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The Year of the Earth Rat 2008 YOUR  FUTURE  IN  2008 And subtle. Strategize. Prepare. You are not one to enjoy playing games. But this time, CHINESE EARTH RAT YEAR STARTS FEBRUARY 7, the prize will be worth the departure from 2008. your  usual  bulldozer  style. HOW  CHINESE  ASTROLOGY  WORKS TIGER From the Year of the Rat through the Year of As you no doubt already know, whether in the Pig, there are twelve animal signs relationships, in business or government or romping through the Asian or "Chinese" even in stupid traffic! - the Rat seeks to astrological system. To find your own sign, dominate. For you Tigers, this peculiar Rat all you need to know is the year of your character trait is both un-nerving and birth. Though there are no complicated rising irritating. You find Rat years tedious. You signs nor intricate charts to reckon with, really hate it when someone who isn't you the Chinese New Year falls on a different feels like pushing his or her weight around. date each year. It can occur as early as But do not allow tedium to get in the way of mid-January or as late as mid-February. So if your survival instinct. Prepare to scrimp a you were born in either of these two months, bit and tighten your stripes. You will in any please enter your birth date on my web site case be on the move. Wherever you go it seems for accuracy. A person born in late January you are being given options: new ways to make of a Snake year might not be a Snake subject, a living or chances to join a prestigious but rather will be given the sign of the group or opportunities to be creative or to preceding  Dragon  year. enhance your public image. Basic trusts can be broken in these years. You are not usually The cycle of the Chinese zodiac renews itself avid to be the one in control. Being the every dozen years. As luck would have it, titular boss, who answers yammering phone 1900 was a Rat year. Since Rat is the first calls and e-mails in an office all day long in the series of twelve signs and its year and waits for employees to show up at opened our century, we can often calculate yawn-filled meetings would send you straight the signs of our contemporaries with ease. into a coma. But the Rat does not necessarily The year 2000 was not so convenient. Instead know this about you. You appear so strong and of rounding out nicely to start the new so sure of yourself that the terminally century with a Rat year, 2000 was a Dragon insecure Rat feels threatened. Hence your year. The Dragon, unlike the Rat, is not the life in this coming year may prove to be less first sign of the Chinese Zodiac but the than delightful. The Rat could try to thwart fifth. So in this new century we have to work even your most innocent of desires for a  bit  harder to calculate our Chinese sign. self-governance, belittle your cleverest notions and may even sabotage your plans. Every Asian person about to make a major There is also the possibility of chronic decision: mar¬riage, family, profession, illness developing in a close friend, burial, or relocation will first check to see associate or member of your family. You will if his sign and those of the people involved be called upon to deal with it. And you will. indicate that any benefit will result from Another hint? Don't be tempted to ally the anticipated act. In many Asian countries yourself with any Rats. The Rat not only parents still arrange marriages. If the wants power. He or she wants to be the sole family considers that a Horse son is not well owner of that power. Rats are hoarders and matched to a Rat woman, the wedding will be savers. You are the spendier, devil-may-care called  off. guy or woman who believes that money grows on trees and that so long as you keep changing Astrology - like various other "ologies" - forests, there will always be more ready cash is yet another way of finding out who we are hanging from the branches. Conflict between and how we can be happier. Astrologers do not your splurging spirit and the Rat's desire to claim to have all the answers. As a stash will arise. Advice? Plan to travel and soothsayer, I do not presume to know if you make changes this year. Don't bother to try must or must not buy a pickup truck on to  save  money.  You  don't  know  how. Thursday, the twenty-ninth of July, 2021. But what I do know is that the animal symbol that CAT/RABBIT Not the most encouraging of years rules the year of your birth has endowed you for you Cat/Rabbit people. Why? Because the with certain basic characteristics and helped Rat tends to envy your settled, secure to  define  your  funda¬mental  nature. lifestyle and would not in the least mind turning it on its head. Rats love drama and Once you are made aware of your qualities and excitement. Like you, they are have accepted certain aspects of your faults, budget-conscious. But they don't settle down it is conceivable that you will have a better the way you do. They crave (and often chance of making life cooperate with you. create) havoc and excitement. You favor Given definite attributes to work with, you safety over histrionics and will opt for will then possess the wherewithal to fashion simple jaunts