The Five Elements

The Wu Xing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: Wǔ Xíng), also known as the Five Elements, Five Phases, the Five Agents, the Five Movements, Five Processes, and the Five Steps/Stages, is a fivefold conceptual scheme that many traditional Chinese fields used to explain a wide array of phenomena, from cosmic cycles to the interaction between internal organs, and from the succession of political regimes to the properties of medicinal drugs.

The five elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

Below is an equivalence of the states of matter found in physics and chemistry:

• Metal: metallic / crystalline solid with strong chemical bonds & radiation-conductive vacuum-like inter-atomic voids
• Water: ionic/solvent liquid phase
• Wood: complex organised living composite material with enzyme catalysis
• Fire: energised gas-plasma
• Earth: disorganised semi-living composite solid material with microbial culture
  

The five elements are also used to describe the states or periods in nature:

• Wood/Spring=(72 days) a period of growth, which generates abundant wood and vitality
• Fire/Summer=(72 days) a period of swelling, flowering, brimming with fire and energy
• Earth=(72 days=4x18days (4 transitional seasons x 18days each) the in-between transitional seasonal periods, or a separate 'season' known as Late Summer or Long Summer - in the latter case associated with leveling and dampening (moderation) and fruition
• Metal/Autumn=(72 days) a period of harvesting and collecting
• Water/Winter=(72 days) a period of retreat, where stillness and storage pervades

These five types of qi (life force) also have their yin and yang attributes. Each element is expressed once in its negative, feminine yin form, and once in it's positive, masculine yang form. Yin is more subtle, and Yang is more active.

Each element is produced and subsequently destroyed by another element in a delicate yet perfectly balanced cycle:

The producing, enhancing cycle:

Water > Wood > Fire > Earth > Metal

The controlling cycle:

Water > Fire > Metal > Wood > Earth

The weakening cycle:

Water > Metal > Earth > Fire > Wood

Memory jogs, which help to remind in what order the phases are:

• Wood feeds Fire
• Fire creates Earth (ash)
• Earth bears Metal (and minerals)
• Metal enriches Water (as in water with minerals is more beneficial to the body than pure water, when metal melts it become liquid or when metal cools, water condenses around it)
• Water nourishes Wood

Controlling (Overcoming/Destroying) 

• Wood parts Earth (such as roots; or, Trees can prevent soil erosion)
• Earth dams (or muddles or absorbs) Water
• Water extinguishes Fire
• Fire melts Metal
• Metal chops Wood

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