I Attempt to Map My Creative/Healing Process Into A "Little" Circle Graph

Bwahahahahaha! I'm cute. I'm funny. Let's decipher it, shall we?

…The System is my whole-life practice for balancing health, work, passions, connections...internal and external life...the things I want to do vs. the things I need to do in order to be my best self and enjoy my life.

PLEASE DON’T FEEL OVERWHELMED. This is just a quick overview to show you the kind of stuff we’ll be diving into. Deciphering these circle graphs, Element by Element, satellite by satellite, is why I gave this System its own Stack.

~Excerpt from:

It Started As a Perfectly Innocent Dance Teaching System...Then It Spawned

The HarteBeast System by Isidora Hart ©️2015. Start at Earth, follow arrows, rinse-repeat.

Base level practices of The Hartebeast System by Isidora Hart ©️2015.

I don’t mind if you screenshot these for your own reference, or even if you share them. Just please link back here and properly attribute their creator: my stage name, Isidora Hart. And if you do share them with friends you think would like this System, then by all means, encourage them to come play with us here!

To begin understanding what you’re looking at in that solar system graph, the five satellite positions orbit around each Element in the same circular pattern as the initial 5 Elements graph we started with.

• Earth position (very bottom): Primary Body Parts of the Element

• Air position (bottom left): Energetic or Spiritual Essence of the Element

• Fire position (top left): Emotional Components of the Element

• Water position (top right): Creed or Mental Focus of the Element

• Metal position (bottom right): Primary Modality of the Element

For example:

Earth Module base practices of the Hartebeast System by Isidora Hart ©️2015 - Begin at Flesh & Bone, work clockwise, move onto Air.

• Start with the green satellite on the very bottom under Earth. "Flesh & Bone" is in the Earth position of the Earth Element: the Body position of the Body-based element of Earth.* Earth’s Energetic or Spiritual Essence—in other words, the way its energy moves (Air position)—is “Rooted/Grounded/Stable.” Its Modality (Metal position) is Dance.

Each element and each position in the satellites builds upon the ones that came before.

• "Breath & Energy" is in the Body (Earth) position of the Air Element. Energy—chi, ki, spirit, aura, etc. Its Emotions (Fire position) are “Apathetic vs. Inspired.” Its Modality is “Magic & Muse.”
  

  

• Because Fire is the home of Emotion, its Creed (Water position) is “Feel/Express/Ignite.” Its primary Emotions (Fire position) are Shame vs. Desire. In dance, Fire’s movement pattern initiates from the core and either radiates, flickers, or explodes outward. Hence why blood is included in Fire’s Body (Earth) position, along with the heart, guts, sexual center, and other organs.*
  

  

• “Tears/Nerves/Sweat” are the Body components of the Water Element, whereas “Grief vs. Joy” are its Emotions. Because Water is our Mental element, its Creed or Mental Focus is “Know/Cleanse/Flow.” Its Energetic/Spiritual Essence (Air position) is the fluid nature of the Flow Zone, and channeling that flow like the banks of the river, or like the controlled, directed, rippling contractions of a snake’s body.

• (And yes, because I’m a martial artist and nature lover, we do play with Animal Elements in the Tools & Toys segments, and definitely for Dance. The primaries: Bear, Bird, Phoenix, Serpent, Dragon, Chimera.)
  

  

• “Protect/Connect/Value” is the Creed/Mental Focus (Water position) of the Metal Element, whereas its Modality (Metal position) is “Martial Movements & Mindset.” Its Emotions are “Anger vs. Bravery.” In other words, Anger which shows me where my boundaries are being crossed, and the Bravery to do something about it—to protect myself and who/whatever I value.
  

5 Element Alchemy encompasses:

• The whole Body system and how it works in harmony (or doesn’t)

• One’s entire Energetic/Spiritual essence.

• One’s full Emotional range

• One’s (hi)Story and Creeds or the things one is mentally focusing on to direct one’s life

• How all the skills learned in each Modality influence and augment the others.

