Metal (wuxing)

Classical elements
Hellenistic Air Water Aether Fire Earth
Hinduism / Jainism / Buddhism Vayu Ap Akasha Agni Prithvi
Chinese Wood (木) Water (水) Fire (火) Metal (金) Earth (土)
Japanese Wind (風) Water (水) Void (空) Fire (火) Earth (地)
European alchemy Air Water Fire Aether Earth Sulphur Mercury Salt
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In Chinese philosophy, metal or gold (Chinese: 金; pinyin: jīn), In the Wu Xing, it is the return or the declining stage. In Traditional Chinese Medicine Metal is yang within yin in character, its motion is going inwards and its energy is contracting. It is associated with the west, dusk, autumn, fall and old age, loss and grief. It governs the Yin, Zang organ the Lung and the Yang, Fu organ colon, nose and skin, body hair, pungent smell, the planet Venus, the color white, dry weather, and the White Tiger (Bai Hu) in Four Symbols. The archetypal metals are silver or gold.

In Chinese Taoist and Traditional Chinese medical theory and thought, Metal attributes are considered to be firmness, rigidity, focus, integrity, and quality. The metal person when excessive is controlling, cutoff and arrogant, set in their ways as metal can become very rigid. They are self-reliant and resilient and prefer to handle their problems alone. The metal person is also intelligent, business-oriented, and good at organization and stability. However, the metal person can also appreciate luxury and enjoy the good things in life. The metal person has strong impulses and generative powers that they can use to change and transform those who come into contact with them, just like metal can conduct electricity. The well-balanced metal person is calm, humble and honest as well as a good person with a focused mind.

In traditional Chinese medicine, metal governs the lungs, large intestine, nose, and skin. The negative emotion associated with metal is grief and lack of self worth, while the positive emotions and qualities are reverence, righteousness, self worth, empathy and altruism. It is associated with the soul or the Po (魄), the physical form of the body and identity.

In Chinese astrology, metal is included in the 10 heavenly stems (the five elements in their yin and yang forms), which combine with the 12 Earthly Branches (or Chinese signs of the zodiac), to form the 60-year cycle. Yang metal years end in 0 (e.g. 1980), while Yin years end in 1 (e.g. 1981). Metal governs the Chinese zodiac signs Monkey and Rooster. The planet Venus is associated with metal because it is white in color (the Chinese color of death), and rises in the west as the evening star.^[1]

In the regenerative cycle of the Wu Xing, earth engenders Metal as "all metal has to be extracted from the earth in which it resides"; Metal begets water as from the mountain tops flowed the water from the source.

In the conquest cycle, fire overcomes metal as love melts the coldest heart or "can only be melted and forged" by flame or heat; Metal adds minerals to wood for it to grow healthy and straight or overcomes wood as the metal axe is able to topple the tallest tree.^[2]

However, the Cycle of Wu Xing also states that excessive volumes of wood may defeat small volumes of metal, Wood by excessively wanting to grow undermines its integrity and becomes a weed and not a tree or as an axe would be broken or dulled after trying to chop down a forest.