The Chinese then took their observations a step further. These are the five major changes in the quality and function of the energy throughout the year. We readily see that spring is the season of birth and growth. Late summer is the time for harvest when we reap what we have sown. Fall is the time when plants discard their leaves and fruits in preparation for the following year.
Winter is the time of withdrawal, with slow life activity and a time for rest.
This is again the balance from Yin to Yang and back to Yin again. From stillness to activity and back to stillness again, from death to birth to growth and back to death again. All done in an orderly fashion as it moves through the five stages of the seasons. The Chinese called these five steps of the creative energy the five elements. Thus wood, fire, earth, metal and water was around them.