The Year of The Rat 2008
Year 2008 is a Chinese Brown Earth (Soil) Rat Year. Why did the Chinese name the year 2008 as the Brown Earth Rat Year? Chinese calendar used the Stem-Branch system to count the days, months and years. There are 10 Stems and 12 Branches in this system. Stems are named by the Yin-Yang and Five Elements (Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth). The Stem sequence order is Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, Yang Earth, Yin Earth, Yang Metal, Yin Metal, Yang Water and Yin Water. Branches use the animal names. The Branch sequence order is: Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog and Pig. Stem and Branch are used together to form a cycle of 60 counting systems. Year 2008 is Female Earth Rat , the 25th of the Stem-Branch in the system. Because Earth is equivalent to the color Brown in the Five-Element system, Year 2008 is also called the Brown Rat year. Chinese New Year The Chinese New Year day is on February 7th, 2008. This day is a new moon day, it is the first day of the first Chinese lunar month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar system. The exact new moon time is at 11:44 on 07-Feb-08 in China time zone. If we apply Chinese lunar calendar system on the USA time zones, we find something interesting here. In the US Pacific Standard Time (PST), the new moon time is at 19:44 of 2-06-08. In the US Eastern Standard Time (EST), the new moon time is at 21:44 of 2-06-08. Therefore, the Chinese New Year day for USA time zones is on February 6th, 2008. The new moon time is at 03:44 on 2-07-08 of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and at 04:44 on 2-07-08 of Time Zone GMT+1. That means Chinese New Year day is on February 7th, 2008 for European countries. The Year 2008 (Brown Rat) is the 4705th Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C., therefore China will enter the 4705th year on February 4th, 2008 Some web sites say the year 2008 is the 4706th Chinese year. If you cannot find the explanation, here is a possible answer for you: The Yellow King's inauguration was held in the spring of 2697 B.C. But the day that was used as the first day of the year was the winter solstice, which was around December 23rd, 2698 B.C. Today's January 1st meant nothing to the Yellow King. If we count that extra eight days in 2698 B.C., then year 2008 is the 4706th Chinese year. Rat is Number One The sequence of 12 astrology animals is . Rat ranks number 1 in the 12 calendar animals. There is a related story for children. Once the God of Heaven wanted to choose 12 animal names as the sequence of the calendar. He announced to hold an animal racing to determine the order. When the racing date is closing, Cat forgot the time and asked Rat the schedule. Alert Rat gave Cat the wrong time on purpose. Smart Rat stayed on the horn of Ox while crossing the river, then jumped over the bank to reach the final line to win the champion. Cat missed the racing time and swear to kill Rat for generations. That's why Cat always chase Rat forever. The front leg of Rat has 4 toes and back leg has 5 toes. The Rat hour is from 23:00 P.M. to 1:00 A.M., which cover late night and early morning. Rat is rank number one, which is Yang (odd) number. But contains Female Water, according to Chinese astrology calendar. Water in Chinese astrology represents cold, black, wisdom and lust. Rat is a very alert, coward, quick, sly, ambitious and smart animal. Human still learn something from rats. When all rats run away from a building with no reason, we should run and leave the building soon too. Ancient Chinese won't get on a ship without rats, because that's not normal. Rat is 鼠 in Chinese. The head is on the top. The body shows the toes and the tail. So 子 doesn't mean Rat in Chinese. it just a symbol for the Chinese astrology calendar. It comes from the meaning of the cycle of the year base on Yin and Yang energy on the Earth. Love and Marriage In Chinese astrology, Rat is a Lust Star, which has a noble term - Romantic Star. Rat is the Romantic Star only for people born in year of Rabbit, Sheep or Pig. If Rabbit, Sheep and Pig people look for the love, they have more chance to meet the opposite sex. If they are already in love, they have chance to talk about the marriage in 2008. Years of Rabbit are 1927, 1939, 1951 1963, 1975 and 1987. Years of Sheep are 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979 and 1991. Years of Pig are 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971 and 1983. The first day of a Chinese astrology year is around on February 4. For the chance of a marriage, we need to find any Spouse Star or Attraction Relationship