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Five Movements (Wu Xing)
The sages of ancient times denominated as yin and yang the two aspects that Energy takes on in the process of becoming manifest. In the previous chapter, we mentioned that forms and multiplicity emerge out of the interaction between yin and yang.
In the cycles of yin’s and yang’s growth and decline, Energy takes on specific characteristics. There are five of these dynamic phases. Thanks to the movements and changes of these phases, each thing in the world enters into existence. These five phases also mark the natural transformations that every being and process in the manifest world is exposed to.
Each one of these Movements has distinguishing qualities and each receives a name. They are called Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal. We will approach these characteristics by looking at the following cycle of movement:
- We are still.
- We begin walking, and the movement gradually becomes faster.
- We reach what we consider our top speed at the time.
- We maintain the speed of this movement.
- We begin reducing the speed of our movement, and it gradually slows.
- Movement ceases, and we return to stillness.
With this, we have an inkling about the quality of each phase, expressed in
terms of movement.
We will begin our tour with the distinctive features of the Water Movement, followed by Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and, finally, the return to Water. In Water we find ourselves in a period of rest and reserve; in Wood, Energy begins to unfurl, reaching its maximum expression in Fire, sustained by Earth; and then in Metal, it begins deceleration as the impulse of Energy decreases until once again it finds stillness where it is amassed.
Having recognized the dynamic nature of the Five Movements, let’s devote some time to getting to know other aspects.
- The Five Movements allow us to classify objects and phenomena into five categories.
- They express the five ways in which nature manifests itself.
- They also show us, through the bonds they maintain among one another, relationships and dynamics of objects and phenomena in our manifest world.
- They were originally about five substances, and like yin and yang, the meaning of these natural substances grew to symbolize Energy’s cycles of change.
Characteristics of the Five Movements
In texts from various eras explaining this part of Chinese Medicine, it is common to find the following way of describing the characteristics of each Movement. Although some of the phrases may seem repetitive, I have included them because their symbolic and evocative richness may awaken in the reader associations both with the Flowers and with other aspects of Flower Essence Therapy.
Wood
It grows upward and expands outward.
Growth, externalization, and expansion.
Flexibility, vital impulse, free Movement.
It can be bent and straightened.
Flexible and tenacious upward growth.
It may seem as if its life were weak, but no force can destroy it.
It is soft and seeks to grow
freely.
Fire
It flames and moves upward.
Warming and ascending.
Production of Heat and ascending Movement.
It guarantees robust growth of all things in nature. The Heart’s Energy is alive and restless.
Earth
Going to seed; gathering.
Production, support, reception.
Transformation, transport of fluids and nutritive elements.
Sowing, growth, and harvest.
It is solid and still, able to hold and to nourish all things.
Fertility.
Metal
Operator of change and reform.
Purification, internalization, retraction.
Malleability and hardness: it can be modeled and hardened.
Rigor: it can cut, prune, and reduce.
Gather, collect, whittle down to that which is essential.
Clear and cool, it can make an impression of severity, like the autumn wind that dries up the grass and leaves.
Purity and firmness.
Water
It moistens and is filtered downward.
Cooling, moistening, descent.
Accumulation that stagnates.
Conservation, amassing.
It is calm and cold.
Lubrication.
Any thing, situation, phenomenon, or person with characteristics that can be associated with a Movement is assigned to it. Let’s look at this example: anything that tends to move downward, is cold, and stagnates can be associated with Water. Winter, which is the season corresponding with Water, exhibits these characteristics. At this time of year, Energy tends to move toward the center of the Earth, and everything slows down, stagnates, freezes.
Correlations
We’ve stated that through the theory of the Five Movements we can classify things. In table 2.1, we’ll see some of the classifications related with the Five Movements, both in nature and in relation to the human being. Based on Energy’s characteristics in each Movement, we can also appreciate the unity between human beings and the cosmos; in a single current, a Movement unites aspects of the human being with aspects of nature. For example, when we say Liver, anger, Jupiter, Wind, spring, and dawn, we are speaking of Wood. All the aspects mentioned cease to be unrelated and are united under the qualities of Wood. Seeing things under this light opens the door to comprehending an amazing number of relationships.
