Here we set out the element and the yin/yang attached to each individual Stem-Branch character. The color of a character on screen is its element.
Yin-yangis the view that sees everything as two qualities forming a pair. Like light and dark, or motion and stillness, neither exists on its own and each turns into the other.
In symbols, yang is written +, and yin −. The Book of Changes (周易) represents them with a single bar, and that bar is called a yao (爻). An unbroken bar is a yang line; a bar broken in the middle is a yin line. Stack three yao and you get the eight trigrams (☰ Qian to ☷ Kun); stack six and you get the 64 hexagrams of the Book of Changes.
Destiny theory does not use the trigrams; it borrows only the yin-yang qualities. The "yang/yin" attached to each stem and branch is exactly this distinction (for example 甲 is yang Wood and 乙 is yin Wood).
The Five Elementsexplain change as a flow with five stages. Rather than material "elements," they are closer to five phases in which energy moves (Five Phases).
Generating (相生) — each gives birth to the next: Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal → Water → Wood
Controlling (相剋) — each holds down another: Wood → Earth → Water → Fire → Metal → Wood
| Generating 相生 | Reason |
|---|---|
| Wood → Fire | A tree becomes fuel for fire |
| Fire → Earth | The ash left after burning becomes earth |
| Earth → | Metal comes out of the earth |
| → Water | Droplets form on cold metal |
| Water → Wood | Water makes trees grow |
| Controlling 相剋 | Reason |
|---|---|
| Wood → Earth | Roots dig into the earth |
| Earth → Water | Earth blocks water (an embankment) |
| Water → Fire | Water puts out fire |
| Fire → | Fire melts metal |
| → Wood | Metal (an axe) cuts a tree |
The generating cycle goes round in order without skipping, while the controlling cycle goes round skipping one place . That is why the two orders come out looking different.
Each of the five elements splits into yang and yin, giving ten. They stand for the energy of heaven.
| No. | Heavenly Stems | Yin (pronunciation) | The Five Elements | Yin-yang |
|---|
The elements can be seen to form pairs. 甲乙=Wood, 丙丁=Fire, 戊己=Earth, 庚辛=Metal, 壬癸=Water, with the first of each pair yang and the second yin.
They stand for the energy of earth and pair with the twelve zodiac animals. A zodiac animal belongs not only to the year of birth but to the month, day and hour as well, each having its own. Times follow the Korean standard (starting at 23:30).
| Earthly Branches | Yin (pronunciation) | Zodiac | The Five Elements | Yin-yang | Hours | Month (Solar Term) |
|---|