Introduction

We all know about the 12 zodiac signs, starting from Capricorn and ending with Sagittarius. We’ve also heard about the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, starting from Rat and ending with Pig. But do you know about the Wu Xing 五行-- Five Elements -- that's also widely used by Chinese people and has a long history that can be dated back to thousands of years ago?

This article will share some basic information about Wu Xing, the 12 Western zodiac signs, and their similarities and differences! As someone who has lived in both Eastern Asian culture and Western North American culture, I’ve found both of these reading systems fascinating. Let’s follow along.

What is Feng Shui Wu Xing?

Wu means “five,” and Xing means “movements” or “phases.” In this context, it's best understood as the five elements in traditional Chinese philosophy: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. When Wu Xing is mentioned, it always comes with a circular graph where each element leads to the next one.

This is because ancient Chinese scholars believed that Wu Xing explains how the universe and nature operate. Wood gives birth to Fire as it burns, then turns into ashes which become Earth. With ashes, they can be turned into Metal. Metal can condense water in the air, then Water can grow trees, which is Wood again.

How does Wu Xing correlate to a person’s birth chart?

While Wu Xing is believed to explain the universal rule, ancient Chinese people have been using Wu Xing to explain a person’s life path with their unique birthday information. Detailed to the birth hour, everyone has their own passcode to unlock their unique Wu Xing reading. More popular in Tsao practice, practitioners used to draw out their birth charts and calculate how many elements they contained.

It needs someone’s birth year, month, day, and hour in the Chinese lunar calendar. Let’s say someone was born in 1990/7/21 at around 3 p.m. Chinese lunar calendar time, this person would then have at least eight Chinese letters , two for year, month, day, and time, to explain their birthday information. This is called Ba Zi -- eight letters. As ancient Chinese used to record time with Chinese letters, they are crucial in the Wu Xing reading. Each letter represents one of the five elements. When all eight elemental pieces of information are recorded, then we would know this person’s main element, their element contribution, whether or not they need more of their main element, or the opposite element to balance out the excessive one.

In modern days, we have more advanced tools to calculate our Wu Xing. It becomes more like a math problem: what’s your elemental distribution? What do you need to add/subtract to gain balance? Because after all, Wu Xing is about flow and balance — when we hit the perfect balance point, everything flows!

 Understanding the Western Zodiac

I think we’re very familiar with the Western zodiac, so I will keep it short here. The zodiac is a 360-degree belt of 12 constellations around the sky through the Sun, Moon, and planets. It’s divided into 12 equal 30-degree sectors, each named after a constellation the Sun passes through. It’s believed to have an effect on someone’s birth.

There are a total of 12 signs, divided into 4 different elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air signs. We can refer to the following list to see how zodiac signs are grouped:

· Fire: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

· Water: Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio

· Earth: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

· Air: Aquarius, Gemini, Libra

When we look at each zodiac sign symbol, we notice they often look like animals. Taurus is an ox, Scorpio is a scorpion, Leo is a lion, etc. That’s because zodiac signs have roots in ancient Babylonian and Egyptian cultures, where animals held significant meaning and religious importance.

How does Western Zodiac correlate to a person’s birth chart?

Like mentioned above, a person’s birthday information is correlated to a specific zodiac sign. It usually only needs one’s birth month and day to determine which zodiac sign they are. But for a more detailed reading about our personalities, interests, potential life partner and more, it usually requires one’s birth year, month, day, and time as well! Common zodiac readings include:

· The Big Three: Sun, Moon, Rising

· The Big Six: Venus, Mars, and Mercury

· The Four Angles: Ascendant, Descendant, Midheaven, Imum Coeli

· The ruling planet and houses

Sounds complicated, right? It’s also like a math-geometry problem.

Each person’s chart is completely unique — shaped by the exact moment and place of their birth.
In Western astrology, this “snapshot of the sky” becomes your personal map of energy, strengths, and lessons.

Similarities — Wu Xing vs. Zodiac Signs

1. Need one’s detailed birth information (year, month, date, time) for an accurate reading

For Wu Xing, the Day Master — the character that determines one’s main element — plays an important role. However, due to the lunar calendar changing every year, Day Master patterns change every year as well. Since it requires all eight characters to determine the elemental distribution, it’s important to have all the birth information for the most accurate reading.

