The season of the Earth element is an 18-day period of transition between each of the four seasons. All of the five elements are rich with their own indigenous symbology and expression. This article discusses those of the Earth element. (The Earth type personality is explored at length in our article, The Earth Type Personality According to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Understanding Your Archetype for Harmony and Balance, here.)
When we speak of the Earth element, we not only refer to the actual soil we call Earth but the character, the dynamic state, and the elemental force of the element as well. Earth is commonly seen as feminine and representative of infinite creativity, the great mother, fertility, giver of nourishment, and longevity. In a more general sense, when Earth is juxtaposed with the spiritual heavens, Earth represents matter.
In traditional Chinese medicine, the Earth element is seen as the balance of yin and yang. As complementary equals, yin and yang relate to each other to create a dynamic balance and a harmonious whole.
This transition aspect of the season of Earth is well articulated in landscape and building forms. Earth’s shape is flat.
Earth mountains are flat topped mountains such as the Jura Mountains in France and Switzerland near to PHYTO5’s Swiss factory and the twin peaked Mount Asgard(1) on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. In buildings, flat rooves and square or oblong structures such as the Viking longhouses of antiquity are Earth structures.
Earth expresses its transition aspect linking one season to the next as a sort of hyphen or dash punctuation mark.
The Earth element is intrinsically yin, meaning it is a feminine element but each of the five elements express both yin and yang energy.
When Earth expresses itself as yang masculine energy, it is symbolized by a hill and it’s color is yellow. Characteristics of people inclined to the sunlight color of yellow are intellectualism, faith, and goodness.
As its yin energy expression, Earth is characterized by the color gold or ochre and is represented by a valley. Characteristics of people inclined to ochre or gold are calmness, passivity, conservatism, dependability, practicality and groundedness.
Earth’s location is center which stabilizes energy and balances yin and yang. In the home, the Earth room is the heart of the home where nourishment occurs—the dining room. (The grain associated with Earth, by the way, is rice which ripens in the yellow Earth and stabilizes the body with nourishment.) Earth itself stands as a symbol of stability and grounding.
During the reign of the legendary Chinese king Huang Di or Huang Ti(2), better known as the Yellow Emperor, people were enamored with the color yellow.
Huang Di was named the Yellow Emperor because his army tribe honored the value of the Yellow Earth—the symbol of farming—and the Yellow River of their home, the central land they called China.
The Earth element, according to ancient Chinese lore, is symbolized by the Yellow Dragon. The element governs the dragon, rat, and ox signs of the Chinese zodiac.
This same ancient Chinese lore describes that Yellow Earth Tiger (solar in color) inhabits the Earth and reigns supreme over all the other five element tigers. This Yellow Earth Tiger is located in the center of the zodiac just as the Emperor was situated in the heart of China, the center of the compass in the Chinese cosmos.
In Indian mythology, the elephant appears as the symbol of the Earth element.
The square or the cube is largely seen as the great cosmic symbol for Earth representing the cradle of humanity, home, and/or a place of origin. The square or cube symbolizes both the end of material life and the simultaneous maintainer of it. Progeny on Earth offers a sense of eternity.
In Tibetan buddhism, Earth is represented by a yellow square or a tiered yellow cube (four or five squares nested within each other).
The Roman standard or signa romanum—a banner that identified a Roman unit or cavalry—bore the sign of Earth represented by the cube.
In Greek mythology, the anvil exists as symbol of Earth and matter. It corresponds to the passive and feminine principle, as opposed to the hammer which symbolizes the fruitful making of things.
In Vajrayana buddhism(3), the swastika essentially symbolized the element of Earth and its indestructible stability.
The Renaissance was fond of personifying the elements as gods from antiquity and the great nature goddess Cybele of ancient Phrygia in Asia Minor was chosen to represent Earth. She was called Mater Kubileya (Mountain Mother) and was given the latin name Magna Mater meaning Great Mother. She was partially assimilated to aspects of the Earth goddess Gaia and to the harvest Mother goddess Demeter.
The quaternary—a thing consisting of four parts and concept of the number four— corresponds to Earth and the material pattern of life, the feminine energy, matter created from the thought or idea, and reason.
The element of Earth is in alignment with the number eight which is a double-four that represents and brings balance. The symbolic numerology here indicates that what we sow, so we shall also reap—a most appropriate metaphor for Earth.
For South American Indians the spear has historically represented the Earth element.
In Chinese medicine, different types of catastrophes are associated with an element. The Earth element is symbolized by the obvious earthquake.
Adam, the name used to personify primordial man, is a name derived from the Hebrew adama which means Earth. According to Gershom G. Scholem in On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, Adam is conceived as a “vast representation of the power of the universe” on Earth which is concentrated in him.
For further reading on aspects of the Earth element, be sure to read our article mentioned at the outset of this blog: The Earth Type Personality According to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Understanding Your Archetype for Harmony and Balance.
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Endnotes:
Asgard: a god of Norse mythology
Huang Di is the emperor that is said to be the ancestor of all Han Chinese people; he ruled from 2697 BC to 2598 BC, approx.
Vajrayana buddhism is a form of esoteric buddhism with vajrayana being one of three vehicles to enlightenment (the other two are Sravakayana and Mahayana).
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Sources:
The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols. United Kingdom, Serindia, 2003.
Becker, Udo. The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols. United Kingdom, Continuum, 2000.
Cirlot, J. C. Dictionary of Symbols. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2006.
Scholem, Gershom. On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism. United Kingdom, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1996.
Levitt, Susan. Taoist Feng Shui: The Ancient Roots of the Chinese Art of Placement. United States, Inner Traditions/Bear, 1999.