Five Elements and Five Planets in the Solar System

Solar System Planets and Chinese Astrology Birth Chart

Chinese Five Elements a.k.a. Wu Xing, are Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Wood. The Chinese Five Elements Chart at www.chinesefortunecalendar.com is a cross-reference table between Five Elements and objects surrounding us. The planet's entry of the Five Elements table shows that Wood is related to Jupiter, Fire is related to Mars, Earth is related to Saturn, Metal is related to Venus and Water is related to Mercury. We want to explain the relationship between Five Elements and Big Five Planets of the solar system in the following.

Metal	Water	Wood	Fire	Earth
金	水	木	火	土
Venus	Mercury	Jupiter	Mars	Saturn
太白	辰	歲	熒惑	鎮

Five Elements applied to the Big Five Planets during the Early Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to 8 B.C.). Big Five Planets have different names before the Han Dynasty. Venus is the brightest planet in the solar system. Chinese called it 太白 Tai-Bai, which means super white. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. It travels very faster. Chinese called it 辰 Chen, which is the unit of hours. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Ancient Chinese calendar used the orbital period of Jupiter to count the years. Chinese called it 歲 Sui, which means year. Mars has an unpredictable position and unstable brightness. Chinese called it 熒惑 Yin-Ghou, which means unstable Fire. Saturn is far away from the sun. The orbital period of Saturn is around 29.48 Earth year. Ancient Chinese astronomy divided the sky into 28 zones. Saturn roughly moves to each zone per year. Chinese called it 鎮 Zhen, which means town, staying in a place.

Astronomers in the Han Dynasty began to use the Five Elements name for Big Five Planets. Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth are connected to white, black, green, red and brown respectively. The color of Venus is pale yellow. To human eyes, it's near white. Venus becomes the Star of the Metal. Mercury has dark-gray. Mercury is the Star of the Water. Everything visible on Jupiter is a cloud. Jupiter has orange and white bands. Jupiter is the Star of the Wood because it contains teal during the observation in the Han Dynasty. Mars is the Star of the Fire, because of its reddish-brown color. Saturn is the Star of the Earth, because of its yellowish-brown.

Astrology Birth Chart and Big Five Planets

Hour	Day	Month	Year
時	日	月	年
Mercury	Sun	Saturn	Jupiter
Venus	Earth	Moon	Mars

The Chinese Astrology Birth Chart has four columns and two rows. The upper row is for Heavenly Stems. The lower row is for Earthly Branches. Stems and Branches are the counting elements in the Chinese Stem-Branch calendar. We don't want to discuss the Chinese Calendar there. We want to discuss the relationship between the planets and the Chinese astrology birth chart.

The Chinese character of the Sun is 日, which derived from the pictographic character of . The character of calendar's Day is 日, too. The Day is the counting time of the Sun passing the sky because of the self-rotation of the Earth. Therefore we can put the Sun on the top of the Day Column of the astrology birth chart. Chinese Astrology is the application of Yin Yang. Yang is male and Yin is female. The heaven (Sky) and the top are Yang. The ground and bottom are Yin. Therefore, the Sun is Yang and the Earth is Yin. The Sun is on the top of the Earth. We can put the Earth under the Sun.

The Chinese character of the Moon is 月, which derived from the pictographic character of . The character of calendar's Month is 月, too, because Month is the cycle of the Moon. The Moon is close the Earth. Therefore, we can put the Moon next to the Earth in the Month Column.

Mars is next to the Moon. We can put Mars, the Star of Fire , in the Year Column. Jupiter is next to Mars. We can put Jupiter, the Star of Wood , on the top to Mars. Jupiter is far away from the Sun. It takes 12 Earth years to make one trip around the Sun. That means one year on Jupiter is 12 years on earth. Ancient Chinese Five Star Calendar uses Jupiter to measure the year. The Chinese character of the Year is 年 Nian. Before the Chou Dynasty (1122 B.C.), Chinese used 歲 Sui for Year. Once Chinese astronomers treated Jupiter as the Start of 歲 Sui. Therefore to assign Jupiter on the Year Column should be correct.

Saturn is next to Jupiter. We can put Saturn, the Star of Earth , next to Jupiter on the top of the Month Column.

The Chinese character of the Hour is 時, which combines day 日 and temple 寺. Ancient Chinese temple announced the clock time by hitting the temple bell. Venus is next to Earth. We put Venus, the Star of Metal , in the Hour column. Chinese called Mercury 辰 Chen, which is the unit of hours in Chinese. Mercury is next to Venus. We put Mercury, the Star of Water , on the top of Hour Column. In this way, Mercury is also close to the Sun.