Similarly, although the Sun sign is the most important reading for one, other signs all play crucial roles to provide a complete picture for the reader. Hence, both Wu Xing and zodiac readings require full birth information for the best accuracy.

2. Tell personality traits, career development, family & friendship & relationships

Both Wu Xing readings and zodiac readings are widely used to understand our personalities, fortune, career direction, relationships, and more.

3. Elemental similarity

Fire, Water, and Earth are elements that both Wu Xing and the zodiac share. In fact, when we look deeper into their general traits, we notice similarities:

Fire:

· Wu Xing: Rich in adventurous spirit, confident, proactive, courageous, with strong ambition. Highly enthusiastic, determined, strong-willed, energetic, with a tendency to develop and create new ideas, and a strong will to push forward.

· Zodiac: Passionate, exciting, powerful, warm, bold, courageous, and positive.

Water:

· Wu Xing: Naturally a kind-hearted person, intelligent. Personality is generally soft, calm, and non-confrontational.

· Zodiac: Sensitive, nurturing, compassionate, and intuitive.

Earth:

· Wu Xing: Calm, loyal, and dependable. “Earth hides within itself” — symbolizing the nature of Earth: humble, reserved, and steady, holding great strength without the need to show off.

· Zodiac: Much like the soil we stand on, these “down-to-earth” folks are reliable, realistic, and hardworking. Material security is important, which means they’ll do what they can to build a solid foundation.

4. Compatibility

Both systems use elemental compatibility to explain relationship matches. In Wu Xing Feng Shui, elements interact with each other in various ways. Two elements can be harmonious or challenging together, following the rules of the Wu Xing circular flow chart.

For example: a Wood and Fire person might make a great match, as Wood grows Fire. But a Fire and Metal person might make a challenging couple, as Fire repels Metal. This could be reversed if a Metal person has too much Metal in their chart and actually needs a Fire person to contain or reduce the excess. Remember, Feng Shui is always about balance.

Similarly, in Western zodiac, certain signs are more compatible than others. For example, signs with the same element — Earth and Earth, Fire and Fire — tend to be stable combinations because they share many similarities, giving that “I feel like I know you so well” feeling. Earth can also pair beautifully with Water signs, as Earth grounds Water’s emotions.

Differences — Wu Xing vs. Zodiac Signs

1. Number of elements

Being the main and most obvious difference, Wu Xing has five elements, while the Western zodiac has only four.

2. Foundations

Feng Shui Wu Xing is not astrology-based. Instead, it’s a philosophical and energetic system derived from Taoist cosmology. It shares many insights about natural cycles and the rules of life. The idea of Wu Xing can be applied to many aspects: nature, life, medicine, emotions, etc.

The Western zodiac, on the other hand, is an astrological system. It’s rooted in the locations and movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets. It’s mainly used to understand how the time of birth, which correlates to the location of celestial bodies, can shape an individual’s personality, destiny, luck, and more.

3. Cultural and practical differences

Because the foundations of the two systems are different, we can observe how both practices are used differently. Feng Shui can explain not only individual life paths but also, on a more micro level, one’s body and organ health — and on a macro level, how we interact with our environment (home, office, space, living location) and nature. Practitioners believe that one’s Wu Xing can be harmonized by adding or subtracting external elements.

In contrast, the Western zodiac focuses more on inner alignment. That’s why when we look at our birth chart readings in Western astrology, they explain personality traits shaped by how we were born. It’s more about the individuality of how we interact with ourselves — being mindful of our personalities and developing skills to cope with them.

Yet, this isn’t a hard-line difference! In modern practices, both Feng Shui and the Western zodiac use crystal healing, color therapy, and mindfulness rituals to create the balance we — as individuals and as a community — need. I think that’s the amazing part of how culture and beliefs can evolve as time changes.

Want to read more about Feng Shui & Wu Xing?
You can check out our blog: Understanding Wu Xing in Feng Shui: Elements That Shape Your Energy