What Is The Law Of The Five Elements?!

⚖️ This week Ben asks Gabriella 'What Is The Law Of The Five Elements?!' They explore how the elements relate to each other and how they are interconnected through the Sheng & Ke cycles.

Transcript

Pt.1

Ben: So, Gabriella, what is the Law of the Five Elements?

Gabriella: Well Ben, before we go into that, first let’s think about what a law is.

Ben: Hold on a second… (leafing through dictionary) laaaaaw, ah here it is! “A system of rules put in place by a country or a community as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties?”

Gabriella: Good old Oxford Dictionary! Yes, that’s one definition. But if you read on, you’ll see another definition.

Ben: “A statement of fact, deduced from observation, to the effect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present.”

Gabriella: That’s the one! And the natural phenomenon we’re talking about is…

Ben: Nature!

Gabriella: You’re a natural, Ben! Now, early on in our podcast I mentioned a state of fact: the laws of nature do not change. Nature doesn’t have a new government coming in every few years, changing the laws as to how it runs. A political party can’t run an election campaign slapping slogans on the sides of buses proposing that it will change the natural order of things, Ben: Er, really? and if that party is elected, Late Summer will come directly before Spring and Winter will come as soon as we’re done with spring. We’ll have Autumn next and perhaps then another dose of Spring and dispense with Summer altogether.

Ben: Oi! Leave off the summer! I want triple summer!

Gabriella: Don’t worry Ben, it’s all ridiculous, and impossible and no political party - nor indeed any human - could ever have that kind of control. We humans can create laws by which to live, but we cannot create or change the laws of nature. Natural laws are fixed and quite simply do not change. And the law is that these five elements exist and provide the natural order of life, the universe - and everything!

Ben: Sounds like there’s a book in that.

Gabriella: I think someone’s already written it, Ben! Now, in the past few episodes, we’ve focussed on each of the Five Elements, or phases of energy. We’ve looked at each one as a separate, unique energy, with its own qualities and gifts. We’ve seen that these elements are most easily observed in each of the five seasons and we’ve connected each season to an element. Each one plays a vital role in the cycle of nature, and each one is unique, no better, no more - or less - important than any other.

And here’s a question for you Ben: do the elements exist separately to each other, or are they tied in an intricate relationship to each other, one which we could liken to that of a family?

Ben: Well, I think I’m getting that there’s nothing random in any of this, so let me hazard a guess that the elements are tied to each other in relationship, like a family?

Gabriella: Bravo! Good guess although I suspect there was a little more than guesswork there. I think you’ve been paying attention!

Ben: Ahem… Surely I’ve earned that gold star by now?

Gabriella: I’ll let you know at the end, Ben! So this week we’re moving on to talk about the Sheng and Ke Cycles, which together make up the Law of the Five Elements and which illustrate respectively the flow and structure of the elements. So now we’re going to explore how each element has its own place in the sequence of the flow of the elements, and how it has a particular relationship to each of the other elements.

It helps to create a visual of this, so if you happen to have a pen and paper, let’s draw a large circle on the paper. If you don’t have one, follow the link to the chart on our website, where you’ll find one that I made earlier (yay! I finally get to say that line!)

For those DIY-ers, on the circumference of the circle that you just drew, starting at the top, let’s draw 5 smaller circles, each straddling the circumference, half inside and half outside, equidistant to each other and the same size as each other. If it was a clock, let’s say, we’ll have one at 12, one at 2, one at 5, one at 7 and the last at 10. Now, let’s colour 12 o’clock red, 2 o’clock yellow, 5 o’clock will remain white, 7 o’clock blue and finally 10 o’clock is green. And finally, on the circumference of the large circle, let’s draw arrows between each smaller circle, from one to the next, indicating movement in a clockwise direction.

We have just drawn the Sheng Cycle! And more importantly, we have drawn a representation of the flow of energy and the first layer of the relationship of the elements. The Sheng Cycle represents what we call the Creative Cycle. Another way to put it is to say that Wood creates Fire, Fire creates Earth, Earth creates Metal, Metal creates Water, and Water creates Wood. That flow occurs in a clockwise direction, and cannot be reversed.

Ben: Why not?

