Fortune Stories
In-depth guides to Saju and the zodiac, tarot and numerology, palmistry, face reading and dream interpretation — no input needed, just read.
Fortune-telling lands far deeper when you understand the principles behind a reading rather than simply receiving a result. In this corner we've laid out the fundamentals of Saju and the Five Elements, of zodiac signs and tarot and numerology, and of palmistry, face reading, feng shui, dream interpretation and the personality types as well, so you can read them calmly, with no input required. At the end of each article you can jump straight to the related fortune reading.
Saju Basics — How to Read Yourself Through Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and the Five Elements
The principles behind Saju, which frames your birth year, month, day, and hour as eight characters, plus a beginner's first steps in reading your own chart.
Understanding the Sipsin (Ten Gods) — The Code of Relationships and Talent in Your Saju
The ten relationships the remaining characters form with your day master, grouped into five pairs, and how to read wealth, career, bonds, and learning through them.
The Complete Guide to the Five Elements — The Principle of Generation and Control
The cyclical principle by which Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water give life to (generation) and restrain (control) one another, seen through a lens that runs through Saju, feng shui, and traditional medicine alike.
What Is Tojeong Bigyeol — Joseon's New Year Fortune and Its 144 Hexagrams
The origins of the New Year fortune method named after Tojeong Yi Ji-ham, and the principle of drawing one of 144 hexagrams from your lunar birthday to read the year.
The Story of the Twelve Zodiac Animals — Personalities and Compatibility
The origin of how the twelve zodiac animals, from rat to pig, were fixed, the temperament of each animal, and the basics of zodiac compatibility read through three harmonies, six unions, and clashes.
How to Read Palms — The Three Major Lines and the Fate Line
From which hand to read, to the three major lines — life, head, and heart — and on to the fate line and sun line: the basics for anyone reading palms for the first time.
The Complete Guide to the Twelve Zodiac Signs — The Four Elements and Personality
The origin of the twelve signs of the zodiac, from Aries to Pisces, and how to read personality through the four elements — Fire, Earth, Air, Water — and the three qualities of cardinal, fixed, and mutable.
The 22 Major Arcana of Tarot — The Journey of Life Read Through Symbols
From The Fool to The World, the journey of growth drawn by the 22 Major Arcana and the fundamentals of reading upright and reversed cards, laid out at a beginner's eye level.
Numerology Life Path Numbers 1–9 — Your Path Read Through Numbers
How to calculate the Life Path number obtained by reducing your birth date to a single digit, and the meaning of numbers 1 through 9 and the Master Numbers.
The 16 MBTI Types, Fully Explained — Four Axes and the Combinations of Personality
What the four indicators E/I, S/N, T/F, and J/P measure, and how to understand the 16 types by grouping them into four temperament clusters.
Blood Type Personality — Temperament by A, B, O, and AB
The origins of the blood type personality theory beloved in East Asia, the signature temperaments of the four blood types, and the right attitude for enjoying it in fun.
The Principles of Dream Interpretation — Reading Symbols Through Tradition and Psychology
Why people have interpreted dreams, the views of traditional interpretation and modern psychology, and the ideas of auspicious dreams, ominous dreams, and reverse reading.
Feng Shui Basics — Your Kua Number and the Lucky Directions of Eight Mansions
A clear guide to the Kua number and the East/West Four Houses derived from your birth year and gender, and to the principles of Eight Mansions Feng Shui that pinpoint your four auspicious directions.
How to Read Compatibility — From Saju to Zodiac Signs and MBTI
A one-glance guide to the many ways of reading the bond between two people — the principles and differences of Saju, Chinese-zodiac, star-sign, name, blood-type, and MBTI compatibility.
Rune Divination — The World of the 24 Elder Futhark Runes
The origins of divination with the ancient Northern European rune letters, and the basics of drawing an Elder Futhark rune and reading it upright and reversed.
Celtic Tree Astrology — The Druids' Thirteen Trees
The Celtic Druid tradition of assigning birthdays to thirteen trees, together with each tree's symbolism and the basics of compatibility read through the four elements.
Biorhythms — The Three Cycles of Body, Emotion, and Intellect
The principles of the three biological cycles — physical, emotional, and intellectual — that flow from the day you were born, and how to read high days, low days, and critical days to gauge your condition.
Sasang Constitutions — Body and Personality Through Four Constitutions
The characteristics of the four constitutions Lee Je-ma's Sasang medicine defined — Taeyang, Taeeum, Soyang, and Soeum — and the basics of their health and food guidance.
