Can you know your fate through just the date and time of your birth? Being able to foretell what’s happening in the future stimulates people’s interest. Some check today's fortunes to relieve boredom, and others consult a fortuneteller while seriously thinking about life. Like this, fortune telling is so familiar to Korean people that they try it at least once in their lives. Let’s learn about strange but familiar fortune telling with Gansan Nam Chang-Hwan teacher.

 1. What is Divination?
 It refers to the total work or effort of human beings to find out what will happen in the near future at the present moment. A typical example of a divination is weather forecast. Commonly, people tend not to believe divination because they think it is unreasonable, mystical and shamanistic. But they don’t think the weather forecast is a divination, even though they are all the same. The reason is that weather forecast is done through Western natural science studies. People tend to believe something when it is explained with the principles of Western natural science. A divination is not difficult and mysterious. It can be like a rock-scissors-paper or choosing one between two choices.

 2. What is the difference between fate (saju) and divination?
 ‘Saju’ is like a forest and divination is like a tree. Saju is the whole forest, in other words, seeing the whole destiny of a man. On the other hand, divination gets answers through specific questions. The more specific the question is, the better the answers. For example, the divination can tell if one gets married to a certain person, they will live well or not. 

 3. What is the meaning of ‘saju’?
 The year of birth is the year pillar, the month of birth is the month pillar, the day of birth is the day pillar and the time of birth is the time pillar. It means that the four pillars constitute one’s life. It is called sajupalja (사주팔자) in Korean because of the sum of two-digit letters, meaning each column. First of all, the year pillar represents ancestors. This pillar is often used to express the virtues of one’s ancestors and covers one’s life before adulthood. The month pillar means parents and if it is good, you can inherit as much from your parents. The day pillar means oneself and one’s spouse. It means the life of approximately 30 to 50 years of age. Before 30 years old one grows under the influence of ancestors and parents, but only after that one should lead one’s life on one's own. The last one, the time of birth means children and descendants. Like this, saju considers sajupalja covering the whole life.

 4. Do people born in the same day, the same time and with the same name have the same saju?
 Let’s take twins as an example. Twins live with similar saju when they are young. Then, they meet different friends, study different subjects and meet different spouses, so they live different lives. For this case, saju is the same but life is all different. There are roughly about 50 people who have the same saju. Let’s suppose one of 50 committed suicide at a young age. Then the other 49 should all die on the same day because of the same saju? But no. Even if sajupaljas are the same, they can lead different lives with their free choices.

 5. Is the internet saju interpreter reliable?
 These days, various methods like podcasts and YouTube are providing people with saju interpretation. They are also misleading people with their ornate speech. But people should be careful about this. Those who don’t have even basic knowledge of saju, may interpret with shallow knowledge. It is good to meet a saju interpreter who has profound knowledge.

 6. What was the most impressive saju interpretation?
 When I was a teacher at Sungshin high school, I was leading a divination club. On the last day of club activity, I briefly interpreted the sajus of all the club students. One student’s saju was a typical saju of twin. So I explained this is the characteristic of twin saju and told she might be twin. But she was not. She told this to her mom and her mom was surprised. Because it was true. When she gave birth, one of the babies died, and she didn’t tell her daughter. It is the most memorable because rumors spread throughout the school, saying, “He even found out the existence of the dead”.

 7. What is the meaning of ‘do-wha-sal’(도화살, 桃花煞)?
 I think ‘do-wha-sal’ makes a person to stand out more even he or she does the same thing with other people, and is either good-looking or popular with people. It is also associated with artistic talent and sexual appeal.

 8. Is there anything you want to know through saju?
 There are no good saju and bad saju. If you've been in a bad situation for 30 years, the next 30 years will be full of good things. At some point, good or bad will vary from person to person, but when you look at your whole life, good 30 years and bad 30 years are the same. So if it’s hard for the present, let’s hang in there. In the future, everything will be well. Also, the fate is not fixed. It can be said that the fixed fate is at most 49 percent, but you can build on your own for more than 51 percent of your rest life.

 Have you gotten any answers to your questions about divination? Through what Nam Chang-Hwan teacher says, you may feel that you can believe supernatural and shamanistic divination a little more. But when you look at the future of your life, don’t be disappointed even if you don’t like the predicted results. This is just an interpretation of the collected data. As a result, life is what I make and fate can be changed at any time. I hope that Gachon University students will also have a better understanding of the divinations through this article and develop their own wonderful lives.