COSMOLOGICAL SEQUENCE OF THE 5 ELEMENTS - PART 3
In the first Clinical Tip we discussed the possible origin of the theory of the 5 Elements and the connection between the ancient Four Directions and the Cosmological arrangement of the 5 Elements (with Earth in the Centre). In the second Clinical Tip we discussed the clinical application of the Cosmological Sequence of the 5 Elements. In this third and last Clinical Tip I would like to address the relationship between the 5 Elements and the 4 Seasons. Numerology pervades Chinese medicine very often with contradictions. There is the number 1 which is the Dao, bearing in mind that the Dao is part not only of Daoist philosophy but also of the philosophies of Confucianism and of the Yin-Yang School. There is the number 2 which is of course Yin and Yang. Number 3 is Heaven-Earth-Person (Tian-Di-Ren). I deliberately use the word “person” rather than “man” as ren in Chinese does indeed mean “person”: nan ren is a male person and nu ren a female one. Incidentally, the “Earth” of...