Transformation
Through the Elements
Elements have been part of Eastern and indigenous healing modalities for thousands of years. For example, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) proposes five elements that are aspects of chi, or life energy. Everything in the world is composed of these elements, each of which reflects specific characteristics and traits. Every element is also related to an identifiable emotion, season, subtle energy channel, and set of effects.
Tibetan medicine also advocates a five-element system, although the list differs slightly from the TCM account. The North American Lakota tribe embraces four elements, as did the ancient Mayans. Many of the North and South American tribes relate elements to directions, as well as specific animals and higher beings.
The ancient Celts believed that plants, trees, stones, and stars are formed by elements but that entities are in charge of these elements. For instance, certain devas, or fairy beings, manage the elements associated with tulips. Another grouping might oversee oak trees. The link between elements and beings isn’t exclusive to this culture. Cultures ranging from the ancient Babylonians to African tribes frequently personified the gods as elements or linked spirits to elements.
No matter which continent we visit, the general take-away is that the world is constructed from elemental, or natural, ingredients that determine the nature of a thing, person, situation, or action. As well, particular entities regulate these elements, assuring a safe and ethical use of the elemental powers.
In my own intuitive and healing practice, I work constantly with the elements. I use my knowledge of the elements—and, more specifically, the subtle elements—to assess the cause of issues, the state of psychological and energetic boundaries, the nature of someone’s personality, and the underlying reasons for mental and emotional distress. I also employ my experience with the elements to assist with healing and to support manifesting. Overall, I have determined that the elements affect nearly every life issue physically, psychologically, and spiritually. Having studied elements in countries around the world, I have developed my own expanded list and description of eleven elements.
In this chapter I familiarize you with these eleven elements and explore what each can accomplish. I then share four exercises designed to help you apply elemental knowledge. These exercises, in order of appearance, will relate elements to grounding and protection, healing, and manifesting. The last exercise will show you how to link with elemental beings. As well, the first exercise, Grounding and Protecting with the Elements, can be used before or with Spirit-to-Spirit to help you anchor in your body and prepare for meditative or healing work.
But first, let’s explore the three levels of knowledge required to make full use of elemental wisdom. This information will prepare you for the exercises, each of which will start with Spirit-to-Spirit, the technique featured in Chapter Three. Many of the elemental exercises will also employ the Healing Streams of Grace discussed in Chapter Four. No matter how frequently you decide to tap into the data in this chapter, either personally or professionally, know that the elements are always there for you and always part of you.
The Three Levels
of Elemental Interactions
There are three lenses through which to view the elements. This knowledge will give you an understanding of the elements’ beauty and complexity and help you apply elemental knowledge. These levels involve understanding the elements as physical energies, as subtle energies, and as related to elemental beings.
Elements as Physical
Each element is a physical component of the natural world. You can literally see, touch, smell, feel, or otherwise substantiate an element’s existence. The elements that I work with are earth, wood, air, metal, fire, water, stone, light, sound, ether, and star (made of fire and ether).
This list includes all the elements I’ve learned about in my various studies around the world. In addition, I’ve added two elements exclusive to my research: light and sound. While most people wouldn’t refer to light and sound as elemental properties, I believe that they are. Everything we perceive in physical reality is composed of electromagnetic radiation, which is light, and mechanical energy, which is sound. How can we analyze or rearrange physical matter unless we account for these two energies?
The most natural-sounding elements, including wood, fire, air, and metal, are featured on many cultural lists. Not as frequently noted is ether, which is called akasha in Sanskrit and considered the first element. It’s also named space in Hindu and Tibetan cultures, amongst others, and is considered the essence of emptiness. Many of the ancients believed that ether births all the other elements.
Ether also appears on many Western depictions of the elements, especially amongst medieval scientists. At times Westerners have spelled it as aether, and it has sometimes been called quintessence. It’s basically been considered the fifth element, or the element beyond all others. In general, the “normal” elements are measurable and ether is immeasurable. As it is commonly compared to heavenly energy or wisdom, I consider it equivalent to consciousness.
