Earth is strong and rooted. It represents the physical, and demonstrates influence in our lives through duty, structure, form, bodily health, and harvest. When this element is in balance, we find ourselves grounded and stable, resilient to the world around us, and in great bodily health. We will be self-sufficient and unfazed. We feel fulfilled by the routines and rewards of our day to day lives.
Imbalance in our earth is unique in that it can be the hardest to see and feel real change, but also requires change on the most basic of actions throughout our day. When we are imbalanced in our elemental earth, we may find ourselves uninspired, depressed, and feeling stuck in our lives (or possibly entirely ungrounded if earth is in deficit) Physically we may become obese or sick with chronic illness in earth related organs. To address the issues of imbalance inside our earth element, we have to analyze for deficit or excess.
Qualities of Deficient Earth Element:
- Anxious, Nervous, grasping for control, overwhelmed, apathetic, lost, head in the clouds, lacking foundation or structure
Qualities of Excessive Earth Element:
- Stagnation, Boredom, “Stuck in a rut” feeling. Feeling trapped or stale. Spacey and Sluggish Mentally, Depression, Indigestion and theoretically obesity, diabetes, and heart disease (indigestible materials stuck in body)
As with the other elements some of these qualities actually present themselves in both deficits and excess, so it is important to find more than one quality when analyzing the full scope of imbalance in our earth element. As discussed with Imbalanced Air, we also have to be mindful of what excess or deficit is made in our other three elements, with this imbalance of earth.
For example, if our earth is in excess, and we find ourselves stagnant and stuck in a rut, feeling trapped, these all share characteristics we learned with a deficit of air, as earth, being the element of duty and structure will manifest an excess as obsessive routine, or a similar “trapped in our own life” kind of feeling. Likewise if we find ourselves riddled with indigestion and inability to comfortably stick to a diet we could also be experiencing a deficit of fire, or even an excess of water.
These are just a couple examples to represent how imbalances in two elements will coincide when we analyze which one needs our attention. Typically in these situations one element is the dominant agitator, or the “cause” of the imbalance, and once it is addressed the other half of the imbalance will gradually bring itself in harmony. This is why it doesn’t benefit us to necessarily address both elements at one time. More work on the agitating element (usually the one in excess) will bring both of them into harmony.
Remember, most commonly one element’s excess can cause all of the others to become deficient. This is another reason to focus on the main dominant agitator, and once it feels to have been balanced, we can reassess the harmony of all four, and move forward. For that reason it is important to remember that Elementalism is a lifestyle practice. It absolutely cannot be learned, mastered, and applied in the span of a day, week or even a month. It is a day to day assessment of the harmony within ourselves with the world we seek to live in.
This post is part of the Elemental Imbalance Series, and to fully grasp the concepts presented it is highly recommended that you also read the other three for Air, Water, and Fire. While every article on Elementalism and it’s practices are important, some will hold more weight inside your brain and it is important for as many good connections to be formed with this knowledge as we can, so that we can see it more clearly in our day to day life.
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