Yin Yang and Five Elements
What is Yin-Yang?
Yin-Yang (陰陽) is the fundamental concept of Taoism and the guiding principle of Chinese philosophy. It is deep-rooted in Chinese science, medicine, astrology, calendar, Feng-Shui, martial arts, and many more.
Yin is the black area of the Yin-Yang symbol, which means overcast or negative literally. Yang is the white area of the symbol, means sunlight or positive literally. Yin-Yang represents opposite qualities or traits in all phenomena and beings. For example,
Yin represents dark, cold, negative, empty, even number, female, etc. Yang represents light, hot, positive, full, odd number, male, etc.
The entire circle symbolizes Tai-Chi (太極), the universe. In summary, the Yin-Yang concept is that everything in nature has two opposite aspects, they are intertwined and bonded, their force induces and complements each other's existence, and they keep each other balanced and in harmony.
Where does the Yin Yang symbol come from?
What Are Five Elements?
Five Elements (五行) refer to Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth (水火木金土).
In ancient times, they were identified as the 5 basic elements of all beings in the universe. Each element has a unique quality of creating or supporting another element, as well as the quality of destroying or weakening yet another element. Such as water can make wood grow (creation) and can put out the fire (destruction).
In the study of Calendar Science in ancient China, these elements were weighted for their strength and weakness during each of the four seasons. For example, Wood is the strongest in spring, Fire is the strongest in summer, Earth is the strongest during the season transitions, and so forth. The characteristics of each element, its strength, and compatibility with other elements are fundamental and critical in Chinese Astrology and Horoscope.
Yin-Yang, 5 Elements, and Chinese Zodiacs
Of the 12 zodiac animals in order, all the odd-numbered animals are Yang and the even-numbered animals are Yin. That is,
Yang: (1) Rat, (3) Tiger, (5) Dragon, (7) Horse, (9) Monkey, (11) Dog
Yin: (2) Ox, (4) Rabbit, (6) Snake, (8) Sheep, (10) Rooster, (12) Pig
The Yin-Yang concept along with the 5-Element composition heavily influences the zodiac analysis. The reading of your zodiac animal describes your personality, traits, and compatibility, and when adding the zodiac characteristics of the future years to come, it will present you with the trend of your fate.
Read The Legend of Chinese Zodiac for the story behind the Yin-Yang assignment.
To learn more about the Yin-Yang symbol, go to the Chinese Fortune Calendar's Yin Yang. Or to learn more about the basics of 5-Element, and how to be a lucky person by keeping your 5 elements in balance, go to Chinese Fortune Calendar's 5E Basic