The East encompasses the qualities of renewal, contemplation, perception, oversight, and orientation on the world around us.
Suddenly having clear insights is a quality of the East. The East is uninhibited (like a child). Another quality of the East is the ability to regenerate – the East provides recovery, renewal, and “rejuvenation”. Because the East has the quality of being able to perceive sharply – perceiving both the detail and the whole – it also has the power to add structure.
The Wheel of the four directions forms one of the basic ground plans in which a systemic ritual takes place. The Wheel of the four directions works with the qualities of the four cardinal directions, which means no more than the conscious application of the universal cycle of ‘coming’ / ‘being’ / ‘going’ / ‘rest’ and all associated qualities. The Wheel brings order, depth, insight, and balance to the mental, emotional, and soul levels.
The energy of the East is most present in the spring, in the morning, at the waxing moon.
In our personal lives, it is the period of childhood. In the Northeast, the baby is born, and in the Southeast, the adolescent enters the adult world. The East knows the curiosity and the urge to explore, as we can see in children and teenagers.
The “East person”
People with highly developed East qualities may have many ideas, oversee structures well, create conditions, explain things clearly to others, and change things quickly and easily. When you have highly developed East qualities, you are clear, you have an overview, and you are good at planning.
The East has few emotions. “East persons” can therefore appear a bit cool. An “East person” is not the type who gives or wants to receive a long, firm hug.
An East person is future-oriented. This is the opposite of the “West person” who is nostalgic.
Unbalanced East qualities
When the East qualities “overshoot” or when the qualities of the other directions are insufficiently balanced by the East, problems arise. When there is too much focus on structure, this can be at the expense of the other qualities of the East: open-mindedness, creativity and the ability to improvise. Obsessive and compulsive behaviour shows the pathology of the East. Structures take on a life of their own.
Unbalanced East energy can also cause someone to “drown” in ideas. One idea to another arises, but the vision, planning and structure are missing. And nothing is ever done with all those ideas. Or worse, something new is always started up, but never brought to full implementation (the South). In severe form, this can be harmful to someone and his environment and lead to debts, among other things. Such a kind of person can start to lie to others to keep himself unguilty – (not my fault, everyone and everything worked against me, but next week I will have … or I promise you that next week …… ). In the case of lying, the qualities of being creative and being able to see and think of new possibilities are used in a destructive way. Someone with such an unbalanced East energy is incapable of taking real responsibility for his actions and does not have access to the qualities of the South.
See for ONLINE and IN-PERSON workshops and courses:
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Based on the book The Four Directions by Daan van Kampenhout.
You can order this book from me – email me: susanne@sejhazen.nl
Costs:
€ 19,80 – including VAT, excluding shipping costs. I will tell you the exact price when you show interest.
Systemic Ritual and Systemic Constellations 