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May 22 through May 28, 2023

"Alright, alright, alright!", isn’t just a famous line from the movie Dazed and Confused, it’s also a great theme for this week of cool vibes and some easy-going days. With all the planetary changes for the month completed, we can move forward with confidence and grace, even if we aren’t 100% sure where we’re headed. Treating each day as a new adventure and being open to whatever happens is definitely the way to cruise through the week. A Cancer Moon hangs overhead Monday and Tuesday, casting a calm if somewhat ethereal air around. We may not get much done but our focus should be on interpersonal relationships, creature comforts, and taking things easy. The Moon travels through Leo Wednesday through Friday, asking us to focus on ourselves and our own personal needs. Of course, we’ll be available if someone needs our help, but for the most part, being selfish is not a liability under the Leo Moon. After a week of just "being," the Virgo Moon will bring us back to earth and reality on Saturday and Sunday. But hey! Wasn’t it fun while it lasted?

Are You the Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, or Metal Element? Introducing the Personality Test You Didn’t Know You Needed, by Tisha Morris

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Personality tests are a multi-million-dollar industry with a continued growth rate of 10% to 15% annually. According to the Harvard Business Review, it's common for employers to require workers to take personality assessments to identify who to hire and how they can best collaborate and work as a team member. In the post-pandemic era, personality tests are likely to only increase as more workers move to remote working. In such work environments, a personality test may be the best indicator of one's personality and work style.

The Myers-Briggs test developed in the 1960s has continued to be the most popular personality assessment test in the workplace and for interpersonal use. Now, we have a multitude of personality systems with which to define ourselves, such as astrology, human design, and the enneagram. However, the Five Elements based in ancient Taoism is arguably the earliest of all personality indicators.

The Five Elements were first introduced in the ancient text, known as the I Ching, or Book of Changes, as the foundational building blocks of everything that exists. They were not originally viewed in terms of the individual until thousands of years later when Chinese Medicine applied the Five Elements for purposes of medical diagnoses. Chinese Medicine used the Five Elements to determine an imbalance in the organ systems, which we now know as Acupuncture.

It was after Chinese Medicine migrated to the West when the Five Elements were also used as a system for individual personality types. While there is no exact marker for when this evolution took place, it most likely occurred as a result of the depth psychology movement spearheaded by psychoanalyst Carl Jung. In fact, Carl Jung looked to the I Ching as a guide for the archetypes that became a significant part of his work.

Considering that the field of psychology was developed only 150 years ago and only became mainstream approximately fifty years ago, we've had a relatively short amount of time in our evolution to consider who we are, what we want, and what makes us happy. Until then, the individual ego that gives rise to one's personality was not examined to the extent it is today.

Perhaps our fascination with ourselves can be attributed to having more options than ever in choosing what career or relationship is best for us, particularly for women who were historically exempt from such choices. It's now rare to commit to one career or one person and stick with it for the rest of our life. The pursuit of what will make us happy is not as easy as it seems and takes self-inquiry to help find what will bring us satisfaction.

You may be wondering what makes The Five Elements different from the other personality systems. The Five Elements consist of Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal, which exist as the cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth in nature. According to Taoist philosophy, everything on the planet consists of the Five Elements, including us humans. It's the one system that doesn't separate us with all living or non-living beings. We are all a microcosm of the Universe, a mini-Universe, so to speak, and thus all connected. And yet we all have our unique concentration of the Five Elements.

At our base, we all share these core energies. Our individuality is expressed with each one of us having a slightly different concentration of each element. In other words, we all have the same recipe, just a different amount of each ingredient. For example, some people have more yang energy, meaning they embody more Wood or Fire elements, while others are naturally more yin and thus embody more Metal or Water elements. This individual makeup of energy will play a role in one's physical characteristics, energy level, and even personality traits. Some people may have a high concentration in one element, while someone else may be more evenly balanced among all five elements.

Not only do we each have our own Five Elements constitution that makes us unique, but your profile may change as you go through different phases and experiences in your life. Knowing that we fit into a category can be comforting, but it can also be limiting to the full breadth of who we are and who we can become. Instead of stuffing yourself in a box, you can truly be all categories by what you put your attention on. Thus, the Five Elements allows expansion of ourselves.

By reading the following elemental descriptions, you'll probably glean some insight as to which elements you are stronger and weaker in. Usually, there are one or two elements that feel natural to us and at least one element that feels foreign or challenging. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses can be an invaluable tool in understanding yourself in work and relationships. While the full characteristics of the elements are beyond the scope of this article, the following descriptions provide a quick look at each element as personality types.

Water Element: The Water Element is the Philosopher. They are quiet and typically introverted, and yet so unassuming. They hold a quiet strength. They may seem fragile at times, but they are anything but weak. They are deeply creative, contemplative, and introspective. They will most likely be the ones to figure out the key to world peace or an invention that saves climate change. It will be up to the other elements however to implement it.

Wood Element: The Wood Element is the Pioneer. They are the leaders, inventors, seekers, and visionaries. They will take the lead in groups and take action steps to create movement in projects. They can easily vacillate between being introverted and extroverted depending on what a situation calls for. For example, they can work solo on creating a new business or work well with groups. Wood elements keep things in forward motion and their challenge is to know when to contract their energy or take a step back.

Fire Element: The Fire Element is the Manifestor. They are high energy and generally extroverted. They are often the life of the party and enjoy life. Like a flame, they create the highest expression of energy in the form of enthusiasm and passion. Fire elements provide the fuel in projects in order that they manifest in its highest and truest form. While the idea may have been born with the Water element, and the Wood element provided forward motion, it is the Fire element that brings something to full culmination.

