68. The Water element: 3

 A practitioner asked me to look at one of her patients 0ne day, and I found it interesting afterwards to think through what had gone on in the practice room which eventually led me on to my diagnosis of Water and away from the other elements. 

I met the patient in the reception room for a brief exchange of greetings, and observed a quickness of movement, a rapid shake of the head, and an equally rapid dart into the practice room ahead of me.  As she went to lie down, I mulled over whether this had taught me anything.  I did not feel that she had looked at me at all, and this made me put both Wood and Metal at the bottom of my pile of elements.  Wood, I felt, would have made direct eye contact with me, and Metal would have given me a feeling of somebody sharper, more defined, certainly more likely to observe me, rather than of somebody wanting to escape from my presence.  So that left Earth, Water and Fire.   

 

When she was lying on the couch I noticed that she shifted quickly away from me as I sat down next to her, and withdrew her hand as I put mine on hers.  By now, I thought, Earth would have snuggled into the couch, and would be holding my hand tightly as though drawing me towards her.  There was none of that feeling here. So what about Fire or Water?  She smiled warmly, laughed quite a lot, perhaps a little too much, but failed to continue to warm me after the smiling stopped, as I would have felt with Fire. 

 

So now I was left with one element, Water, and at last I could feel things falling into place.  I observed my own reactions, and noticed that I was surprisingly unsure of myself, as if I didn’t know quite what to ask and what approach to take, a sign of the nervousness Water tends to make  me feel, as a projection of its own anxiety.  Added to this, I could see signs of fear in the rapid eye movements as she glanced quickly at me and away again.  And, finally, I thought that I could smell something wet in the room, which is my own way of experiencing Water’s smell.  On colour and sound I got no particular feedback to help me.

 

So with Water we started our treatment.  What I suggested was very simple, but as always, profound, because I had first to clear a Husband/Wife imbalance.  Then I ended with the source points of Water.  She looked different as she left, showing that indefinable difference which is often the only evidence we may have at the end of treatment that a patient’s guardian element is revelling in receiving the treatment it needs.