Chinese Zodiac Horoscope

The Five Elemental Energies

The system of Five Elements (Wu Xing) as a manifestation of Yin and Yang provides a theoretical framework to structure the cosmos, to describe interactions and energy flows, and finally to make qualitative predictions of future development. All things in the cosmos are thought to contain all of the following Five Elements in various proportions. Their combination and recombination in innumerable ways produces the manifest existence:

• Wood (tree)
• Fire
• Earth (soil, rock
• Metal (gold)
• Water

Here, the interpretation of the word element is different from our todays view as small part of a bigger system, or basic constituent of matter. The Chinese elements (better called Elemental Energies ) were interpreted as prototypes of dynamic states of change. They were assumed to be movements or phases in time domain, which emphasizes the aspect of temporal development of a dynamic system.

The Five Elements are forever interdependent and each of them is controlled by another in a cyclic manor to form the chain of life as an everlasting cycle. Their interaction has different aspects as explained below and sketched in the figure:

Generating (conducive, creating, engendering; outer ring in the figure)

• Metal creates Water; water condenses on metal, or metal changes into a liquid when heated.
• Water nourishes Wood.
• Wood feeds Fire.
• Fire produces Earth as ash or lava from a volcano.
• Earth bears Metal as gold nuggets and ore.

Weakening (consuming; inner ring in the figure)

• Wood absorbs Water.
• Water rusts Metal.
• Metal breaks up (or is extracted from) Earth.
• Earth quenches Fire (open fire or glowing lava).
• Fire burns wood.

Controlling (overcoming, restraining, destroying; inner circle with star shaped arrows in the figure)

• Metal is controlled (melted) by Fire (great heat).
• Fire is controlled (extincted) by Water.
• Water is controlled by Earth, e.g., rocks force the water to flow around them or between them in canyons.
• Earth is controlled by Wood; roots of trees intrude soil and hold it together.
• Wood is controlled by Metal; the metal blade of an axe cuts wood.

The Weakening Cycle is merely the reverse Generating Cycle. All cycles counteract and balance each other steadily.

The concept of the Five Elements was applied to many areas, such as science, astrology, traditional medicine, arts, or geomancy (Feng Shui), and last but not least to mental and personality traits. Some important correlations are summarized in the following table.

Property	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Planet	Jupiter	Mars	Saturn	Venus	Mercury
Color	Green	Red	Yellow	White	Black
Direction	East	South	Center	West	North
Yin and Yang	Develop­ing Yang	Strong­est Yang	Balanced	Develop­ing Yin	Strong­est Yin
Energy	Gener­ative	Expan­sive	Stabiliz­ing	Contract­ing	Conserv­ing
Animal signs	Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon	Snake, Horse, Sheep	Dragon, Goat, Dog, Ox	Monkey, Rooster, Dog	Pig, Rat, Ox
Heavenly Creature	Azure Dragon	Vermilion Bird	Yellow Dragon	White Tiger	Black Tortoise
Develop­ment	Sprout­ing	Bloom­ing	Ripening	Drying	Resting
Season	Spring	Summer	Change of season (every 3 months)	Autumn	Winter
Weather	Windy	Hot	Humid	Dry	Cold
Organs	Liver, Gall­bladder	Small Intestine, Heart	Spleen, Pancreas, Stomach	Lungs, Large Intestine	Kidney, Bladder

As shown in the above table, the character of animal signs is also shaped by the Five Elements. Ox, Dragon, Goat, Dog are each related to one of the elements Water, Wood, Fire and Metal, but all together also to Earth. Earth is seen as the change of season. Therefore, the last animal of a season belongs to Earth as well. The following diagram gives an overview of these relations. The diagram also shows the colors, directions, planet glyphs and Chinese Characters related to the Five Elements.