the green, the brownness, the green being parched out of the freshness of Spring and a lack of the colours of Fall. 

“As they talked and walked through the forest, the old sage told the Emperor that in his life, it was during the Summer that he began to use the strengths of his people. It was a time of being either soft or strong. It was a time of great energy and production. But to know the Air Element, you have to know the changing individual; you have to know the individual that was exacting within its energy, but at the same time was just as harsh.

    "They walked through the forest, by the streams, by the Lake of Li. They saw the changing from the buds and the flowers to the coming of the butterfly and its going. They saw the leaves beginning to change. They saw things beginning to collect and pull together. They saw the animals beginning to pull into the nest. They saw birds beginning to fly. They saw things beginning to close, as they approached the Equinox. It was truly the end of a fruitful time - the end of an energy, of a strength. The Emperor sat with the old sage in the late evening in the later Summer and reflected upon the people and how they, too, harvested their lives, how, too, there were those of the harvest."

    

The Element of Air is the time of the Summer. When we look at the Summer we see the time of the summer holidays, the time when we are rewarded for the previous six months. For the Fire is the germination; the Water is the moving and growing and the Air is the time of the harvest. You reap in the Summer what you have sown for the rest of the year. It is a time for counting, for storing, for distribution of the harvest of the wealth that has been gained. It is the time for creating order and for storing to create abundance in the future. It is the time of strength and maturity; when the young leave their nest. Its symbol is the oval for it is the extension of the circle; it is the culmination and the distortion of what the time of Water has to offer. It is not as sharp as the time of Fire or as gentle as the time of Water. It is the time of order and logical thinking. It is not the time of creation but one of extension, of best use of what we have. Its colour is yellow, which is the colour that stimulates the intellect. The earth is parched by Air and the summer storm is dramatic and merciless.

The Air in relationship affects all the Elements. From stillness, a gentle blow to a powerful northerly, it touches all the other Elements. It dries and disturbs the Earth; disturbs, feeds or starves Fire; it disturbs Water. Air is unaffected by all but itself. Withhold Air from us for only a few minutes and we are all dead. On some level the Air elements know this and it leads those with a strong ego to see themselves as quite superior. Out of a balance they will have tendency to withhold information as this allows them to keep the superior or dominant position.

Air makes breathing possible. Without air we could not communicate; there could be no exchange of thought. We use Air to communicate our inspirations; our Fire.

The Air Element

   The air element rules the nervous temperament and has its seat in the brain, pituitary (air),  thyroid gland (air/water) and chest from where it controls the respiratory system as well as the circulation of the vital breath. Its nature is gas-like, light, quick, cold, dry and its energy moves upward. Some of its key images included airiness, weightlessness, volatility, erratic changes and mobility. In alchemy it represents the principle of oxidation and it’s by products. Its negative root emotion is a sense of loss that causes anxiety, worry, depression and nervousness. The cause of this condition is often a long endured grief and sorrow. 

   Temperament

   The Air type is an individual who is intellectual, intelligent, idealistic, creative, rational, innovative and a deeply original thinker. They are known to be great philosophers, classical musicians and humanitarians. Their strengths are portrayed by words such as analytical, refined, thoughtful, intelligent, sophisticated, precise, orderly, illustrative, respectful, careful and distinguished. Their weaknesses are summed up by words like depression, judgement, pensiveness, anxiousness, skepticism, fastidiousness, embittered, disparaging, discriminate, erratic, withdrawn, mistrustful, alienated, suspicious, taciturn, resentful, disconcerted, gloomy, sorrowful, and sullen.

   Jung call them the "thinking" types because they are guided by their intellect more than their feelings.

   When they are in a healthy state they are intelligent, refined, reserved, sophisticated, eloquent and romantic. As a dry intellectual type they easily fall into excessive theorizing, speculation, and live in a realm of ideas rather than in the practical world. Often they do not understand why everyone does not see things the same way they do and they easily become frustrated. They begin to think themselves more intelligent than the common person and tend toward becoming unconventional, impulsiveness, egocentric, judgmental, and suffer alternating moods. Under stress they become irritable, restless, nervous, sensitive, anxious, impulsive and full of anxiety. 

When offended the Air type hide their emotions behind their sophisticated nature suffering reserved displeasure. The event, however, is held in their mind and nervous systems and produces symptoms later. They remember the details of past disagreeable moments and the persons who have offended them. They can hold a grudge for a long time, and have a hard time dealing with conflict, especially when emotions are involved. They like to play intellectual mind games as a way of showing how clever they are. They use sarcasm as a weapon because they believe in their ability to outthink others.

  The Air type lives in their head. When their dreams or fantasies are unfulfilled they can become dark, sorrowful, depressed and fixated in their thoughts. They have a deep inner world and if they don’t have an outlet for their internal tensions they can easily become unwell. They generally have difficulties with absorption of nutrients and many of their diseases have deficiency at the cornerstone of the disease process. Continual either physically and especially mental stress drains their vitality to the point where they become indifferent, dull, apathetic and prostrated. All these conditions are < worse from emotional stress, especially grief and sorrow, over thinking, as well as from < poor diet and lack of exercise and open air. If the nervous types do not make a point of deep breathing they suffer.

Strengths

   Refined

   Thoughtful

   Intelligent

   Distinguished

   Sophisticated

   Analytical

   Rational

   Precise

   Orderly

   Illustrative

   Respectful

   Careful

Weakness

   Depression

   Pensive

   Melancholic

   Anxious

   Skeptical

   Fastidious

   Hypochondria

   Discriminate

   Embittered

   Erratic

   Withdrawn

   Mistrustful

   Alienated

   Suspicious

   Taciturn

   Resentful

   Disconcerted

   Gloomy

   Sullen

   Sorrowful

   Sarcastic

Physical Constitution

    The physique of the air type is thin, lightly boned and possesses a minimal amount of muscle and flesh. If they are Air/Earth types or especially Earth/Air types they will generally have more muscle. They often have extension in the limbs and also in the fingers and toes. In fact there is an extension in most bones. This patient has a great mind but their physical frames are weak. This is especially obvious in their small nostrils, thin chests, and delicate respiratory organs.

