(118) Saju of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange

My business card reads: ``The truth of life.’’

I practice saju, or the four pillars of destiny, which is reading one’s life and destiny through the windows of the philosophy.

We are given energies from heaven and earth from birth, which are coded through heavenly stems and earthly branches. Saju is used to decode those symbols and read one’s life and fate between the lines.

It is a painstaking process, because not only must we face good news, but also the sorrowful aspects in our lives. Studying saju is a sincere consideration of the universe and the human lives within it, and it is also a process of penance to discover the truth of life. In the course of learning, we constantly ask whether our readings are truly right or wrong, and whether we decode the signs correctly. There are many unrevealed truths in our lives, but most people do not seek them until they are in desperate times. Knowing the truth is the key to opening the door not only to happiness, but also to devastating collapse. And we are responsible for whatever consequences the knowledge brings in our life.

The life of a specific man intrigued me recently. His name is Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower organization, who was recently arrested and then released on bail. His case has provoked world-wide controversy ― the opposition between freedom of expression and right to know versus confidentiality control and national security.

This also has been a major theme in Korean society, especially during the last couple of years. There have been many controversial issues over social trust and government protests, such as the FTA with the U.S. and the mad cow disease dispute in 2008, the sinking of the Cheonan, and the most recent military provocations in Yeongpyeong Island.

Here is the saju of Assange.

He was born with the energy of yin earth, which represents crop fields. People born with yin earth may lack sociability but they have an inner strength.

Though I describe the earth day master above, it is never easy to label that particular element as yin or yang. Out of the five elements, earth contains traces of each of the other four ― wood, fire, metal and water. So, subject to their environment, an earth personality may change. A person may have a strong confidence or a lack of self esteem; they may be caring and flexible, or stubborn and blunt. The earth is made of complicated ingredients.

The day master of Assange is yin earth born in the month of yang fire, which denotes the knowledge star of the earth. The fire sustains the wood, which is a career star for the earth day master, in the month pillar. The career star can be explained to represent power, social identity or career itself.

The yin earth that takes root in its own pillar has a strong ``ego.’’ Also being born in the knowledge star suggests that Assange is quite intelligent and well-prepared. However the fact that his career star (social identity) is sitting on the fire energy suggests a possibility of wood being burnt.

2010 is the year of metal and wood, which would bring him the energies of his of expression and career. The expression is accompanied by power or social recognition this year, but he has to be careful of his social identity being burnt or overwhelmed.

People try to read their destinies in order to get answers about what to do, to better hardships and gain better fortune. However the world has never been fair and will not be fair going forward.

It is also part of our destiny to accept reality as it is.

Info: Are you interested in learning more about the ancient Chinese teachings of the “Four Pillars of Destiny”? Saju, or the Four Pillars of Destiny, and face reading workshops will be held this month in Itaewon, central Seoul. For more information, contact Janet at 010-5414-7461 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.” Visit www.fourpillarskorea.com.