The Season and Spirit of the Metal Element

The season of the metal element is autumn. It comes after the season of the harvest, when the earth element called us to be still and come back to center to take in and digest. In the transition to metal, we absorb any last nutrients and then let go of the rest as compost. By the end of fall, plants have gone to seed and the external parts die. The energy draws interally, so much so that woody plants that have lost their leaves might appear dead. I have spent a lot of my life in New England, so I’ve gotten to experience the four seasons throughout my life. Autumn is a very special time. It can be painfully beautiful. Psychologically we have to leave behind the joy and expansiveness of summer and we know there is a period of long darkness ahead. The metal element is a time of incremenel descent. Leaf by leaf, what has been born will pass away. This season teaches us about the preciousness of life, and the clarity that death and our own mortality brings. It is exactly because our time is limited that it is precious. Being moved in this way, able to feel awe, is part of being inspired by the function of the metal element.

The spirit of the metal element is the Po, or the corporeal soul. This aspect of our sprit dies when we die, and our life is defined as between our first breath and our last. The spirit of the metal element is a part of our soul that only exists during our lifetime. I see this as the parts of our brain that react on instinct and our regulation of physiologic processes. It is our instinctual, animal and emotional part of ourselves. It governs the senses and is related to our unconscoius drives and responses. The nose is the sense organ of the metal element. Interestingly, the sense of smell leads directly to the limbic system. Here we see the often experienced connection between smells, emotions, and memories, such as of a loved one’s home or a specific place or activity from childhood.