in the countryside instead of your own life to fit your desires and choosing excitement for its own sake. Of ambitions. Moreover, as you examine the course, you are the more sagacious of the two qualities and faults pertaining to your signs. You prefer not to have to enter any friends or acquaintances, you may learn why fray or conflict to get what you want and you (and they) behave in ways hitherto always seek to avoid belligerence. Rats are incomprehensible. forever stalking dominance and are unafraid of confrontation. I advise Cat/Rabbits not WHO  WILL  BE  RUNNING  THE  SHOW? to perform any public stunts which will attract attention to them during this WHAT  IS  A  RAT  PERSON  LIKE? sharp-edged year. It's not the moment to run for mayor of your town or even to seek the According to a Chinese legend, one day during presidency of your Bridge club. Nor is the some dynasty or other, Buddha called all 12 Rat year a time for you to splurge on major animals together for a race. The Rat antiques, classic vehicles or mansions in not only won the race, he was probably canny high end neighborhoods. Anxiety may prevail enough to ride on the Ox's back to do so. as well because of on and off tensions Oxen tend to be slow, but they are steady and present in this coming year which will evolve plodding. We all know from our own legend mostly from dissension in some part of your about the Tortoise and the Hare that steady private life. Either you are married and plodding  wins  the  race. experiencing a classic "rocky" period. Or you are not married and long to be, but can't get You won't find many steady ploddersamong the along with the intended for more than a week Rat  population. without quarreling. As you despise conflict, you flee. In your absence, she or he meets RAT  YEARS someone else. Now you are thoroughly upset, so you return on pitty pat paws to reclaim 1900,  1912,  1924.  1936,  1948,  1960, your territory. And what do you discover? A love triangle. More discord. Further 1972,  1984,  1996,  2008,  2020,  2052, controversy. And perhaps even a fight! Hang in there. Rat years are never wonderful for 2044,  2056,  2068,  2080,  2092 the Cat/Rabbit's love life. To change the subject radically, your finances could come NB- Born in January or early Feb.? Check my under some scrutiny from the tax authorities. Chinese Sign page ( to be sure you are not Better to lie low and while away weekends among those who fall into the sign of the listening to classical music, reading history previous  year. books or polishing your antique clocks. Around November, you very well might enjoy a Rat  is the first sign of the Chinese Zodiac. fling or two with someone charming and frankly, openly sexy. Take pains to protect ON  THE  BRIGHT  SIDE  RATS  BOAST: your reputation for refinement and good taste. Money, this year, should not be APPEAL SOCIABILITY scarce. Most Cat/Rabbits are known for their ability to see around corners in dodgy INFLUENCE INTELLECT markets. THRIFT CHARISMA DRAGON ON  THE  RAT'S  UNDERBELLY  CHECK  FOR: Here comes a bonanza year for you personally. Nobody admires your dashing self more than ANXIETY THIRST FOR the canny Rat. And the feeling is often POWER mutual. You will be awash in propositions for new projects and called upon to direct (the VERBOSITY GUILE job you love best) everything from the village orchestra to the Neighborhood Watch. ACQUISITIVENESS MEDDLING You are a rising Star in this Rat year, and what's more, you can feel it. A rush of "What? You tell me I'm a Rat. Yucko! Gross. approval and freewheeling comes over you No way!" I hear these protests all the time. about mid-March and won't leave until the end Nobody wants to be a Rat. Apparently, they'd of next January. Take wise advantage of the rather be something less revolting. Rats opportunities presented to you because they don't benefit from an elegant reputation in are almost all excellent chances for the our  occidental,  urbanized  society. betterment of both your financial and personal  life. But think for a moment of the clever farm rat. It is this rat: the collector, the An enticing love interest appears about hoarder, the deft and admirable country rat, halfway through the year. If you are whom Buddha honored. This rural rat is, to otherwise attached, beware of temptation. The this day, a scrounger for food, finder of person in question is most seductive and warm places to nest and a procreator par what's more is magnetized by your charisma. excellence. Let us then put aside our base If you are not hitched, go for it - give him image of the repellent city rat and or her the full Dragon treatment: gifts, concentrate on the characters of his artful rings, trips to exotic venues and cozy nights country  cousin. by the fireside. So much for the positive aspects of the Rat year. On the other side, The key adjectives I like to use to describe toward the summer holidays, family members' Rat people are: "charming, assertive, needs may impinge on your time. Lavish some protective and relentless." Rats go whole of that precious Dragon time on those in need hog for what they are after and they never of your moral support. But don't be tempted give up. You'll never meet an