To my knowledge, I’m the only author specifying an element called star, which I define as a combination of fire and ether. Fire is the energy of power, passion, vitality, and ignition. Ether is consciousness. The star element is therefore “ignited consciousness,” or consciousness that initiates transformation and change. I have included star energy in my work for almost twenty years, and hundreds of clients have benefited from its powers, especially people who believe that they are associated with other planetary or star systems.
I’ve met hundreds if not thousands of people who state that their souls once dwelled on other planets, only more recently incarnating on Earth. Still others have asserted that their earthly ancestors settled on Earth after traveling from the stars. I don’t find these statements unbelievable at all. Dozens of cultures testify that their ancestors came from the stars, such as the Orion and Andromeda constellations, stars including Sirius, and planetary systems such as the Pleiades. One of the first times I studied with shamans in Peru, I dreamed about a past experience on the “Blue Planet.” I related the dream, and the shamans nodded. They, too, had once lived there.
If a client was once linked to another planet or constellation, I use the star element to help them reconnect. Frequently their souls require a stream of this otherworldly energy to feel fulfilled and nourished. For instance, I had a client with several illnesses, all of which cleared up when he reconnected with his “home planet.” He stated he’d been “longing for this energy” his entire life. He later reported that beings from this planet had started to assist him with his life, greatly improving his relationship and work success.
I present the particulars about each element in “The Specialties of the Elements” section later in this chapter.
Elements as Subtle Energies
As reassuring as it is to describe elements physically, I mainly work with them on a subtle basis.
In the Hindu tradition, the five elements are further subdivided into smaller and smaller parts. This concept occurs in other cultures, too. I believe this observation shows that all physical or obvious elements are composed of subtle elements, “mini versions” of the more material ingredients of the universe.
The reason this is important is that when conducting energy work, it’s easier to work with subtle rather than physical elements. Of course, you could put your feet in water to draw more water into your lower chakras, but it would take forever to accomplish this task. It’s far more effective to operate with the subtle elements. You can connect to them anywhere you are, even in a business meeting. You can breathe them in, wash your mind with them, and even imagine yourself patting them on your skin.
As silly as these examples sound, the truth is that if you aren’t processing the physical elements correctly in your body, mind, or soul, it’s because there is an imbalance in the subtle elements. I have found that when people balance their subtle elements, which can include adding additional elements or releasing those that are congested, the relationship with the physical elements shifts. In other words, I help clients recover from conditions or manifest their desires by first accessing the needed subtle elements and also releasing the congested subtle elements before worrying too much about what to do in “real life.”
As an example, I find that many Americans suffer from adrenal fatigue and lack of nourishment. Our adrenals are part of the limbic system, which responds to stress by telling us to “flee, freeze, or fight.” When we’re overworked, our adrenals grow fatigued. We crave foods that comprise an “instant fix.” You know what I mean: rolls, bread, candy bars, all the stuff that crashes our system further and causes candida, a yeast infection. Candida organisms are stealthy creatures. They steal our nutrients and thus deprive us of vital vitamins and minerals. As the candida is literally robbing us of our nutrition, we can now consider ourselves undernourished.
While a medical doctor or naturopath might tell you to eat better and drink more water, our system might be too far gone for these simple procedures to make a difference. I find that it’s first necessary to restore the balance of the subtle elements. Once the subtle elements are balanced, our physical actions will make a difference. For instance, I might ask a client to visualize the flow of cleansing subtle water throughout their body. This will decrease the inflamed adrenals and also wash away the candida. I might have them pull more stone energy into their system. Stone is the basis of minerals. I will then gently increase the subtle fire in the adrenals over time, thus increasing the flow of life energy. Consistently I’ve found that if someone first affects change in the subtle elements, then the physical solutions can take root.
