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 发發展 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