Water

• In Taoism, water represents the season of winter, the color of dark blue or black, the essential fluids of the human body, and rest and quiet. Winter is a time for conservation of energy, waiting for spring when the energy can be released. Dark blue and black are colors that hold all other colors within them. Water also contains a natural connection to the human body. When water is heated up, it evaporates. When human beings are stressed, they lose some of their essential energy. Remaining cool or cold as we do in winter helps bodies retain energy.
  
  

Wood

• After winter comes spring, which symbolizes a new cycle on all levels. Wood grows from the force of the winter's melting snow and the rains of spring time. Plants emerge from seeds in a slow motion explosion each spring. The wood phase of Taoism equals happiness and an awakening of all energy, including sexual and reproductive energy. Wood is creative, expressive and expansive. To repress the natural urges or block the growth of the wood phase causes anger, jealousy, stagnation and frustration.
  
  

Fire

• Wood can catch fire. When the Tao phase shifts from spring to summer, wood energy matures into fire energy. In Taoism, this is the biggest, most energetic phase in the cycle. Like the season of summer, the element of fire is the hottest we can experience. Heat connects to the human body through the heart, which sends hot blood through the body. It is also seen as the seat of human passion and compassion. Red is the color of this Taoist element, the phase of abundance.
  
  

Earth

• When summer peaks, fire energy begins to diminish, revealing the Earth. This phase of Taoism holds harmony with the planet and brings physical satisfaction. This phase also holds all the other phases within it. The earth element connects to the body through the digestive system, which feeds humans through the richness of the summer's red heat. Earth energy in Taoism is yellow for the sun. Repression of this phase leads to malnourishment, which affects the rest of the system.
  
  

Metal

• The fifth phase in the Taoist wheel is metal. Metal represents the season of autumn, when the earth energy condenses and stores itself. Metal energy represents the lungs in humans and the color white, which is the absence of colors. In this way, the metal phase is also the time when all waste is cast off and only necessary resources are stored for the coming winter, or the beginning of another cycle. If we remain trapped in old feelings, we can become melancholy and unready for the new energy cycle to begin.