Sometimes I don’t know exactly what I need to do to help myself or a client elementally. There is a shortcut for working with the elements by contacting the elementals.
The Existence of Elemental Beings
A plethora of invisible beings are linked to every element. You might call them devas, a name I introduced in the beginning of this chapter. I just use the term elemental beings.
In general, each grouping of the subtle (and physical) elements is associated with a group of entities. A fire elemental is an expert at fire. A water elemental can advise you about its specialty, and so on.
I use my intuition to relate to the elementals for many reasons. Sometimes I don’t know which element I need to employ and so I contact the entire elemental kingdom. Usually, a spokesperson from the elemental group I need to work with emerges and tells me what to do. Sometimes I don’t know how much of an element is needed or for how long. Elementals will inform you about how to use their associated elements and even administer the elements for healing and manifesting. These nature-based guides are a rich resource and can help with nearly any task, which is why I next want to instruct you about the specialties of the elements.
The Specialties of the Elements
Every element—and, therefore, elemental being—has well-defined specialties. Following is an outline of the elements and their major properties, including each element’s protective abilities, healing aptitudes, and manifesting expertise. The elementals’ descriptions are based on my own experience. I encourage you to develop your own relationship with the elements and their helpers. You will draw upon this information in the following exercises.
Earth Element
Major Properties: Foundation, comfort, and groundedness. Other qualities include responsibility, stability, consistency, firmness, stuckness, staidness, reliability, abundance, and the ability to build and buttress.
Elementals: Elementals are usually brown or another earthy tone and substantive, thick, and ponderous. They are often communally bonded, as if glued together.
Protective Abilities: Earth elements can erect a strong fortress around anything or anyone. They fill in empty spaces and decrease vulnerability.
Healing Aptitudes: These elements are perfect for knitting together tissue and acting as a bonding agent. They provide stability and fortification. You must unbind earth energies that are too stuck, at which point they create congestion and blockage. Examples of the latter include tumors and depressing emotions.
Manifestation Expertise: Earth elements are ideal for manifesting all material goods, including money, a home and its furnishings, career opportunities, food, and other material needs.
Wood Element
Major Properties: Rebirth, vision, purpose. Other qualities include cheer, buoyancy, friendship, power, strategy, truthful feelings, and potentiality.
Elementals: Wood elementals are usually earthy tones, green in particular. They take whatever shape they need to when supporting a change.
Protective Abilities: Wood elements will form rectangular shapes around the vulnerable and provide stability. They keep new plans on track until fully developed. Wood is a perfect element to insert into a child’s auric field, as it will enable flexibility, joy, and maturation.
Healing Aptitudes: The subtle wood elements enhance whatever it is you are seeking to develop or strengthen. Wood can bolster and sustain everything from a teenager’s emerging character to newly knitting skin. It guarantees flexibility and adaptability.
Manifestation Expertise: Wood elements ideally enable the beginning and initial growth of new projects. Call upon wood elements when starting anything new or seeking an innovative idea.
Air Element
Major Properties: Ideas, mentality, spread of data. Other qualities are freedom, trust, joy, clarity, lying, and honesty.
Elementals: Air elementals are often yellow, sky blue, or another light or pastel color. They are quick, pushy, and hard to see. They can also blink in and out of existence or quickly dart from one reality to another.
Protective Abilities: Like the wind, air elements can blow away everything from false ideas to negative entities, trap a harmful idea or being in a whirlwind, or create distractions.
Healing Aptitudes: Air elements can hold correct or dysfunctional beliefs; therefore, they can be used to transform inaccurate beliefs into helpful ones.
Manifestation Expertise: The power of positive belief can attract just about any type of opportunity or situation. Air elements can carry the knowledge, information, data, and instructions needed to accomplish a desire.
Metal Element
Major Properties: Protection, transmission, self-worth, spirituality. Other qualities include boundaries, balance, self-worth, achievement, grief, insecurity, strength, resoluteness, focus, and righteousness.