Often certain Elements are more natural or predominant, whereas others can feel awkward, even icky. The aim of Elemental Alchemy is a better harmonious balance, even if the preferences and predilections remain—or shift amidst exploration.

For example, I used to hate Earth and Air. Haaaaate. Now I adore them, and they rank among the tools I reach for most often, even though I’m still a total raging Fire Sign, a gushy, flowy Water Baby, and a highly armored being with a regimented need for control and precision. That’s WHY I need so much Earth & Air, and why they were so difficult for me to learn.

*MAKE IT YOUR OWN

Each of these elements and their satellites can be broken down even further. For example, in the Body position, the fingers of the hand or each organ can be designated with an individual element. The ones I have chosen are unique to me, because I’ve studied elemental systems from all over the globe.

I’m a fusion artist at heart. Always have been. It’s very difficult for me to settle on One Twue Way of doing anything, except for the way that feels right to me right now.

Absorb what is useful
Discard what is not
Add what is uniquely your own. 

~Bruce Lee

Many of the systems I’ve studied break down the Elements into four. Some use seven and correspond to the chakras. Others use a different five from mine. While developing this practice, I experimented with the organization a lot. I changed them around multiple times before finally settling on the System I’m sharing with you now.

I invite you to do the same if you prefer, especially if you are already devoted to an Elemental tradition.

Remember that my System was initially based on dance—how each of these energies moves in the body according to the inspiration of the music: where the energy initiates from…the pathways it takes…the qualities it embodies as it travels…its final destination.

It was only later that I started using it for meditation, healing, etc. Hence why I don’t divvy my elements up according to things like Chinese or Ayurvedic Medicine. I have cherry-picked both of these practices, just like the meditational and spiritual imagery I was gifted from a Hopi Medicine Man, a Wiccan High Priestess, a guru of The Goddess, my Catholic roots, geeking out with my chemist and engineering bestie, a Universal Church minister, and my students’ relationship to these Elements that they shared in and out of class.

From there, I answered the gut-thuds or hair-raised zinging I felt when everything clicked into a great, resounding “YES. That’s it.”

So the exercises and tools I will share are merely prompts. Use them as I do if you’re so inspired, especially if this is all new to you. Or feel free to assign different emotions or creeds to any Element you like. Heck, you can even change the domains that the Elements govern.

For example, some people prefer to think of Fire as the Domain of Mind, whereas Water is the Domain of Emotion. Others liken Spirit to Water or to Fire. Some people don’t like segregating Earth and Metal, others think of Wood as its own element, or they consider Spirit as an element unto itself. Still others think of Earth as THE Earth - the combination of all the elements. In this way, THE Earth is what I have called Alchemy and I definitely picture our planet, as well as our place in space.

Once you start playing with this stuff
IT’S YOUR SYSTEM.
Not mine.
This is just what works best for me.

UP NEXT: Tools & Toys - putting The System into practice

Lessons in the Elements—and Life-from a “kid’s show.” If there could be only One for the rest of my life, this is the show I would choose. Avatar, the Last Airbender. (The animated series, not the…ahem…movie.) 🤨

In this series, Metal is an aspect of Earth. Enjoy!

FYI, we’ll be nerding out about this show a whole lot around here. The levels to which I geek out will determine if I put a post into Hyperfixator’s Haven or not. I have created that special Section for this publication so you have the ability to opt in or out of it because when we go down the rabbit hole about my obsessions…welllllll…sometimes we really go down it.

You can set your preferences for what you want in your inbox by going to Subscriptions in the desktop version.

Oh, you’re as obsessed with ATLA as I am?! Here ya go. A deeper dive into the Elements with a peek at Chakras, Spirit, and the Avatar State - the ability to wield all the Elements.

WARNING: allllll the spoilers. If you want to see the Elements but don’t want to know how the series ends, stop at 17 minutes.

So? Do you have a connection with the Elements already or are you coming into all this stuff brandy-new?

© 2023 Hartebeast