The Five Elements and the Five Cardinal Relationships

Before formally discussing the principles of fortune-telling, let me talk about another thing, that is, the Five Elements and the Five Cardinal Relationships. Wood, Metal, Fire, Water, and Earth correspond to Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, Wisdom, and Faith respectively. Many bosses have asked me about the relationship between a chairman choosing a general manager or a general manager choosing a personal secretary. They are not asking about business matters. In the business world, they don't need to ask me at all. Whether they can make money or not, they may not necessarily believe that fortune-telling can help them make money. They just want to know if the people they choose will be inadvertently influenced by them. This is also how we calculate whether two partners can get along fairly. We use the theory of the Five Elements for this calculation. Jia and Yi represent Wood. Wood is associated with Benevolence. A person of this element is very kind. Success can come from kindness, and failure can also be due to it. Bing and Ding represent Fire. Fire is associated with Propriety. Success and failure are both related to propriety. Wu and Ji represent Earth. Earth is associated with Faith. People of this element are very trustworthy. Sometimes, they are so trustworthy that they end up binding themselves. Geng and Xin represent Metal. Metal is associated with Righteousness. They take on everything. Ren and Gui represent Water. Water is associated with Wisdom. For example, if you are of the Wood element, Wood overcomes Earth. Earth represents trustworthiness. Suppose someone owes you money. When you ask for it today, according to the principle of trust, they will definitely give it to you. You can choose not to take it out of kindness. It's not just about your kindness; it's because of the mutual restraint of the Five Elements. This is Wood overcoming Earth.

Earth restrains Water. Earth represents trustworthiness, while Water represents wisdom. Even if one with the trait of Water can talk about wisdom in a most persuasive way, it won't work on those with the trait of Earth. Once they get the money, they won't discuss anything else! Then, Water restrains Fire. I see you bowing, right? When an ordinary person bows, it seems polite. But for those with the trait of Water, when you bow to them, they think you are being deceitful, believing that excessive politeness must conceal some trickery. Fire restrains Metal. Politeness is most effective on those with the trait of Metal. Metal represents righteousness. They are very righteous people. They aren't afraid of you getting into a fight or being tough. There's only one thing they're afraid of, and that is your politeness.

When we read *Water Margin*, no matter how serious the matter is, as long as the other party kneels down to admit their mistake, everything will be fine. This is called the mutual restraint of the five elements. Now, if a boss of the metal element meets an employee of the fire element, the situation is reversed. The boss will be under the control of the employee and will be extremely respectful! Whatever the employee says, the boss will believe it! So when two people go into business together, we say one thing restrains another. There is no one who is unrestrained! That's why some couples, even though they get along very poorly, still don't divorce. It's because of the mutual restraint of the five elements. I'm just bringing this up incidentally. Fortune - telling is not entirely about good and bad luck. Regarding the mutual restraint of the five elements, when making friends, many people ask me: "Is it good for me to cooperate with this person?" If you are of the metal element and he is of the fire element, he restrains you. Even if he doesn't explicitly control you, every little gesture, every casual word, or even just offering you a cigarette, he will think you have a good impression of him. This is a problem related to the nature of the five elements.

So, at the end, I'll start talking about the major luck cycles. I'll give a few examples for males born in yang years and females born in yin years, as well as males born in yin years and females born in yang years. There aren't many cases where just looking at the birth chart itself is sufficient. We'll look at the major luck cycles: which cycles are good luck and which are bad luck? First, let's make an assessment. Next time, I'll select some topics related to the major luck cycles for an introduction!