What’s the difference between Clock Time and Elemental Time? ⁣

There’s clock-time— linear, homogeneous, mechanical, always depleting, a commodity or resource.⁣There’s also elemental time — mutable, oblique, multipliable, full of life force, alive and intelligent.

For the past few weeks, I thought my body was in an extended Water (Winter) season, as I’ve been wanting to move and think slowly, but it turns out that it’s the Wood (Spring) season that wanted to show herself to me, through my body. I was being shown that expansion can be a slow process, filled with pleasure and curiosity, instead of the distorted myth that growth must be rapid and results oriented.⁣

Time is a being, conscious and alive. And for a Moon-in-Capricorn like me, I thought I had her ‘figured out’. I thought that Time can be ‘mastered’, and that efficiency and all ‘time saving measures’ were a virtue or a high value. Yet, Time, along with the Wood Element, wanted to show their faces to me in a softer, more fluidly and delightfully.

Time, expressed as Wood, has been reminding me when I approach timelines from the vantage point of urgency and efficiency at all costs, I do not know her at all, and that in fact, I have objectified her, and lost myself in the process. Time has challenged me by asking me what is truly my natural pace, what are my dearest priorities, and what commitments simply need to be released. This is because the more I prioritized fitting things in, the more severed I became from my own self, and from Time herself. 

Time wanted me to decolonize my perception of her, by showing me that time, capacity, productivity and identity are so often linked and felt in our bodies, and how when we choose to rediscover our body’s rhythms, that it also revitalizes our relationship with the land, with humans, and the Unseen. In the process, I was surprised by the amount of anxiety that was unearthed within me, as if I dared to work slower, move slower, think more as a squiggle instead of a straight line, that I was somehow a failure or unworthy - of success, of joy, of rest. She showed me how much I was afraid to ‘waste’ time. And how when we believe Time is ‘wastable’, we have ignored its consciousness, and reduced Time itself into a commodity.⁣

It’s humbling and liberating to be an animist. There’s always so much to learn. There’s always more listening to do, and less talking.

I was also shown by Time of my culture’s expression, 慢走 (man zou), while literally translates as ‘walk slowly’, also means to ‘take care’. The phrase is often said in lieu of goodbye, said to strangers and close friends alike. Time and Care are intricately linked, that being care-full is being time-full. Unhurried attention is an act of love, and a sign of generosity. Presence is truly the greatest present, as clichéd as it may seem.

I’m being taught by Time that there’s Clock-Time— linear, homogeneous, mechanical, always depleting, a commodity or resource.⁣
Clock-time is found outside of us. ⁣

There’s also Elemental Time — mutable, oblique, multipliable, full of life force, alive and intelligent. ⁣Elemental time is found… Read the whole article by clicking the button below.