The time has come to clarify that the relationships and classifications that the Five Movements emphasize are not absolute, in the sense that they do not completely and totally explain in every situation the functioning of the universe and of human beings. Nevertheless, they are applicable and allow us access to very valuable information. If we use the Five Movements theory—and the information we obtain by applying it—with flexibility and in conjunction with other elements at our disposal as Flower Essence Therapists and practitioners of Chinese Medicine, our work will be notably enriched.
We’ll broaden the subject when we get into the Emotions and their relationships with the internal Organs in chapter 5.
For those of us who practice Flower Essence Therapy, applying these correlations may be a great opportunity for asking questions during consultations, questions that can serve as triggers and lead to various issues, creating openness.
Something else we must take into consideration is that openness, and thus the possibility for deepening our work with our clients, will be very difficult if we use our knowledge of the correlations in the Five Movements for dictating sentences, taking everything for granted, and sticking everything—people and their attitudes—into little boxes. In short, believing we know who and how the other person is. We must, with the other person during consultations, put into play the relationships that we are able to establish and the information we are able to obtain in order to adjust these to the peculiarities of each person. Here lies the art of their application.
It’s advisable to avoid the strict application of this knowledge or to use it as a means for wielding power. We would do very well to not give in to the temptation of believing that everything is a perfectly assembled machine, of believing that since this is the way it is, I can work it like a production line, as in “Ah, here comes a lady from the A5 series—great, I know the drill so here are the Flowers.” Although this approach may seem comfortable and reassuring for the therapist, it is not at all advisable, either for the patient or for the work the two will carry out together.
Further ahead, when referring to suggestions for applying the Five Movements theory, we’ll talk about some ways to use these correspondences in relation to the Flowers.
Relationships between the Five Movements
The Five Movements are not isolated compartments; instead, they maintain relationships with one another. Because they represent phases of change in Energy, they are interdependent; each one of these Movements is dynamically intertwined with the others, one following the other in a harmonic order (in Chinese Medicine texts this is called a physiological order) and a discordant order (called a pathological order).
We find two cycles that express harmonious relationships between the Five Movements: the Generating Cycle and the Dominating Cycle.
The Generating Cycle
Each Movement engenders another, nourishing it and favoring its growth, and at the same time, each Movement is engendered by another. This cycle has been called the mother-son cycle, therefore:
Wood is the mother of Fire.
Fire engenders Earth.
Earth gives rise to Metal.
Metal gives life to Water.
Water generates Wood.
Metal gives life to Water.
Water generates Wood.
Thus, the activation and growth of each Movement is produced. Energy circulates in an uninterrupted cycle, passing from mother to son.
If this were the only relationship, growth would become exaggerated and harmful. Indefinite expansion ultimately leads to dispersion.
The Dominating Cycle averts the limitless growth of each Movement, providing opposition that brings balance.
The Dominating Cycle
Each Movement controls, restrains, and contains the development of another and at the same time is, itself, controlled by another. So, in this way:
Wood controls Earth.
Earth controls Water.
Water controls Fire.
Fire controls Metal.
Metal controls Wood.
We can see, then, that each Movement is generated by and generates another and is dominated by and dominates another. To give an example: Fire is the son of Wood and the mother of Earth; it dominates Metal and is dominated by Water.
A dominating Movement in the Dominating Cycle not only averts an overflowing of the Movement it dominates but also helps it to carry out its function.
These relationships help us understand transformations occurring in nature and in human beings: relationships between internal Organs, Emotions, physiological processes, and so on.
The Generating and Dominating Cycles show us balanced and harmonious proportions in the relationships between the Five Movements. The Oppression and Opposition Cycles represent distorted relationships where proportion is lost.
The Oppression Cycle
This cycle is an abuse of what happens in the Dominating Cycle. At some point, the dominating Movement may be in excess, or the dominated Movement may be weak. These circumstances set the stage for what we might call an abuse of power by the dominating Movement.
The Oppression Cycle follows the same circuit as the Dominating Cycle.
The help and support given in the Dominating Cycle are lost and instead of favoring the dominated Movement’s tasks, it oppresses and restricts, stunting that Movement’s work.
So for example, Metal might excessively dominate Wood or take advantage of a weakness in Wood.
The Opposition Cycle
This cycle expresses how a Movement turns against the one dominating it, inverting the Dominating Cycle into one of counterdomination or opposition.
