buscon Posted January 25, 2010 Hi, I've found this five elements test on the internet: http://www.yuliqigong.com/Five_el_Test.html Obviously is nothing precise, but can be indicative of our personality. It would be nice if everyone of us does the test and post here the result: then we can discuss how to balance ourselves Here's my points: 13 Wood, 27 Water, 9 Fire, 9 Metal, 26 Earth. I actually have too much water and earth, I already know it before the test, so no surprise. On the other side I can see that maybe I have to reduce earth and water and not increase my fire and metal, as I used to think. Any advice do decrease water and earth is welcome Have a good test Cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloppy Zhang Posted January 25, 2010 (edited) Cool quiz! -12 wood, +20 Water, +23 Fire, +11 Metal, +28 Earth [edit]Wow, on further reflection, this helps explain a lot Edited January 25, 2010 by Sloppy Zhang Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aetherous Posted January 25, 2010 Wood = 9 Water = 21 Fire = 7 Metal = 13 Earth = 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joeblast Posted January 25, 2010 hmm wood 3, water 13, fire -2, metal 5, earth -3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Encephalon Posted January 25, 2010 Where can we find an online interpretation of our results? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buscon Posted January 26, 2010 Where can we find an online interpretation of our results? I actually started this thread for finding an answer together, as I'm not fully able to get the meaning just by myself: taobums should be the perfect place for this discussion So post your results, your questions, your expectations. I actually should decrease water and earth - it makes sense for my person, I have to get in touch with my emotions and I think too much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloppy Zhang Posted January 26, 2010 (edited) Taomeow seems very knowledgeable about things related to the five elements I'm no expert on wuxing, but here's what I see for me: -12 wood, +20 Water, +23 Fire, +11 Metal, +28 Earth I have a wood deficiency, so I would need things that help feed wood, which would be things relating to the water element. Metal is also relatively low, and metal is controlled by fire, which in my personality tends to be a little strong, so too much fire practices or things related to fire could cause problems. Water controls fire, so again adding things involving water helps keep my fire in check at the same time. I was quite pleasantly surprised when I saw this because over the past couple years I have found that water paths/methods really suit me, fire methods start to bother me after a while, and maybe now I know why Edited January 26, 2010 by Sloppy Zhang Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zhoupeng Posted January 26, 2010 (edited) This is fun! Here is my result: Wood 4, Water 28, Fire 9, Metal 18, Earth 12 Edit: Upon closer observation it seems that due to this being a taoist discussion website there seems to be a clear predominance of water in people's results. I find this quite amusing ^^ Edited January 26, 2010 by zhoupeng Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted January 26, 2010 (edited) huh Wood -1 Water -2 Fire -1 Metal -20 Earth -6 All negatives, although I consider the first three close enough to null to be zero-sum. I'm not surprised about the heavy negative Metal, and I think I rushed through the Earth questions and the real number may also be closer to zero. I expected the Water element to be high in the positives, based on my four pillars. I'm going to get out my charts and look into it again, it'll be my hobby for the next couple days, lol. Edited January 26, 2010 by soaring crane Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted January 26, 2010 -12 wood, +20 Water, +23 Fire, +11 Metal, +28 Earth I have a wood deficiency, so I would need things that help feed wood, which would be things relating to the water element. Isn't there already enough water in there to nourish your wood? More watery activity might lead to depression, be careful. It might be the metal that's hacking away at the Wood, and the overabundance of Earth that's feeding the metal... I'm not good at analyzing these, though, as I always see too many possibilities. As you said, this really is Taomeow's specialty. I wonder what she thinks about the questionaire. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloppy Zhang Posted January 26, 2010 Isn't there already enough water in there to nourish your wood? More watery activity might lead to depression, be careful. It might be the metal that's hacking away at the Wood, and the overabundance of Earth that's feeding the metal... I'm not good at analyzing these, though, as I always see too many possibilities. As you said, this really is Taomeow's specialty. I wonder what she thinks about the questionaire. Ack, so true! Taomeow, help Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taomeow Posted January 26, 2010 Ack, so true! Taomeow, help Alright. Thanks for trusting my opinion, and please forgive the bursting of the test bubble. The test is put together out of symptoms of the five organs imbalances associated with the corresponding phases of qi (the infamous "elements"). "Element 1" of the test is a bunch of symptoms of Liver qi imbalance, "Element 2" of Kidneys, and so on -- Heart, Lungs, Spleen-Stomach. This kind of questionnaire would be helpful if a blind TCM practitioner with no sense of touch was assessing a patient's symptoms and could only rely on verbal descriptions. In other words, it is very imprecise and merely points in the general direction of a possible imbalance, without revealing the actual picture of the Five Phases in the person's make-up. If you score very high or very low on one particular "element" you might want to invest some effort into bringing that particular organ into balance with diet, herbs, and lifestyle changes. But I wouldn't get too upset even if that's the case, because, like I said, the test is very very imprecise and might reveal something clinically meaningful perhaps only in extreme cases. It shows nothing astrologically/destiny-wise meaningful, this is not the right way to determine one's innate wuxing phases and their "weight." I gotta write that book that was my New Year's resolution... there's always Chinese New Year for slackers like me to renew our slacking resolutions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buscon Posted January 26, 2010 (edited) Alright. Thanks for trusting my opinion, and