About The Five Elements In Chinese Astrology

Chinese astrology contains different elements that each hold their own significance and specialty. Astrology holds different meaning to different people. Read about its complex background.

The five elements in Chinese astrology

A Chinese lunar year consists of 12 months with about twenty nine and a half days every month. A leap year has 13 lunar months. The start of every lunar month is indicated with the New Moon in the Western calendar.

Cycles

The Chinese calendar keeps count of years by considering 60 years as a cycle. Every year has a label and is made up of 2 parts. The first part is the celestial stem being one of the 5 elements. The second part is the terrestrial branch' which should be 1 of the 12 zodiac (animal) signs. The equations then comes to 5 multiplied by 12' which equals 60' or a cycle as far as the Chinese calendar is concerned

Five Elements

There are 5 elements which are part of the Chinese philosophy. They are : Wood' Fire' Earth' Metal and Water. These elements were linked with 5 planets during the olden days i.e. Jupiter for Wood' Mars for Fire' Saturn for Earth' Venus for Metal and Mercury for Water. Astrologers find out the position of the planets in order to find out what are the issues which will dominate a person in his / her life.

These elements can also be linked with particular colors i.e. Green with Wood' Red with Fire' Brown with Earth' Black with Water and White with Metal. These elements are also linked with the animals which represent zodiac signs. During every 12 – year cycle' the animal takes up 1 of these elements till all 5 of the elements have been used.

Legend of the Zodiac signs

There are a large number of stories which are in circulation regarding the roots of the zodiac signs. Some people mention the Chinese Gods' some people the Buddha' but the basic story is that a higher power had summoned all the animals to a meeting' and the first animal which came was to be selected. Before this' the cat and the rat were good buddies. However' on the day of the meeting' the rat' having become so excited about this meeting' forgot to wake up the cat and' using a number of cunning tricks' made his way to the Gods first and was' therefore' chosen as the first animal to represent the year in a 12 year cycle. The cat slept through and missed out on the meeting and' since then' the 2 of them have been arch enemies