So Water rebels against Earth, which is the Movement that, in the context of a balanced expression of the cycles, would dominate it. In this situation, the imbalance is serious and tends to get worse.
It is recommended to learn and retain the relationships between the Five Movements, as they help us to comprehend many aspects of Chinese Medicine, including what is written in textbooks and in classical texts. For example, when studying the effect the excess consumption of a flavor has on the body’s tissues, we are looking at a Dominating Cycle. So, excess sweets (the flavor corresponding with the Earth Movement) generates disorders in areas related to Water, as Water is the Movement that dominates Earth. We would then see issues in the person’s bones, teeth, and possibly hair. So we see that, thanks to the Dominating Cycle, we can foresee what areas will be affected when one eats too many sweet-flavored foods. What is more, bringing our attention to the relationship between bones and sweet-flavored foods, we realize that in a disorder as common these days as osteoporosis, not only is it important to increase calcium (and other minerals), but we may also need to regulate the consumption of sweet-flavored foods, something that is not usually taken into consideration in therapeutic practice. In these moments of realization, we may suddenly appreciate the work of so many wise people over the centuries.
Viewing the Movements’ Interrelatedness from the Position of Metal
What we’ve mentioned is just one example of the infinite possibilities for applying the Five Movements theory. To continue understanding these relationships, let’s focus on one Movement, as we’ve done in previous pages. In this case, let’s look at Metal.
Metal is the son of Earth.
It is the mother of Water.
It dominates
Wood.
It is dominated by Fire.
Using this example, we see that each Movement maintains relationships with the other four, carrying out different roles. The mother of a Movement in one case dominates a Movement in another case and so on. Therefore we acknowledge that a fixed role cannot be assigned to each Movement and that its function depends upon the relationship it maintains with whichever other Movement it is joined with at the time. Here’s an example using colors: if we take green and put it next to red, the two give off a sensation that you don’t have to be an expert in fine art to notice. This same green color put next to purple impacts us in a different way, and when put next to black, everything changes once again. It is the same green color, but its function, what it transmits and how it vibrates, changes according to the relationship it establishes with other colors. What determines the role is the relationship, meaning, and place that a particular Movement occupies at any given time. In other words, the role is not determined by the individual Movement but rather by the relationship it establishes.
Each Movement carries out all the functions, and thus the Movements balance each other, keeping circulation and transformation of Energy in harmony.
What happens when a Movement is too powerful? It is going to oppress the one it dominates and turn against the one that dominates it.
If Metal is excessively forceful,
it oppresses Wood
it turns against Fire
And if Metal is weak,
Fire oppresses it
Wood turns against it
How Energy Is Expressed in Each Movement
All this turns out to be pretty interesting once we comprehend how Energy moves when it manifests itself in a determined Movement and the relationships that arise among them due to the characteristics of Energy’s Movement style in each.
Wood: Energy has serious strength, expanding in all directions. It seeks externalization. It grows upward.
Fire: Energy moves vigorously upward.
Earth: Energy spins horizontally around its own axis.
Metal: Energy moves inward. It retracts, condenses, and tends to become compact.
Water: Energy moves downward.
Now that we have an idea of each Movement’s characteristics, and keeping in mind the sort of impulse of each and in which direction Energy moves in each, let’s now look at the relationships among them. To look at the cycle of Energy transformation, we’ll begin with Water.
- When Energy is in Water, it tends to be still, storing itself up like a treasure and regenerating itself so that another cycle of transformation may begin. It is the moment of quietude, before initiating Movement, a preparation for the impulse to start. Thus it gives birth to Wood’s creative force. The descending momentum of Energy during its Water phase incites Wood’s expansive upward and outward Movement.
- Movement is now initiated in Wood, with the strength of something wanting to be born, to burst into the world. Development begins. Movement is expansive, explosive. That which was in repose, hidden, now shows itself outwardly. The impulse that Energy has in Wood initiates a Movement that will take on its full expression in Fire.
