That the cycles of nature have always helped and guided civilizations is nothing new. That the magic of moonlights, eclipses, suns, landslides, volcanoes, tidal waves have always been forces that have caught the attention of all of us is also nothing new.
When the summer begins, the media is “drenched” with floods and people who have lost everything in the dispute for space with nature. It is common in the same season for the earth to slide, as if no obstacle could hold it.
56 years ago, in Paraná, there was the biggest forest fire in the country, with 2 million hectares burned.
Mastering and containing the force of nature is a constant challenge for all peoples and times. Whatever element it is, we find its strength that surpasses any limit we can place.
There are 4 main elements: Fire, Earth, Water and Air. Its well-known manifestations: natural fires, volcanoes and fires found in the fires that ravage cities and forests belong to fire. To Earth the tremors and landslides that claim victims every year. To the water the tidal waves and tsunamis. In the air the cyclones and tornadoes.
The elements are also found in acupuncture (Traditional Chinese Medicine). This science emerged in China, around 4.550 years ago. Only there are 5: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Each one of these elements designates a pair of organs in their yin and yang aspects, any imbalance would occur, in a simplistic way, from the lack or excess of energy in the pairs. This knowledge has always been widely used by the Oriental. And now, with so many devices for measurement and verification, they have definitely moved from the field of speculation to the field of science in the West as well.
Astrology also uses this knowledge to explain the personal characteristic of each sign through the elements.
Psychology is another science that is very interested in these symbols. Symbols were the working material of Carl Jung, creator of analytical psychology. According to his theory, symbols would be the bridge between unconscious and conscious contents. We could only become aware of the content of the unconscious through symbols.
Jungian psychologists use this knowledge to help develop their analysands' awareness, using this tool as a support.
The 4 main elements, earth, fire, water and air, have various meanings attributed to them. But we will work with some specifically:
Earth: our body has always been attributed to mother earth. According to the Bible, we came from it and we will return to it. We often say that mother earth takes care of us. She after all she gives us the food that is planted and harvested. The earth connects us, builds, generates and delivers. What concerns gestation and generation would belong to the earth. Just like our base. We step on the ground and being planted in the ground means having good roots. Roots we need to develop strong ties, branches we need to communicate and connect, to have well-developed cups (ideas and creativity).
Fire: Fire is our energy or spirit. The passion and motivation that move us. Captivates, burns and transmutes. Just as your action has the power to burn and purify everything around us. We use fire for many rituals that get rid of the old, to make room for the new. Our spirits flare up whenever we feel this strong connection in meditation or active imagination. Our joy sets us on fire, but so does our anger!
Water: Much of the symbolism of water is linked to our emotions. Our emotions give us life. Our inner waters also show our darkest and darkest side, therefore our shadow. It is difficult to see under the sea. We get sick when we are hurt. To be hurt is to be full of still waters. Crying is very painful, but it eases our heart and then we feel calmer. Because we clean our feeling. They say we should flow like the waters. Getting around obstacles. We can be happiest when we are more malleable and fluid.
Air: Air is our thoughts. Often tormented. Storms look like winds. Who go around messing everything up, preventing us from seeing situations clearly. Can you see when it's very windy? Have you ever used the phrase: I was blind at that moment? In these moments silence, focus and decide. But also the air is the breath. Breath gives life to things. With the blow we put out many fires: that is to reason many times before explosions or intemperance.
We are the 4 elements: body, energy, emotion and reason. Without these 4 instances we would not be complete.
Part of the work we came here to do (if not all) is developing awareness about being alive and surviving. We adapt to external and internal requirements.
Looking at everything as symbolic allows us to realize that the disease that attacks our physical body is a symbol that wants to show us something. We were certainly going the other way around. Or that emotional illness wants to show us the uselessness of certain behaviors, or even that our memory loss wants to warn us that we are keeping many useless things, just as our nervousness and hurt can show us who we are finally angry with.
A belief system is hard to break. It requires determination and hard, daily work. From childhood we learn our place and value within the family. Not always a favorable place, which puts us from an early age to learn to adapt.
Adaptation often appears in the form of a persona: we look like one thing, but profoundly we are another. It gives us a lot of anger and sadness, it feels like we're not the ones there.
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- Discover the benefits of being in contact with nature
- Reflect on the damage we do to the environment
- Pay attention to the signs that nature gives us
The analysis of the elements is just a symbolism, a suggestion for you to think if there is anything you can do or add, change in yourself, in your body, in your mind, in your emotions or in your spirit.
Opportunities for reflection and help are readily available today. Several therapies, articles, books and programs help us with a first reflection. When we feel that the time has come, most of us choose to go for some therapies that deepen the knowledge of who we really are and what our mission on this planet is.
