Saju Dictionary
A dictionary of saju terms
Saju terms in plain words, with calculated tables showing how each one is set. At the end of every entry you can check for free whether it appears in your own chart.
What is saju palja?If you want to know what the eight characters of saju are and how they are set, start here.Key concepts
The ideas people ask about most when they first meet saju — what they mean, the rules that set them and common questions, each on one page.
- Day PillarYour day pillar (ilju, 日柱) consists of the heavenly stem and earthly branch of your birth day. Among your eight birth characters, its stem—the Day Master—represents you, while its branch is the ground beneath your feet.
- Annual CyclesAn annual cycle (seun, 歲運) is a year's fortune read by comparing that year's stem-branch pair with your Day Master and assigning its Ten Gods. Seowoon uses the simpler term “annual fortune”.
- Hidden stemsHidden stems (jijanggan, 支藏干) are heavenly stems concealed within each of the twelve earthly branches. Each branch contains one to three stems.
- VoidVoid (Gongmang, 空亡) refers to the two earthly branches left without a partner in each ten-pair group (Sun, 旬) when the ten heavenly stems are paired with the twelve earthly branches.
- Ten-Year PeriodsTen-year periods (daeun, 大運) assign ten years each to successive stem-branch pairs, moving forward or backward from your birth month's pair, or month pillar. They describe the broader backdrop that shifts once every ten years.
- Symbolic starsSymbolic stars (sinsal, 神殺) are names given to specific arrangements of characters in a saju chart. They include the twelve symbolic stars, whose twelve positions cycle from your birth year's earthly branch, and stars such as Goegang, White Tiger, and Ghost Gate, identified by particular pillars or characters.
- Day Master StrengthDay Master strength (singang-sinyak, 身強身弱) classifies your Day Master, which represents you, as strong or weak based on how much support it receives from the other seven characters in your chart.
- Ten GodsThe Ten Gods (sipsin, 十神) name the relationship between your Day Master, which represents you, and each other character in your chart: Companion·Rob Wealth·Eating God·Hurting Officer·Indirect Wealth·Direct Wealth·Seven Killings·Direct Officer·Indirect Resource·Direct Resource.
- Useful ElementThe balancing element (Yongsin, 用神) is the energy your chart calls for to find balance. Like turning on the heat in a cold room, a chart leaning one way seeks support from the other.
- Chart StructureA chart pattern (Gyeokguk, 格局) is a short name for your chart as a whole. It comes from your birth month's earthly branch, which carries the season and holds the greatest influence among the eight characters.
- Nayin ElementsThe traditional elemental images (Nabeum, 納音) are thirty old names that group the sixty stem-branch combinations into consecutive pairs, using images such as Metal in the Sea · Fire in the Furnace · Wood of the Great Forest.
- Combinations and ClashesCombinations and clashes (hapchung, 合沖) describe characters that attract and bind together (combinations) or face each other from opposite positions and collide (clashes).
- Three-Year Adversity CycleThe three-year adversity period (samjae, 三災) consists of the three years associated with the season opposite the Three Harmony group of your birth-year branch, or zodiac sign.
- Five ElementsThe Five Elements (ohaeng, 五行) are an East Asian framework in which Wood·Fire·Earth·Metal·Water move through cycles of generating and controlling one another. Each of saju's eight characters belongs to one of these five elements.
- Heavenly stemsThe heavenly stems (cheongan, 天干) are ten characters: Gap (甲)·Eul (乙)·Byeong (丙)·Jeong (丁)·Mu (戊)·Gi (己)·Gyeong (庚)·Sin (辛)·Im (壬)·Gye (癸). They form the upper characters of saju's four pillars and represent the energy of heaven.
- Earthly branchesThe earthly branches (jiji, 地支) are twelve characters: Ja (子)·Chuk (丑)·In (寅)·Myo (卯)·Jin (辰)·Sa (巳)·O (午)·Mi (未)·Sin (申)·Yu (酉)·Sul (戌)·Hae (亥). They form the lower characters of saju's four pillars and correspond to the twelve zodiac signs.
- 12 Life StagesThe twelve life stages (Sibi Unseong, 十二運星) trace how your Day Master's energy is born, grows, declines, and takes shape again as it passes through the twelve earthly branches, from Birth to Nurture.
- CompatibilityCompatibility (Gunghap, 宮合) places two saju charts side by side and examines whether their Day Masters·day branches·five elements·Ten Gods·timing cycles support or clash with each other, offering a picture of how the relationship may unfold.
- Zi Wei Dou ShuPurple Star Astrology (Jami Dusu, 紫微斗數) is an East Asian system that uses your birth year·month·day·hour to place the Purple Star and other stars in twelve palaces (Gung, 宮). The resulting “birth chart” is read palace by palace to explore personality·wealth·career·relationships and other areas of life.
- Four Pillars StudiesFour Pillars studies (myeongri, 命理學) is an East Asian discipline that converts your birth year·month·day·hour into eight stem-and-branch characters, then reads their Yin-Yang and Five Elements relationships to interpret your innate temperament and changing patterns of fortune.
- 12 symbolic starsThe 12 symbolic stars (sipsi sinsal, 十二神殺) form a system that assigns twelve names, from Robbery Star to Canopy, to the twelve earthly branches in sequence, based on the Three Harmony group of your birth year's branch.
The basic structure of saju
The frame of the eight characters — sinsal, ten gods and the 60 day pillars, laid out by group.
- Sinsal Dictionary27/27 entries
- Ten Gods Dictionary10/10 entries
- 60 Day Pillars Dictionary60/60 entries
- Five Elements Dictionary5/5 entries
- Heavenly Stems Dictionary10/10 entries
- Earthly Branches Dictionary12/12 entries
- 12 Life Stages Dictionary12/12 entries
- 12 Sinsal DictionaryTwelve places from Geop-sal to Hwagae-sal
Lifetime saju guides
What a lifetime saju reading is, how to read one, and what to check if you want it as a book.
- What Is a Lifetime Saju Reading? What It Covers and How You Receive ItA lifetime saju reading looks at your personality, money, work, relationships, and health through your birth chart and the cycles that change every ten years, rather than just one year’s outlook. At Seowoon, that reading is Cheonmun-gwan’s “Lifetime Record”. You can read the first 2 of its 15 chapters without paying.
- Getting a Saju Reading as a BookThere are two kinds of saju books: beginner guides that teach concepts like the Five Elements, Ten Gods, and ten-year periods, and personalized reading books that interpret your birth chart chapter by chapter. If you want to read your own story, choose a personalized reading book. Seowoon's Lifetime Record is a 15-chapter reading book you read online.
- How to Read Lifetime SajuTo read lifetime saju, ① build the Four Pillars from your exact birth date and time, ② identify your Day Master (you), ③ examine the balance of the Five Elements, ④ use the Ten Gods to explore different areas of life, and ⑤ use ten-year periods to understand timing.