Three Questions about Five Element Systems

Hi all, I’ve never posted here but would love your input on the following:

First Question: I’ve been working with Michael’s Five ‘Animals/Healing sounds/Elements’ qigong since I bought the video a year ago and attended the Fundamentals 1& 2 weekend in November. I’ve also been working a lot on my understanding of the five elements. In the Taoist and ‘Atlantean’ systems, do the other elements besides earth and ether equate to the same things in each system (e.g. does fire equal fire)? If so, it would seem that earth is in the Atlantean system because it must exist as the transition between the elements such as metal and water. Then that might also imply that ether would exist in the Taoist system as well. It seems to make sense that if both are accurate descriptions of reality then they both have to include each other.

Second Question: In one sense it seems that you could have an infinite number of ways to describe five element systems since you could have the following five phases for example:
o phase 1 – half way between metal and water
o phase 2 – halfway between water and wood
o phase 3 – halfway between wood and fire
o phase 4 – … you get my drift
Those phases wouldn’t line up with organs but they do exist, correct?

Third Question: I’m also a practitioner of Shamatha meditation from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. I was introduced to the practice through the lineage of the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (CTR) an approach to Buddhism that seems much closer to Taoism than Indian Buddhism in that there is no emphasis on heaven versus earth but the complete integration of them. Anyway, CTR tried to develop this five-element system for working with people afflicted with severe psychotic problems. His elements were space, water, earth, fire and wind. I can’t seem to match these elements up with the system that I’ve learned from Michael, however CTR’s description of them and the way they manifest also seems sensible (e.g. seasons, senses, emotions etc.). Have any of you heard of this and if so, does this sound like a variation on the Atlantean system or something else?

Here is a website that briefly details the system:
http://www.maitripractice-international.org/vajra/index.htm

Here is a talk given on the practice:
http://www.maitripractice-international.org/ratna/rnew.htm