~300 BC
Zou Yan and the five elements
Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth generate and restrain one another in cycles.
The story
In the state of Qi, at the end of the Warring States period, Zou Yan brought together two ideas that circulated separately: the yin-yang pair and the five phases — Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth. His school turned them into a system: each phase generates the next and restrains another, in cycles that explained everything from the seasons to the succession of dynasties.
That theory became part of the calendar: each Chinese year carries an element as well as its sign, and the combination of the two takes sixty years to repeat. On Molino, the element appears next to your sign in My Map, but it doesn't enter into the affinities, which compare sign against sign only.
Origin
State of Qi (China)
Influence
How Molino uses it
The origin of the element that accompanies your sign
Transparency
These historical traditions explore numbers and cultural symbols as a tool for personal reflection.
The interpretations belong to the symbolic and cultural field; they aren't scientific predictions. This map combines numerology, astrology and the Chinese zodiac in a transparent, educational way.
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See my map