Needling Styles and Feng Shui Battles: The Five Phases in Practice
part II of an intro to the Five Phase theory of East Asian philosophy
Part one of this two-parter introduced the five phases (wu xing), one of the fundamental concepts of East Asian tradition. That first installment closed with the promise that we’d explore how the phases are applied in practice, from Chinese medicine to feng shui to martial arts. That’s today’s job. But before we dive in, do be advised that this will make more sense with the context provided by the first installment. Even if you read it before, why not have a little refresher before we press on?
Also before we get into the nitty-gritty, I invite you to reflect a moment on how you’ve worked with the phases/elements in your own life. This stuff is as intuitive as it is universal, after all. None of us is a stranger to the elements of life.
Perhaps you threw a bucket of water on a waste basket fire (literal fire), or doused a friend who was freaking out about something (less literal fire). Either way, you used Water to control Fire.
Maybe you gave someone a fiercely loving hug (good, supportive Earth) which allowed them to shed some much-needed tears (grief is Metal, fed by that Earth).
Or maybe your criticism of a friend’s writing project stung (Metal cutting Wood), but ultimately provided the pruning that allowed for healthy new growth when he got to the next draft. (Congrats, you’re a “you’ll thank me later…much later” sort of friend. A Metal friend.)
We all use the elements intuitively in various ways, often to good effect. But when people layer in deep study and focused intention into the mix, the results can be amplified.
That’s the case in the more specialized contexts we explore today, starting with feng shui, a discipline where the five phases truly take center stage.
Feng Shui
The feng shui master uses her knowledge of the phases (among other lore) to create harmony in the lived environment. One way this can look is to ‘prescribe’ a feng shui remedy when the existing order is off-kilter.
Let’s say Wood is overly dominant in one area of the house. This can lead to bickering and fights. The consultant might advise that a brass gong be hung on the wall. Metal controls Wood.
Adding some judicious Fire element might be an option as well, since Fire consumes Wood. (A little Fire can go a long way: perhaps just one or two candles or a red-colored accent.)
A fountain might sound soothing, but adding Water would only feed Wood, the way a mother does a child: not helpful in this case.
Or to take a famous example, two competing banks were building skyscrapers in an major East Asian city (I believe it was Singapore). One bank built in a Metal fashion—fitting for a business dealing with money. The competitor then built their skyscraper with lots of pointed triangular shapes, which belong to Fire. See what they did there? Not only did they use the control cycle against their competitors, but they angled their building such that the Fiery points were aiming right at the Metal building. Guess whose business prevailed.
If your appetite is whetted for more five-element drama, here’s another example of a feng shui real estate battle in Hong Kong. Good stuff.
Gongfu (Kung Fu)
The East Asian martial artist knows that full range of movement expression (Fire) depends on suppleness and flexibility (Wood). And that even the most vigorous practice must return in stages back to stillness (Water). By contrast, some in the Western martial arts scene insist on pushing all the time (Wood into Fire, ignoring the descent back to Water). Observe the longevity of their careers in comparison to someone engaged in traditional modes of training.
Herbalism
The East Asian-trained herbalist uses the five phases all the time. A high fever with strong thirst and a big, rapid pulse is a sign of unchecked fire, and naturally the treatment is watery in nature. We might reach for the medicinal shi gao, gypsum, which is very cold and wet, a Water phase medicinal.
Water controlling Fire sounds easy, but most of the time clinical situations are more complex. For instance, a disruption in the flow of gallbladder qi can result in symptoms of irritability and costal (rib-side) discomfort. The herbalist realizes that this Wood pathology can give rise to Fire, and also that unchecked Wood will tend to disturb Earth (overly controlling it). Hence the classical prescription Xiao Chaihu Tang, containing medicinals not just to open the qi flow (Wood) but to clear heat (Fire) and support the Spleen/Stomach (Earth). In this way it’s possible to think a step or two ahead, following the ancient injunction to dig a well before thirst strikes and to forge weapons before war arrives on one’s doorstep.
Acupuncture
Virtually all systems of acupuncture make use of five-phase dynamics to some extent. The system I favor, Sa’am acupuncture, works with the phases in a very specific and fine-grained way and makes extensive use of the acupuncture points that have strong five-phase correlations.
In Sa’am, if a patient is chilly, with a slow pulse and tight abdomen, we might elect to supplement their Heart, a Fire organ. To do so, we select Wood points, bolstering them (through needling direction and rotation) so as to increase Wood, which the heart’s Fire needs for fuel. At the same time, we sedate Water points on the relevant channels in order to prevent Water from extinguishing the Fire we’re building.
As you can see, working with five phases dynamics is central to this powerful treatment system. Practically all the points used in Sa’am are the ones with strong five-phase associations.
Etcetera
The five phases show up in Chinese calligraphy, music, tea ceremony, kodo (the Japanese art of incense), astrology—you name it. They’re ubiquitous because they describe the way life moves: first up and out, then down and in. Rinse and repeat.
Any process, any span from a day to a lifetime, can be analyzed in terms of its phases. The elements apply at every scale, in every era, on every planet. They’re simply fundamental to embodied life. Once you start to look, you will see them everywhere.
Now, lest we get carried away, the elements aren’t the only game in town. They’re the way life moves on earth, yes—but the physician (or other traditional practitioner) must also consider the patterns of qi in the heavens, i.e. in the non-manifest realm. These patterns are generally described in terms of a six-fold structure, as opposed to the elements’ five.
The interplay of five and six (so-called wu yun liu qi) opens whole new vistas of complexity and allows for some advanced forecasting techniques. But that, friends, is a topic for another day.