In uncertain times, the ground beneath can become a steady companion. It can hold us when everything else feels unsettled. Looking through a lens of Chinese cosmology, Earth-type energy and materials represent nourishment and centrality. Earth offers a pause, a stable place to rest and begin anew. When life asks us to move quickly or adapt constantly, Earth reminds us to slow down and return to what is already supporting us.
Within the Five Phase/Five Element tradition, the Earth phase occupies a uniquely dual role in its position in the natural cycle. On the one hand, while the other phases have a corresponding compass direction, Earth is positioned in the center and is regarded as a stabilizing force during times of change and reorientation. On the other, it is associated with the transitional periods between seasons, particularly the final eighteen days of each. During late summer, Earth will have a particular influence in its position between the Fire season of summer and the Metal season of autumn, where it falls in the natural generating cycle (Fire->Earth->Metal). This becomes a time where the Earth and its nurturing influence is shown through agricultural and social events celebrating the Earth’s bounty.
Across generations and cultures, people have honored the land as a living presence. In Chinese folk and religious practice, the local Earth god, Tu Di Gong ⼟地公, is treated with quiet reverence. In areas which follow the tradition, Tu Di Gong is a household name and a friendly protector of home and soil. Small shrines at the edge of fields or beside buildings mark a respectful relationship with the land. People stop to light incense, pour tea, or offer a few kind words. These gestures are simple ways to connect to where we live and feel gratitude for the land. In a tumultuous world, a reminder that where we have our homes and conduct our daily lives is as much of a product of the ground beneath our feet as the construction upon it can be a supportive and stabilizing force.
In qi gong and meditation practice, our relationship with Earth becomes not only one of cultivating a sense of stability and strength by using the Earth’s immense power but also working with Earth to absolve or absorb things we’d like to let go. Mindful practice over time helps us to better understand and appreciate the support beneath us, as well as our role in allowing the natural world to flow without our potentially over controlling behaviors.
We can cultivate a similar closeness with the Earth in small and simple ways. A walk barefoot in our backyard, getting our hands into soil, a ceramic bowl of stones on a desk to hold and arrange during a busy day. No special tools are needed, just slowing down and bringing awareness to the quality and nature of Earth and a sense that it can be a place of steadiness and support.
The nurturing quality of Earth can also be exemplified with community work such as watering a neglected plant on the block, picking up litter, or engaging with composting. These actions help repair the relationship between people and place. When we care for the land where we live, we start to feel more connected to it. That connection strengthens our sense of belonging. We may consider sharing seasonal or our own grown food with neighbors, whether they be in need or as an act of social relationship-building.
The Earth season marks a natural shift toward steadiness and consolidation. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is a time where the focus is on the Spleen and Stomach organs which govern the body’s ability to digest and make sense of both nourishment and experience. Being over halfway through the year, conscious transition can be about digesting the events and intentions of the year so far and determining what still has value and releasing that which is no longer useful. Simple rituals and meaningful connections via the Earth’s gifts reflect a collective instinct to return to the center and find clarity. This can create quiet, yet powerful changes in a loud and fast-changing world.
Angela Barbara
Acupuncturist and CDI Certified Consultant
https://www.ab-acu.com