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Saju basics

New to saju? Read from the top. When a word in your reading is unfamiliar, look it up in the glossary.

  1. 1What Is Saju?A way of writing the moment of birth as eight characters, then reading innate tendencies and the flow of life from how those characters relate to each other.
  2. 2Heavenly Stems and Earthly BranchesThe ten upper characters of a saju (heavenly stems), the twelve lower ones (earthly branches), and the 60 gapja made by pairing them.
  3. 3The Sixty-Pair Cycle (60 Gapja): A Table and How to Read Stem-Branch NamesThe full table of the 60 gapja from 甲子 to 癸亥, how to read a stem-branch name and match it to a year, the ten-pair groups (순) and the Void (공망), and how the zodiac animal differs from the year stem.
  4. 4The Four Pillars: Year, Month, Day and HourWhat each pillar stands for, when the year and month change, and how the time of birth is adjusted.
  5. 5The 24 Solar Terms and the Month Pillar: The Day the Month ChangesWhy the saju month changes at twelve solar terms rather than on the 1st of the solar month or the lunar new moon, why the year changes at Ipchun, and how that is calculated.
  6. 6Place and Time of Birth: Longitude, Daylight Saving and the Ja HourLearn why the same clock time can give a different saju time depending on the city and year of birth, and how Halmeoni corrects that time.
  7. 7Lunar Birthdays and Leap MonthsLearn how Halmeoni converts a lunar birthday to a solar date to calculate saju, and how to enter a birthday in a leap month.
  8. 8Hidden Stems (Jijanggan): Stems Hidden Inside the BranchesA table of the hidden stems inside the twelve branches (residual, middle and main qi), the meaning of emergence and rooting, and how Halmeoni uses hidden stems to set the structure and the strength of the Day Master.
  9. 9Yin-Yang and the Five ElementsThe two energies that make up the world (yin-yang), the five energies (the Five Elements), and how the elements support and restrain one another.
  10. 10The Day Master: The Character That Is YouWhy the top character of your birth day is "you", and what image each of the ten Day Masters is likened to.
  11. 11The Ten Gods: How Other Characters Relate to YouThe ten relationships that decide whether another character is a friend, wealth or work to "you".
  12. 12Strong and Weak Day Masters, and Your Favourable ElementHow to see whether the Day Master's energy is strong or weak, and which energies help as a result.
  13. 13Structure (Gyeokguk): The Big Frame of a ChartHow to name the overall frame a chart lives by, centred on the season of birth.
  14. 14Structural Patterns: 식신제살, 살인상생 and 관살혼잡The fourteen named saju structures that Halmeoni looks for, such as 식신제살, 살인상생, 관살혼잡 and 무재: the conditions it checks, and how they are read in career and money readings.
  15. 15Luck Cycles and Yearly Luck: The Flow of TimeThe big flow that changes every 10 years (Luck Cycles) and the energy that comes in each year (Yearly Luck).
  16. 16Combinations, Clashes, Punishments and Harms: How Characters RelateHow characters bind together, collide and pull out of step with one another.
  17. 17The Twelve Life Stages and Other StarsThe twelve stages of the Day Master's energy as it grows and wanes (the Twelve Life Stages), and stars such as the Nobleman (천을귀인), the Blade (양인) and the Void (공망).
  18. 18The Twelve Spirits (12 Sinsal): Twelve Nicknames by Zodiac AnimalThe twelve nicknames attached in turn to the twelve earthly branches according to your zodiac animal (from Earth Spirit to Heaven), and how to read them.
  19. 19How the New Year Fortune Is ReadHow to read a year by how its stem-branch pair meets your zodiac animal and the Day Master of your chart, explained with the year 2027, 丁未 (jeong-mi).
  20. 20Samjae: The Three Troubled Years (Entering, Staying, Leaving)This article sets out when the samjae, said to come to each zodiac animal for three years once every twelve, arrives, how it has traditionally been treated, and how Halmeoni sees it.
  21. 21How the Daily Fortune Is MadeExplains how the day's stem-branch pair (일진) is set against your chart to read the Ten Gods, Twelve Life Stages, Twelve Spirits and favourable element, and how Halmeoni bundles these into a star rating and a short reading.
  22. 22How Compatibility Is ReadExplains how Halmeoni works out a compatibility score by setting two people's Day Masters, day branches, zodiac animals and element counts side by side, and how best to read that score.
  23. 23How Halmeoni Reads a ChartLooks at the order in which a chart is read, and how Halmeoni separates calculation from writing to cut down on wrong statements.
GlossaryPlain meanings of the saju terms in your reading, in Korean alphabetical order

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