5 Element Cycle
The Chinese Metaphysical world view is based on recognition that everything changes, nothing is static. The ancients described the ebb and flow of the universe using the symbols of the Five Elements.
Let’s start with Water Element. In the Judeo-Christian tradition the Spirit is described as moving over the waters in the run up to creation and in the Taoist tradition Water holds similar significance.
Water is the Tao, the Way or the lifepath, where Divine Energy in all its forms flows into the environment and into our lives. This flow of Divine Energy feeds our growth (Wood) as humans and as societies. It stimulates the nurture (Earth) of ourselves and each other. This nurture is the receptive. Earth, state necessary to access our occasional flashes of illumination (Fire), which forge our own spirits (Metal) in the journey (Water) towards aligning ourselves with the Tao.
Over generations it was noted that Water “fed” plants, giving them strength and nutrients and in time producing the element Wood. Wood was burned in the Fire for fuel, creating something that looked very much like the element Earth. Contained within the Earth were precious metals like gold and so it appeared that the Earth element gave birth to the element of Metal. Cold Metal forms condensation and so the Metal element holds Water, where the cycle begins again.
Thus what we call the Creative Cycle was observed, described and accessed.
There are three parts to the 5 Element Cycle. Creative, Control and Destructive. As well as giving birth to their respective child elements, those same child elements reduce the force of their parent elements in a Reductive Cycle. Additionally, each Element destroys another: Water puts out Fire; Fire melts Metal; Metal cuts Wood; Wood breaks Earth. This is known as the Control, or Sha, Cycle.
It’s not quite as simple as this – there is far more to the interplay of the Elements than is described here. But it’s a start.
To find out how 5 Element Theory affects you personally, book a place on my next 5 Element Energy Coherence Workshop.
