Five Elements in a Space (五行应用)

The application of the five-element cycle to materials, colours, shapes and directions. This is the working method by which the five elements are applied to an actual space: wood by plants and timber, fire by light and colour, earth by ceramics and stone, metal by metal objects, water by water features and dark glass.

It belongs to the classical vocabulary of the tradition. The application of the five-element cycle to materials, colours, shapes and directions. The mapping of element to material is the most standardised part of the practice and the most often applied without the preceding step — the tradition always reads the direction's own element first, which is where most errors enter.

The classical method applies the generating and overcoming cycles to the element already present in a direction and asks whether the space adds to it, draws from it, or acts against it. The remedy is chosen by which of the three is wanted. It is grouped under Earth (土) in the five-element system.