Five elements
Fire
Summer · Heat · Heart and Small Intestine and Pericardium and San Jiao.
Fire is the element of Heart and Small Intestine and Pericardium and San Jiao. The season students attach is summer, the climate is heat, the sense organ is the tongue, the tissue is the vessels, and the flavor is bitter. The emotion in the classical set is joy, in the classical set. None of these are personality test results.
Generating cycle: wood generates fire, and fire generates earth. The image is a parent feeding a child. It is a memory wheel for relationships between channels, not a diet rule.
Controlling cycle: fire controls metal, and is controlled by water. 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
Salvia root
Moves blood and cools, with a special relationship to the heart in texts.
Chinese angelica root
Nourishes and gently moves blood. The women’s-health herb everyone has heard of.
Poria
A mild fungus that leaches damp and quiets the heart in textbooks.
Licorice root
Harmonizes formulas. Also the herb most likely to cause trouble if eaten daily in quantity.
Cinnamon twig
Warms the channels and helps a mild surface pattern.
Safflower
A strong blood mover. Small amounts in formulas, not a casual tea.
Coptis rhizome
Very bitter, very cold. Clears heat in the heart and stomach in textbooks.
Forsythia fruit
Clears heat-toxin and is usually written with honeysuckle.