Before I moved to a place with 4 seasons, that was about 30 years ago to go to university, I had only heard of them but never really experienced them; I had moved away from the equatorial tropics, where there is only really 2 seasons - warm dry and warm rainy seasons. I only then became aware of the distinct differences each season presents. Many would describe that there are 4 seasons. But as I got to studying Chinese Medicine, we were made aware of a fifth: Late Summer. This is a season where plants and trees come to fruition, like summer squash, early apple and pear, or nuts. In the USA, people sometimes called it Indian Summer, what I have come to understand as a time of mild weather before the cold of Autumn sets in, which was first observed by the Native Americans. I have come to know of it here in Switzerland as Altweibersommer. But what has revealed itself to me is that this Earth element season is also the time that manifests between seasons; a transition time to create a smooth flow from one season to the next.

The Japanese call it the Doyo period: it is defined as the 18 days before the season changes at the Equinoxes and the Solstices. Through the sharing of ancient Chinese philosophy and medical knowledge with the Japanese, they began to interpret and observe Nature around them through this lens. The Japanese, like the Chinese, observed a distinct period of time between these celestial events that we experience on Earth in relation to the Sun. These Doyo periods often bring a mildness to the climate, a warming that would signify that a change is coming. This is what we are experiencing here right now and in many other places in the world. In fact, we humans have affected our environment so strongly that I believe the Doyo period is beginning to extend longer than the 18 days, sometimes going on for a month or more, that we all, humans, animals and plants, get so confused to the point that we don’t know head from tail anymore; for instance, 18 degrees Celsius here in the Basel area in late December not so long ago, made plants and animals come out of hibernation too early, not to mention us humans getting unusual viral infections.





Chinese medical philosophy tells us that this is the time of Earth element. The binding element that allows for smooth transition into the next phase. It is linked to the color yellow, the organs of Spleen, Stomach and Pancreas; the organs of our Center. These organs are responsible for transforming food, through the action of digestion, into Qi and Blood, our resources for life, as well as transporting fluid and vital substances around the body. The tissues of the body that reveal the Earth’s energy are muscles, and the orifice is the mouth, including the lips. Makes sense, doesn’t it?  The place where nourishment comes into the body and the sounds of singing that come out of the body, are actions of Earth that occur through the mouth and lips.

The emotion associated with the Earth is a pensiveness, being thoughtful of people, beings and situations around us; this is when our Earth element is in balance. An imbalanced expression reveals worry, where thoughts churns around in us in circles, never finding a place of calmness. The Spleen is the seat of Thought and Intention, Yì. Hence, we are reminded that our consumption of information, digital or print or in any other form, also needs to be digested by our Earth organs energetically. What happens when our digestive system is overwhelmed by junk food? We get constipation or diarrhea. What happens when our Spleen is overwhelmed by news and information? Probably “thought constipation,” or what I used to tell my kids when they were binge watching on their mobile phones, "digital diarrhea," or other digestive problems, ruminating through our body-minds in the middle of the night.

The flavor of the Earth phase is sweetness, the taste of mammalian life’s ultimate nourishment - Mother’s milk. And furthermore, the sweetness of Mother Earth’s produce, like a crunchy, juicy red apple or a soft, moist orange sweet potato, nourishes us with a wholesomeness that no artificial, factory-made substance can. On the subject of Mother (human and Earth, respectively), there is an action of transformation constantly happening in our everyday life without us ever acknowledging it; the transformation from fruit/vegetable/grain/meat into food in our kitchens and ending up as meals on our dinner tables, as well as those from food to compost in the Earth, enriching the soil for the next year’s planting. Mother Nature is intelligent, there is no wastage; just the cycle of life, death, rebirth, transforming from one to another and beginning all over again.

It is now the time to give the space for transformation; let go of what we don’t need, this may include food or media consumption, but also thoughts and things that don’t nourish us. When we start to honor transformation, we can embrace change and we can mature; like the plump caterpillar metamorphosizing into a butterfly.
 
 
 

Image 5 Element Doyo by Elaine
Image butterfly cocoon by GLady from Pixabay

This past New Moon marked the beginning of the Chinese Lunar Year. We have entered into the year of the Wood Snake which lasts until the New Moon in February 2026. For these next few weeks until the next coming Full Moon, Chinese all over the world will be celebrating this new year phase, which is the coming of Spring in the Northern hemisphere, with food, drink, fire-crackers/works together with family and friends. This is the time when all the astrological predictions and anticipations for the new year start to get thrown around. The Snake is not one of the most “popular” versions of the 12 animals. The Dragon or the Tiger are especially popular years, if one is not female; Tiger female children are/were often considered undesirable as they are said to be proud and willful. But why would the Snake not be well liked?

In western Judeo-Christian-based culture, the Snake is considered vile and is loathed, as it is the being responsible for the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Most humans and mammals possess a possible evolutionary-based fear of Snakes, with an estimate of one third of humans having a fear and only 3 to 4 percent have actual ophidiophobia (Snake phobia). The ancient Chinese and many other traditional cultures around the world however have honored this animal; the fact that the Snake is one of the 12 animals on Chinese horoscope is one proof of this.

In Chinese mythology, after the Universe and the Earth were created, the goddess,
Nǚ Wā  女媧  descended to the Earth. Mountains, rivers, trees, plants and animals already existed, however humans did not. It is said that she felt lonely and as she knelt down by a river, she saw her own reflection and decided to create human beings out of clay, in her own image.  Nǚ Wā is described as having the upper body of a human and the lower body of a serpent. The Chinese creator of humans is half Snake and half human. Why would Snakes be revolting to the Chinese if the Mother of human beings was half one herself? I believe the repulsion of the Snake comes not from the Chinese themselves but the syncretizing of Eastern with Western belief systems. This is a common occurrence in the modern world, where there is often a merging of traditions and ideas from across the globe, as cultures collide with one another.

In fact, if we look at many cultures from North and Central America, to Africa, to Asia, to Australasia and even to Europe we will observe that the Snake is a creature that is traditionally honored. It is often associated with fertility, renewal, wisdom and are protectors as well as messengers of the Divine. Even the Greek God of Medicine, Asclepius, carries a staff with a serpent entwined on it, which was later adopted by Western medicine as the symbol of medicine and is still in use to this day. In ancient Egypt, Greece and India, the Ouroboros, the symbol of the snake eating its tail, is a representation of the unending cycle of life, death, rebirth. The Snake, as it physiologically sheds its skin, represents the ability of life to transform.

The Snake exists on every continent on the Earth except Antarctica, in dry desert environments, tropical, humid ones, flatlands as well as mountains. There over 3000 different species of Snakes, of which 600 are venomous but only 7 percent can actually kill or wound a human. Maybe instead of fear or loathing of the Snake, we can appreciate it as a living being on the Earth and give it its due respect for its remarkable abilities. For this year of the Snake, let us learn to embody the Snakes qualities of flexibility, resilience, to learn to shed our skins by letting go what has not served us, so that we may transform our lives as well as our world around us.



Image Year of the Snake by ICM
Image Tutanchamun from Wikicommons