Connecting to the Earth element is very important because it helps us to adapt and integrate all the changes we have undergone. Earth brings sweetness, balance, patience and concentration. Collectively we need to increase our Earth qualities. If you look around at the world right now, we are in a lot of deficit – there are food and fuel shortages and the cost of living is rocketing. The way to handle these extremes is to try to find the middle ground. Take only what we need, give back what we don’t. This works on an individual as well as a collective level. The Earth power comes from within. It enables us to set up our own grounds and boundaries, knowing what is acceptable to us and what is not, and how much we need to look after ourselves and others.

The quest for health is really a search for balance, and the Earth element is about ‘everything in moderation’, or, as the Greeks say, ‘Pan Metron Ariston’.  In a world where we are exposed to an over-abundance of information, quick pleasures (such as Instagram shopping) and fast communication, keeping a sense of proportion, consuming wisely, remaining centred in the midst of chaos and striving for clear, transparent communication are fundamentals we can all aim for. As Heraclitus said, ‘much knowledge does not teach us understanding.’ When we are centred and balanced, we can digest and adapt to the changes required of us in a sweet way. We can come back to ourselves, knowing who we are – neither victim not perpetrator – and find a moment of peace.