2014 is the Year of the Wooden Horse. The Chinese Zodiac calendar follows a 12 year cycle, with each year attributed to an animal associated with one of the five ‘elements’ – earth, fire, water, metal and wood. The first cycle of the Chinese Zodiac was introduced in 2600 BC by Emperor Huang Ti. This demonstrates the long history of the elements in Chinese culture.
Musical elements
One of the most magical pieces of elemental music I have heard is the air escaping from Arctic glacial ice as it was melted by the sun. Very subtle, calming, beautiful and quite a surprise. Who would have thought of musical ice? I hadn’t until I experienced it directly.
Jung, Psychology and Alchemy
The subject of alchemy has popped up in several different guises in my blog posts (for example, see ‘Alchemy is in the air’ and ‘Solving the mystery of the six pointed star’). You could say that alchemy and the intuitive elements are closely intertwined.
Oxfam and the elements – serendipity in action?
I just LOVE serendipity, coincidence, being in the right place at the right time, synchronicity – whatever you like to call it. It happens to me quite a lot, particularly in relation to the intuitive elements. Today was no exception.
In my research on the elements I’ve mentioned that I like to scan the shelves of shops that sell second hand books. It can be surprising what you discover and where it leads you. For example, this is where I found the book that featured in the post ‘What is Air?’
The gem that I found today was called ‘Ox-tales Water’, published in 2009. It is one of four-original collections of short stories by ‘remarkable writers’ that Oxfam has created based on the four elements: water, fire, earth and air.
Solving the mystery of the six pointed star, in a way
Come with me on a journey that includes California, Japan, Australia and Google to solve the mystery of an interlocking six pointed star.
Fire and water, Shinto style
Mt Kifune and Mt Kurama sit next to each other to the north of Kyoto. Located on their slopes are two remarkable Shinto shrines dedicated to water and fire respectively. I was fortunate to be able to visit them both last week. All you need to do is climb over Mt Kurama! Although steep in parts, the mixed deciduous-conifer forest you walk through makes it worthwhile. You also get to see the impressive Kurama Buddhist Temple complex that lies between the two Shrines.
Water, water (and rice seedlings) everywhere……
Water is an element you may naturally associate with Japan. The very long coast-line (Japan has over over 6,000 islands), the Shinto rituals associated with purification with water, and the damaging effects of tsunamis come to mind.
The planting of rice was not on my list until my current travels in Japan in May 2014. Water is everywhere as the fields are prepared for the next rice crop.
Northern transitions, Hokkaido inspirations
Late spring in Hokkaido
Playground of the gods
Nature awakens
Earth expels steam
Snow melt brings living water
Hibernation broken
Cherry blossoms dance in the wind
Leaves unfurl
In transition, the earth changes her cloak
Intuitively elemental
Praktri, an integrated vision from India
Prakrti is a concept I was blissfully unaware of until beginning my exploration of the elements. Praktri has been translated from Sanskrit as ‘nature’ or ‘matter’. I have also seen it referred to as the source of material existence and the primal motive force. It is an important concept that I am pleased to have discovered. To my delight it came into my life through a five-volume work titled ‘Praktri: The Integral Vision’.
Quintessence: a multifaceted element
What would you say if asked “what does ‘the fifth element’ bring to mind”? For many in the west, quintessence would be the answer. Or alternatively the 1997 movie “The Fifth Element”. This story is set in the twenty-third century, when the universe is (still) threatened by evil. The only hope for mankind is the Fifth Element, who comes to Earth every five thousand years to protect the humans with four stones of the four elements: fire, water, earth and air.
Fire up Water down 