The Year Of The Rat

Released: April 30, 2013

The Chinese calendar, commonly known as the Farmers Calendar, or the Hsia Calendar, is a
fascinatingly accurate system, which not only records the passage of time, but is also a tool for
fortune-telling. The famous traditional fortune-telling system The Four illars of !estiny is
e"actly referring to reading a persons destiny from his birth data as presented in the Hsia calendar
format. The uni#ue feature of such calendar is that all information about time year, month, day
and hour are presented in terms of the fi$e basic elements metal, water, wood, fire and earth,
which are belie$ed to be the basic components of e$erything in the %ni$erse. The relationship
between the fi$e elements accurately helps one predict what is to come by way of ones fortunes
and thus, one can by using this knowledge, multiply the good luck or minimi&e the bad luck in
ones life.
The 'ear of the (at, )**+, in the Hsia calendar, is symboli&ed by two elements with earth sitting on top of water.
,ccording to the cycle of birth and destruction, which go$erns the inter-relationship between the elements, earth is
the con#ueror of water. . Therefore, earth sitting on water is a symbol of control. -ut the water of the (at year is $ery
strong and the earth floating on top of water has no foundation and cannot control the ocean of water. ,s such,
instead of con#uering water, it is more like confrontation between earth and water elements. The .arth on top is 'ang
earth which symboli&es a mountain, and mountain gi$es sense of stability and firmness. -ut such floating earth in the
ocean is weak in foundation and the stability appears to be fragile. This elemental relationship will bring a year which
apparently is more stable but there are a lot of underlying tensions and confrontations.
The Chinese calendar year goes on /*-year cycle. This means that we ha$e e"perienced the same year of yang
earth on rat in 012+. This was a year when the confrontation between %33( and the west intensified with the
-lockade of -erlin started and the formation of the 4estern %nion by the -russels Treaty to confront the threat of
%33(5 this is the predecessor to 6,T7. 8n 9ay this year, the 3tate of 8srael was established and also the
confrontation between 8srael and ,rabian countries began leading to the ,rab-8srael war. .
The Chinese character for :'ang .arth; represents a big mountain. . 8t is associated with the #uality of a firm and
steady person. eople born in a day of :'ang .arth; .is often calm and steady and faithful, practical and :down to
earth;. . 3ome e"amples of famous earth people born on a :'ang .arth; day are Hillary Clinton, !an&el 4ashington,
!a$id -eckham, 9ahmoud ,hmadine<ad, 9ichael =ackson, !ick Cheney, .ric Clapton and -en ,ffleck .
The (at belongs to the strongest water element and it is the first of the 0) animal signs. 3o it also represents the
beginning of a new 0) years cycle. ,s such, the (at year can bring a new beginning of international relationships and
social order5 this could bring new regimes with new go$ernment in some countries. 8ndeed, there will be many ma<or
elections happening between )**> and )**+ with change of leadership in many countries including %.3.,., %nited
?ingdom, (ussia, France, Taiwan@..The rat is also considered as a :Flower of (omance;. 3o years of the rat will
stimulate more romance and se" scandals. The (at is in clash relationship against the Horse. . This is a clash
between water and fire elements and will often bring accidents related to both fire and water, air and the sea. The (at
is the most powerful ocean water and it will bring hea$y flooding or e$en tsunami disaster. The most famous water
disasters in history, such as the 3outh ,sia tsunami on )/A0)A)**2 and the sinking of the Titanic on 02A2A010), both
incidents happened on a date with prominent appearance of the (at. Booking at past history, in 0))+ a year of .arth
(at, there is big flood in Holland killing 0**,*** people, and in 0C++ another year of .arth (at, the 3panish ,rmada
encountered storm in 8reland and C*** people died in this hea$y storm. 8n 0+++, year of .arth (at, there is :Dreat
-li&&ard; in the east coast of the %3, and 2** people died. The clash between fire and water will also bring accidents
related to fire and the airline business is in the category of fire element. ,s such, it is obser$ed that the year of the
(at seems to e"perience more air disasters. , typical year with many a$iation disasters is the pre$ious (at year in
011/. !uring this year, there are o$er )* ma<or airplane crashes including the %.3. T4, -oeing >2> crashed in =uly,
011/ killing )E*. Booking at the immediate last .arth (at year in 012+, there were also #uite a numbers of airplane
crashes including the hi<ack of a Cathy acific airplane in =une, 012+.
