The Chinese Zodiac consists of twelve animal signs, which the Earth moves through in a twelve-year cycle. This zodiac also moves through a twenty-four year elemental cycle. The ruling element changes every two years. Each year is ruled by one animal sign, and by one biannual element, either Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, or Fire. Each animal sign is also ruled by its primary element, and assigned to a ‘trine’, or group of three.
The Rat is the first sign in the Chinese Zodiac. Depending on the specific element ruling each Year of the Rat, people born under this sign are Earth Rats (1948), Metal Rats (1960), Water Rats (1972), Wood Rats (1984), or Fire Rats (1996). All Rat people share certain characteristics, but have some characteristics which differ based on their biannual element.
Earth Rats tend to be very oriented toward safety. They like to feel secure, and they are very careful. Metal Rats are the most emotionally sensitive Rat people, while Water Rats tend to be the most inventive and innately intelligent. Wood Rats are very energetic, but this energy can make them the most susceptible to stress of all the Rats, while Fire Rats are also energetic, but in a more focused and dynamic way.
The ruling element of all Rat people is Water. Water is associated with the North and the season of winter. It is governed by the planet Mercury, and its special color is Black. The guardian of Water is the Black Tortoise, the astrological sign who rules the North. Water is especially associated with the excretory systems, both the urinary and digestive systems. People whose signs are ruled by water may be prone to diseases of the urinary tract and intestines, and to emotional problems related to sadness, melancholy, and depression. Water people need to take especially good care of their excretory systems, such as by staying hydrated and eating a diet with enough fiber, and they also need to be sure to live a balanced life and engage themselves in enjoyable activities.
Rat people share the First Trine with Dragon and Monkey people. All First Trine signs share certain characteristics. Their main features are intensity and power. They all have strong leadership capabilities, and strong capability for doing both good and evil. All First Trine people may manifest strong contradictions within themselves, and they can appear to be very unpredictable. None of the First Trine signs deal well with frustration, or with feeling held back by circumstances or by other people.
All Rat people, regardless of their biannual element, share certain Rat characteristics. As with all of the signs of the Chinese Zodiac, the same tendencies can manifest as either a positive or a negative quality. Rats are charming and charismatic, but they can also be manipulative. 
They are tenacious and very systematic, industrious, and hardworking, but they can also be greedy, overly ambitious, and ruthless in pursuit of their desires. They tend to be eloquent, sociable, clever, and impressively talented, but Rat people can also be vindictive, petty, stubborn, scheming, and intolerant. Rat people can be very loving and sexually talented partners, but they are rarely romantic.
Unlike some Chinese animal signs, Rat people are very compatible with one another. They are also extremely compatible with the other signs in the First Trine, the Dragon and the Monkey. Rat, Dragon, and Monkey people are very likely to have good relationships with one another, in friendships, family life, business, and especially in love. Rats, Dragons, and Monkeys tend to bring out one another’s good qualities. They are all intelligent, with great problem-solving and leadership skills. They are all hardworking and creative, and relationships among them have a great deal of productive potential. Since all three signs can also be scheming, manipulative, and judgmental, there is always the danger of their combined powers being used for evil rather than for beneficial purposes. First Trine alliances always produce powerful results, whether for good or for ill.
Rats, when paired with other Rats, pool their intellectual resources and can become a charismatic and creative force to be reckoned with. Rats and Dragons stimulate one another with their similar industrious and passionate approaches to life. Rats and Monkeys motivate one another to create and achieve, and the inventive qualities of the Monkey compliment the industrious qualities of the Rat. This is an especially auspicious pairing, since people of both Rat and Monkey signs can be extremely charming and sociable. However, it must always be remembered that people who are compatible in their positive traits also have compatible negative qualities. It is always a possibility that compatible signs will highlight one another’s unfortunate qualities and bring out the worst in each other.
Rat people are least compatible with Rabbit, Horse, and Ram people. Rats in these types of relationships will always be in danger of bringing out the worst in their partners, and of allowing their own worst tendencies to operate in their relationships. Passive, sensitive, and home-minded Ram people are in danger of being abused and taken advantage of by the Rat’s more dominating and selfish personality. Horse people tend to become fickle and demanding when they are paired with the charismatic and systematic Rat, and the Rat partner will leave these relationships feeling used and abused. The gracious, sensitive, and emotional Rabbit may at first seem like a good match for the charming, charismatic, sociable Rat, but these two will create a spiral of drama, each growing ever more emotional and unstable, until the relationship collapses.
Rats have a moderate level of compatibility with people born in the years of the Ox, Tiger, Snake, Boar, Rooster, and Dog. These relationships may go very well or very poorly, and the specific biannual element each person was born under plays more of a role in the compatibility of these relationships than it does in strongly compatible First Trine relationships, or highly incompatible Rat-Rabbit/Horse/Ram relationships. People of moderately compatible signs must compare their elemental years to determine the level of innate compatibility they can rely on.
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