unattractive to shower them with funds. Don't let the Rat. They may not be classically handsome. syrupy sentimental side of your nature take But they ooze allure. Neither will you find a over and drive you to begin any useless Rat person who doesn't seek to achieve and squandering. Don't make meaningless succeed, stand out from the crowd and even sacrifices. You have better things to do with assume power over others. Rats are your money in Rat years than bail people out go-getters. They are born with leadership of gambling debt or lend your new BMW to your qualities and a hefty measure of guile. For shiftless brother-in-law who lost his license the Rat, the ends frequently justify the for drunk driving. You may however have to means. take charge of everything to do with a flailing member of your clan this year. Rat people usually appear calm and at ease in Somebody in your immediate home life has lost company. They're talkative (to a fault his or her bearings and needs a few Dragon sometimes) and make pleasant coaching sessions. Encourage and boost. But conversationalists. But take a closer look. resist the urge to preach. It's likely the That Rat has a rubber band in his hand which person in question is depressed. If the he incessantly snaps back and forth between condition persists, make them seek two fingers. The Rat woman keeps wiggling the professional  help. fastener on her bracelet. Rats only seem tranquil. Inside, they are like nuclear SNAKE reactors: churning, bubbling, twisting and steaming. Rats seethe and sizzle. But they Your health and well-being are in better never-or  rarely-explode. fettle this year. All the physical ills you were suffering last year will dissipate in Rats are not only stashers of food, they have the salutary ambiance of the protective Rat. a well-developed sense of economy. They know Nevertheless, trouble will be afoot in your where their money goes and for which financial sector. Hide that checkbook, frivolities they are willing to spend scissor your credit cards and politely refuse lavishly. Parties and gatherings of all sorts the over draught privilege at the bank. please the Rat. In fact, any chance to Although you will start the year with a sense communicate is seen as a joyful occasion. of plenty and even continue it in ample Rats love-no, need-to talk. If Rats have sufficiency, you will stumble on some problems, they talk them through. If they are unexpected cracks in the sidewalk toward the depressed, they blab it out. If they lose a end of the year. You should begin putting lover, they can only cure themselves of money away for the future and stop the buying heartbreak by exposing the whole gory story frenzies. Shopping may be tranquilizing for until the listener's ears are red with you while it's happening. But when those compassion and the Rat has emptied his hair-raising credit card bills and excessive despondent soul. If you have a gabby Rat mortgage payments start avalanching into your crony, keep your IPOD handy and pump up the mailbox, it will be bye bye to serenity and volume. hello to all night nail-biting sessions. In the professional sector, there will be no If you are loved by a Rat, consider yourself more obstacles to prevent you from making lucky. Rats will fiercely defend and sudden huge strides. Your talents and cheerfully spoil the people they care about. abilities will be more in demand than you But outsiders don't count. The Rat wants to ever dreamed was possible. You could even be surrounded with those who like and admire become an overnight star or experience a him. He will lavish presents on them and feed giant breakthrough in an area of expertise them all till they burst from admiration. that you hitherto imagined was closed to you. Loyal companionship is the Rat's idea of As the Pig year was less than clement for contentment. most Snake people, the Rat year will come as a grand relief. Little by little you will Rats are not necessarily high-minded. Nor are feel renewed and energetic. With this new they artistic dreamers. But they are wily and dynamic, you will be able to shed many of the intelligent. And they are often gifted - too preconceived notions you harbored about your clever by half. They make excellent lawyers entourage. Too much emphasis has been put on and executives. Too, Rats dabble more than a your family situation for the past 12 months. little in politics. They crave power. Richard Now it's time to attack career goals and make Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr. and John them happen for you and your loved ones' McCain - Rats to a man. And they know how to benefit. The Rat is a nervy sort and that use their brains with words. In the world's sizzling edginess which emanates from inside Rat Pack, you will find all manner of highly the very vector of this year, can cause you talented writers, composers, singers, actors to occasionally doubt the loyalty of your and  actresses. Here's a famous Rat sampling: partner. Not to worry. You are sufficiently loved and admired. This year, make no major 1912 (Water Rat Mary McCarthy, Loretta purchases. Invest only in what you can Young, Roy Rogers, Gene Kelly, John Cage, actually afford. Otherwise, when next year Eugene Ionesco, Laurence Durrell, Werner Von rolls around, you will be paddling against Braun, John Cheever, Perry Como, Studs the  current for twelve long, frazzled months Terkel, Woody Guthrie, Julia Child, Michaelangelo Antonioni, Danny Kaye. 1924 HORSE (Wood Rat) Marlon Brando, Lauren Bacall, Sarah Vaughan, James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Don't expect any jolly miracles to come Charles Aznavour, Doris Day, Lee Marvin, Zizi waddling down the trail to greet you this Jeanmaire, Sidney Poitier. 