Fire

The fire in human beings is like summer time. Everything opens up, is oriented towards the outside and enjoys the living nature. The summer is the time for playfulness, for invitations, renewing old friendship and making new contacts.

The archetype of the fire personality is the alchemist who know about the characteristics of things and who combines contrasting forms to produce something new. The transformation of lead into gold on the level of material or the essence into the spirit on innerhuman scale is part of the process towards the ideal new human being carrying Dao inside.

Fire is related to the season summer with its heat and to the direction South. Its planet is of course the red Mars.

People with the main element fire prefer a bitter taste, their smell is scorched and their favourite colour is red and/or purple. They like birds as animals and their domestic animals are sheep. Their corn is proso millet, their fruit apricot, their vegetable ipomoea aquatica. Their number before their birth is 2 and after their birth it is 7. 

Their emotion is enthusiasm, even hysteria and joyfulness and their voice expresses itself in laughter. Their spontaneous behaviour is caring and glowing up brightly, which might be burning and roasting in exceeding cases. In social interaction they like good manners and rituals (as bonds between people).

In the body the element fire is related to the heart and the small intestine whose opening towards the outside is the tongue combined with the sweat. It shows its splendour in the face. The blood and the vessels are responsible for the expression towards the outside world.

A warm body and a regular flood of blood guarantee for a warm touch, the face and the eyes are beaming with a healthy heart.

The sun is a good antidepressive, helping our emotions to express themselves, joy as a principle of life. The fire inside conveys comfort and caring love, a natural desire for fusion especially in summer is a sign for a healthy fire element.

The element fire gives our thoughts direction and lucidity, spirit and inspiration. Ideas and plans mature to full blossom. In order to sort out the unimportant from the good ideas, the heart has got the small intestine as its best helper. It is the small intestine (Yang aspect in the fire) that differenciates and separates the clear substances from the dull, filthy ones. It helps us find out what is good and important for us.

All expressions related to the heart reflect the impact on the human being: the feeling of belonging to the big whole comes from the deepest of our hearts and conveys strength and sense to our lives. We keep loved ones close to our hearts and easily consider warmhearted people as our friends. People with the main element fire easily make friends with other people, love a good laughter with them and always find a creative way to be on the bright side of life.

Udo Lorenzen / Andreas Noll, Die Wandlungsphasen der traditionellen chinesischen Medizin, Band 4, 2002 München

Let's play: