In feng shui we talk a lot about yin and yang energy. Yin houses and yang houses, determined by their sitting direction. Yin rooms for peaceful sleep in the back of the house and yang rooms like bright kitchens in the front of the house. Yin water features that are still enough for mirrored reflection and yang water features that continuously flow to keep the energy moving.
This contrast of light and dark can be applied in so many ways to the personal energy of The 8 Elements. There are of course, yin elements and yang elements. But there is so much more to the light and dark sides of our personal energy and the energy affecting us all the time.
The first thing to know is that light is not "good" and dark is not "bad". Those are judgements that create the polarity of opposites. Opposing energies create balance. To be whole we need to integrate the dark and the light. To be complete within ourselves, we need to fully embody the tai chi of yin and yang energy. Stop looking outside of ourselves for our other half or to get our needs met. Stop being all "love and light". And stop avoiding doing our shadow work.
Inner Chi Mastery is the work we do to balance this yin and yang energy. Personal balance can be as simple as resting your body or mind, even for a few minutes, when you tend to like to keep busy all day. Another way is to go for a walk and get some fresh air and sunshine when your feel like taking a nap or reading one more chapter of your book in your comfy chair.
Beyond the yin and yang energy of The 8 Elements, there are unique aspects that also have light expression and dark sides. These include the numbers, archetypes, element qualities, highest values, dominant emotions and Life Centers, among others. When we are out of balance, our natural self-expression can be greatly diminished or even reversed.
For example: One of the many qualities of water is clarity; but it becomes murky when the Water and Earth elements get stirred up. Mother Earth's highest value is unconditional love; but it's expressed as conditional love when their alternate personality of Mr. Hyde presents itself. The dominant emotion of Fire is passion; but this intense enthusiasm can reverse to a devastating feeling of apathy when they lose faith in humanity and begin to have doubt within themselves. The Life Center of Hard Metal is helping people; but if they choose to stop giving their wise counsel and great advice, generous gifts and valuable resources, their personal energy diminishes.
Since 2020 is a Soft Metal year, let's explore the light and dark expressions of this element by reviewing the events of this year. It can be our case study to better understand default settings and dark sides. Only then can we integrate and embody both so we can choose to express a balanced energy, grounded in conscious awareness.
The first thing to know is that there are nine numbers in feng shui. Five of them are auspicious and four of them are inauspicious. When we know what the unseen energy is, we can use feng shui to remedy and reduce the challenging energy and activate and enhance the prosperous energy.
The number associated with the Soft Metal element, 7, is one of the inauspicious numbers. And in the current 20 year cycle it's in a state of decay. This means that even though Soft Metal has many wonderful aspects, the 7's default setting can manifest some unpleasant experiences. Not only do we have to employ protective feng shui just to keep it dormant, it can sometimes be more difficult to appreciate and enjoy the finer qualities of this element's energy.
The Soft Metal 7 brings lying, cheating and stealing. Robberies and petty theft, intellectual property and identity theft. Fraud. Imprisonment and isolation. Laziness. Childishness. Mind games. Narcissism and gaslighting. Passive aggressive behaviors. Mental health issues. Social experiments. Violence, backstabbing and bleeding from injuries by metal. Fire accidents. Slander and arguments. Competition. Inadvertencies with documents, lawsuits and legal battles.
Sounds like 2020 to me!
Even so, there are ways to take advantage of this energy. Soft Metal years are good for dental work and orthodontics, minor and major surgeries. It's also a good year to cut people out of your life, clean up your social media, delete contacts and pare down your "friends" list. It provides a great opportunity to see where we need to mature and experiences to learn how to have conversations without hurting with our words, slinging insults and name calling.
The default setting or dark side of an energy can be reversed or at least balanced with your intention and attention on the aspects you would like to experience and enjoy. This takes awareness, desire and energy. Most people are unconscious. They are compliant and go along with whatever is being presented to them instead of flipping the script and actively choosing a better feeling thought or making a decision from a place of Sovereignty. They choose to be a victim of the dark side of an energy and let it wreak havoc in their lives.
Soft Metal energy can also bring joy and creativity, childlike wonder, imagination and magic, fun and playfulness, friends and socialization, self expression through art and music, excellence and sophistication, moral behavior and ethical business practices, the finer things and little luxuries of life, speaking engagements, teaching moments, promotions and raises.
Soft Metal years can benefit the children of the world and the child in us all. They can spark interest in and advocacy for the education, health and wellbeing of children. They can inspire us to do our own inner child healing work.
The Maskerade
Soft Metal is The Storyteller. This archetype's natural self-expression is through verbal communication, commentary and narration, public speaking, teaching and storytelling. Soft Metal years create opportunities to say what we want to say, speak our truth, tell our stories, teach what we know, share a message and unfold our own myth.
This year the masses wore a mask covering their mouth in public for the majority of the year. They allowed the government to both mentally and energetically hold a hand over their mouths. Self-righteous coronaKarens shamed, shouted at, called the manger or police on and bullied people who chose not to participate in the mass psychosis of the maskerade.
