Wood, fire, earth, metal and water represent the Five Elements. Wood and metal form a pair: wood is Yin, soft, natural and gathering; metal is Yang, hard, polished and separating. Fire and water are another pair: water is Yin, soft, cold and flowing; fire is Yang, strong, hot and damaging. Earth is the centre, connecting all the elements, but does not belong to any of them. So earth is described as soft and wet (soil) in its Yin side, and hard and solid (rock) in its Yang side.
THE FIVE ELEMENTS AND THE DIRECTIONS
The Five Elements 'cover' the whole world. Wood represents the East, Metal the West, while Fire stands for the South and Water for the North. Earth is the centre.
The East gets the sun before the West, and so more trees and plants grow in the East. The West
gets the sun later, so the West creates more minerals, metal and iron. The South is hot and the North cold.
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