The METAL ELEMENT is the AUTUMN SEASON. It is the decent into Yin. You can feel it, that melancholy time when the days are getting shorter, the air is dry and the sunlight sparkles like crystals as nature’s abundance is dying off. Preparation for Winter and rest is beginning.

In nature, the Autumn Season is the time when animals are preparing for hibernation. The plant world is changing as the sap returns to the roots of trees the leaves fall and the vegetable gardens die as the sunlight and warmth fade away. It is the time of letting go for nature. The time when the growth and productivity of Spring and Summer turn to the retreat and storing of reserves in Autumn and Winter. Energy goes inward filling our reservoirs, gathering and collecting the various forms of chi.

The Metal Element officials are the LUNGS, minister to the Heart and the LARGE INTESTINE, the Great Eliminator. The LUNGS receive the heavenly chi. The LARGE INTESTINE let’s go of what in no longer useful. The METAL Element is our barometer for knowing what is truly valuable and for the quality of our self worth. People with Metal imbalances may be hoarders and collectors of all kinds of junk. Or perhaps they are collectors of fine art, jewelry or money and think those things are what make them valuable.

The direction of the Metal Element is West, the color is White, the sound is weeping and the smell is rotten. These markers are the body’s way of showing us where the problems are first showing up. The virtue of the Metal is the ability to change. Think of a sword. Melt it down and reshape the metal into a cup. Change is valuable.