'ang earth on the rat also symboli&es unstable earth, this will also bring earth disasters such as earth#uake,
landslide, collapse of buildings. The .arth element is also associate with homose"uality. 8t so happens many famous
homose"uals is born on the day of earth this includes Beonardo !a Finci, 9ichael ,ngelo, Tchaiko$sky, Deorge
9ichael, -oy Deorge, ,ndy 4arhol, Tracy Chapman, ?.!. Bang. (osie 7donell etc. ,s such, there could be more
issues in this aspect in )**+. 8t is not really clear how earth element is linked with homose"uality. erhaps earth is an
element of more neutral nature, compare against the other four, water and fire, wood and metal.
The clash between the (at and Horse is a serious clash between water and fire elements. This will often bring in<ury
and bloodshed. Therefore people born in years of Horse ha$e to be particularly careful in )**+. ,s it is water clashing
against fire, the danger could be associate with water and fire disasters such as traffic accidents in the air or at sea.
Therefore, for people born in the year of Horse, it is recommended that they carry the pendant of an 7" which will
help to attract away the (at, so as to minimi&e the negati$e influence of the clash. ,nyhow, people who are born in
the year of Horse will e"perience a more turbulent year with more mo$ements and tra$eling, changes. 8t is suitable to
engage in such mo$ements, such as mo$ing house or mo$ing offices. Tra$eling is also good but one should a$oid
going straight towards the 6orth direction as it is the direction of the Drand !uke in )**+.
The (at also forms a penalty relationship with the (abbit. 3uch penalty may cause disharmony, worries and
irritations, or hidden sickness. Therefore people born in the year of the (abbit is also recommended to carry the
pendant of the 7" to minimi&e such penalty influence in the year of the (at.
The Fi$e basic elements also represent different parts of our body, earth in general relates to stomach, pancreas,
muscle and cells. ,s such, the health problems related to earth could be stomach problem, food poisoning, and
diarrhea. !isorder of earth elements can mean problems of muscle and cells, this can bring obesity, diabetes, and
cancer @these are all sicknesses caused by imbalance of earth elements. !iabetes is a sickness caused by disorder
of insulin which is produced by the pancreas which is also symboli&ed by earth element in Chinese medicine. . 3o
diabetes problem is also caused by imbalance of earth element. ,s such, these kinds of health problems will also
come in focus in the .arth water year of )**+.
8n recent years the most imminent issue threatening the sur$i$al of human race is Dlobal warming. The polar ice caps
ha$e been melting down in an alarming speed and there are forecasts that many coastal populated cities will be
submerged under the sea by the year )*C*. 8n )**> we ha$e e"perienced dramatic change in climate and there are
more weather triggered disasters. 8t is e"pected such serious impact of Dlobal warming will intensify in )**+. The pair
of elements, yang earth sitting on the rat can be interpreted as the image of floating mass of ice on a big ocean. ,nd
this is an alarming sign that the melting of ,rctic and ,ntarctic ice will become more and more alarming in )**+. 8f we
e"amine the fateful moment of one of the biggest water disaster the Titanic, we can see the Titanic collided with a
floating iceberg at mid night of 02th ,pril, 010). and when we translate this fateful day and time into the Chinese
calendar, we can see the mid night hour on this day is actually 'ang earth o$er the (at, with yang earth representing
the floating iceberg. ,nd this is identical to the elements of )**+. 8t is anticipated there will be more flooding and
water disasters associate with climate change in )**+. 3uch alarming signal not only shows up in the Chinese
calendar, it is also reflected in feng shui. 8n )**+, the feng shui flying star number 0, symboli&e water element, is in
the centre. This centre number often reflects the focus of e$ents pre$ailing in the year. Take for e"ample, in )**C we
ha$e Flying star 2 in the centre and the number 2 symboli&es the chicken. 3o this the year the threat of a$ian flu
began. 8n )**/ the star E in the centre represents conflict and earth#uakes, )**> the number dominate the centre is
) which is sickness and it has brought the alarm of a$ian flu in focus again. 3o we ha$e to assume the number 0 in
the centre in )**+ will bring more problems with flooding and water disaster. Dlobal warming is an issue concerning
the entire human race and e$ery one of us has the duty to take up effecti$e measures to preser$e our en$ironment
and support the mo$e to reduce C7) emission.
