Zodi Animal· The Elements· Metal 金· Metal in myth and culture

A room of Metal · 金

One of the five phases behind your Primal Zodiac Animal

Metal in myth and culture

the white tiger

Metal is the west, the autumn, and the harvest gathered in, and Chinese myth fills it with white tigers, famous swords, and the ringing of bronze.

The tiger and the gods of autumn

The White Tiger 白虎 (Báihǔ) guards the west and the autumn, one of the four celestial animals, tied to war and the harvest-execution season. 少昊 (Shàohào), the White Emperor 白帝, rules the west, and 蓐收 (Rùshōu), the axe-bearing god of autumn and metal, presides over gathering-in and punishment. Autumn was the season of the autumn tribunal 秋决, when clarity and justice, the virtue 義, were said to rule.

Swords, bronze, and steel

Metal is the stuff of China's legendary blades: 干将莫邪 (Gan Jiang and Mo Ye) and 昆吾 (Kunwu), forged by master smiths, and the ritual bronze vessels 青铜器 and bells 钟 that held ceremony together, 器以藏礼. The mirror 镜 is metal made to reflect. The chengyu 百炼成钢 (bǎi liàn chéng gāng), a hundred temperings make steel, carries Metal's slow refinement into strength.

Where Metal sits

Leave Metal in any direction

The five phases are one lens on your Zodi Animal, the creature you get when your Western Sun sign crosses your Chinese zodiac year.