       The face of the Air type is oval in shape, and generally smaller than average. It is as if the overworked brain has not allowed the head to grow in size. Their fingers are thin, long, smooth, limp, and relatively bony. Their nails are almond shaped and are often quite long. When they  shakes hand they usually present a cold dry palm and a rather weak grip. They are generally not very physical persons, which are reflected by the fact that they make very little physical contact with others. The Air female is not much of a hugger, if they do, it is in a more reserved manner unless they have a romantic interest in the individual they are greeting. This all changes when they have alcohol as may of their inhibitions rush out the window.

    The skin of a Air type is sensitive, thin, transparent, white, pale, dry, cracked and they suffer from many skin diseases such eczema and dermatitis.

Predispositions

    The Air type is prone to nervous diseases of all kinds. Their symptoms tend toward quick changes, rapid alternation, and they easily suffer form tremors, twitching, cramps, spasms, chorea, numbness, convulsions, and hysterical complaints. There is an overreaction to all things. In the latter stages of illness, they become dizzy, weak, debilitated, depressed, and may suffer from neurasthenia, loco-motor ataxia, or different kinds of paralysis with loss of muscle tissue. Their initial over reaction has now become exhausted.

    Air types often suffer from colds, coughs, sore throats, all kinds of respiratory diseases and have a difficulty expectorating discharges. For this reason, they are also called the respiratory type. The air element has difficulty breathing in whereas the fire has difficulty breathing out. The discharges of the nervous temperament can be of various colors and they may be full of small bubbles that have a bluish tint. They feel chilly, shaky, and shiver easily when sick and are usually > better warmth. They crave open air because they suffer from air hunger, but at the same time, they are < worse exposure to cold so they will dress warmly.

    They suffer from a dry windy kind of arthritis, rheumatism, fibrosis, and neuritis they are anxious, restless, chilly, and have sharp, shooting, cramps that change places.

   The skin of the nervous type is dry, cracked, cold, and sensitive and they suffer from eruptions that ulcerate without much discharge. When they do suffer from suppuration and discharges they are often darkly colored, foul smelling, and full of small bubbles.

I remember treating an air element female who had difficulty expressing her anger. It manifested as small irritable looking bubbles that appeared on the skin. Due to a number of characteristics symptoms I gave her a remedy called Lycopodium and within two days these small bubble had appeared all over her body. Most people would have been worried by what appeared robe a worsening of the symptoms, but for her it was proof that there were many of her old irritations that had come to the surface. She was excited that she could now deal with. In a few days her health had improved dramatically.

   The Air types have dry, inactive, cold digestive systems, which easily suffer from borborygmi, diarrhoea and constipation that is accompanied by colic and cramps. They have either an insatiable or depraved appetite, or they will alternate back and forth between the two. These conditions are < worse when drink and drugs are involved.

   Their tongue is often dry and cracked and may be dark colored and shake when it is protruded for examination.

    In general, the Air types have thin, cold, dry constitutions and suffer from sharp or spasmodic pains that change places and character often, and are < worse cold and dry environments and > better by warmth. Their discharges tend toward suppression or are expelled only with great difficulty. The air element characteristically produces freak symptoms and peculiar contradictions that represent confusion of the nervous system.

The 33rd Sage is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

Twitter @GeofSpalding

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The Elements of Man Part 3 - Water

Water - Spring 

Spring is the time when we need to nurture the ideas and possibilities that were brought forward in the Winter. 

    "The sage took the Emperor into the Equinox of the Spring, The sun and the moon being equidistant within the heavens, night and day being equal in time. As they walked through the forest of K'an, the Emperor began to see a livingness, a life force, a little more accentuated from the time at the end of Fire, for the water was now leaving the snow, the ground was becoming muddy, was difficult in regards to too much rain. There was a lot of wetness, but within this came beauty, came the flowers, as the buds came forth, the new root, the beauty of the plant, the birds nesting, the animals moving from places of long sleep. Things were coming to life. They were coming to life visually, the outside. You could begin to see the life force. You could begin to see the power within the spring, the beauty of the forest. Warmth lit the air outwardly. It was the beauty of the time.

    "The Emperor learnt from the sage that it was here that the fertility of nature began to express itself. It was here, as the rains came and the water melted, that there was a tendency for great flooding and the difficulty of the season was too much release too fast. But as the Spring wore on, there began to come forth from the budding the blossom, the fruit began to be on the tree. Birds began their mating and the beauty was there. The sage showed the Emperor that it was the outer experience. Different from the Winter, which was the inner energy; beneath it was the Fire, the power. But within the spring, you could see it outwardly. The outside within Winter looks cold and harsh, but the Spring looks beautiful and flowering and fresh. The inside may not be as strong as the Fire, but the inside, basically, shows what is out, and vice versa.

    "And they walked through Spring to the Summer, and as they got close to the Summer time, the winds began to come. They began to come faster and reacted upon water, creating tornados, hurricanes, great storms, electricity and thunder and lightning. It began to be the turbulent season, but the season nearing the harvest. The softness was leaving and an energy force of outward brutality, of outward energy that was stark but consistent showed. Within the Spring, The Emperor saw that even with large rains and great melting snow there was beauty, that even as the buds and the flowers would come forth, even in great flooding, they would be moved and they would grow again. It was truly a fertile period, a time to watch, a time to bring forth the creativity of man, a time to understand that you do not want to have too much, or beauty can be washed away; but if you have just enough, it can be accentuated within smell, touch, taste, hearing, as the essence after a spring rain within a forest.