- Fire reveals the expansive and externalized Movement of that which has reached its plenitude and maximum expression. Energy is agitated and projects itself powerfully upward. We noted in the chapter about yin yang, in reference to intertransformation, that yin becomes yang and yang becomes yin. During the Fire phase, we are present to the transformation of yang into yin, mediated by Earth’s Movement, which will prevent the change from being too abrupt. Having reached its maximum expression and Movement, Energy in the Fire phase begins to seek quietude, diminishing its impulse. Fire’s own impetus incites Earth’s strength, capable of modulating the upward fugue of Fire Energy. Energy cannot continue its growth; it begins its return.
- Having reached the Earth phase, the ascending and expansive impulse turns into a Movement that spins around itself, neither continuing to grow nor stopping or descending. It is a transitional phase, of balance before change, before yin begins to grow. Earth receives Fire’s Energy, transforms it, and adjusts it, converting it into Metal Energy. When Earth Energy is potent, so too will be Metal’s contracting impulse.
- Metal receives Earth’s revolving Energy, thus beginning the phase of contraction, as Energy moves toward center. It is the time for return; the transformative journey that Energy has been making is coming to a close. A return to the starting point is being imposed. Energy becomes denser. By transforming the revolving Energy expressed in Earth into a Movement of condensation, the path is cleared so that Energy can take on the descending direction of Water, whose strength depends on the centripetal force of Metal’s Movement of Energy.
- Back to Water. The full cycle of Energy’s transformation has been fulfilled through the phases of yin’s and yang’s growth and decline. If Water’s capacity to amass and regenerate Energy—to keep life in waiting, like it does in winter—lacks strength, its transmission to Wood will be weak. Consequently, Wood will have less potency. The same thing will happen if the descending force of Water is weak. What is more, as Water represents the end of the cycle and a new beginning, the entire next cycle will be affected.
Following the transformation of Energy, in the cycle we just observed, we can see that
- from Water to Fire, yang grows, and from Fire to Water, yin grows
- from Water to Fire, yin decreases, and from Fire to Water, yang decreases
Keeping Balance: Mutual Support among the Movements
Water. The descending force that Energy expresses during this phase balances the ascending Energy of Fire. If Water’s action is weak, Fire lacks a counterweight, so there is nothing to stop its Energy from shooting upward and becoming dispersed, debasing its task and breaking the balance. Water represents coolness, preventing excess Heat from Fire. So in the body, the equivalent of a weakness in Water’s action could be Heat drying up body fluids.
If Water is too powerful, it could excessively chill and extinguish Fire.
Wood. The incitement of Wood’s expansive Movement helps prevent Earth Energy from exaggerating its characteristic Movement of spinning on its axis. Wood prevents Earth from closing in on itself, in which case it would run the risk of slowing impulse enough to stop impulse entirely.
Weakness in Wood’s force allows Earth Energy to stifle and deteriorate Wood’s dynamism.
If Wood Energy is too pushy, it subverts and disturbs Earth, negatively influencing Earth’s operative capacity.
Fire. It supports Metal Energy, helping it to not become too solid and cold. It modulates Metal Energy’s contracting force.
Debilitated Fire Energy favors the rigidity of Metal, diminishing its capacity for adaptation.
If Fire’s potency is exaggerated, Metal loses its shape, becoming too malleable.
Earth. Thanks to its revolving Energy, Earth regulates the descending impulse of Water’s Energy.
When Earth is weak, Water increases its capacity to sink into the depths.
The excessive action of Earth Energy makes descent difficult, favoring accumulation.
Metal. The collaboration that Metal offers Wood is that of modulating its characteristic expansive, ascending Energy. The contracting Movement of Metal balances the expansive Energy of Wood.
If Metal is weak, Wood becomes too powerful and can destroy everything.
If Metal’s force is too powerful, it can excessively restrict the Movement, expansion, and growth of Wood.
Earth is key.
This Movement, because of its characteristics, is the great harmonizer of all the elements. This will be easier to see when we assess Earth’s position in figure 2.1.
Earth, in the center, equidistant from the other Movements, creates a nucleus for the others, bringing unity to the whole system. Earth prevents the other Movements from becoming scattered. It balances Fire’s ascending Movement and Water’s descending Movement, as it does Wood’s expansive Movement and Metal’s contracting Movement.
