Five Elements

There are three cyclical relationships between each of the five elements. The first of these is known as the cycle of production or the cycle of birth：Water nurtures plants; Burning wood creates fire; Fire leaves earth; Earth creates metal; Metal liquefies. If we start at the top and go around clockwise, we can see that fire produces earth (ash). Earth is strengthened as fire is weakened. Earth, in turn, creates metal (minerals), strengthening metal and weakening earth.

Metal then evolves naturally into water. Consequently, water is strengthened by metal at the same time as the metal is weakened. In the same way, water leads on to wood (trees and plants). Here the wood is strengthened and the water weakened. Finally, we can burn wood to create fire, weakening wood and strengthening fire. This is also known as the Early Heaven or Fu Hsi (or sometimes Wu of Hsia) arrangement.

There is also a cycle of destruction that shows which elements overpower others: Earth overpowers water; Water puts out fire; Fire melts metal; Metal destroys wood; Wood draws from earth. For instance, fire dominates metal, because the heat of the fire can melt it. This is a negative situation that creates an imbalance. The metal destroys wood. The wood destroys earth and the earth overpowers water. Finally, water quenches fire. This is also known as the Latter Heaven or King Wen arrangement.

Finally, there is also a cycle of reduction: Water corrodes metal; Wood draws from water; Fire burns wood; Earth puts fire; Metal is formed from the earth. This cycle is used to correct any imbalances caused by the destruction cycle. We know from the cycle of destruction that metal overpowers or destroys wood. In the cycle of reduction water is placed between metal and wood and serves to neutralize the potentially destructive effects. Likewise, fire overpowers metal in the cycle of destruction. In the reducing cycle, earth is placed between them as earth puts out fire and reduces the overpowering effects.

Following the cycle of birth allows difficulties to be resolved peacefully. The cycle of destruction does the opposite and always creates problems. The reducing cycle neutralizes the effects of the cycle of destruction.

Your personal element is determined from your year of birth. The next most important element comes from your time of birth. Once you know these two elements you can see if they harmonize together, are neutral, or try to destroy each other. For instance, David was born at 4:50 P.M. Consequently, the element for my hour of birth is water. He was born in 1946, a fire year. Fire and water are destructive, as water quenches fire. He can counteract this destructive effect by using wood (as wood is between fire and water in the reduction cycle).

Problems can sometimes arise when someone has the same element for the year and the hour. This creates an overabundance of the energy that can work against the person’s best interests. In practice, when this happens a much deeper investigation is made to determine the person’s elements for the birth month and day.

Many Asians deliberately choose their children’s names using the five elements feeling that this will give them an added edge in life. For instance, if someone is born in a fire year, the parents will choose a name that incorporates wood, as wood creates fire.

In feng shui we want the interior of your home to be as beneficial to you as possible, so we try and harmonize your personal element into your surroundings. For instance, I was born in a fire year, so I would benefit from having plenty of wooden or green objects, such as plants, around me. This is because wood creates fire. By the same token, I should avoid black objects and too much water, as in the destruction cycle, water destroys fire.

All of this gets complicated when more than one person lives in the same house. In this case, the elements of the head of the house should be used in all of the main rooms, while the bedrooms and other individual rooms should reflect the element of their occupants.

Finally, to achieve peace, wealth, happiness, and contentment with feng shui, we need to find a place containing abundant ch’i, a good balance of yin and yang, and a harmonious balance with our personal element.