Jin Zizai's Fortune Telling - Do You Have a Noble Appearance?

The Five Elements are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Ancient thinkers classified everything in the cosmos into these five. As study deepened, the Five Elements were further framed through Yin and Yang—Yang giving rise to Yin—leading to the Twelve Life Stages and many practices seen today. In physiognomy, whether through Ma Yi’s “Water Mirror” or Liu Zhuang’s “Ice Mirror,” there is a rich body of writing on how the human form expresses the Five Elements.

The ancients mapped the body, facial shape, hands, and even the voice to the Five Elements. Many people study physiognomy for years yet still struggle to pinpoint a person’s elemental nature. Most books lay out only the core principles.

By build: metal is square, earth is thick, fire is pointed, wood is slender, and water is round. By color: metal is white, earth is yellow, fire is red, wood is green, and water is black. In practice, however, problems arise, typically in the two areas below.

1. Pure and Mixed Types

Truly “pure” types are uncommon. You rarely see a tall, slim person with a faint greenish cast that clearly represents wood, or a square-built person with a fair complexion that clearly represents metal. More often, you meet short, thin people with darker skin, or large, stout people with fair skin—mixed types. The question, then, is which element predominates—what’s primary and what’s secondary. For example, a wood type with a fire influence may be impatient and quick-witted; conversely, a fire type with a wood influence may tend toward laziness and superficial display. Change the primary element and the reading changes.

2. Mixed Types and Transformations

Even if you can sort out mixed types, transformations can be confusing. Someone may be heavier this year and slimmer next year; how do you judge? They may be shorter in youth and taller later, tanned in summer and fair in winter; how do you decide? How should these shifts be weighed? What follows may clarify many doubts for practitioners of the five arts and the general public. The key appears in the book “The Divine Physiognomy: Iron Knife,” the first physiognomy text I studied.

The book states: “All physiognomy varies between fat and thin. Only the palm is set by innate endowment and is not altered by age. Therefore, to seek true form, look to the palm, for it is the essence. If one judges only by fatness and thinness of the features, the result will be far from accurate.”

Physiognomy involves the innate and the acquired, childhood and adulthood, rise and fall. Modern cosmetic procedures further complicate assessment. What can be relied upon is the inborn structure of the hand. Palmistry lines can change, but hand shape is hard to alter over a lifetime. We often see heavyset people with slender hands, slim people with thick hands, tall people with small hands, and short people with large hands—proof that hand shape is independent of body size. Grasp the Five Elements of the hand first, use facial coloration as supporting evidence, and you can determine the overall pattern—much like in Zi Ping’s True Explanation, which clearly distinguishes overall structure from practical application.

Here are the five shapes and five categories:

Wood Type: Slender palm, long fingers, many lines

• A red or flushed face suggests a fire influence; a high forehead with a long face and long nose indicates a distinct wood-fire blend.
• A rounded head and a slightly smaller, square face suggest a metal influence; a fair complexion also points to metal.
• A darker face, red lips, deeply etched lines, and a glossy, dark overall tone indicate a water influence.
• A flat head, full nose, thick palm, stout build, and a yellow-green facial cast indicate an earth influence.

Earth Type: Square, thick palm, short fingers with a bagua pattern

• A flat head, square jaw, large nose, stout build, and firm flesh with bones not showing indicate a pure earth type.
• A red face suggests a fire influence; a tapered head shape also points to fire.
• A thin, greenish face indicates a wood influence.
• A round face with a fair complexion indicates a metal influence.
• A puffy face with a darker complexion indicates a water influence.

Metal Type: Round, thick palm, rounded finger joints, even-toned palm color

• A round head, a slightly square face, and a fair complexion indicate a pure metal type.
• A red face indicates a fire influence.
• A dark face indicates a water influence.
• A yellow face indicates an earth influence.
• A thin, greenish face indicates a wood influence.

Fire Type: Slender palm, bony fingers, loose, flexible palm

• A red face, slightly cool skin, dry, singed-looking hair, and reddish eyes indicate a strong fire influence.
• A greenish face indicates a wood influence.
• A notably heavy skull indicates a metal influence.