Energy’s way of behaving, along with each Movement’s characteristics, creates an ocean of possibilities in relation to the Flowers. A minimal example: Wood’s expansiveness and Fire’s plenitude, both of which can easily be exaggerated, bring to mind Vervain, whose manner of being in the world can be understood in the context of these two Movements. Once this relationship is verified, we’ll investigate Fire- and Wood-related aspects in a markedly Vervain-type person: the Organs, tissues, and Emotions that are implicated, among other aspects.
Figure 2.1. Earth as the harmonizer among the Five Movements
Beginning to Establish Relationships
We stated that everything sharing the characteristics of a determined Movement can be classified under the ranks of that Movement. The paragraphs we developed regarding Energy’s Movements, according to the Five Movements and their relationships and characteristics, allow us to comprehend many of the assignments of an Organ, tissue, person, thing, occurrence, and so on to a particular Movement.
In Chinese Medicine, each one of the Five Organs (Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung, and Kidney) corresponds with a Movement, because its physiological function is analogous to the characteristics of the Movement to which it is assigned. (Consult correspondences in table 2.1.)
The correspondences between a Movement and an Organ also extend to the related tissues, sensory Organs, Viscera, body fluids, and so on (see figure 2.2). Likewise, these relationships cover the Emotions and the Psyches, which, by being related to the Organs, not only demonstrate the integrity of the human being’s processes and substrata but also lay out a world of relationships between the Organs, Emotions, Psyches, and, through the Organs, their entire area of influence in the body. They are paths that cross, allowing passage from the Emotions to the body, to the Psyche, to the Organs.
Thus we can comprehend how a Flower Essence’s action can influence a determined Organ or tissue. By using the Flowers, it is also possible for us to adjust emotional dynamics, the Psyches, the influence of these on the Organs, and, as such, the related territories in the body.
Figure 2.2. Correspondences between a Movement and its Organ and related Emotions, Organs, and Psyches
Through the Transpersonal Patterns developed by Ricardo Orozco, our prospects open even wider for linking the Flowers with the world of relationships we’ve just outlined.
Applications in the Area of Chinese Medicine
- The Five Movements allow us to observe the integration of the organism’s various structures and functions.
- The physiological functioning of the Organs and Viscera can be explained according to the characteristics of each Movement.
- The physiological relationships between Organs and Viscera can be viewed under the light of the Generating Cycle and Dominating Cycle.
- Pathological relationships may also be studied from this perspective, observing, for example, how imbalances evolve and move through the system following the different cycles.
- The Five Movements give us prospects for diagnosis as well as orienting principles for treatment.
There is a wide range of applications for this medicine. Take into consideration that the yin yang and Wu Xing (Five Movements) theories are the pillars of Chinese Medicine.
Some of these applications may be of great use for our work with the Flowers. One of these may be the transmission and evolution of imbalances.
The Five Movements theory gives us a model for understanding how imbalances might evolve and change. The relationships between the Five Movements show us paths through which disorders may develop. The transmission of disorders may take different routes according to the different cycles.
In order to better follow what is about to be explained, it would be helpful to have handy the diagram of the Five Movements and their relationships (figure 2.3).
Figure 2.3. The Five Movements and their relationships
By Way of the Generating Cycle
- The mother’s imbalance is passed to the son.
The mother Movement does not nourish the son.
If Water is deficient, it cannot nourish Wood. - The son’s imbalance is passed to the mother.
The son Movement exhausts its mother.
Fire exhausts Wood.
By Way of the Oppression Cycle
- The Movement that dominates is too forceful.
Wood oppresses Earth. - The oppressed Movement is weak.
Earth is weak, inciting Wood to oppress it.
By Way of the Opposition Cycle
- The dominating Movement is weak.
Metal lacks strength; Wood suppresses it. - The Movement that is dominated lacks strength.
Fire is too forceful and turns against Water.
When a Movement Is Weak
We must look for where there is excess.
The weakened Movement could be getting oppressed by the one dominating it, and there we find the excess. It could also be that the weakened Movement is being opposed by the Movement that it should be dominating.
Fire is weak. Water probably has too much Energy, and Metal is “taking advantage of ” Fire’s weakness, oppressing it.
When a Movement Is Excessively Forceful
A Movement exhibiting excess Energy tends to oppress the one it dominates and oppose the Movement that dominates it. Metal is too forceful, opposing Wood and oppressing Fire.