Gabriella: As always, our first port of call in understanding the five elements, and therefore this relationship, is to look at the seasons. Spring turns into Summer. Summer into Late Summer which in turn will become Autumn. And then Autumn will turn to Winter, from which Spring will emerge. This is the natural order of things, and cannot happen in reverse. And let’s just give ourselves a brief reminder of what the energy of each element is doing during its phase in the cycle of seasons.

We’ll start at Autumn, as that’s where we ended last week.

Ben: In that never-ending cycle.

Gabriella: Herendeth the lesson. Or here beginneth the lesson... The Metal element gives us the season of Autumn, the season of balance, where nature retracts. What’s left over from the previous cycle of growth is returned to the ground, in order to preserve energy during the winter and also to break down and extract anything of value from the leftovers in order to enrich the ground for the next cycle. The Water element then gives us Winter, where the energy draws things downwards, there’s little activity to be seen on the exterior, it’s all underground where new reserves are building. The Wood element in Spring sees the seeds that fell in Autumn and germinated in Winter, burst upwards out of the stillness of winter in a flurry of activity of new life. The heat of the Fire element in the Summer then matures the young plants and leaves of Spring into full expansion, where we see nature at its zenith - the full blooms of flowers and trees covered in leaves. The power of the Earth element in Late Summer then starts the decrease, flowers turning to seed pods, the ripening of the fruits of the earth providing the abundance of harvest, which is gathered and either eaten or stored to help us through the coming months. And we’re back to Autumn, where nature once again lets go of all that’s no longer needed from each stage of this cyclical process, paring back, yet extracting what is still of use, recycing in order to enrich the earth in preparation for the time when new reserves must again be built.

Ben: So I can see that cycle clearly on the chart now, but… why do you call it a family?

Gabriella: Another way to describe this flow of the elements, is that each element is the parent of the following one in the cycle, and the child of the preceding one.

Ben: So, if Spring comes before Summer, does that mean that Wood is the parent of Fire?

Gabriella: Yes, and if you think about it, when wood burns, there is fire! So it’s a parent/child relationship. Wood has created Fire.

Ben: And - you need water for wood to grow! So Water must be Wood’s parent, or creator!

Gabriella: Ben you’re on fire today!

Ben: So I’m wood then?

Gabriella: Haha. Not as simple as that, Ben! Remember we have all five elements in us, each one as important as the next and giving us certain qualities and attributes. But yes, Wood burns, creating Fire, and Water is essential for Wood to grow. If we can imagine around a billion years ago, when algae, the earliest form of plant life on earth grew in the water…

Ben: It still does, doesn’t it?

Gabriella: Yes Ben, it does. What I was referring to was that Water was where plant life (and in fact all life) began, with algae starting to grow in water… an illustration of how Water gave birth to Wood. So, Water is the parent of Wood, which in turn is the parent of Fire.

Ben: And the others?

Gabriella: Well, the ashes of Fire create Earth. We can also think about the fire-y centre of our planet or even the big bang. Our planet was on fire at its very beginning and as the climate cooled, so emerged the crust of the earth. From within the earth, the tremendous pressure of gravity, together with the heat within the core of the earth over time creates ores, minerals and gases and we can call all of these Metal. The Chinese also classed air as Metal, air gives us the oxygen of life. The air holds water vapour which becomes clouds when the air can hold no more. So the metal - or minerals present in the air creates water. And on land, fresh springs bubble up from rocky places, rocks also being a form of metal. Thus Metal creates Water. So nothing just happens or exists on its own. Each element in this amazing universe of ours is created by and creates something else, the cycle coming full circle. Each has its own unique place in the sequence. This is what we mean by a law of nature, it is fixed, it cannot change or reverse its order - and this is the Law of the Five Elements.

Ben: So, it’s all about a parent/child relationship then?

Gabriella: Well, that’s the relationship we see on the Sheng cycle, yes. And in Five Element Acupuncture, because we recognise that the energy or Qi of the five elements exists in us, is indeed what makes us up, we can use needles to encourage and increase the flow and balance of energy in our bodies around the Sheng cycle!

Ben: Balance and flow being the all-important ingredients essential for optimum health.

Gabriella: Exactement! There is another cycle you know, Ben.

Ben: Of course there is! How about you tell us about it after a little break?

Gabriella: Would it be breaking the law if I didn’t?

Ben: I thought you were a law-abiding citizen!

Gabriella: Oh alright then, for the sake of my upright reputation!

