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Five Elements and stem-branch

Five Elements (Wu Xing)

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Five Elements (Wu Xing) — what is it? The Five Elements stand for the five components of nature: Metal, Fire, Water, Wood, Earth. Metal generates Water generates Wood generates Fire generates Earth.

As a concept, the Five Elements stand for the five components that make up nature in East Asian philosophy, namely:

  • Metal: metal
  • Fire: fire
  • Water: water
  • Wood: trees and plants
  • Earth: soil

Generation and control among the Five Elements

The generating and controlling relations of the Five Elements are as follows: Metal generates Water generates Wood generates Fire generates Earth generates Metal; Metal controls Wood controls Earth controls Water controls Fire controls Metal.

Five Elements: generating and controlling cycles WoodFireEarthMetalWater

Generates (outer ring)Controls (inner star)

ElementGeneratesControlsBranches
WoodFireEarthYin, Mao
FireEarthMetalSi, Wu
EarthMetalWaterChou, Chen, Wei, Xu
MetalWaterWoodShen, You
WaterWoodFireZi, Hai
Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal → Water → Wood generate; Wood controls Earth, Earth controls Water, Water controls Fire, Fire controls Metal, Metal controls Wood.

The elements of the twelve Earthly Branches

The Earthly Branches consist of twelve branches, popularly called the twelve zodiac animals: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai, with their corresponding elements as follows:

The twelve Earthly Branches and their elements ZiRatChouOxYinTigerMaoRabbitChenDragonSiSnakeWuHorseWeiGoatShenMonkeyYouRoosterXuDogHaiPig
Colours show the element: Hai, Zi – Water · Yin, Mao – Wood · Si, Wu – Fire · Shen, You – Metal · Chen, Xu, Chou, Wei – Earth.

See also

Try it on a real hexagram: Six Lines Plum Blossom More terms