Another View
One of my teachers and friends, Ricardo Fernández Herrero, maintains that when a Movement is in excess it interrupts the transmission of Energy to its son and reroutes it toward the Movement that dominates it, thereby opposing it.
Earth in excess stops supplying Energy to Metal and opposes Water.
So the whole dynamic of the Movements becomes unbalanced. Imagine what happens when the son of a Movement that is in excess stops being nourished. It loses strength, and because it is unable to nourish its own son, the domination function fails.
The Five Movements can orient us when evaluating our client’s motive for consulting us. They help steer our work with the person and help us to create strategies for treatment.
Suggestions for Working with Clients
Emotions
Although we will talk about Emotions in chapter 3, the correlations that can be established based on the relationships between the Organs, their spheres of influence, and the Emotions are enormously useful, so we will go ahead and mention them. It is equally important to understand that Emotions affect the whole body, the entirety of the person, and that the correlation between an Emotion and an Organ is not something rigid but rather a reference point, allowing us to investigate.
When we give our client a Flower that balances an Emotion, we are favoring balance in the related Organ.
For example, anger injures the Liver, generating dysfunction. By using Holly Flower Essence, we are bringing harmony to this Organ; through the regulation of anger, we are indirectly improving the Liver’s functioning.
What is more, any Liver disorder can find relief when anger is not also pressuring it and provoking its malfunction. So using Flower Essences can help prevent anger, as a pathogenic factor, from affecting the Liver. On the other hand, this Emotion could worsen any disorders that the Liver and its areas of influence might be suffering.
An Organ and Its Area of Influence
Now we’ll go from disorders in some part of the body to the Emotions. Because of the correspondences of the Five Movements, we know that muscles are an area influenced by Earth via the Spleen. If muscle tone is upset, or if there is weakness in the limbs, we might ask about nostalgia and excessive mental activity, such as a lot of studying or a lot of thinking about some topic. Likewise, we will look at what’s going on with an obsessive type of person with a fixation on some issue.
The Psyches
There will also be a chapter about the Psyches. For now we will say that, as with the Emotions, the Psyches associated with a Movement, and thus with an Organ, can indicate dysfunctions in an Organ and its areas of influence. Likewise, the reverse: a disturbance in a tissue or body part will lead us to consider aspects of the related Organ’s Psyche.
Prevention
Knowing the relationships between the Emotions, Organs, Psyches, and different regions of the body allows us to see how deep the imbalance has become. We can see which group of Emotions is implicated, and whether the imbalance remains at the Emotional and Psyche levels or if it has evolved into the body.
Earlier, we talked about the transmission of disorders, and we can use this aspect of the Five Movements for prevention. Let’s look at a basic example: when we perceive that the imbalance is in a certain Movement, we will take special care of the Movement that is dominated by the affected one. If Fire is upset, we will pay special attention to Metal in order to strengthen it and prevent the disorder from being transmitted to it.
For our work with the Flowers, we can view this approach by focusing on the Emotions. Using the example given above, we will try to keep Metal (the Lung) from being weakened by sadness. This is how we could strengthen it. Knowing that anguish as well as sadness affect the Lung, which corresponds to Metal, we have Mustard and Sweet Chestnut at hand. Staying alert and not letting Metal become affected by way of disturbances in its Psyche, we favor adaptation to change. Imagine a markedly Rock Water–type person who finds himself in the above situation. On the one hand, a little Heat from Fire would do him some good to loosen up some of the rigidity, but an excess or deficiency in Fire would disturb him, and he would feel more insecure, or more rigid and less flexible. This is why, knowing that there are disorders in Fire, we will try to favor Metal’s harmonious functioning. This may prove to be relatively simple or more complicated depending on the circumstances and on the person’s Flower-type tendencies. Treating a Rock Water type is not the same as treating an Impatiens, Vervain, or Mimulus type. Each one of these Flower types will make us attentive to different aspects of Metal. In Mimulus, for example, we would try to prevent further retraction because we know that it would create an imbalance in Metal whose energetic Movement is already one of contracting and of slowing impulse. On the other hand, a Vervain type would create imbalances in Metal by pushing every limit.
Evolution of Treatment
Data recorded in ancient texts already tell us that if imbalances are transmitted through the Generating Cycle, from mother to son, they turn out to be less severe than if they are transmitted from son to mother.