    "The Emperor began to understand his people a little more - to understand the outward emotions that go along with beauty, to understand the turbulence that some of this beauty had as it approached the summer, the strength that this beauty had as it was near the winter. He turned to the sage as he walked toward the Summer Solstice, and said, `Truly, those people that are in this element have great challenges; for what they are will always be seen. Flowers blossom, trees come forward in beauty.' And the sage said, ‘you have learned the key to this element.' And they walked slowly towards the Summer Solstice." 

By living in touch with the seasons we create a natural flow in our lives, which makes life as easy as walking from the winter to the spring, then summer and finally autumn. There is a cycle in all things.

The Water Element

The Element of Water is the season of Spring. It is the time when the snow melts and the water begins to flow. For spring is the custodian of new growth. It is the nurturer of young animals and children. It is the archetypal mother. The ice gives up itself to the softness. The triangle of Fire becomes the circle of Spring. There are no sharp edges to endanger any young one. The Spring is the time of water; initially flowing, babbling, cleansing, always allowing growth, then growing still, reflecting. Like the mother hen, it allows the chicks to grow but ever-present in times of need. Like the moon, it is a reflection, allowing the tides and the movement of water. Spring is the protector; it allows vulnerable life forms to emerge into a world of colour and beauty nurtured by motherhood. It is a time when the Water/emotions allow the young to learn in a caring protected environment. It is the time of outer beauty. The symbol of the Spring, Water, seeks the lowest level and nourishes all.

In relationships Water is disturbed by Air; it makes earth soft, then impassable; its passions are warmed by Fire, but too much and the kettle boils and Water floods or drowns itself.

The greatest function of Water is to allow the movement of our emotions. A light covering of Water on the other Elements provides a gentle shower of caring and feelings. Deeper water allows us a deeper spiritual insight and a greater understanding of our feelings; for Water cannot hide; its feelings are always felt. When Water becomes the torrent, passing its point of balance it drowns everything in its emotions. Water cannot be ignored. It can be dammed up or diverted for a short time, but it will always flow to the lowest level. To ignore it, is to walk around with your eyes closed. Just like all the Elements there is a fine line between too much and too little. To each there is a season when they are and need to be dominant.

    The water element is centred in the lower abdomen and associated with the thymo-lymphatic system, kidneys, the bladder, and the generative fluids. Its nature is cold, moist, slow, and heavy and its energy sinks downward. Some of the keynotes of the Water element are moisture, liquidity, sinking, malleability, slowness and inhibition. In alchemy it is related to the solvent, which acts as a medium and carrier of the alchemical essence. Water is present in all chemical reactions in the body. Water is the element that gives us life and growth; to much water and we have excess uncontrolled growth. In a balance water is the carrier of life. Water is the spring, it is the time of new growth. It is the time when the snow melts and new life begins to sprout. It is the time of emotion. We all experience the beauty and the vibrance of the spring. It is an element that is imbued with beauty and emotion. Spring is the time when ideas and projects start to move. The water person is alway seen. Even if they are introvert and hiding; their emotions, their feelings are seen. They can do the best to hide their feelings but for the most part they are easily seen. Too much water or out of a balance and they become emotional, weepy, timid, indecisive and moody.

   The water element is all about emotion; everything is expressed and experienced through their feelings. This is why the Water type is so psychic, sensitive, mediumistic, and empathetic. When they are in "pleasant humour" they are imaginative, sensitive, artistic, romantic, sentimental and sympathetic. They are gentle, sweet, and mild and have a receptive, yielding disposition and a tendency to try to please everyone.

   They like comfortable, safe situations and when they are with friends they come out and can be quite playful, frivolous, and like to tease. Their strengths are that they are very sensitive, imaginative, sympathetic, adaptable, peaceful, tolerant, gentle, placid, soft, receptive, considerate, and calm. Their weaknesses are that they become easily attached and are sad, tearful, hysterical, indecisive, vulnerable, unsure, fearful, timid, envious, hesitant, changeable, submissive, indifferent, silent, reticent, unforgiving, mournful, pitiable and stubborn. 

    Jung called these personality "feeling types" because of their strong emotional sensitivity. They live by their feelings rather than by intellect or reason. A Water person makes others feel peaceful in their presence or emotional. They are very sensitive to the feelings of others, reflect on other emotions, and have trouble with boundaries. They easily take on the sufferings of the child, family, society, and the world.

like water itself these people are very effected by those around them. On their own they can appear calm and withdrawn. When effected by the other elements water comes to life. They are easily effected by all the other elements. The person themselves has difficulty in relationships because they can take on the energy of the other person. Just like the element water can take on the energy of other elements. 

Without water there would be no life. The Water element carries with it the essence of life.

    Under stress the Water type becomes changeable, with alternating states, and tearful, fearful, sentimental moods. Their changeable moods come in waves and tides like an emotional ocean where one moment they seem happy and the next tearful and sad. When their mental skies are cloudy they rain down a shower of tears that gives them a sense of relief and allows them to return to bright sunny clarity until the next storm. They cry for happy or sad reasons, and sometimes, for no reason at all. If they are under prolonged stress they become sad and withdrawn as if a dark cloud has settled over them and they become timid, shy, inward and dreamy.

    The Water element forms very strong emotional bonds with their loved ones and suffers great grief, loss, and sense of abandonment when relationships fail. They have reverence and strong memories of the past. They have a tendency to think they are not appreciated, respected, loved and are easily hurt. They are < worse when exposed to too much excitement, over stimulating environments, and when forced to do things in a hurry. In their own private way they can be stubborn, irritable, and they easily suffer from inward grief with silent peevishness. The often use a form of passive resistance in which they avoid confrontation but do not easily make changes. As they break down under stress the water type becomes more insecure, indecisive, cold, careless, listless, apathetic and suffers from nervous exhaustion. They begin to lose control over their body systems. This can lead to the storage water in all the wrong places. They end up emotionally drained, washed up, and drowned in a sea of confused feelings as they drown in their own element, the element of water.

