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

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 article 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. The virtual foundations of religion expand to include divination activity, which are key to understanding its proliferation across digital platforms.