The same thing happens via the Dominating Cycle: disorders are less severe by domination than by opposition (when the dominated Movement opposes he who dominates it). Without taking this as absolute truth, and much less as a death sentence, we might orient ourselves by viewing this from the perspective of the Emotions. Let’s take fear (corresponding to Water). If a person who has been feeling fear for a long time begins to feel sadness (corresponding to Metal) and that Emotion sets in, we’ll want to watch out for evolution in the situation that is not particularly positive. If, on the other hand, fear passes into anger (corresponding to Wood), the Movement of the Emotions follows the Generating Cycle, and as follows, we would be observing a positive evolution. We’re not talking about Emotions that arise, are felt, and then move on, as these are not chronic or long-standing.
So we notice that a Movement is affected by disorders in its incumbent Emotions, or by imbalances in its associated Organs, body regions, and Psyches. These are indicators that guide us and lead us to inquire, to work with the person who is consulting us, as it is within this shared work that the data obtained takes on meaning and truth.
Relationships between the Five Movements
When an Emotion settles in and stays awhile, we might view it under the light of the relationships between the Five Movements.
Resentment indicates a Wood-related disorder, so we will take this Movement as a point of reference. We’ll check to see if there are other ailments at other levels (like in the body) of this same Movement. We will also try to perceive what is happening in the areas of: Metal (sadness), which dominates Wood; Earth (nostalgia, worry), which is dominated by Wood; Fire (joy, excitement), which is the son; and Water (fear, fright), which is the mother.
This way we will be able to detect if another Movement is influencing Wood in such a way that regulating resentment becomes more difficult. Likewise, to detect if the imbalance in Wood is obstructing other Movements’ performance. So by regulating the Emotions associated with other Movements that are found to be out of balance, we are favoring a harmony that will help to resolve resentment. Obviously, the person will have to do her part, but the path will be cleared for her to do it. For example, by adjusting Earth-related Emotions (nostalgia, excess reflection, worry), we improve the prospects for resolving resentment. The stagnation and mucus that may be generated by a poorly functioning Spleen (corresponding to Earth) provide a base for resentment to become chronic. Earth endangers Wood (Oppression Cycle). At the same time, people who hold resentment for a long time will have tendencies toward stagnation, generating mucus, and a lagging circulation of body fluids (Wood out of balance affects Earth). I have observed sluggish lymphatic circulation and mucus accumulation in people with old resentments.
It can be useful to ask which disorders appeared first in order to observe the evolution of the imbalance. In Chinese Medicine, there are principles for treatment based on the relationships between the Five Movements.
Another way to work with these relationships is to detect imbalances and then support the development of the Movement that will bring balance, by cultivating harmony in the associated Emotions as well as a balanced expression of the Psyche, which provides Virtues.
Let’s say that Metal is the Movement that’s out of balance, expressed in the form of serious sadness. We will seek to develop Fire’s Movement to bring about joy by using whichever essences we believe to be most appropriate. Letting ourselves be guided by the defects and Virtues of the Twelve Healers, we might propose Water Violet, whose Virtue is joy. This way we are not focusing only on sadness. We would seek to balance Fire-related aspects to help Fire fulfill its function of modulating Metal, for example by avoiding frivolous excitement, acceleration, and stimulus. To nourish Metal, we would support a balanced Earth Movement by adjusting nostalgia and worry for example. We would accomplish this by giving essences and also by recommending tasks and attitudes associated with the Movement that regulate the imbalance. As we get further along in the book, we will gain more clarity for how to go about doing this.
Relationships with Nature
Colors, times of day, flavors, and climate associated with a Movement are elements containing important data. For example, a green tinge to the skin (green corresponds to Wood) may indicate Liver disorders. We would think of anger. Flavors also indicate a possible imbalance in a Movement. Sour corresponds to Wood, so if a person particularly likes or dislikes that flavor, we would investigate imbalances in Wood’s sphere of influence.
One of these pieces of information on its own does not qualify us to be categorical in an evaluation. We must combine the information we receive with other information from our evaluation, whether it comes from knowledge related to Bach Flower Therapy or knowledge that comes from resources based in Chinese Medicine.
