Glossary
Short notes on the words you'll meet on this site.
- Saju
- The Korean birth chart reading. Saju reads a person from the four pillars of their birth — the year, month, day, and hour.
- Four Pillars (Saju Palja)
- The eight characters that form your Saju. Two characters in each of the four pillars.
- Day Master
- The Heavenly Stem of your day pillar — the character that represents you.
- Ten Relationships (Sipsin)
- The ten dynamics that shape your chart, named by the relationship each character has to your Day Master. Often called "Ten Gods" elsewhere; we prefer Relationships, because that's what they are.
- Five Elements
- Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water — the five qualities of motion that make up the world. Their proportions in your chart shape who you are.
- Manseryeok
- The perpetual almanac used to compute your Saju — a record of solar terms and stems-and-branches across the years.
- Anchor Element (Yongsin)
- The element your chart calls for to find balance — the anchor that fills what's missing and steadies the rest.
- Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches
- The two characters that make up each pillar. The Stem (above) sets the season's note, the Branch (below) sets its weight.
- Solar Terms
- The 24 climatic seasons that mark the year in East Asian calendars. The month-pillar of your chart is determined by these, not by the calendar months.
- Myeongbun
- Korean for "the gift you were born with" — the grain of a life that is yours, and no one else's. The name of this service.