五行 Wu Xing - The Five Phases

What is Wǔ-Xìng (五行)?

五行/ 五星 Wǔ-Xìng the five stars/ planets or their movement of it are the fundamental parts of (八字 BāZì) the eight-character system as 命理 Mìng Lǐ, the knowledge of life, or 命術 Mìng Shù, the technique of life.
                                
五行 Wǔ-Xìng not to be mixed with (無形 wú xíng - invisible or 悟性 wù xìng – comprehension which sounds similar) is often translated as Five Elements or interchangeable as Five Planets/Stars and are labelled as Wood for Jupiter, Fire for Mars, Earth for Saturn, Metal for Venus and Water for Mercury therefore a planet tracing system is assumed however not the planets/stars/sun/moon but their movement (in their phases) in our solar system are 五行 Wǔ-Xìng which would be best described as the transitional changes of phases, in short the five phases.

 
Big-Dipper the cosmic 24-hour clock

The asterism Big Dipper as a cosmic clock circles about the pole once every twenty-four hours. We may consider an imaginary line between the pointer star of the big dipper and Polaris as the hour hand of the clock. Nighttime can be estimated by the position of the hour hand; a 24-direction compass (式盤 Shì pán) was used as a night clock. To estimate the daytime, the sun's shadow (sundale) is used as a day clock.
 
 
What are the five phases of the day?
 
A day is divided into five uneven phases, namely dawn, noon, afternoon, dusk, and night.
The length of the days and its five phases varies every month; therefore, to address the temporal time issue twice a year at the equinoxes, when the day and night are almost equal in length, these five phases, which divide the sky into five sectors (360°/5) are aligned to specific asterisms (star clusters) along the ecliptic as a baseline. These five phases are also known as the five agents or, more often, the five elements.
 
 
What are the five phases of the year?
 
As for the days, the big dipper/pole star is also used as a cosmic calendar. However, in this case, the four moon phases were taken to divide the sky into four sectors; these sectors are known as the four images (四象Sì Xiàng) and can be used as the starting point of phases for the year.
 
The four seasons' winter, spring, summer, and autumn are commonly referred to as the cold, dry, hot, and wet seasons. Colors and attributes are associated with each season: black for cold/winter, green for dry/spring, red for hot/summer, and grey/white for wet/autumn. Because the central star apparently does not move but is fixed to the earth, brown, ochre, or yellow earth colors are associated with the central star. Nowadays, the Confucian rather than an astronomical (climatic) perspective is used, which defines the five phases as water (水 shui), fire (火 huo), wood (木 mu), metal (金 jin), and earth (土 tu) as an abstraction layer.
 
A day moves a bit more around one degree every 24 hours. A solar year is completed in around 366 days. The divisions of 366 days, or 360° in five, are the five phases of the year. When the five phases are further divided into two, each sector roughly covers the ten heavenly stems for the year.
 
The month (28 days) and the hour (120 minutes/ double hours) do not have any (五行 Wǔ-Xìng) five phases; however, an artificial construct is used to get the month phases from the year stem and the hour phases from the day.
 
Specific attributes are associated with each of the five phases; the characteristics and interactions of these phases/ elements can be used to grasp the momentum and flow of natural forces. Properly utilized, one can take advantage of these phases/ elements to improve circumstances.

The table below shows what the five elements generally represent:




Element Wood Fire Earth Metal Water
Planet
行星 xing xing
Jupiter
木 mù
Mars
火 huǒ
Saturn
土 tǔ
Venus
金 jīn
Mercury
水 shuǐ
Compass
羅盤 luópán
East
東 dōng
South
南 nán
Center
中央 zhōngyāng
West
西方 xīfāng
North
北 běi
Quadrant
象限 xiàngxiàn
Green Dragon
青龍 qīng lóng
 Red Bird
朱雀 zhū què
Yellow Phoenix
黃龍 huáng lóng
White Tiger
白虎 bái hǔ
Turtle-Snake
玄武 xuán wǔ
Seasons
四季 sìjì
Spring
春季 tánhuáng
Summer
夏季 xiàjì
Replenishing
補養 bǔyǎng
Autumn
秋季 qiūjì
Winter
冬季 dōngjì
Climates
氣候 qìhòu
Windy
有風 yǒu fēng
Heat
熱 rè
Damp
潮濕 cháoshī
Dry
干 gàn
Cold
冷 lěng
Stages
階段 jiēduàn
Birth
分娩 fēnmiǎn
Growth
發展 fāzhǎn
Transformation
轉型 zhuǎnxíng
Harvest
收成 shōuchéng
Storage
存儲 cúnchú
Colors
顏色 yan Se
Green
綠 luu
Red
紅 hong
Yellow/Brown
黃 huang
White/Golden
白 bai
Black/Blue
黑藍 hei Lan
Action
行動 xíngdòng
Crushing
崩 bēng
Exploding
炮 Pào
Crossing
橫 héng
Splitting
劈 pǐ
Drilling
鑽 zūan
Five Virtues
五常 wŭ cháng
Benevolence
仁 rén
Propriety
禮 lĭ
Sincerity
信 xìn
Righteousness
義 yì
Wisdom
智 zhì
Peoples
人們 rénmen
Mongol
蒙 měng
Han
漢 hàn
Manchurian
滿 mǎn
Tibetan
藏 zàng
Turks
回 huí

Anatomy
解剖學 Jiěpōu xué
Yin Organs
 
Liver
肝Gān
Heart
心 Xīn
Spleen
脾 Pí
Lungs
肺 Fèi
Kidneys
腎 Shèn
Yang Organs
 
Gall Bladder
膽 Dǎn
Small Intestine
小腸 Xiǎo Cháng
Stomach
胃 Wèi
Large Intestine
大腸 Dà Cháng
Bladder
胱 Guāng