Five Elements Correspondence Table
A lookup table of the five elements (五行) as used in BaZi charts on this site. Each row lists the stems and branches of one element, its direction, season, and colors, and how it sits in the generating and controlling cycles.
Five elements table
| Element | Heavenly Stems (Yang / Yin) | Earthly Branches | Direction | Season | Colors | Generating (generates me / I generate) | Controlling (controls me / I control) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood (木) | 甲 Jia (Yang), 乙 Yi (Yin) | 寅 Yin, 卯 Mao | East, Southeast | Spring | green, teal | Water / Fire | Metal / Earth |
| Fire (火) | 丙 Bing (Yang), 丁 Ding (Yin) | 巳 Si, 午 Wu | South | Summer | red, orange, purple | Wood / Earth | Water / Metal |
| Earth (土) | 戊 Wu (Yang), 己 Ji (Yin) | 辰 Chen, 戌 Xu, 丑 Chou, 未 Wei | Northeast, Southwest | Last ~18 days of each season (土用) | yellow, beige, brown | Fire / Metal | Wood / Water |
| Metal (金) | 庚 Geng (Yang), 辛 Xin (Yin) | 申 Shen, 酉 You | West, Northwest | Autumn | white, gold, silver | Earth / Water | Fire / Wood |
| Water (水) | 壬 Ren (Yang), 癸 Gui (Yin) | 亥 Hai, 子 Zi | North | Winter | black, navy | Metal / Wood | Earth / Fire |
Source: Eastern Fate (https://easternfate.com/reference/five-elements#five-elements-table)
You are welcome to quote this table; please credit the source and link to this page.
Notes on sources
- Stems and branches: the element of each heavenly stem and the main element (本气) of each earthly branch, as used in this site's chart code. Yang stems are 甲 丙 戊 庚 壬; yin stems are 乙 丁 己 辛 癸.
- Seasons: Wood–spring, Fire–summer, Metal–autumn, Water–winter, following the seasonal correspondences of 《淮南子·天文训》. Earth governs the last ~18 days of each of the four seasons (土用), following the view in 《五行大义》 that Earth rules the end of each season.
- Directions: the Later Heaven (后天) bagua of 《周易·说卦传》, as used on this site: 震 East and 巽 Southeast for Wood, 离 South for Fire, 艮 Northeast and 坤 Southwest for Earth, 兑 West and 乾 Northwest for Metal, 坎 North for Water.
- Colors: the color words used on this site. The traditional five colors are 青, 赤, 黄, 白, 黑 (《礼记·月令》); the other shades are this site's palette.
- Cycles: generating 木→火→土→金→水→木 and controlling 木→土→水→火→金→木, as in 《春秋繁露·五行相生》 and 《春秋繁露·五行相胜》.
Generating and controlling cycles
Read each cell as "this element → the element it generates / controls".
| Cycle | Wood (木) | Fire (火) | Earth (土) | Metal (金) | Water (水) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generating (相生) | Wood → Fire | Fire → Earth | Earth → Metal | Metal → Water | Water → Wood |
| Controlling (相克) | Wood → Earth | Fire → Metal | Earth → Water | Metal → Wood | Water → Fire |
Source: Eastern Fate (https://easternfate.com/reference/five-elements#generating-controlling-cycles)
You are welcome to quote this table; please credit the source and link to this page.
For how the five elements give the ten gods, see the Ten Gods Reference Table.
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