Seasonal Strength

Wang, Xiang, Xiu, Qiu, and Si name five qualitative relations between a line element and the month element. They are labels, not numbers to average.

The exact matrix

State	Working English	Element relation
Wang	Prosperous	line element = month element
Xiang	Supported	month generates line
Xiu	Resting	line generates month
Qiu	Constrained	line controls month
Si	Dead	month controls line

“Dead” is the inherited technical label for one seasonal relation. It is not a literal statement about a person, event, or permanent condition.

One-month checksum

Use Chen month, whose element is Earth. Each possible line element occupies one state:

Line element	Relation to Earth month	State
Earth	same	Wang
Metal	Earth generates Metal	Xiang
Fire	Fire generates Earth	Xiu
Wood	Wood controls Earth	Qiu
Water	Earth controls Water	Si

This five-row checksum is enough to expose a reversed arrow. If Wood is marked Si instead of Qiu, you treated “line controls month” as “month controls line.”

Case 00035

The Chen/Earth month produces:

Line	Element	Seasonal state
1	Water	Si
2	Wood	Qiu
3	Earth	Wang
4	Metal	Xiang
5	Earth	Wang
6	Water	Si

Line 5 also carries a separate Month-Broken flag because Xu clashes Chen. Do not change its seasonal label to hide the clash, and do not erase the clash because the seasonal label is Wang. The fields answer different questions.

Practice

Choose any month branch, convert it to an element, and classify one line of each element. Your worksheet passes when:

1. all five states appear exactly once;
2. each directional sentence can be checked against the generation/control cycles;
3. no numeric score or outcome has been added;
4. exact branch flags remain in separate columns.

Stopping condition

Seasonal state is one input to later strength analysis. It does not select the target, override Month Breaker, settle a day-clash dispute, or decide an outcome by itself.

Source note

The complete matrix defines the five qualitative seasonal categories used by this course. The Case 00035 worksheet shows each element-to-season relation so the classifications can be checked directly.

Next: Proceed to Act 4: Target Selection with a completed, auditable construction worksheet.