Earth Element: The Earth Element is the Stabilizer. They are the grounding force that keeps the status quo maintained so that change doesn't happen too quickly. The Earth element is the container or stage on which we all get to play. They are highly supportive people that bring harmony to groups and help maintain the peace. Think of the Earth element as the parent that keeps harmony among the children when bickering ensues. They go out of their way to not ruffle feathers. Worry is their default emotion, especially when something seems out of their control that could lead to possible change.

Metal Element: The Metal Element is the Organizer. They are natural organizers and keep things in check and on schedule. They make great accountants, engineers, scientists, editors, architects, personal assistants, and professional organizers. They are guaranteed to be detail-oriented, focused, and precise in anything they do. They tend to cut to the chase in conversation without the need for embellishments. They also love an orderly environment with even their storage items labeled appropriately.

For a deeper dive into identifying your primary element and your missing element, you can take the Five Elements Quiz in the book, Missing Element, Hidden Strength. Once you determine your missing element, you can learn how to integrate it into your everyday life, along with all Five Elements. You'll likely find that your missing element is what has kept you from starting projects, finishing tasks, or even sticking with relationships. Once you identify it, embrace it, and embody your missing element, it will soon become your hidden strength to unlocking your full creative potential.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2022. All rights reserved.

I put an ad on an internet dating site, to which I received a lot of responses. I liked one man's name, so we emailed a bit. I was enamored with him from the start. When he sent me his picture, I got flushed, had goosebumps, and started crying uncontrollably. I felt a profound love for him even though we haven't met. I felt like I had lost him and I was so sad. I'm not sure what to do with this. He thinks I am special also. He is in the middle of reconciling with his ex, but now I am causing him to re-think that relationship. I don't want to cause him stress, but I don't want to let him go. I think I have loved him intensely in a past life. I am 50 and for the first time in my life, I feel lonely and sad. It is as if these feelings were opened up just by seeing his picture. Is this possible? If we were soul mates, would he feel the same thing? He says he has an inexplicable attraction to me and is confused about this because we haven't met. I mistrust online connections, but I want to trust this man and I want to love him.

Betty

Susyn:

I advise you to proceed with extreme caution here, for there are all sorts of different reasons this man's picture may be triggering a strong emotional response in you. When we encounter someone we have known before in a past life, the reactions you describe are common. The intense sense of familiarity we experience can bring about a dramatic psychic shift. All our thoughts, energy and focus then turn to this one person, and the more we wonder about the possibilities, the more we get caught up in our heads and forget about what's really happening in the here and now.

The danger in connecting via the internet is the tendency to assign certain characteristics to people that they simply do not possess. I have had many clients meet someone online or find themselves fascinated with a public figure they have only seen on television or in movies. The feelings they experience are very real and all-consuming. However, if they encounter the person in real life, they may discover the object of their affections is either completely unattainable or not who they professed themselves to be.

Though this may seem to discourage your hopes of loving this man, there are a few things you can do to determine this connection's true potential. While you can remain open and see where all of this leads, you will want to proceed with caution.

When soul mates are destined to come together, it's rare for the other person to remain on the fence or involved in another relationship. At this point in time, your man is obviously not finished with his ex. If the two of you are destined to be together, the feelings you have will still be there once he has completed his karma with his current relationship. Ask him not to contact you until after he is clear of this situation completely. If the connection is as you describe, he will honor this request, and it won't take long for him to finish it so that you can move forward together.

Next, you must agree to meet in person. Being with him a few times in real life will usually tell you everything you need to know. Either your connection will grow stronger, or it will quickly fall apart.

You have already invested your heart and soul in this man without even meeting him. This alone can put the relationship in jeopardy, as you are prone to forgetting yourself and putting all your focus on him. Energetically and romantically, this can smother the spark instead of fanning the flames. I encourage you to step back from these dramatic waves of emotion and allow Spirit to reveal the true purpose of this connection.

*****

Oceania:

I suspect you've been carrying deeply buried sadness all your life, and something about this man's internet persona has triggered that sadness. While this is a gift, please don't assume that the feelings are related to HIM. He is merely the key that opened a long-locked door within you. Your feelings are likely related to a profound loss that took place during your early life, like a death, divorce, new sibling who seemed to replace you or a cold and emotionally distant parent.

When someone triggers our old business, we often feel as if we've known them in a former life or for most of THIS one. We have this profound feeling of inexplicable familiarity because the person has stirred up dormant feelings from our early childhood. We may experience a sense of resonance, bittersweet longing, and an intense desire to connect with them.

If we could look at this man objectively for a moment, he seems unsettled. I might even use the word flakey, as he's in the middle of reconciling with his ex AND dabbling on a dating site! When people go fishing online while in a relationship, it's usually because they're seeking a distraction from their real life or because they unrealistically believe there's a Prince or Princess Charming out there with whom things will more easily fall into place.

While its important to choose a partner who is stable and compatible with our goals and values, a relationship mostly works or doesn't because of what we put into it, not because of whom we've chosen. I've always liked Laura Schlessinger's relationship-success formula: Choose wisely; treat kindly.

You said you don't want to cause this man stress, which sounds loving. You said you don't want to let him go, which sounds immature, self-centered and possessive. These conflicting positions show that both your adult and child selves are involved. The child in you yearns to heal the past and mistakenly thinks you need HIM in order to do so. The adult in you recognizes that love is about wishing for someone's happiness, with or without you.

It's good to move to the phone and an in-person meeting in a timely manner after making an internet connection; otherwise, you can't be sure that what you're feeling is based on reality. When the only contact is email, chat or texting, it is easy to fill in the gaps with our own idealization and fantasy. You say you want to love and trust this man. I suspect you want to love and trust SOMEONE, but no one - this gentleman included - deserves your love and trust until they earn it over time in real life.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.