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HEALING WITH THE SEASONS.

SOIL.

We continue our study with the SOIL season as this begins around August 1st.

According to the Five Transformation Theory, The Spirit of Late Summer creates the state of transformation called Soil and it says:

"From the CENTER creates HUMIDITY; HUMIDITY nourishes the SOIL,

The Forces of the EARTH create HUMIDITY in Heaven and the FERTILE SOIL on Earth.

They create the STOMACH organ and The FLESH within the body...

And the MOUTH, and the YELLOW color, and the SWEET flavor...

The emotion SYMPATHY and the ability to SING."

This is from the Nei Ching (Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine) as reported in Naboru Muramoto's classic, "Healing Ourselves". It goes on to say about the STOMACH;

"The stomach nourishes the flesh, and the flesh protects the lungs; the stomach rules over the mouth."

"Extreme sympathy(worry) is injurious to the stomach, but anger counteracts sympathy."

"Too much sour flavor in food endangers the spleen and stomach, and 'the flesh hardens and wrinkles and the skin becomes slack'".

Classification by The Five Transformation Theory:

As stated, the Soil Season begins traditionally around August 1, although I believe this is not the case everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere; the local geography and topology of the place where we live will mean the date when the change takes place will be different for different localities. Thus we each need to be attentive to the changes occurring in nature to find out when the change takes place where we live. What we are attempting to do is harmonize our blood quality with that of the seasonal changes and since the cycle of the red blood cells circulating in the bloodstream is four months (120 days), we need to begin introducing those foods which are strengthening to the spleen/pancreas and stomach, (since the spleen/pancreas is considered one organ and is the complementary paired organ of the stomach) approximately four months ahead of the date the season changes from the Fire Season (Summer; Heart and Small Intestine) to Late Summer.

The important point to grasp is during the Soil Season (Late Summer) the atmospheric chi/etheric dynamics are focused (obviously ALL the states of Transformation of chi/etheric forces are active all year round) on the stomach and spleen/pancreas and those tissues and senses related to them in such a way that they are being strengthened, cleansed and harmonized in their structure and activities. This means if those organs are toxic and stagnated (which is necessarily the case if we are eating the modern "meat and chemicals" diet) then the strengthening and cleansing of them by the Soil state of Transformation will be manifested as symptoms indicating those organs are being detoxified - sore mouth, flu-like symptoms, tiredness, (especially between the hours of 8.00AM -Noon), fever, worry, doubt and skepticism, headaches, yellowish tinge to the skin, stomach ache and feeling of upset stomach.

Of course if we get these symptoms often and throughout the course of the year, this means the spleen/pancreas and stomach and related tissues and senses are chronically toxic, which is hardly surprising since most people eat the modern "meat and chemicals" diet all the year round and year in and year out and have done so since they were born.

This of course means there are further symptoms indicating a more chronic condition of Soil Disease and these include poor stomach digestion like acid stomach, belching, chronic irritability manifesting as ulcers and vomiting and parasitical infections in the stomach. Also poor sugar metabolism meaning among other symptoms we are always hungry and have a craving for sugar-rich foods, we alsways tend to feel tired and have the 'sugar blues'. Diabetes and hypoglycemia have their origin in spleen/pancreas. Also stomach pain, 'heartburn', indigestion etc.. The complexion of the face and skin generally is either pale yellow to yellow-red.

The emotional/psychological symptoms of Soil Disease include worry, doubt, skepticism, cynicism, jealousy as well as being suspicious, being overly obsessive and in the more yin expression, self-pity.

Now, all these symptoms can be cleared up by going a macrobiotic dietary program and doing ginger compresses on the abdomen.

The main foods which cause damage to the spleen/pancreas and stomach include fruits, milk and milk products like butter, ice cream etc., any food with a high sugar content like fruit juices, sodas, sports drinks, also refined white flour products, as well as those foods which are extreme yang like meat, table salt, dried foods like chips etc. This list is pretty much the same for all the organs but emphasis must be put on sugary foods, sweets, sugary drinks, and other strong tasting sweet foods like fruit juices and sports drinks, which are particularly harmful to the spleen/pancreas, as are foods with a high animal fat content. So, necessarily, we need to avoid eating these in order to lessen the stress on the spleen-pancreas/stomach.

Summarizing the foods which actively weaken and damage the heart and small intestine:

refined salt.

animal protein and fats.

foods with simple sugar content- dairy products like milk, ice cream, cream; alcohol; all fruits.

all foods and drinks with refined sugar content- soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks.

all refined, processed foods, including refined flour products.

all cold producing foods like raw food, salads.

all spicy, hot foods.

any alcohol.

It occurred to me while writing this that I have never mentioned the whole realm of drugs, whether they be narcotics, hallucinogens, medications including pharmaceutical drugs, antibiotics, anthelmintics etc., or vitamin and trace element supplements and the so-called "super foods" like blue-green algae, spirulina, chlorella etc. All these without exception are toxic to all the organs, but especially the liver, as well the small intestines and kidneys and it is definitely highly recommended that people wean themselves off these at the earliest opportunity. However, since many of these drugs are extremely powerful it is only recommended this is done under the guidance of someone with several years of macrobiotic experience and knowledge.

We also need to start on a macrobiotically oriented and informed dietary practice and one of the fundamental insights derived from the Five Transformation Theory is we begin introducing those foods which are also manifestations of Soil state of transformation. The following is a menu which is specifically designed to strengthen and harmonize the functions of the spleen-pancreas and stomach, and therefore also the mouth, the flesh and the digestion in the stomach.

Click on the link to go to a MENU for strengthening Soil.

Comments or questions can be sent to the address below as I check this address every few weeks. Please mention Alchemycal Pages in the subject line. Thank you. Patricia

kaareb@mac.com