please forgive the bursting of the test bubble. The test is put together out of symptoms of the five organs imbalances associated with the corresponding phases of qi (the infamous "elements"). "Element 1" of the test is a bunch of symptoms of Liver qi imbalance, "Element 2" of Kidneys, and so on -- Heart, Lungs, Spleen-Stomach. This kind of questionnaire would be helpful if a blind TCM practitioner with no sense of touch was assessing a patient's symptoms and could only rely on verbal descriptions. In other words, it is very imprecise and merely points in the general direction of a possible imbalance, without revealing the actual picture of the Five Phases in the person's make-up. If you score very high or very low on one particular "element" you might want to invest some effort into bringing that particular organ into balance with diet, herbs, and lifestyle changes. But I wouldn't get too upset even if that's the case, because, like I said, the test is very very imprecise and might reveal something clinically meaningful perhaps only in extreme cases. It shows nothing astrologically/destiny-wise meaningful, this is not the right way to determine one's innate wuxing phases and their "weight." Hi taomeow, thanks for your contribution, everyone was looking forward it Of course the test is nothing scientific or precise, but can help us to show a tendence of our personality: I wrote it at the beginning of the thread, but it's good to underline it. Another important thing that you noticed, it's that you can recognize an imbalance, but not the relation between the different elements: that's actually really important and cannot be understand just through a test. Anyway we are meeting on a forum and our position is exactly like the one of the blind TCM practitioner that you descbribed, maybe plus a lot of links and information - still we can try to understand us better, sharing our knowledge. Cheers Edited January 26, 2010 by buscon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sloppy Zhang Posted January 26, 2010 Alright. Thanks for trusting my opinion, and please forgive the bursting of the test bubble. The test is put together out of symptoms of the five organs imbalances associated with the corresponding phases of qi (the infamous "elements"). "Element 1" of the test is a bunch of symptoms of Liver qi imbalance, "Element 2" of Kidneys, and so on -- Heart, Lungs, Spleen-Stomach. This kind of questionnaire would be helpful if a blind TCM practitioner with no sense of touch was assessing a patient's symptoms and could only rely on verbal descriptions. In other words, it is very imprecise and merely points in the general direction of a possible imbalance, without revealing the actual picture of the Five Phases in the person's make-up. If you score very high or very low on one particular "element" you might want to invest some effort into bringing that particular organ into balance with diet, herbs, and lifestyle changes. But I wouldn't get too upset even if that's the case, because, like I said, the test is very very imprecise and might reveal something clinically meaningful perhaps only in extreme cases. It shows nothing astrologically/destiny-wise meaningful, this is not the right way to determine one's innate wuxing phases and their "weight." I gotta write that book that was my New Year's resolution... there's always Chinese New Year for slackers like me to renew our slacking resolutions. Thanks for the perspective Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted January 27, 2010 Alright. Thanks for trusting my opinion, and please forgive the bursting of the test bubble. The test is put together out of symptoms of the five organs imbalances associated with the corresponding phases of qi I gotta write that book that was my New Year's resolution... there's always Chinese New Year for slackers like me to renew our slacking resolutions. Hi there - I don't think there was a bubble and we understand that it's not a precise evaluation. It's fun, and interesting, and it does jibe somewhat with my own astrological charts, so there. I had written pretty much the same things you said, but then dumped it all (something about weak metal...). Also - Book? ... Boooook? Get busy, woman! Please Btw, the charts in the Bazi section of the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui" (Joseph Yu, et al) are pretty good, if anyone want to look into them. Better than the other two books I've got in the subject. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buscon Posted January 27, 2010 Btw, the charts in the Bazi section of the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui" (Joseph Yu, et al) are pretty good, if anyone want to look into them. Better than the other two books I've got in the subject. Thx for the tip, I'll look into it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted January 27, 2010 (edited) here it is: Idiot's Guide Like some of the reviews say, it's more of a guide for understanding how Feng Shui works and less of a workbook about how to apply the principles. And that, imo, is the best you can do in a book anyway. Feng Shui isn't about shifting furniture around or hanging mirrors over the toilet. But, regardless of the main content, the section on the Four Pillars is really tops, at least insofar as making the incredibly complex system somewhat approachable for most people. Not available in German. I think Manfred Kubny is probably a good source of authentic information in Germany, but, pricey pricey... And what about Italian? Ciao, Baby Edited January 27, 2010 by soaring crane Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taomeow Posted January 27, 2010 Synchronicity strikes and strikes! I just PMed someone today recommending this very book. Yes, despite the title, it's nowhere near idiot-level unlike most FS stuff "out there." A great beginner's book. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Encephalon Posted January 27, 2010 Fire 11 Wood 9 Water 9 Metal -17 Earth -18 After some thoughtful reflection, I've concluded that these are the scores of someone who finally gets the priviledge of going to college in his forties, and ends up internalizing what he's learned about global studies and prospects for the 21st century, the result being a boatload of sadness and anguish over beloved earth. It's no wonder that in spite of my Asian studies and my nei kung practice, and just getting married to a wonderful woman, I rarely experience moments of true hope or inspiration. The cabin in the woods looks better all the time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites