Your past life
Who were you, once upon a time? Bokki reads it from your chart.
What picks this story — the heavenly stem of your birth year
Your past life is chosen by one character: the heavenly stem (天干) of the year you were born. The 10 stems are the 5 elements paired up, one yang and one yin each — that is why there are ten characters and five stories. The animal walking beside you comes from that same year's earthly branch (地支).
| Stem (天干) | Element (五行) | Yang / Yin (陰陽) |
|---|---|---|
| 甲 | Wood | Yang (陽) |
| 乙 | Wood | Yin (陰) |
| 丙 | Fire | Yang (陽) |
| 丁 | Fire | Yin (陰) |
| 戊 | Earth | Yang (陽) |
| 己 | Earth | Yin (陰) |
| 庚 | Metal | Yang (陽) |
| 辛 | Metal | Yin (陰) |
| 壬 | Water | Yang (陽) |
| 癸 | Water | Yin (陰) |
The Saju year does not turn on 1 January. It turns at Lichun (立春), the start of spring, in early February. So if you were born in January or the first days of February, you carry the previous year's stem — and your animal may differ from the one the calendar gives you. This screen never asks for your birth time, so the day Lichun falls on still counts as the old year.
Yang and yin are computed, but this screen does not use them to pick the story; the column is here to show why ten characters become five lives. We do not ask for your birth time or your sex either. The year you were born is the only thing this screen reads.
How this past-life mirror is calculated
A warm 'who were you, once' persona from your birth-year element and zodiac animal — nothing else from your chart.
Your birth year reduces to one of five elements (Wood/Fire/Earth/Metal/Water), each mapped to a fixed persona — a title, a story, a gift it left you, and a lesson. Your year's zodiac animal is named alongside it.
We don't use your day master, birth time, or favorable element — this is coarse by design, one of only five possible outcomes, and it's a mirror for self-kindness, never a literal claim about a past life.
How this past-life mirror is calculated
No — it's a mirror for self-kindness built from one of only five element-based personas, never a literal or verifiable claim about who you were before.
It's deliberately coarse — five possible outcomes from your birth-year element alone — so it stays a playful, comforting mirror rather than a full reading duplicating /report.