The Theory of Yongsin — The One Character That Restores Balance
Yongsin, the essence of Saju reading, examined through its four approaches — eokbu, johu, tonggwan, and byeongyak — to lay out the principle of finding the element that benefits you.
Physiognomy Basics — Reading Temperament and Fortune in the Face
The fundamentals of physiognomy, which divides the face into three zones, and the principles of traditional face reading that interpret the balance of the features and the five peaks.
The 56 Minor Arcana of Tarot — Four Suits That Illuminate Daily Life
The basics of the Minor Arcana — the four suits of Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles, the numbered cards, and the sixteen court cards — which read the fine details of everyday life.
The Story of Birthstones — The Twelve Months' Gems and Their Meanings
The origins of the birthstones assigned to each month, the symbolism held in each gem from January's garnet to December's turquoise, and how to enjoy them alongside birth flowers.
The Core Numbers of Numerology — Reading the Expression, Soul Urge, and Personality Numbers
Beyond the Life Path, the three numbers drawn from your name — the calculation and meaning of the Expression, Soul Urge, and Personality Numbers.
Color Psychology — Seeing Yourself Through the Colors You Love
The principle of the emotions people feel from color, and the dispositions revealed by warm colors, calm colors, and achromatic colors, laid out from the perspective of color psychology.
The World of the 64 Hexagrams — Reading Change Through Yin-Yang and the Eight Trigrams
From yin-yang to the eight trigrams, and from the eight trigrams stacked into 64 hexagrams — a look at the structure of the I Ching and how it reads change through hexagrams and lines.
Daeun and Seun — Reading the Great Currents of Life Through Saju
The principles of daeun, the major luck cycles that turn every ten years, and seun, the yearly luck that arrives each year — plus how to meet the flow of fortune with balance.
The 16 Tarot Court Cards — The Key to Reading People and Attitudes
The four ranks — Page, Knight, Queen, King — and the four suits together make sixteen court cards. Here is how to read them as people and as situations alike.
The Eastern Five Elements and the Western Four Elements — Where Two Worldviews Meet
Placing side by side the Eastern Five Elements, which saw the energies composing the world as five, and the Western four elements, which saw them as four — a look at their likenesses and differences.
Lucky Numbers — The Numbers Beloved of East and West
The symbolism carried in numbers, and the numbers of luck and misfortune that differ by culture — the East's 3, 8, and 9 and its 4, the West's 7 and 13.
Enjoying Personality Tests — From MBTI to Blood Type
Why personality tests like MBTI, blood type, the Sasang constitutions, and color psychology are so fun — and how to enjoy them wisely.
The Twelve Double-Hours and the Hour Pillar — What the Moment of Your Birth Says About Your Inner Self
A look at the twelve double-hours that divide the day into twelve stretches, and at the Hour Pillar — the final pillar of the Four Pillars (Saju) — and why it reflects the hidden inner self and the later years that differ from one's outward appearance.
Yut Divination — Reading the Year in Four Wooden Sticks
How the yut game once played at Lunar New Year became yut divination for foretelling the year ahead, and the meanings held in Do, Gae, Geol, Yut, and Mo.
Tarot Spreads — From the One-Card Draw to the Celtic Cross
The kinds of tarot spreads whose answers shift in grain depending on how you lay out the cards, and guidance on which to choose for which situation.
The Planets of Astrology — the Ten Stars That Rule the Zodiac Signs
From the Sun, Moon, and Mercury to Pluto, what each planet symbolizes and how the ruling planets relate to the twelve zodiac signs they govern.
The Principles of Naming — the Phonetic Five Elements and Yin-Yang in a Name
How is a good name made? A look at the flow of the phonetic Five Elements held in a Korean name, the balance of yin-yang, and why it is held to matter.
Common Dreams and Reading Their Symbols
What do the common dreams everyone has at least once — of pigs, water, fire, or losing teeth — really mean? We set out a broad frame for reading recurring dream symbols.
The Twelve Fortune Stages — The Life-Cycle Energy of Your Day Master
From Birth to Nurture, the Twelve Fortune Stages read how much strength the Day Master of a Four Pillars chart gains or loses in each Earthly Branch, mapped onto a single human lifetime.
Sinsal in the Four Pillars — Reading the Traveling Horse, the Peach Blossom, and the Heavenly Noble
The Traveling Horse of movement, the Peach Blossom of allure, the Heavenly Noble whose help arrives from above. A guide to the sinsal, the spirit stars that mark special currents of energy in a chart.