Soft Metal elements love their accessories. The personalized mask became the number one fashion accessory of 2020. In fact, outfit matching, company branded and bedazzled masks became the fashion statement of the year. And BONUS: Behind the black mask, Antifa could vandalize property, loot stores, commit arson, harass people and perpetrate violence in the streets - all without being identified and arrested for domestic terrorism, under the convenient guise of mask mandates.
Soft Metal's relationship dynamics are focused on circles of friends and a rich social life, social media influence and the social network. This year, with the polarizing presidential election, you might have lost some friends and more than a few followers. Or you might have hid your true thoughts and opinions and stayed silent on All. The. Things. Or, you might have dutifully posted your black square like everyone else who is WOKE AF and used all the hashtags to virtue signal your "I'm a good person" vibes. You might have practiced social distancing and relied on video calls for work, family or social connecting. You might have stood on all the Xs and followed all the arrows in stores like herded and corralled good little sheeple.
Social media was a mixed bag that included the must have item of the year: the muzzle. The silent majority is still silent. And although there are more and more people speaking up, it may be too little, too late. The Beanie Babies (Millennials) and their liberal professors are committed to their cultural takeover, color revolution, communist totalitarianism...and ruining everything. The voices that are finally speaking out are getting silenced, censored, cancelled, deplatformed, demonetized, deleted, doxxed and "fact checked". The "listen and learn" allies shared the mic by allowing IG takeovers of their accounts, but only by people who fit the agenda this year.
Soft Metal is represented in the body by the mouth and chest. This includes the lips, teeth and oral cavity and the respiratory system. The focus this year was on a virus that settles in the chest and affects breathing.
It's also represented in the body by the thymus gland, which is largely responsible for our immune system. CV-19 is an acupuncture point on the Conception Vessel meridian that is directly over the thymus gland. This is what we call the High Heart or Higher Self point. It's also known as the "Purple Palace' in Traditional Chinese Medicine and helps open airways, reduces chest pain and anxious feeling from not being able to breathe. It also diminishes rebellious chi and reduces uprising energy.
Hmmmm...Have yourself a little, "Think, think, think!" on that one.
Mandates for covering the mouth and nose with paper and cloth masks were enforced by government officials, business owners and fellow citizens, because they all failed high school biology but got a passing grade for order following. Instead of strengthening immune systems or improving breathing, many people chose to suppress their immunity and breathe their own carbon dioxide.
The Life Center for Soft Metal is Children & Creativity. Keeping kids at home and indoors all day, or stuck sitting in front of a computer for "home" school; or masking, sanitizing and social distancing in classrooms or even at recess, has greatly diminished the health, happiness and wellbeing of children. Sanitizers are highly toxic. Social distancing is cruel. Masking children is criminal. And wearing masks in the presence of children programs them with fear, gives them a sickness complex and will slow normal development, impair speech and detrimentally affect the emotional intelligence of infants and young children during the sensitive periods of early childhood.
If you chose to homeschool your children, instead of allowing the government to continue indoctrinating them and giving teachers access to your sacred home environment through online video chat software, your children are better off than most. If you learned the value of educating your own children yourself and appreciate the opportunity to experience having your children home with you to learn together, I'm happy for you. If you realized homeschooling is not for you, but you would never send your children back to public school again and are exploring or working on creating better options for your family and other parents, that's awesome!
2020 brought awareness to human trafficking, especially child sex slavery. If you are on the frontlines of rescuing or donating to this effort to save the children, thank you! If you are the ones helping to heal their bodies, minds and souls, you are much appreciated.
Soft Metal is represented by precious metals. If you bought gold and silver this year or added some rare or limited edition coins to your collection, that was a wise investment. If not, there's still time.
One of the many qualities Soft Metal has, is tenacity. Tenacity is the response metal has to stress such as crushing, bending, breaking, pounding or tearing. Soft Metal elements have the mental and moral strength to resist opposition and persevere through hardship. Their courage provides the strength of mind and resoluteness of will to face challenging and oppressive experiences. This quality of temperament enables them to hold their own, keep their morale high, strive for excellence and stay determined to achieve their goals.
2020 has tested our mettle. How did you fare? Now is a good time to review your year. Did you Netflix and chill? Or did you write a book, take a course, learn an instrument or start a new business? If you already had your own business, did you close up shop or did you pivot?
Soft Metal's dominant emotion is JOY! This year you could have spent time at home decluttering your stuff, keeping only what "sparks joy" and gifting everything else to a local charity or someone in need. You could have brought joy to someone who was really struggling financially or emotionally with a kind or encouraging word, thoughtful gift or wellbeing check. You could have made a list of things that bring YOU joy and checked them off throughout the year. If not, there's still time!
Even if the world has gone mad and everyone is accepting the stupidest timeline as the new normal, YOU can choose the energy you bring to your life. You can choose JOY! You can be tenacious. You can strive for excellence. You can honor your children. You can heal your inner child. You can do something creative. You can breathe. You can strengthen your immune system. You can connect with your friends and expand your sphere of influence. You can speak Truth. You can tell your story.
Soft Metal is a mental energy. There is no more perfect moment than North Node in Gemini to practice and begin to master the ability to hold space for opposing energies without choosing a side and entertain opposing thoughts without accepting either.
And respond to whatever life throws your way, from a place of balancing the light and the dark within.
Place your hand over your heart. Take a deep breath. And let it out. You've got this!
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