Wu Xing (Medical System)

The application of the five elements theory in medicine is the central pillar of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which crystallized in its classical form by the Han Dynasty (2nd century BCE - 2nd century CE). The principal theoretical source is the Huangdi Neijing ("Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine"), which describes correspondences between the five elements and organs, emotions, seasons, colors, sounds, and flavors.

Each of the five elements governs a pair of organs: Wood rules the liver and gallbladder; Fire rules the heart and small intestine (plus the pericardium and triple burner); Earth rules the spleen/pancreas and stomach; Metal rules the lungs and large intestine; Water rules the kidneys and urinary bladder. Each element is associated with a specific emotion: Wood with anger, Fire with joy, Earth with worry, Metal with grief, Water with fear. An excess or deficiency of an element manifests in both organic and emotional symptoms.

Diagnosis in TCM comprises four methods: inspection (complexion, tongue, eyes), inquiry (complaints, preferences, emotions), auscultation (voice, breathing), and palpation (pulse). Pulse diagnosis is the highest art: on both wrists, at three positions and two pressure levels, twelve "positions" corresponding to twelve organ systems are palpated. Treatment aims to restore elemental balance through acupuncture, herbal medicine, qigong, tuina massage, and diet.

In Errarium, the medical application of Wu Xing is treated as an independent method (#25) alongside the calendrical application (#24). Its closest analogue is the Ayurvedic dosha system (#19): both systems work with bioenergetic principles and balance as the foundational principle of health, and both integrate physiology, psychology, and lifestyle. The key difference lies in the set of elements (three doshas versus five elements) and the interpretive framework.