(egarding the economy, fire element is often the dri$ing force behind the stock market. 8n the year )**+ there is yang
earth on the Hea$enly stem with water underneath. The dominating element is water. ,s such, it is a year of cooling
down after the heated economic atmosphere in )**/ and )**>. Fire is the symbol of the financial market and strong
fire will stimulate optimism and speculati$e mentality. 4ithout fire in$estors will play cool and conser$ati$e. Howe$er,
the strong water element is the symbol of money to the earth industry. 4ith strong water showing up, the property
market is still acti$e and profitable. !espite the absence of fire element in the year )**+, the spring and summer
months still shows strong wood and fire influences bringing upward surge in the stock and property market. -ut
in$estors will be more cautious and practical and there will not be dramatic fluctuations such as in the magnitude of
yin fire year in )**>. 8n general )**+ is a year of cooling down with more stability and calmness in the stock market. .
The strong water of the (at year fa$ors earth and metal industries, as earth con#uers water, so the (at is a symbol of
money to the earth industry, which includes property, mining, hotel, chemicals, insurance@ ,s for metal industries,
metal gi$es birth to water, so the strong water element in the year indicates producti$ity and strong acti$ity in metal
industries this include machinery, computer, high tech industries, skincare, health business. The 4ood industries,
which include te"tile, fashion, books, publications, paper, forestry, furniture is also into a profitable year as wood
con#uers earth, so the earth showing up in )**+ symboli&e the money of wood industry. -ut the profit will only be
superficial as the earth element is weak.
The less prosperous industries in )**+ will be businesses of water and fire elements. 4ater industries refer to
shipping, communication drinks@etc. The strong water appearing in the (at year will bring stronger competition in
the water areas and this will $ery much weaken the profitability. Fire industries refer to finance, stock market, energy,
electricity, entertainment, and airline businesses. ,s fire con#uers metal and produces .arth element, so to Fire
industry, metal represents money and earth represents producti$ity. 8n )**+ metal element is absent and earth
element is weak. . That is why it is a relati$ely weak year for the industries related to the fire element.
The property market is symboli&ed by the earth element. This industry had stronger acti$ities in the past years of
monkey and rooster in )**2 and )**C as the metal elements represent producti$ity of earth industries. There had
been some slowdown in )**/, as the fire ad earth year brought stronger competition and eroded profitability.
Howe$er, in )**+, the water element of the rat will bring some money luck to the earth industry, despite there is no
strong acti$ities in the property market owing to absence of metal element.
4ith respect to the hi-tech industries sector, as represented by the 6,3!,G. 8 ha$e postulated that this industry is
mainly represented by the metal element. ,s such, the prosperity of hi-tech industry re#uires the strong appearance
of water and wood, which are symbols of producti$ity and money of the metal industry. 8n )**+ the water element,
meaning acti$ities to hi-tech industries is $ery strong. ,s such, it is anticipated that the year is fa$orable for hi-tech or
internet types of business. -ut the absence of wood in this year could mean there are more acti$ities without real
substantial money gains.
8n summary, the industries that will perform well in the year of the (at will be industries related to earth and metal
elements such as property, hotel, mining, insurance, machinery, engineering, health, computer, and high tech
industries. The sectors relating to water and fire will not be doing so well. 4ater industries include shipping,
communication, drinks, and fire industries are stock market, finance, energy, electricity, entertainment business. The
wood industries such as te"tile, publications, fashion, furniture, etc are into a year with some superficial prosperity
but not substantial.
8n general, the yang .arth (at year, with earth on top failing to control water below, is symbol of apparent calmness
on the outside but such calmness lacks a solid foundation and the mountain can tumble and de$oured by the ocean
of fierce water. 3ome kind of new world order began to emerge but it will take time to consolidate into stability. . 3till
there will be international conflicts and uprisings and unrest but such e$ents may be less turbulent than )**>. The
new beginning of the 0) animal cycle led by the (at will be first step to cool down or slow down the acceleration of
Dlobal warming problem.
The animal sign which is most unfa$orable is the Horse which is in direct clash against the (at. 3uch clashes will
usually bring about turbulence, mo$ements, accident or changes... 3o people born in the year of the Horse will
anticipate more tra$eling, or mo$ements such as changing <obs or mo$ing house. 8t is necessary to carry the pendant
of an 7" as protection to attract the (at away. For the Horse people, the clash against the (at could bring accidents
related to the water and fire element, such as e"plosion, fire disasters, and air and sea traffic accidents. For people
who are under clash with the year, it is ok to tra$el more, making changes such as mo$ing house, or change <ob.