Elementals: Metal elementals are usually silver, white, or gray. They are often geometrically shaped. When locked together, they look like a shape covered by a coating or sheen.
Protective Abilities: Subtle metal is protective of anything it surrounds, from an organ to an auric field. It deflects negativity and is receptive to truth.
Healing Aptitudes: As with wood, I use metals to surround all tender tissues, newly emerging personality traits, and protect new decisions or projects. But metal is even stronger than wood, as it can also keep out entities and negative energies and prevent someone from falling back into old or addictive behaviors. Metal can also form a boundary between people or a person and an entity. Heavy metal toxicity in the body frequently occurs in the areas that once needed and were denied protection. For instance, if you were physically abused by a father who beat you in the stomach, which is related to the third chakra, heavy or physical metals might line the organs in that area to promote protection. If you substitute subtle metal for the physical metal, the heavy metals and any clinging microbes, including virus, yeast, and bacteria, as well as related grief, can clear.
Manifestation Expertise: Ideal for manifesting situations that support self-worth and dignity and require a lot of perseverance.
Fire Element
Major Properties: Passion, power, and vivacity. Other qualities include enthusiasm, excitement, productivity, purging, anger, lust, anxiety, purification, destruction, happiness, and vigorousness.
Elementals: Usually small, quick, and “sparklike,” fire elementals frequently form into columns, as if made of flame or smoke. They can be any flame color, although most are red.
Protective Abilities: Fire is scary. It is threatening. Fire energies destroy what is around them. If inserted in the auric field, fire will burn out microbes and scare away frightening people.
Healing Aptitudes: Fire purifies and purges, burning out microbes, toxins, dysfunctional beliefs, cords, and other attachments. Be careful, however, because fire can also inflame an already smoldering physical issue or emotion. Some inflammatory conditions exist because there is too much fire, others because there isn’t enough. Determine the state of affairs in inflammatory areas before adding or reducing fire. (I usually do this by talking with a fire element, which you’ll be shown how to do in this chapter.)
Manifestation Expertise: Fire will add additional fire to passions, bolstering a healthy or unhealthy desire.
Water Element
Major Properties: Flow, creativity, emotions, and intuition. Other qualities include dreaming, sadness, despair, cleansing, adaptability, receptivity, family, flexibility, understanding, journeying, and humility.
Elementals: Water elements are usually mobile and flowing. They are often blue or black. When conjoined, they might form rivers of energy that can move through, around, and into any material and also travel between dimensions and realms.
Protective Abilities: The water element provides psychological and emotional safety and can repel intuitive information that isn’t pertinent to one’s higher spirit.
Healing Aptitudes: Subtle water specializes in healing psychological, emotional, and intuitive issues. Can cleanse, clear, wash, and replenish.
Manifestation Expertise: This element can attract intuitive messages and enable the manifestation of creative desires.
Stone Element
Major Properties: Fixation, storage of history, and preservation. Additional qualities include the ability to receive, contain, and send information across time.
Elementals: Stone elements take many forms. Stones range from river rock to gemstones, and the elementals look like the stones they are associated with.
Protective Abilities: The protective abilities of subtle stone elements differ according to the stone, but, in general, you can absorb the qualities of a particular stone and project them onto yourself or other.
Healing Aptitudes: These differ according to the stone. In general, stones carry the history of wherever they are from and provide data from the related ancient cultures, whether from this planet or another.
Manifestation Expertise: These differ according to the stone. In general, stones carry the history of wherever they are from and tell us how to manifest based on this data.
Light Element
Major Properties: Illumination, inspiration, sharing of love.
Elementals: Differ according to the type, source, and color of the light.
Protective Abilities: As above, but always creates what is most loving.
Healing Aptitudes: As above.
Manifestation Expertise: As above.
Sound Element
Major Properties: Empowerment and change.
