Five elements
Earth
Late summer · Damp · Stomach and Spleen.
Earth is the element of Stomach and Spleen. The season students attach is late summer, the climate is damp, the sense organ is the mouth, the tissue is the flesh, and the flavor is sweet. The emotion in the classical set is pensiveness. None of these are personality test results.
Generating cycle: fire generates earth, and earth generates metal. The image is a parent feeding a child. It is a memory wheel for relationships between channels, not a diet rule.
Controlling cycle: earth controls water, and is controlled by wood. The image is a grandparent keeping a grandchild in check. When textbooks say an element is “overacting,” they mean this wheel, not a measured lab cycle.
Herbs that enter these channels
Angelica dahurica root
Opens the nose and the yang brightness of the face.
White atractylodes
Strengthens the spleen and dries damp.
Pinellia rhizome
The main phlegm herb. Raw pinellia is toxic. Only prepared herb belongs in a formula.
Jujube fruit
A food fruit that harmonizes formulas and mildly supports the spleen.
Licorice root
Harmonizes formulas. Also the herb most likely to cause trouble if eaten daily in quantity.
Kudzu root
Releases the muscle layer, especially a stiff neck.
Magnolia bark
Moves qi and dries damp in a stuck, full abdomen.
Coptis rhizome
Very bitter, very cold. Clears heat in the heart and stomach in textbooks.