What Season Are You?
Looking at the defining characteristics of each element, both the balanced and unbalanced versions, can be eye-opening.
All photos courtesy of Jean Bergstrom
Do you have a favorite season? Maybe it’s summer with its hot, sunny, long days, time to visit the beach and have fun in the evenings with friends. Or maybe summer is your least favorite season. You hate the humidity, and the bugs, the long days are tiring, and you long for a cool crisp day. What does that say about you? Dipping into the nature-based wisdom of 5-Element Chinese Medicine theory may shed some light on your own nature.
What are the five elements in this ancient method of healing? It might make sense to discover each element is linked to a season. Looking at your favorite or least favorite season may offer insights into your personal strengths and challenges. Understanding each seasons’ energy is a helpful way to understand human energetics. Looking at the defining characteristics of each element, both the balanced and unbalanced versions, can be eye-opening.
We are a part of nature, so we have all the elements within us. Most people though, have a guardian element that colors the lens through which we live our lives. All the elements and seasons are important because each has a role in the cycle of life and of nature. When we are healthy and in balance, we demonstrate the strengths that each element possesses. When we are out of balance, we often demonstrate the lack of these characteristic strengths, which may define our own personal struggles and challenges.
The element associated with winter is WATER
Winter is a time of withdrawal, a time to pull in and spend time being quiet and dreaming. It is a gestational time, where one rests and stores energy for the journey ahead. Like the seed waiting in its winter habitat, Water people have the ability to dream what they want to grow into or make happen in their lives. They also have the ability to manifest their dreams.
Water people know how to survive, they have the smarts, the patience, the perseverance, the ambition, and the fortitude to “make it through the winter.” They can survive the hard times, and always arrive at where they want to be or what they want to achieve.
Water has many forms; the crashing wave, the stagnant pond, the glacier, the bubbling brook, the single drop. Water people have the gift of transformation; they can adapt to the situation or company in which they find themselves.
Manifesting one’s dreams takes courage, and the flip side of courage is fear. It can be scary to step into the unknown to make your dreams come true. The element of risk is ever present within a Water person, and anxiety or fear is always underlying what they do. A healthy version of fear is knowing when a situation is too dangerous, and it keeps one safe. A Water person out of balance can often be filled with irrational fears, immobilized by fear, or they can become confused, unable to discern healthy from unhealthy risks and be daredevils, foolishly brave. The strength and power associated with Water can be lacking or misguided in these cases.
The spring season is linked to the element of WOOD
Transitioning to spring, the energetics of the season shifts dramatically. No more gestating in the dark. This is the time of renewal, new growth, creativity, pushing, and forceful energy. Wood holds eternal hope. Think of an acorn, surviving the winter, and when the days lengthen and sun shines warmer and brighter, the seed begins its journey. It must have enough energy to break open the hard seed shell, send down a root and also send up a shoot into the sunlight. It must work its way around and through obstacles; it is determined to grow, to become a tree.
Wood people are filled with youthful energy; they are creative and have a desire to get things done. Organization is important to them, so is a sense of order, boundaries, structure, and to be in control. Wood people have a vision, a plan and the focus and ability to make the decisions to manifest their dreams. They can be audacious and uninhibited, full of youthful optimism no matter their age. As idea people, they need to learn to be flexible and creative and blow with the wind in order to achieve the plan. They are good at getting things started and moving forward. If something gets in their way, or doesn’t go as planned, they may become frustrated and angry.
Anger is the positive emotion of Wood. Like a seed pushing through the weight of the earth, anger is not an improper emotion because it can create change and get things moving forward again. However, an out of balance Wood person may have an undercurrent of anger. This anger is not constructive, it has the opposite effect on moving forward. A person who seems stuck with little vision or plan or the inability to make decisions has a problem in their Wood element. They might be stubborn and prefer to do things their way; they always want to be in control. In this case, think of a temper tantrum or vitriolic anger. Like a tree that is too rigid, unable to bend, these folks need help to become more flexible.
Summer is the season associated with the element of FIRE
Spring slips into summer when the sun is bright and warm, helping the plants to grow. It is the young adult of the seasons. These plants are blossoming, growing leaves and flowers, an exuberant form of themselves. It is a time for play, joy and laughter, discovering and exploring one’s sexuality. This is a time where young adults are aware of themselves and begin to become aware of others. Now is the time to develop relationships of all sorts, colleagues in work and school, friendships, and love connections.
Fire people are passionate and playful, accessible, warm and open. Learning how to negotiate the world of relationships is important to a Fire person. They want to be happy and want others to be happy around them. If there is a task to be accomplished, certain Fire people are the ones that will focus on the task at hand and on all the individuals working on the task. They make quick decisions, and are good at resolving conflict and trying to iron things out promptly. Harmony is their goal; they will get the job done and then there will be time for play. Fire people have a seriousness about them, but still have that warmth. A more extroverted type of Fire person may be the life of the party and help people feel at ease with their humor and joy. When a blossom is open to the sun and insects to pollinate, it also allows for the chance of harm. There is a vulnerability that comes with the Fire element because of this quality. There is a wide variety of Fire-type people, but there is always this sense of vulnerability within them. It may feel like there is a hidden wall that keeps people or certain relationships at a safe distance. Fire people are so engaging and fun, it is necessary for them to be able to discern which relationships are safe and which are not.
