Divination and Its Potential Futures: Sensation, Scripts, and the Virtual in South Korean Eight-Character Fortune Telling

David J. Kim | SUNY Purchase College

Horoscopic eight-character divination (saju p’alcha) flourishes both face-to-face and online in South Korea. Contrary to a face-to-face reading, however, the fortune teller is no longer necessary in digital divination. This paper highlights some of the transitions and tensions between more conventional forms of divination and their digital counterparts. Rather than conceptualizing these transitions in relation to a loss of authenticity or material presence, this work examines the potentials of online mediations in regard to how they are not only consumed as knowledge, but also as phenomenological and affective experiences connected to the virtual