Strengths

   Sensitive 

   Loving

   Imaginative 

   Sympathetic 

   Adaptable 

   Peaceful 

   Tolerant 

   Gentle 

   Placid 

   Soft 

   Calm

   Receptive 

   Considerate 

Weakness

   Attachment 

   Sadness 

   Hysterical 

   Lachrymose 

   Indecisive 

   Vulnerable 

   Unsure 

   Timid 

   Envious 

   Hesitant 

   Changeable 

   Submissive 

   Timid 

   Indifferent 

   Silent 

   Reticent 

   Hurt 

   Mournful 

   Pitiable 

   Fearful

Physical Constitution

    The Water element has a well rounded physique, they have soft tissues with flaccid or a lack of musculature. They suffer from oedema or water retention. They are generally worse for damp, cold atmosphere, while conversely they are generally better for warm, dry environments and warm drinks.

    The water element moves like water itself, with leisurely, graceful motions. Unless supported by the other elements they can have difficulty doing things quickly because rapid motion or response to situations can make them feel confused. They have a tendency toward slowness or under-activity in the body such as slow metabolism, low temperature, hypo-pituitary, hypothyroid, low blood pressure, and lack of energy.

    Under continual stress the water constitution experiences changeable and alternating moods, and become tired, weak, slow, chilly, and prone to oedema. 

    The water element has a round face, soft features. Their skin is generally cold, moist and pale. Their hands are cold, thick, soft, humid, swollen, and plump and their skin is white and puffy. Their fingers are often short with thick tips and the joints are reasonably lax. The nails of the Water type are often wide, white, pale, and soft and the moons are not very prominent. When they shake hands their palm feels soft, wet, and cold, and their grip is weak. Water element women tend to hug softly and often do not offer a kiss as a greeting. If they do kiss, it is usually on the cheek, which causes them to blush and look sideways.

    The water element is prone to water retention, cold stomachs, insufficient secretion of digestive juices (such as hydrochloric acid), poor assimilation, anaemia, and flatulence. They are < worse from cold food and drinks. They suffer from poor circulation, lymphatic stagnation, watery swelling, autointoxication, glandular swellings, increased mucus and serous secretions and watery discharges of clear or whitish color.

    The Water type has a tendency to disorders of the genitourinary system and their urine is frequent, pale and in larger quantities.

    The tongue of a Water type is pale, swollen and may be watery or coated with a white coating.

    Their pulse is usually slow, soft, wide and slippery. It is strong in the first phases of an illness but it becomes weak and stagnates as a disease becomes chronic.

    They may like open air because it stimulates them but they do not like cold wind. They have a tendency to cold clammy perspiration that may be < aggravated by emotions. All complaints worse by < cold, cloudy weather, winter and dampness, and are better > in warmer, dry climates and warm influences. They also can be worse < cold and heat as their temperature control is extremely unstable.

Next post we will look at the Air Element which is aligned to the season of Summer.

The 33rd Sage is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

Twitter @GeofSpalding

Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/

Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/

The Elements of Man Part 2 - Fire

Fire - Winter 

"The Emperor was in the Forest of K'an with the old sage. It was approaching the solstice, and they sat in the coldness of the early morning, which was to be the shortest day of the year. They found that within that day there was unusual life within the forest. Animals had gone to their burrows, rechecking their security; birds flew around nervously. It was an unusual day, for it was the last day of that year. The moon would be at its highest and the sun would be at its lowest. The morning of the 21st, throughout the world, was the birth of the sun, as it came forth in an energy to begin to replace the long days of darkness with light and beauty.

    "The old sage was to teach the Emperor, in the year that he stepped away from his palace, the elements of the earth in relation to the spiritual attitude of man. And the sage asked the Emperor to throw away his heavy cloak, rid himself of those things that bound him. But the Emperor said, `I will cease; the coldness of the winter will not allow me to live.' ‘Ah...’ said the sage, ‘but in the birth of the sun, at the Solstice, nothing will die that learns the energy of Fire.'

    “The Emperor looked at the sage and said, ‘teach me.'

    “So the sage came forward and showed him a beam of sun, and there he sat. He said, ‘Take this sun and pull it within your body. It will be the recharging, the heat generator of this day and of the long night ahead. It will be the warmth that you surround yourself with. Pull it to you.' They sat; and the sun came into the sage and the Emperor began to feel warming and perspiration on his brow. Slowly, over the days that followed, the sage taught him to be a storage, not only of power, but of the energy, the Fire. Then, one night, the sage said to the Emperor, ‘tonight we burn a Fire, and I will teach you to pull the energy from the Fire.' They sat; and the sage said, ‘Do not sit so closely. Sit back.' The Emperor did; and the sage said, ‘Close your eyes and say after me: may the spirits of Fire come within my vibration and bring healing, warmth, and strength during the darkest days.'

    "So the sage taught the Emperor, in the darkness of the night, to heat himself throughout, by looking at the Fire as a heating Element from within, not from the skin without. The next day there was no sun. There were clouds and snow. They walked in the snow and saw no animal, save the deer and an occasional bird. The Emperor said, ‘Why are we not within a pagoda, or a cave? Why do we not go to your cave that I have been to before?' But the sage said, ‘You must learn that the coldness of nature is a regenerator and if man feels that he is cold on the outside, the inside can melt the hardest core.' The Emperor said, ‘Why do you go here? Why do you not cover yourself?'

    The sage said, ‘It is within the winter that things are, in essence, rebuilding. It is a time of energy; it is the time of strength. The sun is making the night grow shorter. The day is becoming longer and we are becoming warmer, for we have more sun to pull from each day. We are becoming brighter through the light. And it is in this that we see that, as the animals sleep, as the trees and bushes and grass are covered with snow, there is heat, warmth, and energy beneath. It is getting ready to spring into spring. It is a time of regenerating, of understanding the sun and using its strength.