Out of balance Fire people may be depressed, experiencing a lack of joy, unconvincingly happy, laughing at everything, sometimes inappropriately. They may struggle with relationships, unable to access the warmth within themselves; the fire has gone out. It might look like the person who is the life of the party, but can’t allow themselves to get emotionally close to someone, or the person who jumps into relationships repeatedly, lacking any discernment. It is hard to know how to be in a relationship with an out of balance Fire person because their fire goes hot and cold, and you never know what response you may get. Their Fire element needs a steady temperature and stoking.
The element associated with late summer is EARTH
Late summer in 5-Element Chinese Theory is a time of ripening and bearing fruit. It is the harvest, the full adult in all its maturity and abundance. The energy of the previous two seasons is received here and shifts to a grounded gathering of loved ones to both nourish and be nourished.
Here is Mother Earth nurturing and abundant, generously providing what we need. Late summer/Earth people are thoughtful; you can count on them. They are good listeners, offering understanding and sympathy to those who need it, so generous and caring. They crave the company of others, and like to be in the center of things rather than on the fringes.
We all know the airplane drill — the mother puts her oxygen mask on before she can attend to her child — and this is the case for an Earth person. They must take care of themselves first in order to take care of others. This is a healthy aspect of Earth. An Earth person is always balanced on the edge of filling or emptying themselves, and because of this, there can often be a quality of neediness about them.
An Earth person out of balance may give and give and never replenish themselves, or that person may find themselves overflowing with abundance and not be able see anything to give away. A struggling Earth person may be self-centered, selfish, complaining, overly needy and never satisfied. Or they may be stoic, taking care of others at the expense of themselves, refusing help. They need to be brought back to the center, to be grounded.
We associate the season of fall with the element of METAL
Autumn is the ending of all the activity that got us here. We look back and take stock of all it took to get here and we mourn the end. It is a time of loss, a bittersweet time of year. This is the season where it is time to let go. The leaves fall off the trees, providing fertilizer for next year’s growth. The plants die back, everything is stripped of its vegetation, getting ready for the dark and quiet time of winter. But did you know when the leaves fall off, the buds are already there, ready to burst forth next spring when the right time arrives? The pure essence of that plant is there still, in the buds, in the roots, in the seeds, waiting.
What might be our purest essence? In the 5-Element model, you can strip away all our trappings, and what’s left is our spirit — our true essence — a precious thing of value and worth, like gold and silver, expensive and glistening.
Spirituality is at the very heart of a Metal person. Their quest is to find the pearl. They may be devoted to a spiritual practice, searching for meaning and a divine connection. They have a high regard for justice and fairness. Integrity is very important, and there can be a sense of seriousness to them. Metal people can be perfectionists, and may have difficulty letting go of things, or thinking it’s not up to their standards.
Feeling as if they have a special calling or something of value to share with the world is fulfilling to them. Appreciation and acknowledgement of these gifts are important as well. Appreciation and grief are two sides of the same coin, so a person will not feel grief if you did not appreciate what you lost. A metal person may feel grief very deeply and sometimes has a challenge letting it go. They are very good at recognizing the value in others, and helping them to find a way to share those gifts. However, these are no nonsense people, so they can seem sharp and cutting at times. There may not be a softness to their help or advice, but there will be honesty.
An out of balance Metal may not accept a compliment, or never get enough of them. They may get stuck in grief, feeling regret for a loss in the past, a sadness for what might have been that now never will be. They may have an overzealous desire to collect valuable things, or have trouble recognizing what is of value and what is not, and so have trouble letting go of anything.
They may be seekers willing to try many different methods to find spiritual connection to perfection, and they may bounce around, collecting experiences of different types, some healthy and some not. They may become discouraged in this search and feel as though it is pointless, that they themselves are failures. These people need help discovering their value again, to receive acknowledgement, and to find a meaningful purpose.
Did you find a description of yourself or someone you know?
Life is a series of cycles — we are born, we grow through childhood, we discover ourselves, we harvest the fruit of our being, we age and lose our youth but retain our precious spirit, and then go back to where we came from, that fertile void, the source of infinite spirit.
Maybe you found a description of yourself or someone you know in the above explanations, or maybe you see bits of yourself scattered throughout the seasons. Your affinity or lack of fondness for a season/element doesn’t necessarily mean this indicates your guardian element, but it does provide clues, which can be further explored through 5-element theory and practice.
We are complex living beings existing as a part of nature through all the seasons. Knowing a bit about how we fit into the macrocosm of nature can shed light on our interconnectedness as essential parts of the cycle, even as we appreciate our differences.
An herbalist for over three decades, Jean Bergstrom began her Plant Spirit Medicine Healing studies with Eliot Cowan, author of Plant Spirit Medicine, over 25 years ago. As a naturalist and lover of nature, Jean’s education as a healer has included learning from her plant teachers, human teachers, colleagues and her clients, helping them dig deeply into the medicines of the seasons. Along with her colleague Clare Pearson, Jean is facilitating A Plant Spirit Medicine Healer Training beginning in May 2024 — an opportunity to deepen your connection to nature or become a Plant Spirit Medicine Healer. More info at Botanicalsoul.net.
