Willow Art by Kristen Fagan
In the Chinese Five Elements framework spring is the season of Wood Energy which is connected to new growth and forward movement in life, movement which is in line with our Soul’s vision and purpose. When our Wood energy is blocked we can feel stagnant and stuck and often it is connected to repressed anger which is the emotion that is associated with the Wood cycle. When we make efforts to deal with issues of repressed anger we free up our lifeforce to move forward in our life’s journey.
“It is springtime. A willow seed sprouts and starts growing up to be a tree. It will never be a blade of grass. Never a trout or a termite. It will become a willow tree. It has the inner vision of willowness and will consult this vision like a blueprint at every occasion. “Hmmm, let’s see….We have good sunshine. Water supplies, minerals, and soil nutrients are holding up, so yes, there is an opportunity for further expansion. Shall we add some fins? Let’s check the plan….No, no, not fins; we’re supposed to be putting on wood. Willow wood at that.” Now the willow has to decide exactly how and where 
it will put the wood. Shall it grow low and bushy or tall and slender? Shall it grow straight, or shall it lean a bit this way or that to get more light? Which of its branches shall grow first? Maybe they should all grow at the same time? There are thousands of decisions to be made.
I am not much different from a willow. I, too, am growing, consulting the vision I carry in my soul, and making decisions about how to make that vision into reality.”
(Eliot Cowan in Plant Spirit Medicine, Photography by Green Guy at Pixdaus)
Working with the energies and spirit of Willow, or as a flower essence, can help to shift anger that lies buried in the heart space helping one to clear away the wounds from the past that keep you from flowering and unfolding in the present.