1936 (Fire Rat) year. Rats and Horses are notorious enemies. Glenda Jackson, Dennis Hopper, Keir Dullea, Between you, there is usually an initial Yves St Laurent, Dick Cavett, Vanessa attraction, a brief honeymoon period and then Redgrave, Albert Finney, El Cordobes, Alan a swift slide into bickering and eventual Alda, Kris Kristifferson, Marion Barry, F.W. schism. Rats like power. You refuse to be DeKlerk, , Dean Stockwell, Glenn Campbell, told what to do. Get the picture? Rats need Roy Orbison, Bobby Darin, Dennis Hopper, to surround themselves with people they can Englebert Humperdinck, Tom Snyder, Bruce feel protective of, look after and give Dern, Chad Everett, Geena Rowlands, Oscar de direction to. In short, Rats need to dominate la Renta, Wilt Chamberlain, Buddy Holly, their friends and family in some way or David Carradine, Ismael Merchant, Lou Rawls, other: financially, intellectually or with Shirley Bassey, Dyan Cannon, Boris Spassky. pure authority for its own sake. There is 1948 (Earth Rat) James Taylor, Olivia nothing worse for you Horses than to feel Newton-John, Mikhail Barishnykov, Donna smothered by some meddling outsider who Summer, Gerard Depardieu, Billy Crystal, Al sticks his or her nose into everything you Gore, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jimmy Cliff, Kathy get up to. Horses crave freedom and thrive on Bates, Cat Stevens, Jeremy Irons, Mary Beth independence. Should you hanker to buy a new Hurt, Olivia Newton-John, Jackson Browne, home, build an extension on the one you have Donna Karan, Kenny Loggins. 1960 (Metal Rat) or invest in a second residence on a Kenneth Branagh, Yannick Noah, Daryl Hannah, Caribbean island, put it off till next year. Sean Penn, Greta Scacchi, Meg Tilly, Ayrton Everything to do with visas and passports, Sienna, Kristin Scott Thomas, Antonio building permissions and zoning permits will Banderas, Branford Marsalis, Jean-Claude Van be fraught with delay. You execrate Damme, Nastassja Kinski, Valerie Bertinelli, paperwork. Filling out forms is torture for Hugh Grant 1972 (Water Rat) Shaquille you. You do not fancy rendering accounts to O'Neal, Carmen Electra, Busta Rhymes, Julie anyone whatsoever. So in this Rat year, you Gayet, Elizabeth Berkley, Marlon Wayans, Ben had better remain in the wings. Don't attempt Affleck, Cameron Diaz, Geri Halliwell, Liam any great stunts or public displays of your Gallagher, Gwyneth Paltrow, Eminem, Toni talents. Of course you probably won't follow Collette, Jenny McCarthy, Alyssa Milano, my advice anymore than you would follow the Vanessa  Paradis. Rat's instructions. You Horses can be led to water but we cannot make you take even one Rats are not infrequently found meddling in tiny sip if you don't want to. No amount of other peoples' business. They are intensely coaxing or blackmail or guilt trips will make curious and can become overly involved in the you ingest a drop. So Horses mine, this lives of friends and neighbors. They cannot coming Rat year will be a bit of a trudge. be termed "busybodies" - but almost. Rats Low profile time. Take off to the countryside also delight in the running of committees and with your main squeeze and spend the time will gladly take over the administration of a thinking about the heft deals you will pull board of directors. Rats will not usually off when the Goat year rolls around. But as volunteer to be on the cleanup committee. Nor you will not heed my counsel . . . as they are they apt to beg to decorate the church say for good luck in the theater "Break a crypt for the charity bazaar. They may tell leg." you how they want it done. But they are not about to actually DO the decorating. No. It's GOAT power that Rats are after-power and influence and  lots  of  praise  and  kudos. You inventive Goats are hard put to make much a of (of a) personal statement in this year. Rats too are marriers. They crave security Being dictated to by a Rat doesn't have a and need to be attached. They hoard money and positive effect on you devil-may-care foodstuffs in secret places so they will creatures. You are always willing to oblige never be caught short of either. Show up when asked politely to perform. But when unannounced at her place, the Rat will feed someone literally kicks you in the rump and you well. But don't try to borrow any money orders you to get a move on, you either buck or expect to be treated to lavish meals at or back away in fear and loathing. You may the Four Seasons or the Ritz. Rats are much feel misunderstood and sulky this coming more conservative than their splendid year. You definitely don't feel like painting surroundings  would  have  us  believe. the Mona Lisa or re-inventing pizza. Expect to have to deal with some productive pain. THE  EARTH  RAT  YEAR The beginning of the year (until mid July) will be freighted with petty miseries of an FEBRUARY  7,  2008  TO  JANUARY  25,  2009 emotional nature. Fallout or remnants from a past romance or spent passion want to haunt Hang  on  to  your  hat,  here comes the Rat! your aura. Unfinished business. The feelings may manifest in the form of insomnia or 2008 promises to be a whole new Rat Race. nightmares. Or they may simply present as This year jump starts the Chinese twelve year free-floating anxiety. My advice? 