Pt.2

Ben: So for this new cycle, do we need to draw another chart then, Gabriella?

Gabriella: No Ben, we can use the first one we drew. Unless you’ve just discovered a sixth element… da da derrrr?

Ben: Ummm no, five seems quite enough!

Gabriella: Agreed. Nice, round number isn’t it? Or rather… pentagonal… hmmmm. Ok so let’s look at the next layer of relationships then, The Ke cycle, which represents a grandparent/grandchild relationship. We’ll go back to our chart - got your pencils ready everyone? So, starting at Fire, which of course is at 12 o’clock, draw an arrow through the centre of the large circle, From the Fire circle straight to Metal, bypassing Earth. This represents that Fire is the grandparent of Metal.

Ben: So what does that mean?

Gabriella: Hold your horses a moment, Ben, let’s draw the other arrows first, then we’ll discuss the meaning of the Ke cycle.

So, next, in the same way, bypassing Water, we’ll draw an arrow straight from Metal to Wood. And then Wood to Earth, Earth to Water and finally from Water back to Fire. So now all the elements are connected in the inside of the circle by a five pointed star. And this is known as the Ke cycle, or the Cycle of Control. Think of it like the spokes of a wheel, spokes give stability and strength to the wheel. On a bicycle for example, without spokes, the wheel would eventually buckle with the weight and pressure. The spokes are intrinsic in helping the wheel keep its perfectly round structure and therefore its function, which in the case of a bicycle wheel is to roll smoothly.

Ben: Ok, I get that. That the elements control each other. But can you illustrate that a bit more?

Gabriella: Sure. Let’s start with Metal. Most metal (and I mean the solid form of metal in this example, as opposed to liquid or gaseous) is hard. In order to mould it into something you want to use, you have to melt the metal, and for that you need heat. Back in Nepal, I used to love watching my jewellers making little balls of silver for the designs which featured granulation. They would cut off a small piece from a sheet of silver, and heat it with a torch. Within a few seconds, that little hard, flat piece of metal would become hot red as it started to melt and as if by magic, pop into a perfect little silver ball! When they did 10 or 20 at a time, it was quite mesmerising seeing these little globes of silver pop up from the little flat squares they’d started as. So, heat, or fire, controls metal as it can melt it.

Now, imagine you’re an ironsmith: one of the types of things you might make is tools. You heat up your slab of iron, pour it into a mould and hammer it, while it’s still red hot and malleable, into the shape of an axe. A metal axe that can cut wood. This is one way that Metal can control Wood, it can cut trees down and then cut them into smaller logs, or planks or shred it into sawdust.

Wood in turn controls the earth by binding, holding and containing it. It puts down roots so the earth does not erode. The roots of trees and plants absorb water, preventing the earth becoming waterlogged and washing away.

Earth controls Water. First of all think of planet Earth. The force of gravity holds the abundant water of our planet in place. Remember, without a container water will spread and sink downwards until it does find something that holds it. So the earth’s crust absorbs and contains the oceans, water runs along the river basins, which have been chiseled out as water makes its way, ever downward, towards the sea, the earth channeling the flow along the journey.

Finally, Water controls Fire. We use water to put out a fire. A car needs a cooling system or it will overheat. If we burn our finger while cooking, first aid is to run it under cold water.

Ben: So the Ke Cycle is another way that energy flows then?

Gabriella: Well, no! Energy doesn’t actually flow across the Ke cycle. It has this holding, stabilising effect and isn’t an active flow of energy. It holds the creative cycle in place. The wheel of the creative cycle turns, but is held in place by the control cycle. Imagine if there was only growth - the whole planet would be an impenetrable jungle of triffids if plants didn’t stop growing. They must reach a maximum and no more - nature just does this by putting a controlling force in place - Metal, or the Autumn withdrawing growth, letting go of the old, bringing the cycle to full circle, allowing it to start again. And if Earth didn’t control water by containing and holding it in place on our planet, the planet would be one great big desert and life couldn’t exist. If water didn’t put out fire the planet would be a ball of fire. Nature has this system that ensures that no part of the creative cycle takes over from another - which works perfectly on our planet as we have all conditions in about the right balance to allow the cycle of the five elements to create and sustain life, a fundamental part of which of course is death, making way for new life.

