The energy left in the Harms were residual and minimal
“Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas”
“Fortunate is he who understands the causes of things.”
Virgil,
Roman poet,
“The Georgics”, Book II
There was also another possible line of argument why the harms could not cause any serious repercussions.
Let us examine the following table. Table 6: The Main Qi in the Harms of the Earthly Branches
This
Earthly Branch Had this
Seasonal Qi This
Earthly Branch Had this
Seasonal Qi
子
Zi
Rat 水 water 未
Wei
Goat 火 fire
寅
Yin
Tiger 木 wood 巳
Si
Snake 火 fire
辰
Chen
Dragon 木 wood 卯
Mao
Rabbit 木 wood
申
Shen
Monkey 金 metal 亥
Hai
Pig 水 water
午
Wu
Horse 火 fire 丑
Chou
Ox 水 water
戌
Xu
Dog 金 metal 酉
You
Rooster 金 metal
It would be logical to argue …show more content…
The wood had to grow in winter if it was to become prosperous in spring. The wood could not grow in the 子 Rat month which represented the peak of winter. In the Twelve Stages of Life, the wood began to grow in the 亥 Pig month.
What was the point of all this? The second column of harms showed that the 寅 Tiger harmed the
巳 Snake. But the main Qi of the 寅 Tiger was wood whereas the main Qi of the 巳 Snake was fire.
In the production cycle, wood supported fire. Why should the wood Qi of the 寅 Tiger harm the fire Qi of the巳 Snake? It did not seem logical.
The only plausible harm structures might be the ones whereby the water clashed with the fire. For instance, the子 Rat which had water caused harm to the 未 Goat which contained fire.
But a harm relationship had to be different from that of a clash. Otherwise, why differentiate between clashes and harms? If that were the case, how could the water in the 子 Rat harm the fire in the未 Goat?
Let us consider another pair of examples. The main energy in the 辰Dragon and the卯Rabbit was wood. If each of them had the same energy of wood, how could this wood energy cause any harm to each other?
If the harms were the result of residual Qi from the clashes and the combinations, then the effect of the harms should be nominal and could even be