Towards the end of summer there comes a point when things stop growing and start ripening. The fields turn gold, fruit hangs heavy on the trees and the days feel settled, almost suspended. Chinese medicine gives this in-between time a name of its own. It's called late summer, and it's the season of the Earth element.
If you grew up with four seasons, the idea of a fifth can seem odd. So let's start there.
Why five seasons?
Chinese medicine groups the natural world into five elements, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Four of them sit neatly with the four seasons, with Wood in spring, Fire in summer, Metal in autumn and Water in winter. That leaves Earth.
The Huangdi Neijing, the classic text of Chinese medicine, gives two answers, and both are still in use today.
- A fifth season. Chapter 22 of the Suwen matches the five organs to five seasons: the liver to spring, the heart to summer, the spleen to chang xia, often translated "long summer" or "late summer", the lungs to autumn and the kidneys to winter. Seen this way, late summer is a season in its own right, sitting between the height of summer and the start of autumn.
- The turn of every season. Chapter 29 takes a different line. Here the spleen, which belongs to Earth, governs the centre and doesn't rule any one season alone. Instead it holds sway for eighteen days at the end of each of the four seasons.
Zhai Shuangqing of the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine has set the two passages side by side. Put simply, Earth is either the ripening pause at the end of summer, or the pivot at every change of season. In Five Element acupuncture, the style I practise, practitioners usually speak of late summer, while remembering that Earth is also the centre the other seasons turn around.
What about chapter 2?
You might expect the Neijing's famous chapter on the seasons, Suwen chapter 2, to include late summer. It doesn't. Its advice covers spring, summer, autumn and winter only, and in the translation by Paul Unschuld and Hermann Tessenow (University of California Press, 2011) each section begins "The three months of..." followed by the season.
What the chapter does offer are two principles for the whole year. The sages, in the original Chinese, "nourish yang in spring and summer and nourish yin in autumn and winter", so as to follow the root of things. The chapter also holds one of the best-known lines in Chinese medicine, that the sages did not treat illness that had already arisen, but "treated what was not yet ill" (both are my own literal renderings of the Chinese). As the hinge between the growing and the gathering halves of the year, late summer is a natural moment to think about that kind of steady, everyday care.
The Earth element
In chapter 5 of the Suwen, the centre produces damp, damp produces Earth, and Earth is linked with the sweet taste and the spleen. The same passage pairs Earth with the colour yellow, the sound of singing and the emotion the Chinese text calls si, often translated as thought or pensiveness.
Five Element acupuncture usually calls Earth's emotion sympathy. The tradition connects Earth with nourishment and care, often in motherly terms. It's about being able to support other people and, just as importantly, being able to accept support yourself.
Living with late summer
A few ideas, in the spirit of the tradition:
- Enjoy the harvest. Late summer is about ripeness. Pick fruit, visit a market or cook something with what's in season.
- Keep a steady rhythm. Earth is the centre. Regular mealtimes, regular sleep and a little routine can feel grounding as the year turns.
- Take stock. Before autumn arrives, it can help to notice what has grown for you this year.
- Let yourself be looked after. If you're always the one caring for others, late summer is a good moment to accept a little care in return.
A settled hour
Many people find a Five Element acupuncture session a calm, grounding hour, and the change of season is a natural time to book one. I'll take time to talk with you and tailor the treatment to you.
To see how the tradition views each season as the year turns, have a look at my Five Element seasonal calendar.