How Does a Fortune Engine Calculate Your Fortune? ② Inside the Saju Calculation
In the previous article, I explained where FCE4U's Saju (BaZi / Four Pillars of Destiny) calculation begins.
Using information such as your date of birth, birth time, and birthplace, a traditional calendar system can be used to determine the 60 Sexagenary Cycle and calculate the four pillars of a Saju birth chart:
Year Pillar · Month Pillar · Day Pillar · Hour Pillar
Together, these form the eight characters known as Saju Palja (사주팔자), or the Four Pillars of Destiny.
But once those eight characters have been calculated, does your fortune simply appear?
Not quite.
The birth chart is only the starting point.
In FCE4U, the Saju engine was designed to continue by examining the Five Elements, Day Master, Ten Gods, relationships between the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and the changing cycles of time.
Only after these factors are analyzed together can the Saju result be converted into a fortune score.
In this article, I will explain that process step by step.
Contents
- What Happens After the Four Pillars Are Calculated?
- Why Are the Five Elements Important?
- What Are the Day Master and Ten Gods?
- How Are Combination, Clash, Punishment, Destruction and Harm Analyzed?
- Why Examine Yongshin and Heeshin?
- What Are the Major Luck Cycle, Annual, Monthly and Daily Influences?
- How Does FCE4U Turn These Factors Into a Fortune Score?
1. What Happens After the Four Pillars Are Calculated?
As explained in the previous article, birth information is used to calculate four pillars:
Year Pillar (年柱)
Month Pillar (月柱)
Day Pillar (日柱)
Hour Pillar (時柱)
Each pillar consists of a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch.
Four pillars therefore produce eight characters—the structure commonly called Saju Palja, or the Four Pillars of Destiny.
But identifying these eight characters does not immediately produce a result such as:
“Your fortune score today is 72.4.”
The relationships and structure within those eight characters must first be analyzed.
The Natal Structure: Wonguk
The basic birth chart formed at the time of birth is called Wonguk (원국, 原局) in Korean Saju terminology.
FCE4U's Saju engine also begins with this natal structure.
2. Why Are the Five Elements Important?
One of the fundamental concepts examined in Saju is the Five Elements (오행, 五行):
- Wood (木)
- Fire (火)
- Earth (土)
- Metal (金)
- Water (水)
The Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches in the Four Pillars are associated with these five elements.
Once the birth chart has been constructed, it becomes possible to examine which elements are present and how they interact with one another.
More Does Not Automatically Mean Better
It would be too simplistic to say:
“There's a lot of Wood, so that's good.”
or:
“There's not enough Metal, so that's bad.”
The meaning of an element can change depending on its position and its relationship with the rest of the chart.
For this reason, when I designed FCE4U, I did not want a single factor to determine the entire fortune.
The engine was designed to consider the overall natal structure together with the influences entering the chart over time.
3. What Are the Day Master and Ten Gods?
Another important reference point in Saju is the Day Master (일간, 日干).
The Day Master is the Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar and is used as the central reference representing the person whose chart is being analyzed.
The other Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches can then be examined in relation to this Day Master.
The Ten Gods
One traditional system used to classify these relationships is known as the Ten Gods (십성, 十星).
They are commonly grouped as:
- Bi-gyeon · Geop-jae (비견·겁재)
- Sik-sin · Sang-gwan (식신·상관)
- Pyeon-jae · Jeong-jae (편재·정재)
- Pyeon-gwan · Jeong-gwan (편관·정관)
- Pyeon-in · Jeong-in (편인·정인)
These categories provide a structured way to examine how different components of the chart relate to the Day Master.
Why FCE4U Uses These Factors
In FCE4U, these concepts were not included merely to generate descriptive text.
They were used as analytical factors for evaluating a particular type of fortune.
For example, a financial fortune and a relationship fortune cannot necessarily be evaluated using exactly the same factors.
Different questions may require attention to different parts and relationships within the chart.
4. How Are Combination, Clash, Punishment, Destruction and Harm Analyzed?
In Saju, looking at each character independently is not enough.
The relationships formed between the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches also need to be considered.
Some of the major relationship concepts include:
- Combination — Hap (합, 合)
- Clash — Chung (충, 沖)
- Punishment — Hyeong (형, 刑)
- Destruction — Pa (파, 破)
- Harm — Hae (해, 害)
The Birth Chart Continues to Interact With Time
These relationships are not limited to the natal chart.
As time passes, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches associated with major luck cycles, years, months and days can form new relationships with the original birth chart.
