METAL

Metal is the time of autumn. In autumn, nature begins to go inward. The sap recedes from tree leaves and branches and descends inward to the trunk and eventually settles in the roots where it stays through the winter until spring. Prior to our modern age, in the autumn, people would organize and inventory their harvest, making sure they had enough stores to get them through the winter. Autumn reminds us that everything changes and everything has impermanence.

Metal constitutions are methodical, efficient, and orderly. Metal constitutions are uncomfortable with chaos and prefer precision and proper procedures. It is often when we have to say goodbye to something or let something go when we see its true beauty and value. Metal constitutions enjoy bringing beauty and value to life. There can be a regal and stately aspect to bringing beauty and value into life for metal. Sacred ritual and purity are important to metal. Metal constitutions tend to have high standards and moral principles.

The organs and body systems associated with the metal are the lungs, large intestine, skin, immune system and mucous membranes. Metal rules the sense of smell and the nose. The color associated with metal is white. The sound of metal is weeping.

The emotion associated with metal is grief. Grief, and its sisters longing and regret, when experienced habitually over long periods of time, can injure the organs and body systems associated with metal. Our sense of smell often evokes memories and longing of the past. The lung and large intestine are in charge of taking things in and letting things go. The lungs take in air and let it go 15-20 times per minute on average. The large intestine takes in the waste from the digestive tract and lets it go every day. This cycle of birth and death is ever present in our lives. Impermanence is the only constant in life. This is a recurring theme for the metal constitution.

When a metal constitution becomes stressed, the grief that comes with the truth of impermanence can create an attitude of needing to hold onto things. These can include material possessions and relationships. But when inevitably those objects or people begin to lose their luster or shine, the reaction to grief can be a need to acquire more things to hold onto. In an effort to deal with the grief associated with impermanence, a metal may become involved in a dogmatic belief system to which she also may hold tightly. She may only feel comfortable in relationships with people who also share the same dogmatic belief system as she cannot assign value to anything or anyone outside the dogmatic belief system.

When metal becomes weak, she can have a hard time taking in a deep breath or eating a full meal. She may feel she cannot fully take in life. She may become like a renunciate giving away possessions not knowing how valuable they are to her. A great loss may make her feel as though nothing can be held onto, so grief and longing take over creating a sense of “what is the use”. She may have a difficult time forming new relationships as she cannot see the value in having someone new in her life. She may become overly critical of herself unable to see value in herself. This can show up as perfectionism. Uninspired and frail, she may lack vitality and luster. 

The virtue of metal is righteousness. Each element has a virtue associated with it which helps to bring an out-of-balance constitution back into balance. Other words that help us have a better understanding of the word righteousness are worthiness, saintliness, decency, morally correct, upright, leading a life that is pleasing to God, the moral disposition to do good, and intuiting the right action in any given situation. Value is a theme for the metal constitution. Realizing that value is inherent, meaning that we have value just as we are, can be healing for metal. Understanding that value does not have to be acquired can also be helpful for metal. Doing spiritual practices like meditation and mindfulness which work with the feelings that come up when we face death and impermanence can also be helpful to metal constitutions.