The Chinese horoscope · the twelve animals·1st of twelve
The Rat
鼠shǔ
- Branch 子 · zǐ
- Fixed element: Water
- yang
- Hour: 23:00 to 1:00
- Direction: N
In a word
Quick, resourceful, devoted to their people.
What tradition attributes to it
- They see the opening before anyone else, and they take it.
- They save, they plan ahead, they keep a reserve somewhere.
- Charming in company, talkative, curious about everything.
- Loyal to their clan: what they have, they share with their own.
- They learn fast and forget nothing, least of all a favour.
The other side
- Worry: they anticipate so much they wear themselves out over nothing.
- A calculating streak, which can come across as pettiness.
- They struggle to let go: a grudge gets kept like savings.
In love
They charm with their wit and attach for good. They need to feel you are on the same side as them; other people’s lightness worries them more than it amuses them.
At work
At ease wherever you have to read the wind: trade, negotiation, anything that calls for a fast reaction. They work better with a safety net than with a leap in the dark.
What helps
Notice the next time you put something aside “just in case”. Ask yourself whether that is foresight or fear, and spend a little of it.
By the element of the year
- Wood Rat: the most flexible, creative, less grasping than the others, and able to ask for help.
- Fire Rat: the quickest and the most impatient, frank to the point of recklessness.
- Earth Rat: the most cautious, a patient builder who prefers security to a grand gesture.
- Metal Rat: the most tenacious, demanding with themselves, with a taste for beautiful and comfortable things.
- Water Rat: the most intuitive and the most diplomatic, they read people and know how to wait.
The Year of the Fire Horse
This year for the Rat
The animal of the year is its opposite (liùchōng): six years apart, facing it on the compass of the branches. Tradition sees a year out of step, where the pace around it isn't its own. Not a ban: a gap worth knowing about.
Its own element is the one controlling the year's: a year where it leads rather than follows.
Chinese tradition reads the year by comparing this animal with the year's animal, then their two elements. It describes a mood, not events.
The years of the Rat
- February 5, 1924 → January 23, 1925Wood Rat甲子
- January 24, 1936 → February 10, 1937Fire Rat丙子
- February 10, 1948 → January 28, 1949Earth Rat戊子
- January 28, 1960 → February 14, 1961Metal Rat庚子
- February 15, 1972 → February 2, 1973Water Rat壬子
- February 2, 1984 → February 19, 1985Wood Rat甲子
- February 19, 1996 → February 6, 1997Fire Rat丙子
- February 7, 2008 → January 25, 2009Earth Rat戊子
- January 25, 2020 → February 11, 2021Metal Rat庚子
- February 11, 2032 → January 30, 2033Water Rat壬子
From Chinese New Year to the last day of the Chinese year. If your birthday falls in January or early February, your animal is often the one from the year before: check your birth date in the list.
With the others
- Its affinity triangle: the Dragon and the Monkey. Three animals four years apart, who understand one another without effort, says tradition.
- Its secret friend: the Ox. The quiet pair, the one that gets along without showing it.
- Its opposite: the Horse, six years apart, directly across on the wheel of the twelve animals. Not a ban: a difference in pace, one you can learn to work with.
Traditional affinities, not verdicts. Two people are two whole charts, not two birth years.
And you?
Your sign is based on the actual date of Chinese New Year, and your birth time gives your animal of the hour.
See my sign