Elementals: Look like sound waves or sonic ripples.
Protective Abilities: Differ according to type, source, and intensity. Always forces change.
Healing Aptitudes: As above.
Manifestation Expertise: As above.
Ether Element
Major Properties: Consciousness, wisdom, and transformation. Other qualities include timelessness, alchemy, magic, heavenliness, and divinity.
Elementals: Ether elementals can be transparent, white, black, silver, opaque, or shades of purple. They tend to be either foggy or crystalline in shape.
Protective Abilities: Ether is formless; the protection it provides is based on higher truths and wisdom.
Healing Aptitudes: If strongly administered and believed in, ether will bring the Spirit’s will into all levels of a situation.
Manifestation Expertise: Same as above.
Star Element
Major Properties: Ignition of consciousness. Burns away evil and forces illumination of higher truths and spiritual law. Links with interplanetary and celestial cultures to accomplish this.
Elementals: These differ according to type and source.
Protective Abilities: Star energy is a potent protector. It destroys lies and intensifies truths.
Healing Aptitudes: Star energy will literally get to the core of a problem, purge it, and show the truth that needs to be adopted.
Manifestation Expertise: This element will force the wish-maker to be clear about what they really want and then create a fire to manifest that desire.
A healing
--exercise--
Grounding and Protecting
with the Elements
Accessing subtle elements is the key to being grounded, anchored in reality, and energetically protected. Basically, we need to draw the correct subtle elements into our body to be strong and safe.
This exercise can be done anytime you need a boost, feel depleted, or sense that you are endangered, either physically, psychologically, or spiritually. It also bolsters your immune system and supports your manifestation processes.
Step One: Spirit-to-Spirit. Perform Spirit-to-Spirit by affirming your spirit, others’ spirits, and the Spirit, and then relax completely. (Some people like to first conduct this entire exercise and then conduct Spirit-to-Spirit. I recommend you experiment with both processes.)
Step Two: Focus On Your Feet. Your feet link to your tenth chakra, which lies underneath the ground. Through the tenth chakra, you draw in subtle elemental energies from nature. I believe that these subtle elements then pass into the subtle energy system, which transmutes them into physical elements.
The array of subtle elements required for your own well-being differ than that required by someone else. Because of this, you are now going to request access to the subtle elements personally required for your own highest interests.
To do this, concentrate on your feet and ask that Healing Streams of Grace flow upward through your tenth chakra and into your feet. They carry the exact balance and amount of elements that you require.
Step Three: Fill Yourself. Feel the subtle elements run up your legs and spine and then into your head. The subtle elements spread in every direction until they fill your chakras, your body, and your auric field. As your auric field becomes satiated with this replenishing and protective energy, the subtle energies coat the entirety of the field, creating an extra-strong boundary.
Step Four: Accept. Allow the subtle elements to completely nourish all aspects of your being. Know that you can tap into this stream of elements anytime you need, and that the Healing Streams of Grace will automatically update the types and flow of elements, so you are always receiving what you require.
Step Five: Close. Reaffirm your own spirit, the helping spirits, and the Spirit, then return to your everyday life when ready.
A healing
--exercise--
This exercise is a powerful way to access the subtle elements to address a problem, whether it is physical, psychological, or spiritual. Use the descriptions of the elements provided in this chapter to select which elements you might need.
Step One: Conduct Spirit-to-Spirit. Perform Spirit-to-Spirit with your healing goal in mind by affirming your own spirit and then others’ spirits. Remain fixed in step three of Spirit-to-Spirit, surrendering to the Spirit’s will.
You can also use the exercise on page 159, Grounding and Protecting with the Elements, to align yourself before or after conducting Spirit-to-Spirit.
Step Two: Request Intuitive Insight. Ask the Spirit to let you know what subtle elemental imbalances might be creating a problem or dysfunction. If applicable, request information about how these imbalances are affecting you.