    "In the middle of February of the northern year, it was so cold that the ice froze the thickness of a deer. When you would breathe, you could not see because the smoke the breath would make. The sage and the Emperor walked through the forest of K'an learning of the inner energy; learning of the power of Fire, of the sun, learning the lesson of the flowers and the trees and the flowers and the bushes, of the animals; that it was within; learning that it was the energy that they were dealing with, from within themselves, that gave them great strength.

    "They came to the beautiful lake of Li, within the forest of K'an, and the sage said to the Emperor, ‘Come, you do not need to know great wisdom and ancientness to walk across this lake now.'"

The Fire Element

The seasons are but a reflection of man himself. If you watch them and listen for each Elements story, then you will understand everyone you come into contact with.

The Element of Fire is the time of Winter. It is the time of greatest potential; it is the promise of things to come. The new growth, the new idea, the germination of the seed. Within this Element there is a stark landscape. The trees are bare; there is little life to be seen; there are few if any birds and most animals are not to be seen. But underneath the cold exterior is the inner warmth of germination. It is a time of great sensitivity to the moving sun, for in the sun is the fire and the light which is the key to appreciating this Element. The Winter is a time of imagining and anticipation.

In relationships it warms the other Elements; it is calmed or doused by Water; fanned or starved by Air; allowed a solid footing or suffocated by Earth; and consumed by itself. Two Fire Elements together without a generous helping of the other Elements is like watching a bush fire in action. The colour of Fire is red and the shape is the triangle. Just imagine for a moment the effect when a triangle pushes its way into your space and you can get some idea what happens when first coming into contact with the Element of Fire. Beyond the sharp point is a gentleness and passion that is hard to ignore.

The Element of Fire has its seat in the solar plexus and rules the cardio-vascular system and liver. Its nature is animated, ascending, hot, bright, and vibrant and its energy has a tendency to move upward and outward. Some of the major keynotes of the Fire element are heat, expansion, incandescence, acceleration and excitation. In alchemy fire stands for the principle of combustion, which is necessary to distill the alchemical substance. Its negative root emotions are pride, conceit, excessive enthusiasm and loquacity. When the heart's "desires and passions" are out of control they dominate the temperament and lead the person astray. In a balance or in health the Fire type warms and excite every one they come into contact with. The passion of the Fire element can change the world.

  The Fire type is intuitive, festive, and spontaneous and tends toward being optimistic. The strengths of the Fire type can be summed up by the words passionate, expansive, social, joyful, optimistic, convincing, spontaneous, enthusiastic, dynamic, lively, demonstrative and compassionate. In their negative states they are desirous, prideful, indiscriminate, arrogant, and full of denial, authoritative, cruel, inconsistent, frivolous, naive, exhibitionist, meddlesome, loquacious, manic, repetitious, humiliated, flustered or mortified. Just like the element of Fire itself, in a balance it brings mankind great joy; out of a balance and it can consume and burn everything to the ground.

   The fundamental basis of consciousness in Fire types is the perceptive principle. This led Carl Jung to describe them as extroverts as well as the "intuitive type". They tend to act through inspiration rather than reason and feelings instead of thought. 

   Fire types are often supportive, enthusiastic, expansive, social, erotic, jovial, festive, and talkative. At the same time they can be courageous, fiery, bold, and gregarious. They flush easily on emotion and have exalted states of fancy and become over enthusiastic and often are too passionate in what they believe. They have a tendency to run out of energy and exhaust themselves or even lose energy around a project or idea if it no longer excites them. They have a hard time admitting that anything is wrong or apologizing to those they may have hurt because they don't see their own mistakes very easily. In this way, they can appear as being too positive. They find it easy to walk away from one idea or project if the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence. They find it easy to start new projects, but if they are bored or the project is not going anywhere they will lose energy and walk away. It is the same with relationships. They are born leaders but they have a habit of dominating other people and situations as well as showing off. 

   The Fire person can appear to be arrogant and vain but this only acts as a shell as they are easily hurt. They live for the appreciation of others. Fire has the ability to see the big picture and so what sometimes can appear to be arrogance is more likely that they can see where to go or where everything is heading. They often compensate for their lack of inner confidence by becoming haughty, ardent, and bossy. When they lose their temper they become irate, hot blooded, wild, fierce, and furious and boil with rage. They can become bloody minded, who at their worst are cruel and enjoy inflecting pain on others. The rubric "over joyful" is a keynote of the Fire type because they enjoy everything they do for better or worse, and laugh whether they are being kind or cruel. This is why they make the friendliest, but at the same time, the most sadistic types of people.

Strengths

   Expansive

   Intuitive

   Visionary

   Big picture

   Social

   Joyful

   Optimistic

   Spontaneous

   Enthusiastic

   Dynamic

   Lively

   Demonstrative

   Convincing

   Passionate

   Compassionate

  

Weakness

   Desire

   Proud

   Incredulous

   Haughty

   Indiscriminate

   Arrogant

   Denial

   Authoritative

   Cruel

   Inconsistent

   Frivolous

   Naive

   Exhibitionist

   Meddlesome

   Loquacious

   Repetitious

   Humiliated

   Mortified

   Flustered

   Manic

Physical Constitution

   The physique of the Fire person is muscular, strongly boned and they have triangular athletic builds; especially if the are Fire/Earth. The seat of their energy is in the heart from where it spreads through the blood vessels to the muscles. Most of the time they walk with buoyant dynamic steps and they are normally very vital people. The larger Fire/Earth types have big chests and huge pelvis bones, large hearts, and a tendency to become obese because they accumulate fatty tissue easily. On the other hand, some fire/water  types are narrower at the hips but they still have a triangular shape and athletic builds. All Fire types have a strong liver component, for the liver is the organ of the future and for Fire types who are always in the future it is one of their most important organs. 

