The five elements are phases

When we talk about the 5 elements, it is important to clarify: the elements are not five stand-alone concepts. They are phases which are interconnected and together they form a whole. They nourish and control each other, are always on the move, looking for balance, homeostasis, just like everything in nature, just like a family.


So each element also contains all five elements, to infinity, the 10,000 things. When the elements are in balance, it brings gratitude, compassion, satisfaction and health, among other things.

 

When designing the logo of the card game, the display of overlapping phases has also been taken into account:

Logo card game where all phases touch.

Elements shown as loose spheres including the mutual relationships (source: Nurture Works UK)

Relationships of the elements

The relationships between the elements can be summarised, according to Reichstein (1998), in the following five principles, or "laws":

  • All things have the five elements
  • Each phase of the five elements can be split infinitely into its component parts
  • The five elements constantly create each other
  • The five elements constantly consume and control each other
  • The five elements merge and each contains the seed of all other elements.
  • Like yin and yang, the elements are not separated by hard and solid lines.

 

As seen in the second image, it describes two relationships between the elements: production or nourishing (Sheng) and the control (Ko) cycle [1]

 

Nourishing (production / creation/sheng) cycle

There is a mother-child relationship between the phases. The mother feeds the child:

  • Water nourishes the growth of trees, creating Wood
  • Wood burns, and feeds the Fire
  • Fire produces ash, which feeds the Earth
  • Earth contains minerals which condense into Metal
  • Metal collects the Water (condensation)

Wood is mostly referred to as the beginning, birth, the first visible component with exponential growth. Before that, the beginning and the end is represented in the Water element, the essence (less visible). 

 

Controlling (restriction/ko) cycle
One element controls, or contains, the element after the next. In this way, the elements mutually ensure that not one or more immediately fall out of balance.

  • Water can dampen Fire
  • Fire melts Metal
  • Metal chops and prunes the Wood
  • Wood (roots) pierce and open the Earth
  • Earth borders the water (river bed)