coming from the current Brown Rat cycle. But you need to find your Day Master in the your Chinese birth chart. To find your day master click here http://www.fourpillars.net/online4P.php 2008 is Male Earth Rat year. The Earth is the Spouse Star for a man born on the Day of Male Wood or Female Wood . Male Earth and Female Water have the attraction relationship. Therefore Female Water and Wood men have more chance to meet the female in 2008. If they have good relationship with their girls now, they can think about the marriage, specially for the ones born in years of Rabbit, Sheep and Pig. The Earth is the Spouse Star for a woman born on the Day of Water and . If Water women are already in love and born in years of Rabbit, Sheep and Pig, they have chance to talk about the marriage. The marriage for Female Water woman is quite possible because Male Earth and Female Water have the attraction relationship. If you can find additional Branch Attraction Relationship between birth chart and the cycle, then that's a plus for a good marriage. If the marriage doesn't happen in 2008 for above-mentioned people still have very good chance and relationship with their boy or girl friends. Affinity relationship (Attraction) chart Rat (1) and Cow (2) like each other and generate Earth ingredient. Dragon (5) and Chicken (10) like each other and generate Metal ingredient. Snake (6) and Monkey (9) like each other and generate Water ingredient. Tiger (3) and Pig (12) like each other and generate Wood ingredient. Rabbit (4) and Dog(11) like each other and generate Fire ingredient Your Lucky Element 2008 is Brown Rat year. Brown is Earth and Rat is Water. Basically, people will be luckier if the Earth or Water are their lucky element. However, Earth and Water are opposite elements. 2008 won't be one of their best years in their life, unless birth chart animal signs have a special combination. If your lucky element is Water... 2007 is a Fire Pig year. 2008 is a Brown Rat year. Pig and Rat are in the Water group. 2007 is the first year of the Water cycle. 2008 is the second year of the Water cycle. Water of 2008 is stronger than the Water in 2007. If Water is your lucky element, then your luck come in 2008. If you think you were lucky in 2007, the your luck will be continue good or even better in 2008. If your Birth Chart and your Current Major Cycle contain Dragon and Money, then 2008 will be an extremely good year for you. This is because Rat, Dragon and Monkey together have the Mutual Attraction Relationship and generate very powerful Water energy. The luck will be even better, if your birth chart or current major cycle have Male Water in there. If your lucky element is Earth... Your luck will come around four season changes. If your Birth Chart or your Current Major Cycle contain Cow, then 2008 will be an very special year to you. This is because Rat and Cow together have the Attraction Relationship into Earth. The energy of Water disappears and the Earth of 2008 brings the Earth under the birth chart to the top. The year 2008 becomes a power Earth year Forecast using the theory of Five Elements 2008 is the year of Male Brown Rat. Brown is equivalent to Earth in Five Element theory. The major element in Rat is Water. Earth and Water are opposite elements. Earth and Water have a conflicting and fighting relationship; and therefore it is hard for them to coexist. In most of cases, if your Lucky Element is Earth, then the Water is an unlucky element. If the Lucky Element is Water, then Earth is the unlucky element. If Earth or Water is equivalent to your Money Star, then your money luck in 2008 should be "money comes, then money goes" or "money goes, then comes". If Earth or Water is the Career Star, then career opportunity either come early or come late in 2008. If Earth or Water represent health, then your heath will be either good or bad, however it will be the opposite at the end of the year. In short, you will win some but lose some. How to Pinpoint to the Lucky Days? People are always interested to know which days their luck will come. The answer is that we need to study the Stems and Branches relationships among Daily, Monthly, Yearly, Current Major Cycles and the Birth Chart to determine if the good luck will come or not. There is an easy and simple way to find your really lucky day. First, the current Year must mainly contain your Lucky Element. Next, you look for the Month mainly contains your Lucky Element in the Stem and Branch systems. Then look for days that will contain mainly your Lucky Element. The theory is that Year brings Lucky Element into the Month; Month gathers the energy of Lucky Element and Day triggers the luck out.