   The Fire types are active, animated, warm, and sweaty and suffer easily from laboured breath. In actual fact it is breathing out that gives them the most difficulty. They have a tendency toward hyper adrenal states and are often excessive in their movements and activity. In the Fire/Earth you will find this expressed in physical sports, whereas the Fire/Water type this movement is expressed in dance or other forms of creative movement.

   The Fire type has a full, florid face, rosy cheek, red lips and flushes easily on emotions and exertion. They have iridescent radiant pupils and irises that twinkle with a certain brightness. The whites of their eyes are often bloodshot with red veins and spots.

   Their hands can have large palms and long fingers. The stronger the influence of Earth and they become thick, strong, warm, and humid with wide palms. Their nails are rosy colored, wide, and solid with very clear moons. When shaking hands the male Fire element has a strong athletic grip and shakes the hand vigorously. The Fire female usually smiles and likes to hug strongly and kiss and can be quite flirtatious.

   The skin of the Fire type is generally red, warm and moist because of their hot and moist constitutions.

   Fire/Earth types are often big eaters who enjoy to "wine and dine" and pay the price for it in being over weight and suffering form heartburn. Fire eat food for the excitement of it; especially the social side of eating. They love company and are at their happiest when surrounded by friends and acquaintances. They love anything where they are the centre of attention or when they have an audience. 

   When the Fire type is healthy they feel warm and like cool open air. When they become sick they feel hot, suffocated, anxious and fearful and are < worse hot environments, closed rooms and in tight clothes. In general, they are < worse in hot seasons and climates, hot applications and hot influences. It would be strange, rare and peculiar for a Fire type to be better by heat and worse open air.

Next we will look at the Element of Water which aligns with the season of Spring.

After we have had a short look at each of the four Elements we will begin to have a look at the differences and also how you can use this information to understand yourself and others.

The 33rd Sage is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

Twitter @GeofSpalding

Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/

Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/

The Elements of Man Part 1

The 33rd Sage and the Elements Part 1

My spiritual life began in my late twenties, when I first met my old Chinese teacher. From that moment my inner spiritual life became my dominant life. Before I begin to share the Elements of Man I need to share a small part of my own story to put the teachings in context. 

Most of the posts will be shorter than this one, but as with all things that matter patience and discipline are required. For those of the Fire persuasion that will be quite difficult as you always want the answer before you begin. My little joke to the Fire Elements amongst you.

I thought of doing video and or audio posts but this would prove impossible as over half my current audience is from non English speaking countries. So I will try to make it as enjoyable as possible while at the same time giving you enough information to allow the teaching of the Elements to grow magically and organically from within you.

"It was three days before the solstice and the sage must prepare him."

I surveyed the pale blotchy skin on the back of my left hand. I pinched it into little hills of flesh and watched them slowly collapse back. I looked up towards the receptionist. Her lips moved quickly, sharing a story on the telephone. I looked at my reflection in the glass-top coffee table. I didn’t like what I saw. Stroking my greying skin, I flapped my hand under my double chin. It wobbled in time with my sighs. My fingers reached up for the bags under both eyes. I pushed them up, but they dropped back in resignation. My eyes ached, their red streaks visible in the table’s reflection. I sighed deeply, closed my eyes and lay back, my head resting on the back of the couch.

“Mr. Spalding, Doctor will see you now.”

I shook my head, waking from a slight sleep. Groggy and confused I followed the receptionist into Dr Collins’ office.

Dr Collins sat in his black patent leather chair behind his large mahogany desk. He smiled, hands clasped behind his head. He was in his mid forties, his flecks of grey hair massaging his temples.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. His voice was soft, almost effeminate. His eyes were warmer than his smile.

I grunted, “Okay, I guess.” My shoulders dropped further with each word.

“No improvement on the new diet?”

“No, Doc.” I breathed deeply, my shoulders rising to their natural height. “Some days I wake up with a burst of energy, but it doesn’t last.” My shoulders drooped again, and the corners of my mouth dropped like unexpressed tears. “Why, Doc, why is it happening to me? One day I was fit, healthy and successful, everything to live for and the next I can barely walk to the toilet? Why? Why me? I did everything right. I dieted. I exercised. I took vitamins. I worked hard. I was good to everyone. Why me, Doc?”

Doctor Collins sat back in his chair, his palms opened out. “I don’t know, every test we have done has shown nothing. There is a hint of something viral left over, but other than that we are simply in the dark.” His hands turned over; he gently rapped on the table. “All we know is that you are allergic to at least 93 substances and it could be more.”

The front door of the clinic slammed behind me. I continued to look down, shoulders hunched, hands slack at my side. Walking to nowhere I began to replay pictures in my mind. I smiled weakly at the picture of myself crossing the finish line of the Melbourne Marathon, and then there was the picture of first place in the Horsham 10K. One after another I replayed pictures and relived the emotions of my many sporting and working victories. 

“No more,” were the only words, which escaped from my lips.

The early winter wind ripped through my clothes. I shivered and pulled the collar of my jacket tightly around my throat.

    I continued walking and thinking. I heard the voice of Doctor Collins in my head. “As I see it, you have two choices. Either you can go on as you are, but this will only lead to a further downward spiral in the foods you can eat. The other, the only real choice, is to spend a month in a bubble while we scientifically quantify the foods and chemicals you are allergic to.”

It was the best science had to offer. I was to become an experiment in reductionism, in the hope that they could rebuild the whole.

    I was in deep shit and I knew it

I continued walking. My arms hanging limply by my sides, my shoulders pinched in an attempt to keep out the cold. More pictures began to invade my mind. I remembered that fateful Sunday morning when I rose for my weekly 32K run. I dressed quickly, taking a noisy swig of orange juice; for there was not time for breakfast: I’d laced up one of my many pairs of old Nike's and ran out the front door.

