Rat 2012
Who is a Rat?
Years: 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008.
Month*: November
Hour: 23.00-01.00am
* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.
What is a Rat?
The Rat is yang water but with a hidden stem of yin water, the major water character of Chinese metaphysics. All water on this planet, unless interfered with by outside forces, is connected with and on the same level as all other water. This powerful idea may clarify the connection between water and communication.
Someone said that we have two ears and one mouth for a good reason: that we should listen twice as much as we speak. The issues relating to water are listening and speaking while keeping the ratios right. Often observation of this balance is not the calling of the Rat. Some of us are elected primarily to talk and the yang water of the Rat is signifies high level communication. The Rat is the talker of the Chinese Zodiac. As you know, an unbalanced or distressed Rat tends to clam up or run off at the mouth.
The Rat is supreme in the realm of ideas. It is said that when you can tell water from fire, you are a master. The blue of the sky at mid-summer, for instance is not water but fire. Who can identify this consistently? The Rat who is a planner and a plotter and a deep thinker, is the most likely candidate. He thinks ahead, sometimes to the detriment of his awareness of the present. This makes him a good chess player but not so great at poker. He is apt to be too controlling for games that require being open to good fortune. That sort of uncertainty is painful to your average Rat. He wants the credit and to get that he has to be in control.
In conversation you may find that the Rat second guesses in a very distinctive way: typically he gets his correspondent to commit utterly to a position before he states his. The Dragon and the Monkey, even the Ox, may find this reassuring but it drives the Horse and the Tiger wild and to some extent the Dog. It’s a very useful quality in a teacher but not everyone’s cup of tea in a collaborator.
Being big talkers and travellers, Rats are traditionally suited to work involving communication: sales, oratory and persuasion. In the collaboration with the Rabbit, Rooster and Horse that Derek Walters (himself a Rat) calls the Flowers of Love the Rat is the talker, the chatter-up, if you will, where the Rooster provides the glamour, the Horse the passion and the Rabbit the stamina. A Rat with these additional animals present is effortlessly successful and charismatic. The missing animals indicate his weaknesses. None of them of course is at ease alone in the company of the Rat.
An unbalanced Rat talks too much and listens selectively. A balanced one gets this exactly right; he is fascinating talker and a skilled listener. But the very deafness of the less gifted Rat can be a point of pride. Blessed nonetheless with an orderly mind and excellent retention, this Rat often considers his ignorance of a subject a reflection on the subject rather than himself. This sort of Rat needs to learn to value the convictions of others, especially if they are derived from premises he does not accept.
The Rat is a guardian, a watcher. Sometimes he is self-appointed and the unbalanced Rat has a particular blindness that leads him to believe that his opinion is an absolute. This is more accentuated and less well-informed in his partner the Ox in what some call the House of Creativity and Cleverness. The relationship between the Ox and the Rat is less that of partners than of pupil and tutor but the Ox can be a particularly obdurate learner, sometimes drawing conclusions to which he is not entitled and sticking like a limpet to any conclusion he can justify. In these circumstances the Ox is not so much partner or indeed student of the Rat as tormentor.
A very conscious Rat can make good use of this blindness to the value of other people’s positions. He is likely to be able to explain things that baffle others and to derive laws from this gift. To have no explanation however is to open himself up to chaos. If he knows this about himself he can master even the most abstract discipline.
The Rat is versatile and multi-talented though not as notably so as the Pig of whom he is often jealous or the Dragon who can baffle him despite their mutual affinity. Yang water can speak of profligacy with money. The Rat is a brilliant small businessman but often a poor tycoon. In the power triad with the Dragon and Monkey, the Rat may appear to overvalue the hands-on deftness of the Monkey because he finds the Monkey easier to control and may envy the Dragon his magic.
And it is this potential for envy that is the other big weakness of the Rat and laid him open to the Ingratitude Clash which came up in 2011. The Rat, who overcomes this wins the loyalty of all.
Yang water ought also to speak of longevity in relationship but in this regard the unbalanced Rat can express the yin aspect of his nature; that is growing tired of relationships – professional or personal – long before their sell-by date or hanging on inappropriately to relationships he has long since made unviable. By the same token the Rat is an attentive parent but one who may have favourites. Accordingly the awakened Rat is absolutely evenhanded; quite a gift.
The Rat: Outlook for 2012
The Rat has a free ticket in 2012 as he is chairman of the Board. In partnership with the Dragon and Monkey, you are in charge. His territory however in the North is compromised. In feng shui terms, it is blocked with Earth. So metaphorically at least, he has to move elsewhere. Concealed in this information is the advice: decide now what you want to have achieved by the end of 2012 and consider what it will take. 2012 is not casual to you; it is time you must use wisely or regret.
So it is likely that the average Rat will experience great power this year but may have to adapt, change offices or even move house in order to succeed. Sounds like feng shui to me!
The Rat is by nature a talker but the wiser Rat awaits the pronouncements of others before making his own. He has learned that it may be better to hold his peace and appear a fool than to speak and prove it. This year his words may move mountains.
The Water of the Rat – that is articulacy, discretion and grace under fire – is the source of wealth to the Dragon. This means the soundness of the Rat’s decisions will lead to wealth but he will only share in it himself if he allies himself with Dragons – movers and shakers – and Monkeys- who can sell an idea without becoming over attached. He should seek literal Monkeys and Dragons by birth and indeed those who display the qualities he seeks are fairly certain to feature Monkey or Dragon in their ba zi. See elsewhere for precisely what that means to them.
This is a year of negotiations for you. Especially in April and August you will be signing off deals and agreements that may have taken a while to set up. These are also times when in a travel-heavy year, you are likely to go furthest. Mostly business-related. In March there may be the usual upsets with parents and/or children but by April these will be largely settled.
Your health is likely to be sound with the single proviso that the addictive Rat drinks moderately and does not overeat. In a yang Earth year, pretty much everyone is more susceptible to stomach ailments.
Relationships; after a year of being undervalued, your stock has risen. Use this any way you choose.
Remember that this year your word is law and use that word wisely.