According to Classical Chinese symbolism, spring is associated with the qualities of wood 木 (mù) and the Liver organ network. This means that the energetic gestures behind these facets are practically synonymous.
Spring is the awakening of a new cycle of life. Life shed its dying parts in autumn and charged itself deep within its own resources in the winter time. It is now ready to emerge at the surface, activating as fresh life after a season of dormancy. Similarly, the Wood element gestures the ascension of yang; the impulse of life that arises as things are being born into existence. It is strong, assured and resilient as it rises into new form, carrying with it the unadulterated, concentrated charge it has collected beneath the surface. It is the energy of a plant bursting out of a seed, breaking through its external barrier to assert itself as a growing life form. Wood is anything in nature or in ourselves that ascends upward.
The tree is a symbol of the Wood element. Just as trees withstand all types of weather, Wood is resilient. Trees are hardy; they are mini-ecosystems in themselves as different bugs and animals use them as shelter or food. They are a source of strength for those who take solace in them to rest or escape prey. As it endures different seasons, a tree remains rooted in its source; it is driven by nutrients in the water rising through its roots beneath the surface. Likewise, Wood carries forth the intelligent structure of Water into the creation of new life. As its roots deepen below, a tree expands itself upward, lengthening and spreading its branches outward, reaching towards the light of the sun. Wood is a vessel between Water, which descends below and Fire, which expands above.
Water naturally moves to the lowest positions, to the deepest crevices beneath the surface. Through the roots of a tree, water is carried upward, moving against its natural direction. Wood is the element that can successfully do this: move things in a different direction than what they are accustomed to without evaporating them completely. This is possible because of the strength and power innate to the Wood element.
The organ network associated with Wood is the Liver. The Liver is a massively resilient organ that packs strength and force behind it; the physical Liver is the only organ capable of regenerating itself. Yet it does get bogged down by excess – stress in the form of cortisol, alcohol, or an overabundance of caffeine. The secondary organ network that belongs to Wood, the Gallbladder, is the organ network that can cut through “phlegm,” and excess dampness in our body. In other words, it is the organ that cuts through all the blurry bullsh*t and reconnects us with who we are.
The orifice of the Liver is the eyes. Unlike the ears which can hear from all directions at once, the eyes can only look in one direction at a time. Wood is not formless like Water; it is clear and straightforward in its expression. Wood mirrors our ability to get out of ambiguity and hone in on a specific route forward. It is unafraid of choosing a clear path and following through with it. Water engenders Wood. Will lives inside of Water, and Wood asserts our will forth unto the world. It is the gesture of planning, making decisions, and stepping forward with their execution. For better or for worse, any moment we enter into an extreme workaholic focus, this is an expression of the Liver. When the Wood element is intact with the wisdom of its own energy reserves found in Water, it is discerning: it knows when it is appropriate to advance and when it is appropriate to retreat.
A rigid branch will snap in strong winds, but one that is flexible and fluid will sway without breaking. In its unobstructed expression, the Wood element is tender. It is through this tenderness that it is able to project such resilience. When the qi of our Liver is disharmonious, we are unyielding, inflexible, easily irritated, stuck in tunnel vision, and move rigidly throughout life. When it is flexible, we move through the world with greater ease and a capacity for discomfort and change that plays out differently than the fixed images of what we envisioned. In the body, when the Liver qi is not rooted in the substance of the blood, its expression can become chaotic, traveling to empty spaces causing internal “wind” – tremors, spasms, convulsions, or even seizures. The Liver plays a huge role in the smooth processing of our emotions, as well as the smooth flow of qi throughout our entire being. Flexibility within Wood is not possible if not nourished by the soft and malleable nature of its mother, the Water element. The state of our Wood element shows up in our sinews. When it is rigid, our iliotibial band is tough and taut, or we might literally have a difficult time grasping things, clumsily dropping objects and getting frustrated as we do.
The Liver is our internal warrior and Wood represents the righteous assertion of our being. Like a bud bursting out of a seed, Wood breaks through external barriers. It represents all that arises in themes of power: courage and cowardice, action and inaction, anger and irritation, rigidity and flexibility, stubbornness and tenderness, assertion and oppression. Anger, harm, hurting others, and even killing are all expressions of constrained Wood. Anger can be destructive if we don’t know what to do with it, but sometimes beneath anger is our inner agency that yearns for freedom of expression. Beneath suppressed anger is the righteous assertion of who we are which is sure of itself and can move forward without getting caught up in dampness, confusion, or what others think. Warrior energy has its righteous place. Acting when angry is not always fruitful, holding onto anger often hurts ourselves and rigidly projecting it onto others can certainly cause harm, but letting it come up and move through our system is healthy, honest and often propels us into clarity of action or more space and agency in our being. Screaming, punching pillows, writing our anger out freely, and shaking our bodies are all healthy expressions of anger.
Wood can get dampened down by anything that has obscured us from who we are and what we stand for. Every time we avoid expressing our truth in order to keep the peace, this is a gesture of the Metal element restraining Wood. If it becomes a cumulative pattern, qi gets knotted in our throats, dampness transforms into turbid fluid expressed as brain fog, forgetfulness, and blurry memory down the road as the Gallbladder stores latent expressions as dormant potential.
Wood speaks to the courage, confidence and resilience in ourselves that is both deeply rooted in our natural reserves, and in open adherence to the clarity of our Heart Fire. Reclaiming Wood in its unobstructed nature is the reclamation of our innate resilience and power that serves our creative expression. We cannot express our righteous agency when we are dampened down to it, when we are out of contact with it, when we do not know what it is to embody it. Likewise we cannot live freely when we are held down by external forces, and at times it is necessary to stand up against those forces and break through the oppressive barriers that hold us back from living out our righteous assertion of being.
Behind the nurturance of Wood is the wisdom in Water that life is never rigid or stagnant but dynamic and fluid as it continuously moves beyond the confines of a fixed structure. The past and future literally do not exist right now; within each moment lives a fresh potential for creation; a constellation of various untapped directions of expression awaiting our initiatory stimulus. Within us is the power to choose and initiate this direction of creative transformation, the power to create new paths and if necessary, to move through the internal or external barriers that hold power over us in whatever form so that we can live them out.
When our internal Wood element is healthy and unconstrained, we are confident, forward-moving, materialize our plans and have a clear image of who we are and what we stand for without stepping over those around us. When it is flowing freely, Wood is dynamic, curious, growth-oriented and yearns to expand. Spring is a time to take action, to ascend into the world after a restful and rejuvenating winter. We now have more qi to extend ourselves outward, to explore, to rewrite our story into this new cycle of life, to initiate creative expression, to move through barriers, to act out what we love, to walk down new paths. Yang is the most young, unadulterated, fertile and open to possibilities that it will be throughout the entire year. What will you make of this potent creative potential?