Earth mindmap

Earth is so encompassing that it is hard to create a single image of what it is. So here is the first of a few perhaps. I want to say something about its quality of facilitating change so look out for a Yin/Yang picture.

Fire Mindmap

Fire is such a difficult thing to describe. It changes so rapidly and the flickering flames are un-graspable. Here's a little mindmap, but watch out for other posts with a different perspective.

Wood Mindmap

Sometimes, once you've got a list of words that describe the element, from a mindmap say, it is fun to create a poem or picture. Wood is the creative element, it is where the ideas from water begin to turn into reality. Here's a small, not particularly good, poem using the words that came to me on a walk in the woods - well some of them at least.

Introduction to the Five Elements

In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is believed that the cycles of nature are echoed within the human psyche.

We all have access to the five archetypes within: The Philosopher, Explorer, Wizard, Diplomat and Scientist.

In ancient China it was recognised that as the seasons followed one another so too did the energy of all living things. In the winter when the world is still, there is very little activity and so we should also rest more and do less. The ancient Chinese say we should get up with the sun and go to bed with the sun, and most probably before electricity we mostly did.

As winter gives way to spring to there is the birth of new and renewed growth. Now is the season to start new projects having contemplated them through the long winter nights. Plans come to fruition in summer and we reflect on our deeds in the late summer (harvest) time. Finally the year begins to wind down again with autumn when trees lose their leaves and the fruit on the ground rots to release the seed for germination in the next spring.

In terms of Yin and Yang Spring and Summer are Yang (expansive) and Autumn and Winter are Yin (contractive). The element of Earth which nowadays is called late summer is the turning point and originally it was placed at the centre of the cycle, with the last fourteen days of one season and the first fourteen of the next being a time of change.

Of course this cycle is a metaphor for all cycles in our lives. From birth to death, the passing of a single day, week, month and the lifetime of a project or event. All cycles have their time of outward growth and energy until the extreme in the fruition and then a decline until the cycle ends.

This blog explores these elements and cycles in a number of ways and I hope some of them will be of use or interest to you.

Water Mindmap

Try creating a mindmap of all the connections and responses you have to the word water and whatever your view of it is. Here is one I did recently.

To see all blogs on water click here

Fire Images

Some images that reflect part of my Fire

Some thought on Winter '09

Haiku

Truth lies beneath the snow

hibernating ‘til the thaw

sets free long held dreams

There were no atoms yet, let alone stars or galaxies: All was empty. We tend to think of it as a serene, hushed nothingness, an insubstantial, uneventful void, but it was in fact seething with all the pent-up energy of the primordial explosion.

Trinh Xuan Thuan, The Birth of the Universe: The Big Bang and After

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. An d if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.

Martha Graham