Step Three: Select Elements. Which subtle elements need to be released—or added—in order to create a healthier state? Ask the Spirit to tell or show you why these elements are vital and important.
Step Four: Enable Healing. Allow the Spirit to shift the subtle elements to create wholeness and healthiness where there has been disease or imbalance. Know that Healing Streams of Grace are being used to assure the proper balance of elements and the ongoing adjustment of the energies. Accept the changes and ask if there is anything you must do to sustain or further the healing.
Step Five: Close. Thank the Spirit, all helping spirits, and your own spirit for the already-delivered and ongoing healing.
A healing
--exercise--
Do you want to draw a fantastic opportunity into your life such as attract a better job, a romantic relationship, a sign or omen, or serendipitous joy? Achieving the correct adjustment of the elements allows you to set and hold an intention that can dynamite a dream into reality.
Know that by using Spirit-to-Spirit to create your intention statement, you affirm that the Spirit will support the dream in the best way possible. This means that you will only manifest what aligns with your personal spirit and also supports the well-being of all concerned. You might not get the exact particulars of your desire, but you will receive what is optimum. You might not be able to control the timing of the manifestation, but the timing will serve all concerned.
Step One: Perform Spirit-to-Spirit. After conducting Spirit-to-Spirit by affirming your spirit, others’ spirits, and the Spirit, you can also use the Grounding and Protecting with the Elements exercise on page 159 to completely align yourself at every level. Remain dedicated to connecting to the Spirit, the end point of step three in Spirit-to-Spirit.
Step Two: Create an Intention Statement. Intention statements affirm your desire. They also help your spirit adjust the subtle and therefore physical elements so you can attract situations, people, and opportunities to you.
To create your statement, formulate a single sentence that clarifies what you want, such as:
“I am now reveling in my new job, which is enabling me to use all my capabilities
to the fullest extent.”
“I am enjoying the romantic relationship
I’ve always desired.”
“I am now open to receiving signs to help me
make a decision about _________.”
Spend as much time as needed to create your intention statement.
Step Three: Set Your Intention. Concentrate on your heart. Breathe deeply and affirm the full presence of the Spirit. Focus on your intention. Repeat it to yourself; you can even state it aloud. Ask that Healing Streams of Grace infuse your intention with whatever subtle elemental energies are needed for manifestation.
Sense the healing streams flowing from your heart and through your body, mind, and soul. As they do so, they activate or bring in the subtle elements required to set the intention in your body and energy system. Know that the Healing Streams of Grace will continue to adjust these elements.
Step Four: Close. Feel gratitude for the Spirit and all spirits involved in making your dream come true.
A healing
--exercise--
Connecting with Elemental Beings
Elemental beings are great information sources. Most are eager to tell us how to use their related element and to provide ongoing insight. In order to connect with elemental beings, first perform Spirit-to-Spirit. Figure out which elemental community you need to communicate with and create the intention to do so.
You might intuitively sense, see, or hear the elemental beings associated with your selected element. Request that the community appoint a spokesperson with whom you can intuitively communicate. Ask that this spokesperson step forward. As you visualize or sense this being, inform it about your situation and ask for specific advice. Make sure to request ongoing assistance from it and its community. When finished with this communiqué, thank the elemental and its group, as well as the Spirit. You can then continue with your life.
In the next chapter you’ll be shown how to use Spirit-to-Spirit, Healing Streams of Grace, and the elements to effect easy change—and all with the flick of a finger.
Summary
There are eleven subtle elements, and each grouping is associated with subtle elemental beings. These elements are earth, wood, air, metal, fire, water, stone, light, sound, ether, and star. Every subtle element manages a specific set of needs and physical elements. If the subtle elements are imbalanced, you can experience physical, psychological, or spiritual imbalances. By employing Spirit-to-Spirit and Healing Streams of Grace with subtle element work, you better your chances of healing and manifesting.