1) Build cycle all over again. Prepare for twelve yourself an armor of spiritual awareness months  of  Monday  mornings. thought meditation, yoga or even martial arts. Your soul (not your mind) needs a We just oinked our way through and oozed out boost. 2) Actively seek new romantic of the prosperous Pig year. If you recall, I interests. Mix with people in groups or find forecasted a year of too much plenty. I them online. Attend parties and functions warned that the rich would get richer and the where you stand a chance of meeting someone poor would do far less well. Of course I new and "possible". Do not sit on your hands could not have predicted that women's and worry or lose sleep over past blunders. handbags would increase in value to the point What is gone is gone. Better prospects are on where some ladies are carrying around ten the way come September. By that time you bucks and a lipstick in a hot pink crocodile should have begun to emerge from all angst. clutch bag that cost their husband's credit Make an effort to look your best at work. You card $4000. Seriously, I just consulted the can expect to be promoted this year. All Neiman Marcus online shopping catalogue and supplementary professional efforts will be in such top stores women's' purses cost rewarded. You may quietly pursue your pet upwards of $1000. Some (and not just a few) creative projects at home in a protected cost six thousand smackers! That's a concrete environment where you feel safe and cared example of what I said would happen under the for. But stay out of the spotlight. Rat years influence of the Fire Pig. Glut for glut's are no time for building a reputation as the sake. End of cycle excess. Quantity over genius you often are. Hang in there and love quality. For some, it was a great year. In will come trotting along in the Autumn of 2007, "Them that has" had themselves a hugely this year. Someone sweet and strong (a Pig if piggy  Pig  year. you're lucky) will be overcome with a stunning admiration for you. This love Here's a quote from my last year's forecast: interest will appear out of nowhere . . . a "People are going to have more "stuff" in the restaurant, a public beach or even on an Pig year. Extravagant real estate and luxury escalator going the other direction. Don't items, jewelry and antiques, authentic old miss out. Say "yes" to the urge to take up masters - everything having to do with wealth with  this  sterling  character. and affluence will be favored. But... this abject profusion of material possession means MONKEY that anyone who is not rich or prosperous or rolling in gold bullion cubes will - by For Monkeys in this year, it's all systems virtue of the scales being tipped too far - go. After wading through a couple of fare  worse." challenging years, you are finally entering a gentler period. All year, you will feel And are not a slew more wealthy humans understood and admired. Rats and Monkeys get cluttering up golf courses and crowding on like a pair of matched socks. The Rat is shopping mall parking lots with their an emotional sort who often has problems splendiferous gas guzzling cars? And, by making decisions. Should I buy a red car or a contrast, are not a lot more people out of blue one? Marry a Dragon or a Tiger? Take work, out of luck and nowadays even out of that new job offer or stay in my current their  homes? position? How should I configure my life now that my parents are no longer around? What Well folks, the party (and the twelve year should I wear to the ball? By now, we all cycle)  is  most  decidedly  over. know that any time one is in the throes of a dilemma big or small, the solution is to 2008 will be an Earth Rat year. Rat years are dial-a-Monkey for assistance. Monkeys cannot always choppy and appeal mostly to those with solve their own problems all that readily, a finely-developed sense of economy. But the but they are masters at helping others to Earth Rat year (The last one was 1948) is make quick, workable choices. So in a Rat also chockablock with market upsets and other year, you Monkey people will find yourselves unspeakable bolts from the blue. NO. I can't being called upon to give advice, to sort out tell you what color, size or shape the bolts thorny issues or to untwist the knickers of will be. Just think surprise events which someone whose temper has him or her in a jolt your synapses and give your heart goose state of advanced frenzy. You can always bumps. I am not threatening earthquakes or figure out how most gracefully to exit a typhoons, although we will surely see our dilemma. Should you have in mind to begin a share