Rat 2013
Who is a Rat?
Years: 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008.
Month*: November
Hour: 11:00 pm – 01:00 am
Day: ask us
* 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.
Rat 2013:
Stars include: Zi Wei Benefactor, Long De Prosperity, Yu Tang, Heavenly Hazard, Bui Bai, Tian E, Gip Sat.
You have always been able to bat away the Fire of the Snake without much effort. You’re yang, it’s yin; easy. As a Water Animal however, Fire is a source of power. This means that the Year of the Snake in the Grass is especially aspirational for the Rat. You’re likely to receive more offers than you had dreamed of.
This is especially true if you are a woman. Fire represents both career and more subtle forms of success. But you’ll have to, as they say, get off it. Success will follow dignity, grace and fair-mindedness but it probably won’t reward self-effacement. You may have the opportunity to set an example of how to do business the yin way. It’s a stretch: not to be more bloke than the blokes nor to be underhand because you can get away with it. We both know women are so much smarter than men.
And men are so much simpler: for a man the Fire or choi (that is Element conquered) of the Snake implies, along with openings for wealth and success, a formidable partner. The male Rat may have one already. Probably not: because the Rat is particularly deft at keeping true intimacy at arm’s length. Think of apparently type-cast Metal Rat Hugh Grant in the film About a Boy. “I am an island. I’m bloody Ibiza,” he insists. pants blazing.
In prospect is not someone you can coast with but one who will challenge you at every step; this is not for you if you seek an easy life. And if you’re comfortably paired up, ignore all of the above.
Whatever approach you favour, 2014 brings similar choices in spades. Hexagram 44 in the Book of Changes may offer guidance.
For both genders of Rat this year is likely to be one of productive and constructive challenge. There will be tests and stretches, but you end the year stronger, tougher and better-positioned. Not for the slothful or timorous though. And expect delays and extended deadlines; these things can take time.
The Rat can be the most pedantic of Animals and can sometimes think that what he knows is who he is and all that he’s worth. Be aware of this when you feel disrespected. Live so that external endorsement is less important to you. Also keep talking; that’s how you do the intimacy thing. And listen.
Health: possible acidic, gastric issues. Long latent STDs.
Money: plenty of opportunity. Windfalls await 2014.
Relationship: got love if you want it, in the words of Slim Harpo. You’re Irresistible with the Plum Flower in September.
Feng Shui: To invoke your true companion, activate the Rooster location in your home in precisely the right manner at precisely the right moment. I know. Ask.
Readers’ Digest Version: fortune favours the brave/faint heart never won fair lady etc.
Richard Ashworth©2012