The Four Elements: Green Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and Xuanwu
In ancient China, the sky was divided into the east, north, west, south and center regions, and the “Four Symbols” were called Canglong in the east, Xuanwu in the north, White Tiger in the west and Vermilion Bird in the south.
In ancient Chinese mythology, the first four representations were Lao Yang, Lao Yin, Shao Yang, Shao Yin, Tai Chi gave birth to the two yi, and the two yi gave birth to the four representations, Tai Chi is one, which means chaos, and the two instruments refer to yin and yang, and the four representations are derived from yin and yang.
Qinglong is the name of the star, originated from the ancient star worship. Twenty-eight hosts in the eastern seven hosts of the general term, its shape as a dragon, also known as the Canglong, its color green, table Oriental, the original ancient myths in the East of the God, from the pre-Qin era, it is the representative of the Taihao and the seven hosts of the East of the beasts.
Huainanzi, Volume III: The noble of the gods, no more noble than the Green Dragon. Therefore, the green dragon may be the first of the four elephants.
The White Tiger is also the god of war and killing. The White Tiger has a variety of divine powers such as avoiding evils, avoiding disasters, praying for abundance and punishing evils and promoting goodness, making wealth and good fortune, and tying up good relationships. And it is one of the four spirits, and of course, it is also transformed by the star constellation. It is one of the four spirits, and of course, it is transformed by the stars. It is one of the seven western stars among the twenty-eight stars. So is the representative of the West, the West in the five elements of gold, the color is white.
The Vermilion Bird can also be described as the Xuan Bird. The Vermilion Bird is one of the Four Spirits, and also like the other three, it comes from the Starry Nights, which is a general term for the seven southern constellations. The association is Vermilion Bird. Zhu is red, like fire, and the south is fire. It also has the characteristic of being reborn from fire.
Xuanwu is a spiritual creature that is a combination of a turtle and a snake. The original meaning of Xuanwu is Xuanmei, and the ancient sounds of wu and mei are related. Wu means black; Mei means yin. Xuanmei was originally a description of turtle divination: the turtle’s back is black, and turtle divination is to invite the turtle to go to the underworld to ask ancestors, and bring the answer back to the world in the form of a divination omen. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu was a tortoise. Later on, the meaning of Xuanmei was expanded. Turtles lived in rivers, lakes and seas (including sea turtles), so Xuanmei became the god of water; as turtles were long-lived, Xuanmei became a symbol of immortality; the first Hades was in the north, and the oracle bones of the Yin and Shang dynasties were used for divination, “their divination must be northward”, so Xuanmei became the god of the north.