Five Elements Relationship in Birth Chart

There is a Mother-and-Child Relationship in the Chinese Five Elements theory. Water is the mother element of Wood (tree). Water is the mother of Fire. Fire is the mother of Earth. Earth is the mother of Metal. Metal is the mother of Water.

The sequence of the planets in the solar system is from the Sun, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter to Saturn. The Sun can be treated as yang, king, father, bright, heaven or sky. Saturn can be treated as yin, queen, mother, dark, hell or ground. Five planets, Jupiter, Mars, the Earth, Venus, and Mercury are in between the Sun and Saturn. Five planets have the Mother-and-Child relationship next to each other.

The Wood of Jupiter is the mother of the Fire of Mars. The Moon is a part of the Earth. The Chinese character of the Earth is 地球. 球 means the globe. 地 combines 土 (soil) and 也 (also). Our Earth is in the Earth group. The Fire of Mars is the mother element of the Earth. The Earth is the mother element of the Metal of Venus. The Metal of Venus is the mother element of the Water of Mercury. The solar system is a small harmonious systematic universe.

The Fire of the Sun is the mother element of Earth of Saturn. The planets of Uranus and Neptune are behind the Saturn. The color of Uranus and Neptune are pale blue. They are in the Water group. That implies Saturn contains invisible Water. A Tree (Wood) needs Water and Earth to grow. Saturn contains the mother element of Wood of Jupiter. The major five planets of the solar system allocated in the Chinese astrology birth chart are in a harmony mode of Five Elements.

Four Columns and Four Seasons

Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Spring	Summer	Season Change	Fall	Winter
Green	Red	Brown	White	Black
East	South	Center	West	North
Young	Mature	Adult	Harvest	Withering
Leaves	Flower	Reproducing	Fruit	Seed
Jupiter	Mars	Earth	Venus	Mercury
Cycle of Life

Wood (plants) and human beings have a similar life cycle, which is connected to four seasons. Five Elements have a relationship with seasons too. Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water connected to spring, summer, season changes, autumn, and winter respectively. Plants grow leaves in the green spring and bloom in the hot summer. Dry autumn is the harvest season and cold winter is the withering period. The spring and summer are growing period. Autumn and winter are connected to old age.

The Year Column of the Chinese astrology birth chart contains Wood of Jupiter and Fire of Mars. Therefore, the Year Column has a connection with people's early years. The Hour Column of the birth chart contains the Metal of Venus and Water of Mercury. Therefore, the Hour Column has a connection with people's late years.

The periods in-between season changings are connected to Earth. Earth and Saturn are in the Earth group. They are in the center of the birth chart. The positions of five planets in the Chinese astrology birth chart fits the life cycle of living beings.

The Palace of a Kingdom and Astrology Birth Chart

Hour	Day	Month	Year
Wisdom	King	Queen	Kindness
Mercury	Sun	Saturn	Jupiter
Venus	Earth	Moon	Mars
Law	People		Civilization

All Chinese imperial palaces face the south. The chair of the emperor is on the north side of the main meeting hall. The Sun represents the emperor. The Saturn, the queen, should sit next to the emperor. The left-handed side of the emperor is toward the east. Jupiter is there. The Wood of Jupiter is connected to kindness in the Five Elements. Jupiter can represent the civil officer. Mars is next and under Jupiter. The Wood of Jupiter can help Fire of Mars to burn. Fire is connected to civilization. Jupiter helps to develop culture and civilization.

The right-handed side of the emperor is Mercury. The Water of Mercury is connected to the wisdom providing advice to the emperor. The Metal of Venus is connected to the weapon, which is the law and forces. The Earth and the Moon are the people under the kingdom of the Sun.

The Sun and Human Beings

All emperors of Chinese dynasties educated Chinese people that the emperor owned the nation was God willing. The emperor is the son of heaven. The Sun represents the emperor and the Earth represents the people in the birth chart. The emperor and people are human beings. The Earth and the Sun should have some relationships inside their ingredients. The following chart the ingredients of the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the big five planets and human beings.

Object	Carbon	Nitrogen	Oxygen	Argon	Sodium	Hydrogen	Helium	Others
Sun						71%	26%	3%
Mercury			42%		22%	22%	6%	8%
Venus	96%	4%
Earth		78%	21%	1%				<1%
Moon				70%	1%		29%
Mars	95%	2.7%		1.6%				0.7%
Jupiter						89.9%	10.2%
Saturn						96.3%	3.2%	0.5%
Human	0.3%	0.1%	0.6%			70.6%	27.5%	1%

We can see the ingredient percentages of Hydrogen and Helium in the Sun and human are very close. The Sun and humans contain similar DNA. According to medical research, the sunshine can heal many human diseases. Especially, sunshine of the sunrise and sunset can activate people's longevity genes. Sun and humans have a cosmic connection.

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