It’s Summer and this means we have moved into the Fire Element. In Chinese medicine all elements have a sound, a taste, an emotion, a season and a colour. The Fire Element colour is red, the taste is bitter, the sound is laughter, the emotion is joy and of course the season is Summer.
The Heart and Small Intestine meridians sit here in Fire, which is the most Yang and expansive time of year. I’m sure we’ve all noticed more people out and about, as the weather warms up we begin to socialise more, chat with friends – all indicators of the emotion that relates to the Fire Element, Joy. When the Fire Element is in balance we feel able to reach out and be nourished by others, when the Fire Element is out of balance we feel like we can’t reach out to others and we may move into isolation and loneliness.
The heart governs every other organ in the body, it is the emperor and if it is well and balanced then all the other officials do their job effectively. Our spirit sits in the heart and when our heart is healthy the spirit can rest peacefully within it.
The small intestine sorts food for absorption or elimination, nutrients move into the blood and waste into the large intestine. Food nourishes our mind and spirit and a well nourished being is able to sort the pure from the impure not only in terms of food, but also in terms of decision making and relationships. It can help with fuzzy thinking and moving between closeness and distance in our relationships.
The archetype that relates to fire is the Wizard, who through the organising principle “seeks to imbue the mundane with the extraordinary, merging human aspirations with divine purpose. Just as the Fire of love unites male and female to form new life, so the Wizard wields a miraculous power to overcome separation by welding divergent elements into one.”(Beinfield & Korngold, Between Heaven and Earth)
So let’s warm our spirit in the sun and nourish it by having joyous times with our friends and family.