of those. The bolts from the blue will huge project, build a new home, start a be more personal than that. They will take business, write a novel or take a trip around the form of accidents or mishaps due to the world, this is the year to undertake that inattention, clumsiness or pure bad luck. In endeavor. Don't keep destiny waiting. Put an Earth Rat year, we learn (usually the hard yourself in gear directly when the year way) that we cannot possibly anticipate what begins in February. Make every day count might happen next. Some might say, "Then toward producing something that expresses who let's just have fun. Why worry?" Others of you are. You have been waiting long enough. you will shudder and shake, fearing Take advantage of the propitious aspects insecurity  and  mourning  free  lunches. surrounding you. Strike while the iron is hot. If you need to borrow money or stay with Relax! Worry is a waste of your precious relatives in Beijing or Paris or use time. What you worry about today will someone's garage workshop to invent a better certainly not happen. And what will happen is mouse trap, do not hesitate to ask. You will something you might have been worrying about be given a leg up at every turn. Power but didn't even know existed. Just be more grabbing is a big part of this year's agenda. cautious than usual about wasting - both time As you are the opposite of power hungry and and  money. don't even want to risk being in the forefront, you are not in competition with In this coming year, the fragile quality of the authority-hungry Rat. You might want to the world's financial condition will become consider taking out a better insurance policy glaringly obvious. People and governments in against theft and accidents. There is a the western world will wake up to the fact chance that while you are building a new that they cannot go on spending more money flying machine or sailing single-handedly than they have and get away with it. In fact, around the world, a robbery, a flood or a many very rich people will barely have time fire might take place. Not to worry unduly. to preserve existing finances. Get ready to Just be sure your insurance premiums are paid swap those $4000.00 purses for some spanking up. new food stamps. Flog your $50,000.00 golf cart and learn how to walk again. Give up ROOSTER caviar and luxury cruises in favor of hot dogs, macaroni salad and a romantic rowboat Protect the savings you have worked so hard ride on the local park lake. Forego smoked to store up. The Rat does not dislike you, salmon and learn how to fish. This coming but has little time this year to while away year will be about the prudent managing of in your company. Cut back on extravagances. finances, cost-cutting measures and trendy Stop thinking you can just blithely fly off cheap backpacks made in China. It will also any old where, spend a few days enjoying be  about  power. yourself in Paris or Marrakech or Bali and still be able to make those car payments. You Something intriguing about Rat years is that Roosters are not very flexible and tend to at first they appear to bode only wealth and crowd yourselves into a corner. If you're bounty. But such glittering harvests are working, then the job becomes the only thing merely the calm before the storm and hunger you can think about or do. You obsess, pangs of future shortages. Nobody will be overwork and can burn out very quickly. Then, spared. Already in February, inflation will of course, you feel sorry for yourself and be on the rise. People all over the world decide that you are owed a break. But once will see their buying power diminish. My again, instead of just lying down and reading advice? Open a savings account. Plant a a fat novel for a couple of days at home, you vegetable garden. Stash gold jewelry under must move about. So you jet off to just the your mattress. Junk the gas guzzler and buy a place you fancy with just the right climate book of train tickets. Take the kids out of and the tastiest food and the best people. private school. Teach them at home. Learn to Then, as soon as you are there, you start cook cheaper cuts of meat or eat no meat at shopping up all the money you earned whilst all. Take pride in wearing handsomely patched overworking and burning out. Is this jeans and be the first on your block to beginning  to  sound  like  a  pattern? remember how to darn socks. In general, in the coming Rat year, do as the British were Well, the Rat year is a good year for you advised after WWII, "Make do and mend". We Rooster people . . . but only if you break did it before and we can do it again. Might this madcap pattern of yours and espouse rest as  well  face  it. Scantier days are ahead. and relaxation in your own surroundings. Sit still for heaven's sake. Welcome the This year is not all bleak, drab and gray opportunities that waft your way. Of course, however. It's a splendid year for power if you are never at home, you won't be there grubbers who gain dominion over others. to receive them, will you? There are Dictators will thrive in this Rat year. movements afoot in your career which can set Hoarders of foodstuffs get a leg up. It's certain things to rights that may have gone