So when examining today's fortune, one of the questions becomes:
“How do today's influences interact with my original birth chart?”
When I was designing compatibility-related functions for FCE4U, I also considered comparisons involving the Day Master, Day Branch, Stem and Branch interactions, the complementary relationships of the Five Elements, and Yongshin and Heeshin.
The important point is not simply to declare one character “good” or “bad.”
What matters is the relationship it forms with the rest of the chart.
5. Why Examine Yongshin and Heeshin?
FCE4U's Saju analysis also considered the traditional concepts of Yongshin (용신, 用神) and Heeshin (희신, 喜神).
These concepts are used when examining the overall structure and balance of a Saju chart and considering which elements or influences may support that balance.
Again, I did not want to reduce this to a rule such as:
“If an element is missing, simply add more of it.”
The structure of the natal chart, seasonal conditions, the Day Master, and the relationships among surrounding elements all need to be considered.
These concepts can also help evaluate whether a new influence entering through a particular period is more supportive of the natal structure or places additional pressure on it.
For FCE4U, the important idea was therefore to avoid treating the natal chart and the changing influences of time as completely separate things.
6. What Are the Major Luck Cycle, Annual, Monthly and Daily Influences?
This is where we begin to see why a person's fortune can change over time.
The natal chart itself does not change.
But if today's fortune, next month's fortune, and next year's fortune were always identical, that would make little sense within the traditional Saju framework.
Saju therefore considers not only the natal chart but also influences that change over time.
Four Time-Based Layers Used in FCE4U
- Daewoon (대운) — Major Luck Cycle
- Sewoon (세운) — Annual Influence
- Wolwoon (월운) — Monthly Influence
- Iljin (일진) — Daily Influence
Daewoon represents a relatively long-term cycle.
Sewoon represents the changing influence of each year.
Wolwoon examines the monthly flow.
Iljin examines the daily influence.
How Would a Daily Fortune Be Examined?
For example, when calculating a daily fortune, the basic concept is not simply to look at the day's influence by itself.
Natal Chart + Current Daewoon + Annual Influence + Monthly Influence + Daily Influence
For a monthly fortune, the monthly layer becomes particularly relevant.
For a yearly forecast, the annual layer becomes central to understanding the broader flow.
In other words:
The time frame of the fortune being calculated changes which time-based influences need to be examined.
7. How Does FCE4U Turn These Factors Into a Fortune Score?
This created an interesting problem when I was developing FCE4U.
Traditional Saju readings are not usually expressed only as numerical scores.
A reading may discuss whether a period appears favorable, whether caution may be appropriate, or how themes involving money, career, relationships and other areas may develop.
But FCE4U does not use Saju alone.
It also uses:
- Western Astrology
- Vedic Astrology
- Numerology
If I wanted to compare the results of four different fortune systems, I needed some form of common scale.
Turning a Saju Analysis Into a Score
So I designed FCE4U to convert the analytical result from each fortune system into a numerical score based on its own internal criteria.
For illustration, imagine that the Saju engine produces:
Saju Fortune Score: 72.4
This does not mean that the system simply decided:
“Today's daily influence looks good, so the score is 72.4.”
The Saju engine first considers the natal chart and the factors relevant to that particular reading, including:
- Five Elements
- Day Master and Ten Gods
- Relationships between Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches
- Combination, Clash, Punishment, Destruction and Harm
- Yongshin and Heeshin
- Daewoon
- Annual Influence
- Monthly Influence
- Daily Influence
The result is then converted into a score according to FCE4U's internal criteria.
I will not publish the detailed internal formulas, weighting rules, or adjustment methods here.
The important point is:
Saju first produces its own independent fortune score.
But 72.4 Is Not the Final FCE4U Score
Even if the Saju score is 72.4, that is still not the final FCE4U fortune score.
The same person and the same date are then analyzed again using entirely different systems:
Western Astrology and Vedic Astrology.
If Saju gives a score of 72.4 on a particular day, will Western Astrology and Vedic Astrology also indicate a similarly favorable period?
Or will they point in completely different directions?
That was one of the questions that made me want to build FCE4U in the first place.
In the next article, I will leave the world of traditional East Asian Saju and look at how Western Astrology and Vedic Astrology analyze the same person's fortune using completely different methods.
Next Article
How Does a Fortune Engine Calculate Your Fortune? ③ Western Astrology and Vedic Astrology
More articles will follow as I document how the four fortune systems behind FCE4U were researched and developed.
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