How to Help Treatment Along
When we know which Emotion, Psyche, or body region and tissue may be affected, we can take steps to help recover balance. Continuing with Wood, when this Movement is affected, overuse of eyesight is not recommended, especially at night. In the case of a pregnant woman, it is particularly advisable to pay close attention to these suggestions.
It will also be useful to know which flavors harm the treatment’s evolution. In Wood’s case, the absence or excess of sour flavors does not help, and excess pungent flavors will create further imbalance. So we see that pungent flavors could interfere negatively when we are trying to modulate anger.
The Cycle
The Generating Cycle can be applied in a variety of circumstances.
One way to apply it is to look at one whole cycle as life’s Movement through different phases.
We begin in Water, an undifferentiated state. We are born in Wood, and our development and growth unfolds during Fire. We reach adulthood during Earth, old age during Metal, and in death, we return, once again, to Water.
A person may go through this entire cycle and never learn a thing. Or try to avoid the whole thing and return quickly, as is Clematis’s case, eager to return to the beginning without ever fully immersing herself in life to carry out the whole cycle with its inherent opportunities for learning.
A person could remain stuck in a certain Movement despite the passage of time. For example, Fire, forever young, denies the passage of time, hoping to ride the crest of the energetic wave forever. So, what was it like during each phase for the person consulting us? Was he able to push forth with Wood’s Energy? Even though it is an expansive phase, did he have to restrain himself? How are those circumstances playing out now that he is passing through the Earth phase? What are the effects? Francesc Mariegas’s work with the Five Movements in relation to self-awareness and evolution is excellent, both in its astounding theory and its practice. His book, El Tao del Cambio (The Dao of Change), is a huge contribution to our work with Flower Essence Therapy.
The same cycle can be applied to understand how the person behaves in different phases of an undertaking. Is it hard for her to begin (Wood), or do things get complicated at the end (Water)? What happens when it comes time for her to sustain what she’s attained? And when it’s time to harvest the fruits of her labor?
We repeatedly find clients with problems during one of these phases, and many times the person hasn’t even noticed it. We can clear stagnation with Flower Essences and with other aspects related to an imbalanced Movement and its relationship with the other Movements. If a person has a hard time starting things, we’ll take a look at how he manages the endings of things. We’ll see if trouble starting things is due to acceleration and excessive expansion, or if it is a lack of impulse due to retraction and restriction (Wood may be weak, and/or Metal may be very forceful).
Characteristics of the Movements and Individuals
Individuals tend to express their vitality through one of the Five Movements. If we have before us someone who tends to express herself through Wood, she will do so impulsively, in a way that is expansive, and when imbalanced she will become invasive. This will give us guidelines about how she accumulates and drains Energy, which errors she tends to make, and what causes her suffering, all of which can be worked on with the Flowers.
This viewpoint is expanded and enriched when we add in the Psyches, Emotions, and Organs.
Learning and the Way One Tends to Exist in the World
This point is closely related with the previous point about a person’s characteristics. As Eduardo Alexander tells us in his thesis “Nutrindo a vitalidade” (Nourishing Vitality), at some point early on in life, something happened (probably traumatic) that left us processing the world from one fixed viewpoint. We view the world from one of the Movements. We tend then to interpret everything that happens to us and in general from that viewpoint. This circumstance leads to an accumulation of Energy in the Movement of our fixation, generating weakness in the others. The Emotions, Psyches, and physical disorders are a guide to help us discover which Movement we prioritize when we process whatever comes our way. When we identify it, we can begin to develop the Virtues associated with that Movement as a way of deconstructing our interpretive rigidity. The Flowers are one of the most appropriate tools for cultivating Virtues. We will soon see why.
These are just a few of the applications that the Five Movements offer us. Possibly the easiest way to begin is to use the correspondences for establishing relationships between Organs, Emotions, Psyches, and body regions and tissues.
The Emotions and Psyches provide us with tools that are not far from our work as Bach Flower Therapists. Perceiving the Emotions in the person consulting us, observing which Psyches are imbalanced, and giving the corresponding Flower Essences could be within the abilities of every Flower Essence Therapist. It is a way to organize the information that we know how to obtain through our training as therapists.
The Five Movements allow us to see the storyline that unifies the various bits of information we acquire and to integrate them, deepening and widening our comprehension, bringing us to treatment possibilities that we otherwise might not have imagined.