Emotion: Grief and Loss
Season: Autumn
Struggle with: Loss
Need: Respect
Strength: Honest and Reliable
Organs: Lungs and Large Intestine

The nature of metal is strength, is it is consistent and reliable. Metal is precious and extremely useful because of these traits, along with its ability to be shaped, worked and manipulated. Metal can be as sharp as a blade and as beautiful as gold. It is used to protect us and contain us. In its rawest form trace metal in the soil feed the very functioning of growth and life itself.

The organs of Metal are the lungs and the large intestine. These are the only two organs that are actually in direct contact with the world. Breath comes into the lungs from outside of the body and the LI evacuates what is no longer needed. Therefore, Metals are actually extremely vulnerable, both to physical attack from the outside world, and emotional affronts from other people. On a physical level this means that it is the lungs that are in charge of the defensive Qi of the body, which circulates just under the surface of the skin protecting us from the extremes of the weather and various contaminates and bugs. Emotionally the inherent vulnerability of the lungs tends to lead to similar ‘protective shields’ being thrown up often at a very young age.

The emotion associated with Metal is grief and loss. This make more sense when we realise that the season of Metal is autumn. Autumn is the time when the leaves fall from the trees and their sap flows back down ready for winter. It is both the end of the cycle and also the beginning, as the decomposing leaves add their trace elements back into the soil. For us humans this letting go can be more difficult, troubled as we are by associations and emotions. The major role of the Large Intestine is to make the final decision on what the body should keep and what it should discard and on a mental and emotional level for Metals this can become very difficult. They may feel grief about lost items that are not really of great significance but be unable to allow themselves to feel losses that are far more profound.

The function of the Lungs in both Western and Chinese medicine is to receive nourishment from the air around us. Western medicine talks about oxygen exchange in the blood, but Chinese medicine refers to this same process as receiving heavenly Qi. The Lungs are the only organ that is fed by such intangible and ephemeral stuff and this intimate connection with 'heaven' often feeds a need in them to understand.

Through life this residual grief can lead Metals to begin to feel that they are missing something. They may doubt themselves and can’t quite believe that they contain the “nuggets of gold” that they see in others. Metals often describe a feeling of ‘something being missing’ in them. This feeling often creates a drive, either to achieve according to societies parameters – by becoming very ambitious, successful and wealthy, or to find a deeper meaning in their lives that gives it some value beyond the hum drum.

What ever path they choose the motivating desire for Metal is the same – the need to feel successful, valuable and respected and within that, to be able to value and respect themselves. They often find it hard to fully take in respect – it is as though they are unable to breath it in deeply enough, but this is what they must learn to do it they are to feel at peace.

If we look at metal within nature this need for respect begins to make sense. Metal is precious and rare and it is also a tiny fraction of the ‘stuff’ the earth is made from – nevertheless, it is vital. Without the trace elements such as iron, zinc, copper, magnesium and nickel in the soil healthy growth is impossible – and that means life itself is impossible.

To be a Metal is to find yourself in a very precarious place, between life and death and heaven and earth. This is precisely why these people are given the inner strength and durability of Metal to support themselves. Healthy Metal is vital for growth: physical, emotional and spiritual, and Metal types need to learn to value themselves as much as those around them do, and realise just how precious they are.