The Five Elements Theory is based on the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. In this article I will explain the basic principles of the ancient Chinese concept of the Five Elements. In ancient China it was believed that everything was composed of these five elements.

First is the water element. Water allows plants to grow. Next is the wood element. Wood burns and gives momentum to fire. Next, the ash created by the fire turns into earth.

Metals are found in the soil. Ancient people saw water drops on the surface of metals and minerals and thought that metals gave birth to water.

In this manner, the ancient Chinese thought that water gave birth to wood, wood gave birth to fire, fire gave birth to earth, earth gave birth to metal, and metal gave birth to water.

They thought that everything could be explained by the transition and transformation of water to wood, wood to fire, fire to earth, and earth to metal, in that order.

They then assigned a representative color to each element. Wood is green/blue, fire is red, earth is yellow, metal is white, and water is black. I will explain later why metal is white and water is black.

The changing of the seasons and passing of time are also explained by the five elements. Spring, when plants sprout, is wood, and hot summer is fire.  In the autumn, the air is dry in East Asia where this theory was born, so autumn is metal. In the winter nights are long, and the element is water. Earth symbolizes the time of year when all the seasons are most active. In Japanese, this period is called 土用(Doyo), This corresponds to late summer, when summer is most vigorous.

Let me explain why metal is white. The dry autumn air is crystal clear and one can see far into the distance. To describe this clarity, the color white was adopted instead of the word transparency.

The reason why water is black is that in winter time the nights are long. The color black was chosen to describe water in winter because of its dark nights. The winter solstice is the day with the longest night, but in traditional Chinese philosophy, this is the day when yin is at its most extreme, and from this point on, yang increases. I believe there have been customs to commemorate this day in many parts of the world since before Christianity.

Ancient Chinese people also thought that the human body could be explained by the five elements.

Water represents the kidneys, wood represents the liver, fire represents the heart, earth represents the spleen, and metal represents the lungs.

The chart summarizes the relationships among various phenomena and humans up to this point.

When the Five Elements Theory is applied to the body, the kidney is the mother of the liver and the heart is the child of the liver.

Next, the tree [wood] invades the realm of the soil [earth] by spreading roots.

Fire can melt metal.

Soil can hold back water.

Metal can knock down trees.

Water can extinguish fire.

This is the disharmonizer relationship.