Howe$er, for people born in the year of the Horse, it is recommended not to tra$el directly towards the direction of the
Drand !uke, which is the north direction, and it is also not recommended for them to tra$el by sea. The other
animals signs facing unfa$orable positions are the (abbit and the (at. 4hen (abbit encounters (at year will form
:Two enalty; relationship. . 3uch penalties will usually bring disharmony, irritation, worries and frustrations. ,lso
people born in year of the (at are offending the Drand !uke which is also not auspicious and it is necessary to carry
7" pendant to minimi&e the negati$e effect. The imbalance of fire and water elements brought about by the Horse
and the (at may bring fire and water diseases, such as high blood pressure, heart burn, irregular heart beat,
inflammation, diabetes, and kidney problems. ,s such, it is necessary to take hea$y dosages of anti-o"idant, omega
E oil or C7G0* which is good protection against cardio$ascular diseases, hyper-tension and inflammation problems. .
The animals combining with the (at year are the 7", the 9onkey, and the !ragon. These animals are into a year of
harmony. Howe$er, such animal astrology is not totally reliable as the system is not recogni&ed as a formal type of
fortune-telling. For more reliable assessment of ones fortune in the year of the (at, it is recommended that one
checks the full Four illars of !estiny, which re#uires full birth data information of the 'ear, 9onth, !ay and Hour of
birth. ,s the animal signs can appear in all four pillars in a persons birth data, the clash and penalty relationship with
the (at will not only cause impact on people born in the year of Horse and (at and (abbit. 3uch clash and penalties
can also impact any one who has such animals in the birth month, or day or hour.
3ome e"amples of famous people born in the year of the Horse and under clash in )**+ are aul 9cCartney, !an&el
4ashington, =ohn Tra$olta, Condolee&&a (ice, (ichard Bi, ,ngela 9erkel, Fictor 'uschenko, ?iefer 3utherland,
4arren -uffett and ?atie Holmes. There are people who are not born in the year of Horse, but they are also under
clash because they are born on the day of Horse, so they will also face a challenging year. 3ome e"amples of these
people are Chris 9artin, Bura -ush, !a$id Furnish, .li&abeth Taylor@...
eople born in year of the (at is said to be :offending the Drand !uke; and it is also recommended to carry pendant
of the 7". ."amples of (at people are rince Charles, rince Henry, Dwyneth altrow, Cameron !ia&, =ohn 9cCain,
7li$ia 6ewton-=ohn@..
For people who are born in the year of the ig, the (abbit, and the Doat, the (at year will bring :Flower of (omance;
so one can anticipate a more sociable year with more opportunity to de$elop friendship with the opposite se"...
Feng 3hui energies also change from year to year. Therefore, it is necessary to watch for the re-allocation of good
and bad energies at the beginning of each year, so that we can take necessary precautions if some bad energy
happens to arri$e at important locations of our residence or offices. 8n the year of the (at, the bad energy called :Fi$e
'ellow; symboli&ing obstacles and misfortune, arri$es at the 3outh. 8f your 3outh of the house is an important area
such as bedroom or entrances, it is recommended that one hangs a metal wind chime there to dissol$e this bad
energy. The worst months will be in February, ,ugust, and 6o$ember. ,nother bad star number ), symboli&ing
sickness, will arri$e in the 6orthwest in )**+. The traditional method to dissol$e this ) is to hang a string of si" metal
coins in the affected area in the 6orthwest of the house The Drand !uke this year is in the 6orth, hence it is not
fa$orable to :mo$e earth; or make substantial construction work in this direction. 8t is also not recommended for one
to sit with back against e"act 3outh as you will be sitting against the unfa$orable energy called :Three 3hars; or
:Three ?illings;. ,s well as the :Crash position; against the Drand !uke. The bad star E is a star of conflict and
robbery. This is present in the 4est of the house. 8t is necessary to put a piece of red paper in the 4est to minimi&e
such bad influence. ,lso the bad star >, representing scandals is in the 3outhwest, the traditional solution for this bad
star > is to place E or 2 of bamboo plant grown in clear glass $ase of water in the 3outhwest location.