EARTH

Earth is the time of late summer. In late summer, the seasons pause for an intermission between the yang activity of wood in spring and fire in summer and the yin activity of metal in fall and water in winter. Earth is considered neither yin nor yang and represents the stability through the transition from yang to yin. Late summer is the time when creation, growth, and action of the spring and summer give way to the waning, decline, and inward motion of fall and winter.

Earth constitutions are supportive, compassionate and nurturing. Earth constitution’s lives tend to revolve around family, close relationships, and stability. She enjoys bringing people together, harmony, and commitment. Earth constitutions give genuinely and think of the whole group. She has a healthy sense of both giving and receiving. Like nature’s steady rhythm’s, she is capable of having a steady rhythm to her daily routine.

The organs and body systems associated with the earth constitution are the spleen, stomach, pancreas, muscles, and lymphatic system. Earth rules the sense of taste and the mouth. The color associated with earth is yellow. The sound of earth is singing.

The emotions associated with earth are sympathy and worry. Worry, when experienced habitually over long periods of time, can injure the organs and body systems associated with earth. Earth constitutions sympathize with others easily. Burden is associated with the earth element. Feeling burdened by life or feeling like you are a burden to others can create an imbalance in the earth element. Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and weak digestion are diseases that can stem from an imbalance in the earth constitution. 

When an earth constitution becomes stressed, she can seek sympathy for herself. She can divert attention toward herself in the fear that she will not receive sympathy or attention from others. When an earth constitution is stressed, life’s daily tasks can feel heavy and burdensome. Production and consumption fall under the jurisdiction of earth. An earth constitution may find herself over-producing and over-working in an effort to gain sympathy and attention from others. When we over-work ourselves, we have to compensate for that by over-consuming. Earth constitutions can crave sweets and sugar as their body’s way of compensating for the over-producing. This may lead to seeking what makes them feel comfortable in the short term rather than seeking something truly nourishing. This can apply both to food and life experiences.

When earth becomes weak, she can focus more on other’s lives than her own. She can give beyond what she is capable of giving creating exhaustion, depletion, and fatigue. She may defer attention away from herself. This can lead to being overly devoted to others and their work. Self-sacrifice can become habit for a weak earth. She may orbit others leading to co-dependency. This can lead to physical exhaustion and feeling burdened by life. Physical exhaustion can lead to lethargy, but even in an exhausted state, an earth constitution may find her mind racing. Boredom and a fear of boredom can also motivate an earth constitution to over-work and over-produce.

The virtue of earth is integrity. Each element has a virtue associated with it which helps to bring an out-of-balance constitution back into balance. Other synonyms for integrity are honesty, sincerity, unity, truthfulness, trustworthiness, solidarity, strength, and stability. Earth constitutions tend to have a resilient and strong nature within them. Practicing integrity can help earth constitutions discern when and where to dole out sympathy and energy toward others and when to receive sympathy and energy from others. In his book, Nourishing Destiny, author Lonny Jarrett also adds reciprocity as a virtue for earth constitutions. Reciprocity can give earth an evenness about her daily routine. Having an even sense of give and take in life can assist the earth constitution in having a steady rhythm without needing to over-produce, over-work, and consequently, over-consume.