Sibisinsal
Twelve named forces assigned one to each earthly branch, keyed to your birth-year animal. They run in a fixed order from geopsal to hwagaesal, and a single chart holds several of them.
Meaning & origin
Sibisinsal (十二神殺), the twelve sal, is a traditional saju scheme that assigns one named force to each of the twelve earthly branches, using your birth-year animal as the key. The order never changes — geopsal, jaesal, cheonsal, jisal, nyeonsal, wolsal, mangsinsal, jangseongsal, banansal, yeokmasal, yukhaesal, hwagaesal — only the branch where geopsal starts moves. That starting point comes from the three-harmony groupings: monkey, rat and dragon years start at the snake branch; pig, rabbit and sheep at the monkey; tiger, horse and dog at the pig; snake, rooster and ox at the tiger. Because all twelve slots are always filled, nobody has a chart without sal, and tradition held that what matters is which of the four pillars a given sal lands on, not how many you have. The character sal (殺) makes every entry sound ominous, but two of the twelve — jangseongsal and banansal — were read as clearly auspicious.
Signs tradition speaks of
A reading told you that you 'have three sal'
All twelve slots are always filled, so everyone carries several. The count alone carries no verdict.
Two readers gave you different sal for the same birth year
The twelve can be keyed to the year branch or to the day branch, so results differ with the chosen anchor.
Only the frightening names — geopsal, jaesal — stuck with you
The names are archaic phrasing. Jangseongsal and banansal sit in the same list and were read as fortunate.
Someone quoted a price for a rite to remove a sal
The twelve slots are structural and cannot be removed. There is no reason to pay to erase something that does not go away.
Remedies & what to do
The twelve sal work better as a map than as a scorecard. Even classical readings say to ask which life-area a sal touches rather than tallying how many appear. That leaves one genuinely useful application: putting names to patterns you already notice in yourself. If you are forever relocating, yeokmasal and jisal give that restlessness a vocabulary; if relationships keep souring in the same way, mangsinsal and yukhaesal offer a frame for looking at it. A vague unease becomes a sentence you can work with. That said, this is one of several old models for describing people, not a validated predictive tool. Treat it as material for reflection and entertainment, and never pay large sums to have a sal 'resolved'.
FAQ
- Q.How are the twelve sal assigned?
- A.Your birth-year animal fixes the branch where geopsal begins, then the fixed order — geopsal, jaesal, cheonsal, jisal, nyeonsal, wolsal, mangsinsal, jangseongsal, banansal, yeokmasal, yukhaesal, hwagaesal — runs around the twelve branches.
- Q.Is having many sal a bad chart?
- A.No. The structure fills all twelve slots, so counts vary little between people. Tradition looked at placement, not quantity.
- Q.Are any of the twelve considered good?
- A.Yes. Jangseongsal was read as authority and leadership, banansal as promotion and support, and hwagaesal as artistic or scholarly talent.
- Q.Are nyeonsal and dohwasal the same thing?
- A.They are. The fifth slot is formally nyeonsal (年殺), but it is almost always called by its common name, dohwasal.