also a banner year for owners of savings (and awry in the past. You want out of something. even piggy) banks. And it's a fabulous year You have finished a portion of your existence for people devoted to living the simple life, in a job or a business or even in a playing music or party games at home with relationship and you want to see that their children, going on picnics, taking engagement come to an end. The currents in advantage of free museum entries and walking the work place are flowing in the direction everywhere instead of taking the car. The you need right now. But if you keep fleeing inherently parsimonious Rat year is here to the work place and ignoring those subtle help us clean up our act. Join forces with changes, you may miss the boat. The changes Brother Rat. Dismount your cherished Hummer. may take a few months to hatch. So to Slog a bit and drudge a bit. Cut back and distract yourself from the tedium you so save. Take one paper towel instead of two at fear, take breaks during the day. Go for a a time. If one doesn't do the job, you can big walk. Get three (thee?) to the gym or to always go back for more. Wash your own car tai chi or yoga classes. Meditate. Take and polish it too. Quit the expensive gym and Pilates classes. And instead of squandering ride your bike to work. If you co-operate your hard-earned burnout cash on air travel with the spirit of the Rat year, you can and wine, put a bunch away in the bank and expect to enjoy a carefree twelve months. But let it earn you some interest. The message? buck the system and continue to troll the Slow down, kick back and thrive. Keep on thousand dollar handbag department at racing breakneck willy nilly and you will Nordstrom or Harrods's or Galeries Lafayette live  to  rue  the  day. and your golden goose will flap its wings a few times and fall right over dead (next to DOG the overdue credit card bills) on your snazzy $10,000  dining  room  table. The Rat year will be absent the idealism necessary to spur Dogs into action. You Dogs Children born in Rat years are luckier if find these years superficial and tritely their birthdays come in sum¬mer. They will material. This Rat year will not be your most not have to dig through the snow for productive. Why? Because you are basically provisions and can benefit from sultry unlike the Rat. Dog people are more sunshine to make the hay that they will so high-minded than mercenary. It's just the need to have stored away for the long, cold opposite with Rats. Rats seek power and stash winter  ahead. cash. Dogs like to have some power too but for entirely different reasons. And money? WHAT  WILL  THE  EARTH  RAT  YEAR  BE  LIKE Not really a priority for Pooches, except as a means to an end. Dogs only go after FOR  EACH  CHINESE  SIGN? authority and loot if it gives them the necessary clout to effect social change. The RAT Dog presidents or leaders of the pack in any organization wantto see justice done. They Your year at last! 2008 begins a whole new rule to improve the world their way - notjust cycle of Chinese animal signs and, as usual, to order people about. Rats rule to rule. So you are leading the pack. Directly following in  this  Rat  year,  you the New Year, life will seem suddenly more fluid. Bumps in the road will even out for Dogs may bark as stridently as you wish, but you and people you thought you could never no matter how fiercelyyou yap, you won't get get along with are all of a happy sudden on much  further than the bottom of your garden. your side. Profit from every possible angle you can wangle. But come April watch out for The Rat simply doesn't give a damn for what a tendency to let down your guard and go you care about. So be extra careful not to slack when you should be quicker on the draw. make mistakes or cause them to be made by Toward June, romance will increase in others. You are borderline paranoid anyway intensity and want to become engagement. and are normally an overly cautious person. Commitment beckons. Then marriage is nigh. But this year circumstances may crop up that Don't hold off. If you feel you have found make you feel you have slipped up or "The One", then go ahead and tie the knot. blundered. This feeling certainly doesn't Real estate will doubtless become a help you regain lost self-confidence. But preoccupation this year. You current property take heart. Next year will turn all of this ies is/are too costly, meaning that the real around. Meanwhile, keep your eye on the estate that you own or rent and inhabit doughnut and not on the hole. We learn from either doesn't suit your lifestyle or work our mistakes. Make sure you have taken stock well with your commute or else it simply of those lessons. Your personal life should clashes with your taste. Find a new place to be carefully monitored in August. Betrayal by live that is appropriate not only to your a family member lies in wait. As it's a needs - but to your pocketbook. Before winter family matter, this fundamental issue is sets in, lay in stores. You will be needing probably either about money or property (or them around Christmas time when shortages both). It might also concern a young adult loom. Keep in mind that, overall, your main