The Rat

Recent years: 2008 and 2020 were Rat years, and the next one is 2032. Going back, 1996, 1984, 1972, 1960 and 1948 were Rat years too.

The year animal runs from Chinese New Year to the next Chinese New Year, never from 1 January, so a January or early February birth needs checking. The Rat year of 1960, for example, did not begin until 28 January, so someone born on 20 January 1960 is an Earth Pig, the animal before. The Chinese Calendar and the New Year page explains the rule and the trap.

The Rat's own element is Water and its polarity is yang. Water is the element of depth, memory and feeling that keeps moving under the surface, and yang is the outward, active charge. Put them together and you have a mind that never stops working and a nature that gets things done without fuss. The year element sits on top of that, which is what the five versions below are about.

The nature of the Rat

A Rat notices. That is the first thing to know. Walk into a room with a Rat and they will have read who is in charge, who is unhappy and where the exit is before you have found a seat.

The mind is quick and the memory is better than quick. Rats remember the detail everyone else let go of and connect it to something said three months ago. They are rarely fooled by the surface of a thing.

They are social and charming, and they are also private. There is a Rat the room meets and a Rat that only two or three people ever get to know.

Underneath it all is a drive to be secure. Rats gather: knowledge, money, contacts, options. In my experience it is less greed than preparation. A Rat does not want to be caught short, and so it rarely is.

Strengths

Resourcefulness, first. Give a Rat half the budget and half the time and it will find a way through, and probably enjoy doing it. Rats see patterns before they are obvious and think several moves ahead, which makes them fine strategists.

They are good company. A Rat can make you feel heard and interesting, and that is a real gift rather than a trick. Their loyalty runs deep, though it shows in action more than in speeches. The Rat remembers your birthday and fixes your gate. That is how it says it loves you.

Challenges

The mind that never stops can never stop. Rats struggle with stillness and with being content when nothing needs solving. Boredom makes them irritable, and a quiet patch can turn into worry, running the worst case over and over at two in the morning.

The sharp eye can turn into a sharp tongue, and a Rat judges itself harder than anyone else. Information is currency to a Rat, and the shadow side of that is gossip, or using what it knows about someone to steer them. Feeling threatened, a Rat can scheme. Feeling safe, it does not need to.

The work is trust. Not everything needs analysing. Not everyone is about to leave.

In love and friendship

A Rat loves with intensity and guards its heart carefully, and both of those are true at the same time. It takes a Rat a long while to trust, and the early part of any relationship is as much assessment as romance. Once it has decided, though, it stays.

It needs a partner who can keep up in conversation, who gives it room, and who offers steady reassurance without being asked. It fears boredom in love, and a bored Rat will sometimes stir the pot just to feel something move. A partner who can see that for what it is, and not take the bait, will do well.

At work

Rats shine wherever quick thinking and reading people pay: law, finance, journalism, business, technology, consulting, investigation, anything with a problem in it. They are natural negotiators and natural salespeople, because they connect rather than push.

Routine wears them down. Give a Rat the same task every day and it will either redesign the task or leave. The weak spot is finishing: the novelty wears off and the Rat is already eyeing the next thing. The other is holding back from the leadership it is plainly suited to, out of a nervousness it would never admit to.

The five Rats

The year's element layers on top of the Rat's own Water, and each version has its own flavour. The Five Elements page explains the layering.

The Wood Rat, born in 1924 or 1984, is the warmest of the five, a grower and a team builder, and with Water feeding Wood its ideas take root easily.

The Fire Rat, 1936 or 1996, is the most energetic and the most impulsive, quick to act and quick to speak, with the Water underneath cooling the Fire just enough to keep it useful.

The Earth Rat, 1948 or 2008, is the steadiest, practical and patient, more interested in building something that lasts than in the next clever move.

The Metal Rat, 1960 or 2020, is the most determined and the most exacting, with strong opinions and a will to match, and Metal carrying Water gives it unusual depth.

The Water Rat, 1972 or 2032, is the thinker and the diplomat, doubly Water, perceptive to the point of reading minds, and the one most likely to keep its own counsel.

Friends and rivals

The Rat belongs with the Dragon and the Monkey, the group I call the doers. The three share a love of getting things moving and tend to understand each other without much explaining.

Its clash is with the Horse, six years across the circle. A clash is friction, never a curse. Rat and Horse pull in different directions, the planner and the free spirit, and it takes goodwill on both sides to make the pair run smoothly. The old texts also pair the Rat quietly with the Ox as a secret friend. The post on the friends and rivals of the Chinese zodiac works through the whole pattern.

The Rat as a month and a day animal

The Rat month runs from about 7 December to 5 January, give or take a day with the year, and carries Water. Born in a Rat month, your private self is the watcher: you notice what others miss, you run the scenarios before you move, and you talk to yourself more than most. It lays quiet calculation under a bolder year animal and private wit under a gentler one. The shadow is the mind looping, and anything that quiets the water helps. The Twelve Months page covers all twelve.

As a day animal the Rat is the core self, the one left when nobody is watching. A Day Rat is a strategist and an accumulator by nature, patient enough to wait and decisive when the moment comes, often happiest a little out of the spotlight because that is where you see the most. The day animal runs on a sixty day cycle and cannot be read off a calendar, so it needs a calculator, and my readings include it. The Day Animals page has more.

Across the traditions

The month of the Rat overlaps most with late Sagittarius into Capricorn season in the Western zodiac. That is a different sky answering a different question, and the Western Astrology section and The Signs page cover it. The Vedic Astrology section will give the sidereal view when it opens.

Which do you lead with, the quick mind or the careful heart? And which one would the people closest to you say you lead with?

If you would like your own chart read, my readings are here.