After a hundred meters I felt like shit. 

Nothing unusual, I would be okay in another couple of kilometers, I assured myself, when I warmed up, or so I’d thought. No such luck; fifty meters further and I was doubled over, spilling last night’s vegetarian dinner in a heap on the side of the road.

    I had walked and half crawled the 150 meters back to my home, where I spent the whole day in bed. Next day I could barely drive the 2 kilometers to work or walk the fifty meters from the car park to my office at the supermarket, where I was manager. I stayed in the office resting for an hour before I made a pathetic tour of the supermarket. Exhausted, I went back to the office and rested for another hour before I surfaced again. I struggled on like this for four days before; finally, my complete lethargy forced me to see a doctor.

    That had been when the tests began and continued for the next eighteen months. I had become a human pincushion. And every time the results showed the same thing: nothing, or next to nothing. The traces showed something viral but not enough for them to be sure what the virus was.

    I was passed from one doctor to another: an endless procession of wise men in white coats, with stethoscopes hanging around their necks. The final doctor I saw had seen recommended me to an allergy clinic, where the tests began again. At least, there had been no more blood tests. The tests they performed were to find what it was I was allergic to. The diet was depressing, but at least it seemed to be helping. That was, until my last bout of sickness. I had gone back to work and for two months everything had been going well: I was working too many hours and had even started running again. Then one morning I woke up and could barely make it to the shower. That had been two weeks ago and that was why the only choice I had left was the allergy bubble.

I saw in my mind a picture of myself in a bubble, sucking foods through a straw and having no contact with the outside world. My mind pictures were over dramatised but they at least took me away from the real world of exhaustion.

When I finally escaped the inner worlds of my mind, I stopped walking and looked around. I shook my head in disbelief. I had walked all the way from Richmond to the city. A distance of only a few kilometres, but given my current state, anything over a hundred meters was a bonus. Confused, I asked myself. “How could I have walked so far?” 

There was more to this illness than the purely physical. I did not know what or how, but in that moment I sensed, in a deeper part of myself, that there was a way out of this debilitating disease and it had something to do with my mind. Given my current understanding of mind body medicine this was a quantum leap of universal proportions. We are talking about a man whose only reading consisted of books on athletics or marketing. My whole world had revolved around work and running. I was obsessed with becoming better. The better I became the harder I worked, the harder I trained. The illness brought all that to an end. The illness caused a crack in the person I thought I was and yet, at the same time, there was a hint, a small glimpse of something else.

    It was then that I prayed for the first time. It was not an ‘our father who art in heaven,' sought of thing, it was more a stillness in my mind where I asked whatever was out there for help, help, plain and simple. I did not ask for any specifics. Then, within seconds, my mind was once again a jumble of the millions of thoughts that fought for my attention in the stillness.

    A red flash appeared at the edge of my awareness. My head snapped back, only to discover it was a red dragon flapping above the entrance to a Chinese restaurant. My mind responded to the memories of food eaten in the past and I began to salivate. 

I wanted Chinese food. ‘Fuck the allergies. What’s happening?’ I thought to myself. ‘I had been so careful to only eat what I was supposed to eat, for such a long time. What was I doing?’ I watched as my feet took my body through the doorway and under the Red Dragon. 

    Once inside the door, my shoulders raised and breath filled my lungs. I sniffed at the thousands of smells that filled the restaurant, smells I had denied myself. I sniffed through the smells, reacting to one spice laid on top of another. There was garlic, which usually made me sick, then lemon grass, then chili, and then I could not quite make out some of the other smells. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. 

   The waiter led me to a table while I was still in a state of ecstasy. The part of me, which existed in the earthly consciousness, ordered a bottle of De Bortoli Chardonnay and mulled over the menu while the other part of me danced in the province of angels.

    The waiter coughed gently, his hand in a fist in front of his mouth. I shook my head free from my revere. I looked up into the waiter’s smooth, creaseless face and smiled. A smile returned instantly, as if we were sharing a secret.

    

     I did not have to wait long. Within a few days my prayers were answered when I was introduced to a man named G who ran a weight loss program mainly for women called the IFA which stood for "Improper Fat Accumulation". At a sickly 72kgs I did not need to lose any weight, but there was something about him that attracted me to his teaching. The program ran over a season, or about 13 weeks during which time there was a number of cleansings and detoxes, combined with mega doses of vitamins and minerals and a special diet. Within about six weeks my allergies had reduced dramatically and I was feeling better than I had in a number of years.

I was in the audience on one of the last days of the program when G asked a question that would change my life forever. "Would you like to look at a person and know them better than they know themselves; to be able to talk to them in their own language, to know their strengths and weaknesses and be able to their see their health and disease patterns now and into their future?" Although I was one of maybe a hundred in the audience I felt like he was talking directly to me. In that moment my life was changed. My life from that moment turned in a direction that even a few months before I would never have been able to even comprehend what was happening.

The Elements of Man

    ‘In Old China, The Emperor of the Fourth Dynasty of Chao did not know what to do. Around him was disagreement. No matter what he tried, his ministers could not get along with one another. They were always fighting. His wife and children he could not understand. The people he was told about, the royalty, the governors, and those of the provinces throughout China - many times there was difficulty understanding them. But specifically, he had difficulty learning what their strengths and weaknesses were. One minister told him that to be able to do this; he needed to have those that would spy secretly. Others told him that he needed a great magician or mystic that could sit and whisper into his ear if a person was telling the truth. Others said that he must be extremely harsh and strong and, no matter what was said, not rely on it. He was always to know that the words that came forward were not true. He did not know what to do.