child who is threatening to leave school or objective this year is to carefully plot out home. Nip this in the bud by taking the time the next dozen years of your life. Where do to talk it through and offering just you want to be in twelve years? With whom alternatives. Do not despair. The Rat year is will you be living? How much do you want to not all bad for Dogs. You may not feel that be earning and will you prefer the city or you are making much progress. But at least the country? You have twelve long years to you are learning and maintaining the status get where you want to go with whom and for quo. In Rat years, that's about as much as how much. Think ahead and be extra any  Dog  can  ask  for. calculating. Make major long term decisions in 2008. And don't look back. Life is too PIG short to regret missed opportunities that are probably out of fashion anyway. Stay alert. Rat years can be mostly fun for Pig people. Leap into new projects with your usual Best of all, you are free of last year's enthusiasm,  but  hold  the reckless abandon. responsibilities and have begun your own new 12 year period of self-realization. This year OX is yours to enjoy. Let the Rat run the show. The Rat is a protector of those he loves. And Rats covet power and they often get it. he really digs Pigs. You Pigs possess a brand Whether in relationships, in government of personal power that the power-hungry Rat positions or in business dealings, Rats seek respects. You are your own person. You depend dominion and go after it tooth and claw. This on nobody and you know what you like and go coming year fairly reeks of the Rat's after it in life. Rats are quite similar in powerful influence. But that pungent smell that way. They are go-getters and are doesn't bother you Oxen too much. You were unafraid to take the reins and drive their born with a keen sense of your own strength own existence - their way. But Rats do not and haven't had to struggle, as the Rat own the rustic peacefulness of Pigs. Rats are perpetually does, to gain and maintain more like urban dwellers than country folk. control. In your case, control comes with the They live at a frenzied pace, are nervous and territory. Because the Rat's drive for chatty and needful of admiration from others. supremacy doesn't threaten Ox people, you Pigs don't much hurry. Nor do they care who usually cruise right through Rat years admires them. They just carry on tra la la without missing a beat. Beware, early this with their conviviality and their taste for year, of developing symptoms of emotional the authentic and comfortable in life. Rats stress. Your private life lacks satisfaction also work at a frenzied speed and if things and this dearth of sexual or romantic are not moving quickly enough, they can excitement may cause you to doubt your tantrum out in the twitch of a whisker. Pigs, ability to maintain relationships. My advice? on the other hand, handle inter personal Stop listening to detractors. Clamp your affairs with great diplomacy, take their time front hooves over your ears and refuse to about things and rarely freak out. Aside from hear anything negative in your regard. minor health issues which tend to crop up in Remember (when you can't sleep at night) that summer, you Pigs can be comfortable this year you are the one pulling this plow under your in the knowledge that you are protected and own steam. Listen to the force of your inner admired and respected. It is however voice. That's where your self-confidence is incumbent upon you to perform economically lurking. Way deep inside. Snatch it. Gobble (which implies putting the brakes on it  up.  And  go  back  to  sleep. squanderous abandon). The Rat demands you make wise investments or none at all. Control Rats move quickly. You tend to advance more excessive gourmandise and don't forget to slowly. But for you, it's constructive to invite Rat people to all your country dinner march to the pokey cadence of your own inner parties. Let your Rat friends chat up the drummer. This year, from the outset, you will guests and take home the leftovers. That way, be encouraged to accumulate wealth, nurture you Pigs can lose some weight and gain extra your crops and tend to your family's harmony. points with King Rat. Do much thinking about In the Autumn, tension may threaten your your 12 year program. After last year's professional life. It will no doubt come from planning sessions, you ought to have some a person born in a Dragon or Rabbit year. idea where the next dozen years want to take Keep your ears pricked up for signs of nasty you. Be certain not to fritter away precious backbiting and subterfuge in the wings at the time hunting for treasure in posh antique workplace. Someone would like to see you shops and art galleries. Don't take up with fail. By November, if there is no improvement lazy people who want your assistance more in the situation, take pains to actively than your affection. Don't be distracted by discourage that person's desire to do you in. idle flattery. Stay ruthlessly on your own Even if you must use force, this is one path. battle you do not want to lose. But be wise. 1 A B 33 34 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87