What are the Five Elements?

`Wu Xing’

By Sallie Tsui Sien

A full understanding the Five Elements is essential for anyone wanting to make progress in the study of Feng Shui. Although commonly referred to as the ‘Five Elements’ in English, the Chinese call them‘Wu(3)* Xing(2)* or the Five Transformations.

Wu(3) in the Chinese language means Five whereas Xing(2) has many meanings, such as, ‘journey’ or ‘movement’. Xing (2) is also used to describe the ‘transformation’ of the yin and yang lines (yao(2)) of the eight original trigrams (ba gua) to form the 64 hexagrams.

The Chinese use Wu(3) Five as a measure of completeness. In Feng Shui, the totals of 5, 10 or 15 frequently appear in formulae or are considered as a pre-condition of auspiciousness; for example, 10 represents Heaven, the star number 5 is allocated to the centre position of the magical Luo Shu Square in which the total sum of the numbers in the lines whether vertically, horizontally or diagonally adds up to 15. In addition, the combination of numbers to give Ten is extremely important in Flying Stars and there are also the Five Ghosts and the Ten Spirits. The numbers 5, 10 and 15 have applications in Xuan Kong Da Gua and of course in The Five Movements or Transformations.

‘The Five Elements’, as we know them, are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each element represents one or two of the eight magnetic directions, trigrams, gua numbers, a shape, colour, a type of material, trade etc…

For example:
Wood represents the east and southeast and speaks of the trigrams Xun and Chen and their respective gua numbers 4 and 3. Its symbol is a rectangle and it is identified by the colour green. In terms of seasons, it is associated with spring. In the human body, the attention is directed to the four limbs.

Below is a table of the representations of the Five Elements

Elements	Directions	Trigrams	Gua numbers	Shapes	Colours	Seasons	Body-parts	Objects
Wood	East Southeast	Chen Xun	3 4	rectangle	green	Spring	Limbs	plants
Fire	South	Li	9	triangle	red	Summer	Eyes	lamps, lit candles
Earth	Northeast Southwest	Gen Kun	3 2	square	terracotta beige	All seasons	Joints, Abdomen, Skin	ceramic urns, natural quartz, crystals, soil
Metal	West Northwest	Tui Chien	7 6	round	Grey, white, silver, gold	Autumn	Head	Objects made of silver, gold, brass, copper etc...
Water	North	Kan	1	wavy	Black, blue	Winter	Ears	aquariums, fountains, pond, well

In Feng Shui, these five elements do not speak of benevolent or malevolent qualities. Their uses are recognised only by how their strength is transformed through interaction with another element. This process is called Wu(3) Xing(2) or the Five Transformations.

In specific terms, the Five Transformations are the supporting, nurturing, producing, controlling and destroying cycles. Mere recognition of the Five Elements does not enable Feng Shui practitioners to identify problems, make predictions or prescribe cures and enhancers. It is the transformation of these five elements that provides the Feng Shui practitioner with important pointers as to the path to follow.

Although, strictly speaking, consideration of the Five Elements only involves reference to the table above, the Five Transformations require an evaluation of the strengths of the individual elements through an analysis of whether the element in question is supported, nurtured, produced, controlled or destroyed by another element. Such analysis would take into account the strength of each element passing through the seasons. These evaluations are referred to as ‘cycles’.

By way of example:

Wood is supported by wood - If you need wood, you would use a healthy leafy plant.

Wood is nurtured by water - The plant (wood) grows healthily when it is watered and fed sufficiently.

Wood produces fire - When the plant dies, its wood is used for lighting fire.

Wood controls earth - During the plant’s lifetime, its roots spread and make it stand in the earth.

Wood is destroyed by metal. - What harms wood more than an axe or chainsaw?

The Five Transformation of the Five Elements

Wood

Wood supports wood, wood is strengthened Wood is nurtured by water, wood is strengthened Wood produces fire, wood is weakened Wood controls earth, wood is weakened Wood is destroyed by metal, wood is harmed

Fire

Fire supports fire, fire is strengthened Fire is nurtured by wood, fire is strengthened Fire produces earth, fire is weakened Fire controls metal, fire is weakened Fire is destroyed by water, Fire is harmed

Earth

Earth supports earth, earth is strengthened Earth is nurtured by fire, earth is strengthened Earth produces metal, earth is weakened Earth controls water, earth is weakened Earth is destroyed by wood, Earth is harmed

Metal

Metal supports metal, metal is strengthened Metal is nurtured by earth, metal is strengthened Metal produces water, metal is weakened Metal controls wood, metal is weakened Metal is destroyed by fire, metal is harmed

Water

Water supports water, water is strengthened Water is nurtured by metal, water is strengthened Water produces wood, water is weakened Water controls fire, water is weakened Water is destroyed by earth, Water is harmed

As you can see, the supporting and nurturing cycles have benevolent qualities. When an element produces or controls another element, it has a weakening effect. When an outside element moves in to destroy the element in question, it has a harmful quality.

Movements such as controlling or destroying may sound menacing, but in certain applications of the Five Movements, they actually represent desirable aspirations such as in The Four Pillars. Let’s take the wood element as an example again. The interaction of Wood with the Earth element may look conflicting as shown above but the presence of Earth in a Wood person’s map represents wealth. The more earth one possesses in the Four Pillar Map, the more it implies strong wealth potential. On the other hand, the presence of too much earth interacting with wood may also mean one’s health is compromised.

Also in the Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection formula, amongst the many criteria for an auspicious condition, the presence of a destroying cycle is considered an auspicious one.

There are many applications of the Five Movements in different Feng Shui schools of thought. These systems and formulae are extremely complicated and if I were to explain them here I may risk putting my readers to sleep.

One final note. If you wish to take the study of Traditional Feng Shui to an advanced level, it is crucial that you understand the representations of the Five Elements and the interactions of the Five Transformation. This will provide you with a key to unlock many different doors.

** The Chinese language consists of four tones. The use of each individual tone gives a different meaning to a word. The bracketed number (1), (2), (3) or (4) enables us to understand which tone is attached to the word in question. Without this, it would be possible only to hazard a guess at the meaning of the word. In my school days, these tones were represented by strokes appearing above the word as shown below.

For example, with the first tone, xing means a star or newness. With the second tone, it means movement or journey or, as we have seen, transformation. With the third tone, xing means awake and with the fourth, it means to believe or a letter. The Chinese language can be a trifling trying if you are tone deaf.

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