So the control cycle is a holding force, rather than one of action. Energy doesn’t actively flow across the Ke cycle. We can however in Five Element acupuncture use a needle to draw energy across the Ke cycle from one element to the element it controls when needed. But without this kind of intervention, the natural order is that the wheel of nature continues to turn with the five different creative phases of the cycle being held in place by a stabilising, containing force, the Ke cycle.

Ben: Wow, I’d never looked at it like that. That’s given me a whole new perspective!

Gabriella: Exactly! I love it, because it’s all so simple and it IS nature. There’s nothing about this that comes from anywhere except Natural Law. And when we really understand these different forces, we can see that it’s not wild imagination that’s created stories about these elements. It’s actually something tangible, that each and every one of us can observe. And understanding these two natural cycles - known collectively as the Law of the Five Elements - is crucial to the very core of our theory.

And then, remember that the natural phenomena of the laws that govern nature, are present not only outside us, but also inside us. We CAN only be made up of what occurs in nature, so when the energy of these five elements is in its full flow in us, as ordained by natural laws, we have harmony and health in body, mind and spirit. When this isn’t the case, when the balance is disturbed, something, somewhere will start to show that all is not well.

Ben: And from what you’ve been saying in the course of this podcast, you can restore this imbalance using Five Element Acupuncture?

Gabriella: Exactly. In order to effectively treat a person’s energy, you have to understand how it flows, and which pathways you can use in order to restore balance and harmony. Let’s go back to that bicycle wheel. Of course, a bike has two wheels. Both need to be a perfect circle, in order to give the rider a smooth ride. What happens if one of the wheels buckles slightly? Well, it would be a bumpy and probably slower ride, the rider constantly having to readjust as the uneven wheel would cause the cycle to go off course. Now imagine energy in a person, flowing as the perfect circle of the Sheng cycle, held in place by the Ke cycle. If something happened somewhere within and this cycle of nature buckles, even slightly, could you see how the health of that person could go off balance?

Ben: Their life could become a pretty bumpy ride!

Gabriella: That’s it! So as a practitioner, my knowledge of these cycles and my ability to feel the relative strengths and weaknesses in a patient’s pulses is a large part of the picture I use to restore flow and therefore good health to a patient.

And by the way, it’s not actually me that does the restoring of health, nature is the only one that can heal, not me. I just know where to stick the needles in where it matters, nature does all the work, helped by the fact the energy is flowing as it should.

Ben: So why am I paying you then? Shouldn’t I be paying nature?

Gabriella: We all know the middleman has to get a cut! Acupuncturists need to eat and put a roof over their heads too, you know. But - as a Five Element Acupuncturist, I’m no more than a humble instrument assisting nature.

Conclusion

Ben: OK, so What’s The Point Gabriella?! What does the Law of Five Elements have to do with putting needles into acupuncture points on a human body?

Gabriella: Ah-ah - it’s that time when it’s my turn to ask you a pesky question and your turn to do the work! What have you learned about the Law of the Five Elements and the flow of energy around the Sheng and Ke cycles Ben?

Ben: I’ve learned that the Law of Five Elements is a law of nature. One that is fixed and never changes. It flows in one direction - clockwise - and cannot be reversed. The Sheng Cycle, or the Creative Cycle, illustrates the parent-child relationship between the elements, showing us how each element gives birth to the next and is the child of the preceding element in a continuous and harmonious cycle: birth, growth, harvest and death coming back round to the reserves building to allow birth again. And the Ke Cycle, or the Cycle of Control, demonstrates how elements act like the spokes of a wheel, providing stability and balance to the entire system.

Gabriella: Right on, Ben. These cycles aren't just theoretical constructs; these are the actual laws of nature we’re talking about, and they're the foundation of Five Element Acupuncture. Next season, we’ll be taking all we’ve learned in the first two seasons one step further, to find out (among other things) why we treat the cause of imbalance as opposed to addressing symptoms directly.

Ben: So, whether you're new to this fascinating world of energy or you've been all the way on this journey with us, we hope you've gained valuable insights into the interconnectedness of the elements and their impact on our lives.

Gabreilla: Thanks for joining us this season, next week, we have a special end of season episode where we’ll be answering your questions, so please don’t forget to send in your pesky questions. You can’t let Ben have ALL the fun! Steal a bit of his thunder! So send them in if you haven’t already!

Ben: See you next time!

Gabriella: Toodle pip!

Ben: OK, goodbye now!