Dear Vicki: I was at a class you taught on the Five Elements a few years ago and think you said that we can sometimes become a different element. Did I hear that right? I’m so tired of being an Earth and would love to change elements. How do I do that? Signed, Ready for a Change
Dear Ready: Well, that’s not exactly what I said. Our elemental makeup is woven into the fabric of our being at birth and doesn’t change. I like to think that our souls select our primary elements for what are probably very good reasons. And I’m not one to argue with my soul (at least not very often).
What I did say was that we have all five elements in our makeup, and I probably described them as clubhouses. That’s because I think of our elemental affinity as being assigned to a secret club at birth – so secret that no one tells us we belong – and we spend our life thinking, acting, and seeing the world as a member of that club. There’s a Water clubhouse, a Wood clubhouse, etc. We normally hang out in the clubhouse of our primary affiliation because it’s where we feel the most comfortable. For me, that’s the Wood clubhouse. For my husband, it’s the Metal clubhouse. For you, it’s the Earth clubhouse.
However, we can and do visit other element clubhouses from time to time. Sometimes by choice, other times life events seem to bump us into a different clubhouse to help us cope with a situation. For example, I had a period in my life years ago when several important people and animals close to me passed on. That definitely made me an honorary Metal for several months as I processed the grief. I thought like a Metal, acted like a Metal, and pretty much was a Metal for that time. And I needed to be a Metal to move through what had happened and come to a place of letting go. Woods don’t let go very well; balanced Metals excel at it.
But it doesn’t take a life event to change clubhouses for a time. We can consciously choose to visit a different clubhouse any time we need what it has to offer. For example:
Ask Vicki 