Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Wu Xing (Five Phases)

Metal

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Origin 206 BCE to 220 CE

Metal (Jin) is the phase of autumn, the season of harvest, contraction, and letting go: yang has passed its peak and energy turns inward, condensing and refining. Its direction is the west, where the sun sets; its color white, its climate dryness, its flavor pungent or acrid, and its emotion grief, the sorrow of release that, balanced, becomes courage, integrity, and the ability to value what is essential. In the body its organs are the Lung (the yin zang organ, governing qi and the breath, and ruling the skin and boundary of the body) and the Large Intestine (the yang fu organ, which lets go of waste); its celestial body is Venus, the Metal Star. In the generating (sheng) cycle Metal is born of Earth and gives birth to Water, its cool surface gathering dew. In the controlling (ke) cycle Metal is checked by Fire and in turn restrains Wood, the blade that prunes and shapes. Interpretively Metal signifies structure, discernment, refinement, discipline, and the clean severance that clears the way for renewal.

Facts
Attributions
Ruling Planet
Venus 1
Generates
Water 1
Controls
Wood 1
Associated Emotion
Grief 1
Associated Taste
Pungent 1
Direction
West 1
Season
Autumn 1
Associated Color
White 1
Yin Organ
Lungs 1
Yang Organ
Large Intestine 1
Origins
Origin Period
206 BCE to 220 CE 1Tradition: Han correlative cosmology
Origin Period
400 BCE to 250 BCE 2Tradition: Hongfan, the Great Plan chapter of the Documents
Origin Period
Metal is one of the five phases that take shape among Warring States naturalist philosophers, traditionally associated with Zou Yan, in the fourth and third centuries BCE; the full correlative scheme binding each phase to organs, colors, tastes, seasons and directions belongs to Han dynasty cosmology, 206 BCE to 220 CE. 1
Language
Classical Chinese 2
Identity
Position
4 of 5 1
Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting Source
The classical definition is a behaviour, not a season, a colour or an emotion 2Tradition: Hongfan, the Great Plan chapter of the Documents
Meaning in the Attesting Source
The Hongfan defines metal by what it does: it yields and it is transformed 2Tradition: Hongfan, the Great Plan chapter of the Documents
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Metal, the Phase of Contraction

Metal (jin) is one of the Wu Xing, the five phases of Chinese cosmology. It is the phase of contraction, refinement, and cutting away, associated in the classical correspondences with the direction west, the colour white, the season of autumn, the emotion of grief, and the pungent or acrid taste. In the generating cycle (sheng) Metal produces Water, condensation gathering on its cool surface; in the controlling cycle (ke) Metal restrains Wood, the blade cutting the tree. These cycles of mutual generation and control order the relations among the five phases and underlie their application in Chinese medicine, the almanac, feng shui, and the art of fate calculation. These are the conventions of the Chinese cosmological tradition, in which the five phases are bound into a comprehensive system of correspondence across directions, seasons, organs, colours, and feelings.

Metal follows Earth in the generating cycle (Sheng), on the reasoning that ore is drawn from the ground, and Metal in turn generates Water, since traditional metallurgy held that condensation gathers on a cold metal surface. In the controlling cycle (Ke), Metal fells Wood, as an axe cuts a tree, while Fire controls Metal by melting it. The Huangdi Neijing assigns Metal to the lungs and large intestine, the pungent or acrid taste, the colour white, the direction west, and the season of autumn, and associates it with grief and with the process of contraction and refinement, gathering the loose and cutting away the unneeded. In four pillars (BaZi) astrology a chart strong in Metal is read as disciplined and decisive, but liable to rigidity without the softening influence of Fire.

Sources Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 2: History of Scientific ThoughtJoseph Needham with Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic)Traditionally attributed to Huangdi; actual authorship unknown, Chinese Mathematical Astrology: Reaching Out to the StarsHo Peng Yoke

Metal in the Generative and Controlling Cycles

Metal is the phase of consolidation, the point where the Wu Xing's outward motion turns inward again. In the generative, or Sheng, order Earth feeds Metal, ore drawn from the ground, and Metal in turn feeds Water, as minerals dissolve and mist forms on a cold blade. In the controlling, or Ke, order Metal controls Wood, an axe felling a tree, while Metal is itself controlled by Fire, which melts it. The pairing of feeding and controlling relationships around every phase is what lets the system diagnose an imbalance as a disturbance in a relationship rather than a fault in a single element.

In Chinese medicine Metal governs the Lung and its paired Large Intestine, and by extension the skin, the nose, and the capacity to let go, both of breath and of grief, the emotion the phase is said to carry. Metal's season is autumn, its direction west, and its colour white, correspondences that place it at the year's contraction, when growth is cut back and stored.

Metal's controlling role over Wood makes it, in five-phase diagnosis, the check on unrestrained growth and anger; a weakened Metal phase is read as an inability to set a boundary, whether in breath, in grief, or in temperament, letting Wood expand unchecked.

Sources Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 2: History of Scientific ThoughtJoseph Needham with Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic)Traditionally attributed to Huangdi; actual authorship unknown

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

1920, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1920 together with 1921, and returns after ten years.

1921, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1921 together with 1920, and returns after ten years.

1930, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1930 together with 1931, and returns after ten years.

1931, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1931 together with 1930, and returns after ten years.

1940, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1940 together with 1941, and returns after ten years.

1941, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1941 together with 1940, and returns after ten years.

1950, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1950 together with 1951, and returns after ten years.

1951, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1951 together with 1950, and returns after ten years.

1960, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1960 together with 1961, and returns after ten years.

1961, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1961 together with 1960, and returns after ten years.

1970, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1970 together with 1971, and returns after ten years.

1971, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1971 together with 1970, and returns after ten years.

1980, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1980 together with 1981, and returns after ten years.

1981, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1981 together with 1980, and returns after ten years.

1990, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1990 together with 1991, and returns after ten years.

1991, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 1991 together with 1990, and returns after ten years.

2000, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 2000 together with 2001, and returns after ten years.

2001, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 2001 together with 2000, and returns after ten years.

2010, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 2010 together with 2011, and returns after ten years.

2011, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Xin, which is yin metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 2011 together with 2010, and returns after ten years.

2020, Years

The phase of this year, read from its heavenly stem Geng, which is yang metal. Each of the five phases holds two consecutive stems, one yang and one yin, so Metal covers 2020 together with 2021, and returns after ten years.

Metal, the phase of the west and of autumn, and through metal of weapons and punishment.

Contained In

Wu Xing, Disciplines

One of the five phases the system is made of.

Disciplines That Use This

Tai Chi, Disciplines

The five phases, which order the form as they order the rest of Chinese medicine.

Originates in Language

Source The Five "Confucian" ClassicsMichael Nylan
Sources
1. Medicine in China: A History of Ideas
Paul U. Unschuld, University of California Press, 1985On the doctrine of systematic correspondence and the five phasesView the Source
2. The Five "Confucian" Classics
Michael Nylan, Yale University Press, 2001On the Documents, and the Hongfan enumeration of the five phasesView the Source
Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 2: History of Scientific Thought
Joseph Needham, Cambridge University Press, 1956Metal: the generating and controlling cycles and correspondencesView the Source
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