Food is an integral part of life and the most direct and tangible way to change our physiology and our frame of mind. In my experience, many people would rather die than change their diets. Others will try just about any diet.
Following an Ayurveda diet is one of most sophisticated and oldest ways to bring the body back into balance. Ayurveda offers a brilliant and complex way to tailor what foods and spices are best for an individual at a given time, along with other lifestyle practices, to obtain optimum health. A trained Ayurvedic practitioner consultation is necessary to determine what course of action to take.
In the 1940s to the 1950s, Randolph Stone simplified Ayurveda’s view of food as a self-help tool to change the energy in the body. Although Stone’s Health Building does not entirely do Ayurveda justice, I believe it opened a door for Westerners to look at how food affects us on an energetic level.
The concept is that foods that grow farther away from the earth were less dense. This mirrors the Chakras, which also get less dense as they move up the spine. If an element was missing, it could easily be obtained by a food in a particular category.
What I’ve done in my new book Tarot and the Chakras: Opening New Dimensions to Healers is to take Stone’s Health Building concepts a step further. I’ve interpreted elemental food growing heights to the Minor Arcana Chakra/Suits. Tarot may be used as another indication of what to include in our diets. I’ve matched the individual cards with the quality of that particular food that seemed most appropriate. Food references only appear in the Minor Arcana interpretations of the suit cards.
- Starting with foods grown under the ground, are root vegetables. These are attributed to the Pentacle/Earth Chakra/Suit.
- From the ground up to two feet are leafy green vegetables and melons are grown. These relate to the Cups/Water Chakra/Suit.
- Next are grains that grow above two to six feet above the ground. They relate to the Wands/Fire Chakra/Suit.
- Then there are fruits, nuts, and seeds that grow six feet or more. They are associated with the Swords/Air Chakra/Suit.
STORY The day of my graduation ceremony from my first level of Polarity Therapy training, I was so excited I could hardly focus. I had a lot to accomplish, including making a potluck dish for the reception. I was having a hard time getting anything done. I then remembered my Health Building training. I baked potato and ate it. I was then became grounded and focused. In hindsight, I would have invoked a few Tarot cards, such as the nine or ten Earth/Pentacles, or perhaps done an Earth meditation.
This list is by no means precise. Mix and match, follow your body reactions and pull a few cards to monitor the effects.