4 of Earth
The 4 of Earth invites us to explore preservation, conservation, and resourcefulness. What do these concepts look like in the material world in their fullest expression- when grown in a place of love? And what do they look like when they are rooted in fear?
From love: We conserve resources to protect or create something we care deeply about. We consider the common good and our contributing role. We preserve our energy as we know where it can best be used. We create healthy limits and boundaries that encourage long-term growth: both for the individual, AND the collective we created awareness around in the 3 of Earth. We believe there is enough to go around. We believe WE are enough (simply, as we are).
From fear: We do not trust, so we do not share. We fear we will lose what is ours and ours only, so we shut down, shut others out, and cling to whatever perpetuates our illusion of security and status. These are often possessions, or markers of our physical identity- the things society tells us are most important. We fear there is not enough to go around. We fear that WE are not enough (especially without our “things”).
We are fed many messages in a broken, disconnected, classist and capitalist system that encourage wealth+resource hoarding, and competition. We say things like “Every man for himself.”, or “It’s a dog eat dog world”.
We must work to rewire ourselves and this old, tired system. That process begins in examining the place which we operate from.
Is it Abundance or Scarcity?
Enoughness or Not-Enoughness?
4 of Air
We must learn when to rest.
We must learn when to say no.
We must learn to choose our battles, and even more importantly- choose our mental health over battles not worth our precious time and energy.
We must not get so caught up in the muck, and in the fight that we forget to breathe.
To recalibrate.
To recharge.
To regenerate.
To find our center and stay there for awhile, to safely tuck that feeling into our memory so that we will not soon forget it, when the inevitable time comes to pick up where we left off.
A Few Loving Reminders:
Being held will not hold us back.
Self love is not selfish.
Taking time for ourselves will not slow us down.
Pain, expectations, obligations and a society that screams for us to ACT NOW, GO FASTER, and KEEP UP all become very loud- and often we lose the ability to differentiate between the myriad voices vying for our attention.
We forget the last time it was quiet.
Now is the time to seek that place out.
If we won’t make the choice to lay down, trust that an external force will likely do the job for us- and not quite as gently.
It is perfectly natural, and highly encouraged to just s t o p, every now and then. Whatever we wish to rush ahead for, whether the times be better or worse, will always wait for us on the other side.
Stillness is an option, now. Be here, stay here.
