Metal is the element of clarity, precision, and refinement. It rules the west, the season of autumn, and the energy of distillation — what survives when everything inessential has been cut away. Those shaped by Metal years are disciplined, articulate, and elegant in their judgement. They prize quality over quantity, and they tend to keep small circles of deep relationships rather than wide circles of shallow ones. Metal's shadow is rigidity and grief — the inability to let go of what no longer serves. Metal is born of Earth and gives rise to Water, and is checked by Fire. The Metal person thrives when allowed to refine, edit, and curate, and suffers when forced into chaos.