Thyroid: emotional and spiritual meaning

The thyroid sits at the base of the neck, under the larynx. It makes hormones that set the pace of the body's metabolism, growth and heat. Too much or too little is a medical condition, confirmed with blood tests, and often treated with medicine. A lump in the neck needs to be seen. Nothing on this page replaces that.

In the emotional reading, the thyroid is the centre of speech, of verbal expression and of creativity. It is tied to the throat centre. The source relates it directly to the throat and the breath, the nape of the neck, the jaws of the mouth, the ears, the voice, the bronchi, the top of the lungs, and the arms.

What the thyroid represents

The gland produces the pace of the cells. Without those hormones you could not live. Because it regulates the temperature of the body, the source compares it to a thermostat: what happens inside adapts to what is outside, so the body can express emotions and thoughts in a harmonious way. It also symbolises the capacity to express what is most your own, and to bring creativity out. It shows how you take your place instead of letting other people limit you.

The thyroid reacts, in this reading, when your breath is cut. You are powerless because, in a given situation, you can only keep quiet. The question the entry asks is whether you are in agreement with the rules you impose on yourself. Out of harmony, this centre means a non-expression of yourself. You often have the impression of being unable to say the thing. Tears, joys, anguishes and feelings are what this centre is for. If they have no verbal way out, the thermostat is the place the source looks.

The link with the respiratory system is not decorative. A cut breath, a tight throat and a voice that will not come are the same neighbourhood. The glands page takes up the pituitary, which the book calls the conductor of the thyroid and of the other hormone glands.

Caring for the thyroid from the inside

Autoimmune disease, iodine, nodules and medicines change thyroid function for biological reasons. The emotional perspective adds a question: where am I silent, when the situation actually needs my voice?

• Say one true sentence. Non-expression is the disharmony this gland is given.
• Check the rules you impose. The entry asks whether you agree with them.
• Notice a cut breath. The throat, the lungs and the voice are the neighbourhood the source names.
• Take your place once. Being limited by other people is the pattern it sets against health.
• Let one feeling leave through words. Tears, joy and anguish are listed as what this centre expresses.
• Keep the blood test and the prescription. A symbolic thermostat does not set a hormone dose.