The Twelve Houses of Astrology — The Twelve Stages of a Life
From the self to the unconscious, the houses divide a birth chart into twelve rooms and show in which area of life the energy of the stars unfolds.
Reversed Tarot — How to Read a Card That Comes Up Upside Down
Does a card turned upside down mean the meaning turns bad? A guide to the tones a reversed card speaks — delay, turning inward, excess — and how to read them.
MBTI Cognitive Functions — The Workings of the Mind Behind the Four Letters
Why does the same four-letter type feel different from person to person? A step deeper into MBTI, into the eight cognitive functions and how their ordering shapes a personality.
The Personal Year in Numerology — Which Year Am I On This Year?
Numerology carries a Personal Year number that turns through a cycle of nine years. From the 1 of beginnings to the 9 of endings, a guide to reading the tone of your year.
The 24 Solar Terms — Nature's Ruler That Divides the Months of Saju
From Ipchun to the Great Cold, the sun's path is split into twenty-four. Here is why those solar terms mark the boundary of a month — and the start of a new year — in Saju.
Combinations and Clashes in Saju — How the Characters Attract and Collide
From the Heavenly Stem combination and the triple and six harmonies that draw together, to the clashes, punishments, and harms that collide. Here is how the eight characters of a chart bind to one another.
Astrological Aspects — The Angles Planets Exchange
From the conjunction to the opposition, here are the basics of aspects — why the angle two planets form reads as harmonious or as tense.
Moon Phases — What Did the Moon Look Like on the Day You Were Born
From the new moon to the full moon, here is how the moon's waxing and waning phases mirror emotion and rhythm in astrology — and how to read the moon on the day of your birth.
Numerology's Master Numbers — The Special Resonance of 11, 22, and 33
The Master Numbers 11, 22, and 33, left whole rather than reduced to a single digit. Here we look at the meaning of these numbers, which carry great potential and a heavy task alike.
Dreams and Lucky Numbers — The Play of Reading an Auspicious Dream as a Number
Where did the saying that you buy a lottery ticket after dreaming of a pig come from? Here we look at the grain of an old amusement — reading a dream's symbols into lucky numbers.
The Six Relations (Yukchin) — Family and Bonds Read Through Your Four Pillars
The Six Relations translate the Ten Gods of your chart into relationships like siblings, parents, spouse, and children. Here we lay out the pattern of human ties woven into your eight characters.
The Twelve Palaces of Face Reading — Twelve Stations Held in the Face
Wealth in the nose, siblings in the brows, children beneath the eyes — face reading divides the face into twelve areas of life. Here are the basics of the Twelve Palaces.
The Four Elements of the Zodiac — Personalities of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water
Grouping the twelve zodiac signs into fire, earth, air, and water reveals the broad grain of personality. Here are the temperaments and affinities each element carries.
Yes-or-No Tarot — Finding an Answer in a Single Card
When you need an answer now, yes-or-no tarot asks with a single card. Here is how to draw and how to read it.
Blood Type Compatibility — The Affinities of A, B, O, and AB
A is careful, B is free, O is warm-hearted, AB is rational. Here we lay out the playful fun of reading people's grain and affinity by blood type.
The Day of the Week You Were Born — The Innate Grain Your Day Speaks
Like the old rhyme where Monday's child is fair of face and Saturday's child works hard, we look at the grain of personality held in the day of the week you were born.
Samjae (三災) — The Three-Year Caution of the Zodiac
Once in every nine years, each animal sign is said to enter samjae. Here is what the entering, settled, and departing years of samjae mean, and how to face them without needless fear.
The Three Major Palm Lines — Reading the Life, Head, and Heart Lines
Three great lines cross the palm: the life line, the head line, and the heart line. Here is the basics of reading their flow — where they begin and where they run.
Mercury Retrograde — The Meaning of a Planet Turning Backward
Why does Mercury retrograde warn us to mind our communication and contracts? Here is what a planet's apparent retrograde motion is and how astrology reads it.
The Three Modalities — The Grain of Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable
Beyond the elements that group the signs by fours, there is another axis that groups them by threes. Here is the grain of the initiating cardinal signs, the sustaining fixed signs, and the shifting mutable signs.
Animals in Dreams — The Meaning of the Pig, the Snake, and the Tiger
A pig dream means wealth, a snake dream means wisdom and wealth — or so they say. Here is how the animals that often appear in dreams are read in traditional dream interpretation.
The Numerology Birthday Number — The Innate Talent Held in the Day You Were Born
Unlike the Life Path, which adds up the whole date of birth, the Birthday number reads from the day of birth alone. Here we explore the grain of the innate talent it holds.