    ‘Soon he walked within his garden, each evening; and as he would touch the leaves or sit beneath the tree or watch the birds fly, he wondered. The old sage of the forest of K'an had taught him, when he was younger, of nature. What had he said? His memory was old. It was so far away. He had once asked, `How do I know when a person is truthful?' What had the sage answered... what were his words? He could not remember. But as he sat beneath the tree he remembered that the sage had taught him these things. And so he rose, and walked to his most trusted minister, and said, `Go to the forest of K'an and bring back the sage. You will enter through dark trees. Go forth for one half day until you come to a lake, the lake of purification. Sit beside it until the sage comes to you.'

‘And so the minister went and he found the forest and went into it. He sat beside the lake and waited for the sage. As the sun was setting over the mountains, as the birds were beginning to quiet their day, as the insects were defying the silence, he felt a touch on his shoulder. `What can I do for you, messenger of the Emperor?'

    ‘The Emperor would like you to go to him. He has much trouble.' And so the old sage said, `Three days from this day the old sage will be in his garden, beneath the willow tree.' And so the minister went back to the Emperor. He told the Emperor what was said, and he was happy. Three days later he went to the tree and sat, and the sage appeared. They talked for many hours. And the sage said, `I cannot teach the way to do this in one night or two. Being a dictatorial ruler will not bring this wisdom. Mystics and magicians cannot. Spies will not. You must leave your court for one year.'

    ‘The Emperor said, `but I cannot.' And the sage said, `Let me tell you how you can.' And so they prepared. And the Emperor was told how he would begin each day for the next five days, to prepare his court for his leaving.

    ‘And so the routine was changed, and the Emperor would sit upon his throne and he would say, 'Listen. I will sit now.' And the ministers would come and talk; and he would wave them away. This went on for three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening. And the Emperor would dismiss his court. At the end of five days, the sage said, 'We are now ready for you to leave.'

    ‘And as the Winter Solstice approached, in the cold of the night, as the sun was shining in the other parts of the world, and as the moon was high, they slipped through the garden of the palace. And each day, at exactly the same time, the old sage would appear in the guise of the Emperor and sit upon his throne. He would sit and listen, as the Emperor was in the forest of K'an learning to deal with people.

    It was three days before the Solstice, and the sage must prepare him. He told him what his role was to be. He said, `First you must know that man is like nature. Man is but a cycle, as your world is a cycle. Each thing has its seasons, as man has a cycle of the seasons. This is not only within man, but also within the history of mankind.' He pointed that in time he would be learning of the people who identify with the seasons. And the Emperor was glad. As the Solstice approached, the Elements of Man were revealed. Years later, Emperors later, when the Emperors no longer went into the forest of K'an, these were lost."

When G finished telling the story I felt like I had been on the journey with the Emperor and the sage. I knew in that moment that I would spend the rest of my life working to understand the seasons within man and mankind. The story was alive to me. The elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth were dancing through the room. The elements within my body were reacting with the elements in the room and elements within the earth. In my own microcosm I was connected with the macrocosm. 

This was the beginning of the study of the elements. As the course continued I began to develop my understanding of the elements. There were a number of disciplines which G gave me that allowed a deepening of my understanding of the elements and one in particular that would become a part of my life for the next 28 years. The first discipline was to keep everything I learnt in these sessions to myself. To only discuss it with others who were attending the workshops. This was not done because we needed to keep these teachings a secret. It was because we had such a tenuous grip on their understanding that to discuss them with those who did not understand could cripple the unfolding of the teaching that came from within. We were not to discuss the teachings for a season. I went one step further and did not share any of the teachings for a full year. Looking back I could see that this and my passion for the teachings helped them to continue to develop, even to this day.

Come with me over the next three months, a full season, during which time I will reveal to the beauty and wonder that is the Elements. I bless my old teacher every day for giving me this wonderful gift and although he no longer teaches this course it is a pleasure for me to share these teachings with you.

All that I ask is that while you are studying the Elements that you do not talk about them to anybody who is not also studying them. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly it will take a full season for the concepts to start take root within you and secondly the old teaching of 'those who talk do not know and those that know do not talk.'

If you are excited about the teachings share the link to blog with others as something they may find interesting or buy them a copy of 'The 33rd Sage,' as much of what I will share is in the book. For some the story itself will help them open up to the more spiritual aspects of their life. 'When the student is ready the teacher appears.' 

Although the Elements were never meant to be taught in this way, I feel that the changes that are happening on the planet make it more necessary than ever for people to get back in touch with the Elements and nature. It is important for all of us to realign ourselves with the cycles within nature.

I dedicate these blogs to Old Chinese, G, Stuart and Marshal for they were the wonderful teachers who brought the elements alive for me.

Chung Fu, who first shared the story, was the assumed name of the spirit guide of trance medium Marshall N. Lever. It was chosen by the guide from the I Ching, meaning inner truth. His last incarnation was as a student of Chuang Tzu, in China.

Chung Fu discouraged any form of physical phenomenon in his teaching circles. He emphatically pointed out that his teachings and guidance are not the way, but one of the many ways that individuals may take on their journey to Inner Truth. He taught that there must be an unfolding within the individual and an awareness of Inner Truth through meditation and self-discipline. It was during one of his teaching circles that he shared the story of the Sage and the Emperor. 

Twenty eight years ago I was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome when I was first introduced to the teachings of Old Chinese, as Chung Fu was also known, by G. Through the wonderful teachings of G and Old Chinese I was not only able to heal myself but have the strength and the courage to attempt the greatest journey of all: The Quest for Inner Truth.

I have not shared G's full name because he has chosen the way of the silent warrior and I honor and respect him deeply. I am one of the many thankful students that he has taught on his journey. A journey that has touched so many people in such a beautiful way.

The 33rd Sage is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

Twitter @GeofSpalding

Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/

Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/

Thanks to Ella James (Author of Chosen) for this wonderful picture from a castle in Skye. It is perfect for a doorway to another world which is where I hope the Elements will take you.