J. R. Worsley on Summer and the Fire Element

I’ve excerpted and edited this from “Classical Five-Element Acupuncture, Vol III, The Five Elements and The Officials” by J. R. Worsley, one of the earliest Western acupuncture teachers and a primary mentor of Dr. Fritz Smith, the founder of Zero Balancing.

“The Fire Element follows the Wood Element on the “cycle of creation” in Chinese medicine, just as summer naturally follows spring. The Fire Element following the hopes, plans and work of spring is rather that of the future becoming real, the stage of the cycle which sees our hopes and dreams fulfilled.

The Fire Element is about the present. Time stands still in the heat of summer. The sun rises high in the sky and everything reaches its peak of bloom and brilliance. When the spring has been successful we can see the crops in the soil and fruits ripening on the branch ready for the harvest time, and there is nothing more to be done than to relax and enjoy the warmth. After the hard work of the spring we feel a lightness of the spirit and a sense of freedom. Now we have the time to enjoy this wonderful feeling and share it with our friends.

The love and joy which are an expression of the Fire Element in us are two of the greatest gifts it is possible to receive. Both are a manifestation in us of the highest point which Qi energy reaches in its ceaseless cycle. Each Element has a peak in the year when we re-charge our own batteries with its pure essence. The gifts of the Fire Element are the high point of the year’s own peak; the energy which we take from here will warm us for the whole of the year to come. Without this essence of Fire in the summer the rest of the year would be dark and spiritless.

The love which we receive from the Fire Element bathes every part of our lives. It fires our spirit and gives us an inner communion with God’s love, allowing us to share in the spirit which pervades everything in the universe. It flows through our relationships with our partners, our families and our friends, and it is the power by which we transform ourselves and one another. It feeds our relationship and enables us to feel at one with people we happen to meet, even with people whom pass in the street. There is no greater joy to be had than to be able to walk down the street and feel warmth and love for all the people who pass by. It enables us to set aside the petty jealousies and prejudices which blight our lives and to reach the heart of everyone.

For practitioners it is vital to reach inside for this love, the essence of the Fire Element, and to find a connection with it when we work with patients. For however unlovable some of them may seem, however unpleasant some of them may actually be, this essence exists within them too at some deep level. It is the certain knowledge that this is so which should hearten and inspire us to seek to reach that level within ourselves and within them.

J. R. Worsley