Lost in translation- the 5 Elements, or is it the 5 Transformations?
Chinese Medical Theory incorporates 5 principles of change, of transformation- recognized as 5 different aspects of the natural world: Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal. These 5 are often translated into English as 5 Elements. However, many authors go to great pains to explain that a better translation would be “5 Transformations.” I have been wondering about this debate for years. What significance it could possibly have for an average human like myself sifting through a myriad of opinions about how to be healthy and happy?
My western mind likes to hammer out the details, pin everything down, and declare it “known.” I first encountered the Chinese 5 Elements as the static diagram below:
I thought of each item as an Element, as a thing, an object. I memorized this chart, and I could reproduce it any time, any place. But, I still didn’t “get it.”
Recently, I tried out the notion of 5 “Transformations”- and now I have been able to go a little deeper. “Everything changes” is a popular saying all over the world. Yet, how do we know the process of how things will change, or transform?
I looked at my 5 “Element” chart again, and wondered what it would be like if it kept moving and changing. I lightened up my stubborn left brain, and let the 5 keep transforming and came up with the following diagram:
Everything changes.
I’m using the term 5 Transformations now to remind myself of that reality. My mind was stuck on Elements as stagnant “things.” Thinking in terms of transformations, I can see more easily how one thing transforms into another. Just like the environment around me changes every few months as the Earth moves around the Sun, the seasons transforming one into the next. I know what Summer is, and I also know that things will keep changing into Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, etc. Everything changes, everything transforms.
Classical Chinese Medicine has always considered the human to be a reflection of Nature. This notion is one of the things that draws me so deeply to this form of medicine. We are more than just a “part” of Nature, we are Nature itself. Within us are the 5 transformations, Yin and Yang, Night and Day, sunny days, humid days, rain, hurricanes, and gentle breezes.
With Nature and the 5 Transformations as guides, we can know ourselves more deeply. With self-knowledge and a connection to the wisdom of our inner Nature, we can find our way to a long life, a happy life.
Tags: 5 elements, Chinese Medicine, e transformations, Earth, fire, metal, water, Wood
Moving toward September, we come to the season of late summer- associated with the Earth Element in Chinese Medicine. As the fullness of high summer, the Fire Element, gives way to Earth, the fields are turning gold, the farmers’ markets are over flowing with produce, gardeners give away zucchinis and tomatoes.
Earth is associated with the ingestion and digestion, the stomach, pancreas, and spleen. We are nourished by Mother Earth, turning her bounty into our muscles. When our Earth Element is flourishing and balanced, we feel sturdy on our feet, have plenty of energy and strength to move around, enjoy satisfying food, and find satisfaction in our life’s work. Knowing our abundance, we share freely with others.
May you enjoy the Earth that is within you and around you.
This is a simple remedy for pain from sudden trauma- like stubbing your toe or hitting your finger rather than the nail with a hammer. Homeopathy is a complete form of holistic medicine, requiring years of study to really use it well. But in the case of this type of traumatic pain, anyone can reach for a pellet or 2 of Arnica montana for some relief!
Homeopathic Arnica is available in most health food stores. I use the 30X dilution- which means that the original little bit of Arnica plant has been diluted with lactose at a ratio of 1 to 9, 30 times!
Obviously, this is very dilute, and the pellet that alleviates the pain is actually holding only the energy of the original Arnica plant- which is one reason that homeopathic remedies don’t create a bunch of nasty side effects.
The main trick to using homeopathy is getting the pellet out of the tube and into your mouth! Usually, one end of the tube twists off. Either you can “pour” 1 or 2 pellets into the little cup part that twisted off, or you leave that little cup thing on the end, twist the whole tube an a pellet drops into the holder. Classically, you should not handle the pellet- just throw it into your mouth, then hold it under your tongue and let it disintegrate.
If Arnica is going to work, you’ll feel better in 15 minutes to an hour. If it doesn’t work, well, you’ve spent about $8 on a natural remedy that will probably work for another person- or even yourself another time. For $8 dollars, you have 80 pellets of natural pain relief!
Learn More!
Introduction to Alternative Medicine- a friendly online class that I have created for anyone interested in learning how to use a variety of holistic medicines to support health and well being.
Tags: arnica, Homeopathy, natural, relief
I remember reading something about becoming able to see the oak in an acorn. For many years, I have tried to see the oak tree- and I all I ever saw was the acorn. Recently, I came to realize that I was looking with the wrong sense- I was using my eyes instead of my soul.
From within, from my heart, from that “thing” that I know to be a deeper part of myself, I feel into the acorn to know the oak. I hear the calling of the giant oak pulling through an anonymous acorn in the gravel by the sidewalk along a busy road.
I “see” now, that through all of its stages, the oak is always an oak. We humans like finish lines, time lines, reference points to measure things and declare them done, complete, grown up, accomplished, this or that. In our tendency to measure we can obscure the vision of our heart.
What part of being ill is health? In a single sneeze we can expel thousand of “invaders.” The sneeze was our health- yet it is so often declared a symptom of our illness. How can we measure the exact pivot from disease to health, when is the acorn declared an oak?
This morning, a young goldfinch flew into our glass door. She landed dazed on the deck. I picked her up, holding her, waiting for her to find her strength again. It took a little while, but she found it, and promptly flew back to her nest.
What a gift to have a few quite moments with a goldfinch in my hands.
Tags: goldfinch
It’s obvious about smoke. Thicker things trick me- today I’ll practice imagining it all as smoke- my stuff, my ideas, my cats, my partner, and my feelings. I’ll keep my hands out of their business, and see where the wisdom of the wind takes them.
Tags: smoke
by Kara DiGiovanna
After awhile you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul.
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of a woman or man
Not with the grief of a child.
And you learn to build your roads on today
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
And after awhile you learn
That even sunshine burns if you ask too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate you own soul
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn
That you really can endure
That you really are strong
That you really do have worth.
And you learn…
And you learn…
With every failure
You learn.
Tags: Kara DiGiovanna
