Think mountains, rock, crystal, granite and diamonds. When a muscle is tensed it is harder than bone, harder than wood.  The first artillery missiles were rocks; and they worked very effectively. Stone is solid, stable and immutable; it drives through.

Stone or Earth is central. It is this element that takes water and energy from the sun and is the catalyst for all growth, as plants all need the soil to grow in.  Stone represents different times in one’s life as we move through different cycles.   Earth is associated with late summer/autumn and harvest, a time for gathering and receiving the fruits of our labour.  It is a time of hard and productive work.  It is the this element that represents our long traditions, slow to change, but give us a sense of who we are in terms of our past, our heritage, our ancestors.

Yin Earth represents the nourishing and nurturing of all plants and in particular all our food, and the food that our livestock eats.  It is all about the potential for growing things.  Recall ideas like being close to the earth.  Think of a farmer who knows and cherishes the qualities of the soil that he plants his crops in.

Yang Stone represents the harvesting of that produce; including the use of stone in construction of buildings and such that last.  This element is about being resolute and reliable.  The time for watching the crops grow through lazy summer days is over and the time to get down to the hard work of harvesting is here.  Stone typifies a sense of long tradition in the way a family can identify with the land that their forefathers farmed.  Or even a sense of heritage in the way that stone buildings sit in a landscape for millennia.