(10) 10 Celestial Stems — Mu and Gi
By Janet Shin
● Center
● Three enclosures, change of seasons
● The planet Saturn
● The color yellow
● Digestive system, spleen and stomach
● Patient, prudent, stable, reliable, hard-working, ambitious, stubborn, and very energetic
● Disciplined, logical, governed by service and duty to others
Earth is a central balance of the other elements and it can lend qualities to all 12 animals (12 terrestrial branches).
On the surface, it may seem easy to understand earth but actually it is very complicated. We can't describe it in one word. Earth usually balances the other four elements and controls it in the middle.
Among five elements, earth is the most harmonious one and it contains wood, fire, metal and water. Earth contains the ingredients and nurtures the other materials as if it is a mother. In one thought, the earth can be regarded as one simple element out of five, however it cannot be simply described as one element. So once you understand earth well, you will find yourself positioned in a higher level of saju study.
5) Mu earth
Mu people have faith but also lack consideration for others. Internally they are plain. They have a lot of self-respect, lonely, stubborn and dry.
The mountain, wilderness, or desert represents Mu earth. It is yang earth. It is magnificent in its external appearance. It looks lonely but it enjoys its loneliness. The mountain always opens itself for the trees, animals and grass so the living things may thrive. It needs self-respect to keep its splendor. As it opens itself, it is unpretentious and naive.
6) Gi earth
Gi people are naive and they are of few words. So they may seem to lack sociability but they have strength internally. They are patient and benevolent.
Gi is a wet earth.
The field where people grow plants represents the gi earth. Gi earth is yin earth. It doesn't express itself like mu earth.
It opens itself as an earth property. It is like a mother while the mu earth is like a manly man. Here is an example of the four pillars of a man, 45 years old.
He is born with yang earth energy, so the mountain represents him. His mountain has plenty of flowers with rain to nourish, and the sun shines on them. We notice too much of wood energy to restrict the earth, but mu earth (day stem) is also strong enough to endure the wood restriction with the support of jin earth in the terrestrial branch. Byeong and o fire also are the big help to nourish the mountain.
He is a Korean but he manages his own factory in Vietnam. He does not live together with his family. So he is lonely working overseas by himself. He does not speak much but pursues big goals in his life. He cares how others evaluate his life. But he might be missing out on the happiness of spending time with his family.
Although we haven't started terrestrial branches yet, we may understand the personality of a person with the celestial stems in one's saju. As said, knowing the truth is painstaking as we have to face not only pleasant but sad realities. Since we cannot stay away from our fate, we should face our destiny wisely and candidly.
The writer is the president of the Heavenly Garden, a saju research center in Korea. She is the author of the book titled ``Learning Four Pillars." She is an acupuncture and moxibustion therapist. For more information, visit her Web site (https://blog.naver.com/janet_shin) or email to janetshin@hotmail.com.