Five Elements

Every stem and every branch carries one of five elements. Counting which elements your chart holds, and which it lacks, is the first practical thing anyone does with a chart.

The elements are not substances. They are phases of movement: Wood is growth and push, Fire is visibility and warmth, Earth is holding and stability, Metal is refinement and cutting, Water is depth and adaptation.

They relate to each other in two fixed sequences — one where each feeds the next, one where each restrains another. Almost every judgement in Saju comes out of those two loops.