Between career and money cycles in saju

There is a joke among Korean adults that “it is romance if I am involved, but a scandal if others are.” While love is consistently the most popular and beautiful theme of literature and art, as it fills our hearts with abundant happiness, it also causes a stigma for some caught up in a web of scandals.

The so-called Shanghai scandal which decorated many Korean media outlets was furtively concluded as a mere affair between Korean diplomats and a Chinese woman, caused by lax official discipline. There was an unconfirmed allegation that it was to stir the issue of Jang Ja-yeon, the actress who committed suicide from the depression from sexual and physical abuse by her entertainment agency executives. Her case was investigated as sexual exploitation between a powerless actress and the cultural exalted.



And then the Shin Jeong-ah scandal resurfaced with the recently published “4001,” an autobiography referring to her relationship with high profile figures. In the book, she even mentioned some real names and described specific incidents.

Whether they were true or not, the words, sex and scandal have annoyed people’s ears and eyes for the past few months. It is also true that it stimulated our underlying voyeurism.

As a saju master, I treat the love cycle of people with extra caution. It is not because saju cannot read it but because there is a fair chance that it becomes far more voyeuristic and people may want to abuse it.



In order to read it, we need to understand how saju classifies biological and social relationships according to the five elements circulation in one’s four pillars of destiny.

Upon plotting the saju, the four pillars of destiny or eight letters, we are able to figure out the day master (day stem). It portrays one’s personality comparing it to natural objects. Then the other seven letters are classified into five stars according to the five elements circulation cycle.

The table to show how they are classified into biological (or family) and social relationships is below.

From the day master, the element circulates to generate the expression star. And the expression star generates the money star. The money star generates the career star. The career star generates the knowledge star. And the knowledge star generates the day master.



Generation cycle:

Day master → Expression star → Money star → Career star → Knowledge star → Day master (See the light blue arrow cycle.)

On the other hand, the day master restricts the money star while being restricted by the career star.

Restriction cycle:

Day master → Money star → Knowledge star → Expression star → Career staràDay master

If we focus on money and career stars, you will see that the money star represents a wife or lover for men and the career star is a husband or lover for women. In order to discriminate between a wife or husband and lover, we may utilize yin and yang. In other words, if a woman has a yin day master, a yang career star is her husband while a yin career star is her lover.

Talking about scandals, adultery occurs when a woman has both yin and yang career stars in her saju and when a man has both yin and yang money stars in his saju.

If there is penalty or clash between the career and money stars and or if there are mismatches between the two, it causes scandal and corruption. The fact, that saju views money and woman (for men) through the same element, causes this social phenomenon.

Having said that, it is totally subjective to judge it right or wrong. As stated in my previous columns, saju is not judgmental.

Love is a fundamental craving. For singles, when to meet a marriage partner and who that person might be, are urgent questions. For the married, however, they are also seeking lifelong soul mates. Why not then their spouse? We know the ethical answer, but nobody can question their lives until we understand their true individual agonies.


Information: Are you interested in learning more about the ancient Chinese teaching about the “Four Pillars of Destiny?” Saju (Ancient Chinese Teaching _ Four Pillars of Destiny) or face reading workshops are held in Itaewon, Seoul Korea.
For further information contact Janet Shin at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin@hotmail.com.

The writer is the president of the Heavenly Garden, a saju research center in Korea, and the author of “Learning Four Pillars” For more information, visit her website at www.fourpillarskorea.com.