17. Metal – key resonances
Chapter contents
Metal as a symbol129
The Metal Element in life129
The Metal Element in nature129
The Metal Element in relation to other Elements130
The key Metal resonances130
The supporting Metal resonances134
Metal as a symbol
The character for Metal
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The character for Metal is jin. Jin includes the character for Earth (see Chapter 14). The Earth character has only two horizontal lines – a base line and one other. The Metal character has an extra horizontal line. The third line indicates that metal is deep within the earth, under many layers. This depth has been described ‘as if in a mine shaft’. The top of the character is a sloping roof indicating in addition that something is covered over. The two shorter lines at the bottom represent nuggets of gold buried deep within the earth (Weiger, 1965, lesson 14T).
The meaning of the character
Many Elemental systems have been created, but only the Chinese included a Metal Element. This Element was named in antiquity before the invention of steel mills, aluminium production or the discovery of many of the metals we use today. So what does this character reveal about the nature of the Metal Element? The character suggests something small in quantity, but of great value, buried deep within the earth.
The Metal Element in life
Metals have always been valuable. For centuries, gold has been regarded as the most precious metal. Its scarcity is one reason for its value. Buried within each of us there is something scarce, hard to find and at the same time very valuable.
We can also think of Metal as the minerals or trace elements in the earth or in our food. Four per cent of our bodies are made from trace minerals. These are used to regulate and balance our body chemistry. For example, a person may require 400 or more grams of carbohydrate a day, but less than a millionth of that amount of chromium. Yet chromium is also essential. The valuable Metal is deeply buried within.
The Chinese also sometimes described the sky as an inverted metal bowl and the stars as holes in that bowl (Hicks, 1999, p. 11). Our Lungs draw in qi from the Heavens and thus a link is made between air, Metal and the breath of life.
The Metal Element in nature
‘Metal in nature’ demonstrates something interesting about this Element. The other Elements – Water, Wood, Earth and Fire – have very obvious manifestations in nature. Tidal waves, forest fires, giant redwood trees and soil all manifest something elemental. But what is Metal’s manifestation in nature? After all, the ancient Chinese had not developed metals to the extent that modern people have.
In nature, Metal revitalises the earth. In autumn, leaves and fruits fall off the trees and fall to the ground. They rot and enter the earth, providing minerals and nutrients that nourish and enrich the earth’s capacity to grow new plants. Today, we are increasingly aware of the dangers of industrialised farming where we attempt to accelerate the natural process. We take the maximum from a field by using it every year and fertilising it artificially. ‘Natural’ farming would allow fields to lie fallow and for part of the plants to rot and almost invisibly return vital nutrients to the earth. The agrarian Chinese understood this kind of farming and appreciated the necessity to return essential minerals and nutrients to the earth. Metal provides the quality for the earth.
Metal also describes the role of impervious rock within the earth. Without rock all the water would soak through to the centre of the earth. For life to be possible on earth it is essential that water is returned to the surface in order to nourish animals and plants. It is in this way that Metal creates Water along the sheng cycle.
The Metal Element in relation to other Elements
The Metal Element interacts with the other Elements through the sheng and ke cycles (see Chapter 2, this volume).
Metal is the mother of Water
Along the sheng cycle Metal creates Water by containing it. Water has no shape unless contained by the impermeable rocks in the earth. If patients have obvious Water Element symptoms, such as urinary symptoms, these may have originated in the mother Element, Metal. A practitioner may treat the mother to assist the child.
Earth is the mother of Metal
Along the sheng cycle Earth hardens to create Metal. So there is a close relationship between Earth and Metal. Metal provides the minerals and nutrients that give Earth its quality and at the same time Earth creates Metal. When patients have signs and symptoms associated with the Metal Element these may be caused by imbalance in the Earth Element, the mother. For example, loose bowels or chest problems can be caused by an Earth imbalance. If the mother is the original cause, treating it will permanently help with the signs and symptoms whilst treating the Metal will have only a temporary effect.
Metal controls Wood
The Wood Element is controlled by Metal. A common symbol of this is of a metal saw cutting down a tree. If a person’s Metal Element becomes weak it can lose control of the Wood Element. The Wood Element in turn may become too strong and symptoms of fullness such as extreme anger and hostility may develop. An apparent imbalance in the Wood Element may therefore actually stem from the Metal Element.
Fire controls Metal
Fire controls Metal. It softens it and helps to shape it. When fashioning beautiful objects in gold, the gold must be heated in order to mould it to the desired shape. Should the Fire Element become deficient, then the balance of the Metal Element is harder to maintain. In this case the Lung itself is more likely to weaken, fail to distribute protective qi and fail to receive qi from the Heavens.
The key Metal resonances (Table 17.1)
The colour for Metal is white
The character for white
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The character for white is bai (Weiger, 1965, lesson 88A). This character describes the sun which has just appeared in the sky. This represents the dawn in China where the Eastern sky has become white.
| Colour | White |
| Sound | Weeping |
| Emotion | Grief |
| Odour | Rotten |
Colour in life
The colour for Metal is white. In the West people often wear black clothes or a black armband when someone dies. In contrast, in the East white is worn as an outward manifestation of the grieving process. The ‘celebration of the white’ is a three-day funeral party. Wreaths are placed outside the entrance of the home and over the three-day period, which is the established time for the passing of the dead, the guests eat, drink, play mah-jong and talk (Zhang and Rose, 2000, p. 73).
Facial colour
A white colour manifests on the face when the Metal Element is chronically out of balance. This colour usually appears under and beside the eyes. Unlike a simple paleness or lack of a healthy pink, white often appears ‘shiny’ with the colour appearing almost off the face. It is not just the paleness of ‘lack of red’, but a distinct colour in its own right.
The sound for Metal is weeping
The character for weeping
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The character for weeping is qi (Weiger, 1965, lessons 125A and 1F). This character is made up of two parts. The first represents water (shui). The second part describes a man standing on the ground (li). Together these two radicals represent a person weeping or sobbing.
Weeping in life
This voice tone is based on an emotionally expressive but non-verbal sound, that of weeping or crying. These expressions are normally associated with loss or grieving so the ‘sound’ resonates with the emotion of Metal, which is grief. Metal CFs often have difficulty expressing their grief and it then remains locked inside their chest. If practitioners hear their patients expressing a weeping sound when the conversation is totally unrelated to loss, this may be labelled inappropriate weeping and could indicate that the patient is a Metal CF.
When sadness is induced or arises, the intensity of the weep can be indicative of the extent that the Element is out of balance.
The voice tone of weeping
It is easier to demonstrate a sound, through a recording or mimicking, than a verbal description. The weeping sound has, however, some distinctive characteristics. There is a hint that the person speaking with a weep might easily begin to cry or weep in the ordinary sense. Sometimes there is a slight faltering in the words, almost a choking back, as the person struggles to stop the underlying emotion breaking through. There is also a weakness or lack of density in the voice and it may trail off at the end of a sentence.
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