Understanding Our World Today Using Five Element Theory

Five element theory explains so much, including why we are where we are today.

Elemental relationships in five element theory are extremely complex. They go well beyond those of each element having an associated season, emotion, and organ. Someone who wants to dig really deep into Chinese metaphysics will also learn about elemental relationships and directions, colors, sounds, movements, as well as pretty much every other aspect of daily life you can think of. They will also learn a deeper understanding of the generating and control cycles.

I’ve written before about the concepts of the generating and controlling cycles that exist in five element theory, the former being an explanation of how elements create one another and the latter being one of how they restrict each other. Like all things in Chinese metaphysics, it’s much more nuanced than that. Of course, the generating cycle offers a simple explanation of how each of the elements create each other. But just like a plant finally exhausts itself in producing fruit or a seed and then goes dormant so it can rest and gather its strength again, so too will an element be exhausted at various points within the generating cycle.

A controlling relationship just means something is held in check in a healthy way. Earth has to surround water or else it flows everywhere; water has to control fire or else it burns everything in its path. This is how we understand the controlling relationship. It is also important to understand that the element being controlled is weakened a little bit as well in this case. With this improved understanding of these cycles, let’s take a look at how it plays out in the world around us today.

We are currently in the year of the fire snake. In the controlling relationship of five element theory, fire controls metal. What this means is that in this fire year, the metal element is forcibly weaker. Did you notice a huge uptick in respiratory illnesses this past winter? Remember that the organ system related to the metal element is the lungs, so therefore a portion of the energy that helps create our Lung Qi is also weaker.

In my post about metal personality types, I dug a little deeper into some of the less known associations with the metal element. Guess what gang??? Metal is associated with justice, the law, and following rules, all themes which are showing up in headlines again and again.

Elements can mean different things to different people depending on our individual daymasters. For me, metal represents my output element, which can deal with everything ranging from children to work done, creativity and ideas. Though I hope I’ve done a decent job making up for it this year, with this weakened element representing my own creativity, I’ve found writing much harder than usual this year. Similarly, the schemer and dreamer in me has been pretty quiet too, another representation of the weakened metal element. I’d love to tell you all that we’ll be easing away from this current influence, but unfortunately next year is another fire year, that of the fire horse, so we will continue to see some of these trends.

I find sometimes that simply having some kind of understanding of the processes happening around me help me feel a little better about the things that I cannot personally change. In a way, this empowers me to be the best version of myself rather than throwing my arms up in a fit of despair. It also reminds me that no matter the weather in the news, the thing that is going to help me best thrive in chaos is to cling to my Qigong practice, which has never let me down. Hopefully it reminds you of the same thing. Peace.

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