Welcome to the year of Metal Rat

Dear friends, BaZi enthusiasts, it’s that time of year again. We are moving from one set of Elements to another. Let’s see what next year has in store for us.

After a rather heavy and depressing Earth Dog, last year’s Earth Pig gave us some positive movements across all the fields, but especially in the economy. Metal Rat represents a continuation of Water Element dominance.

Rat consists of Yin Water, while Metal on the top provides additional support, so this Yin Water is powerful this year. Rat combines with Monkey and Dragon, merging into a Water structure, so if you have one of those, your Water Element will be very active. Whether this will produce positive or negative outcomes depends on whether you need additional Water in your Chart. If your Qi is generally too cold, then it will have a negative influence; if your Qi is mainly warm, then the impact will be positive.

Rat also pairs well with Ox, creating a strong Yin Earth structure, but it is rather cold.

Rat, with its Yin Water energy, is in direct clash with Horse, which is mainly Yin Fire. If you have a Horse in your Chart, you might expect turbulence. This is primarily a case if you have a Wood Horse pillar in your Chart; the Metal Rat will clash with the entire pillar in that case, which might cause significant discrepancies.

Another potential issue can be if you have a Goat in your Chart, Rat’s Yin Water might harm Yin Fire and Yin Earth within the Goat.

When it comes to Master Elements, if you are weak Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Water, or Yin Water, then the Metal Rat will mainly bring support.

For Yang Fire and Yin Fire Rat will bring the Power Component. For the Yang Earth and Yin Earth Rat, Water represents the Wealth Component; for the Yang Metal and Yin Metal Rat, it brings the Output Component.

Generally speaking, the Metal Rat is associated with cold, windy weather, so it may not be suitable for those who lack warmth and the Fire Element. Still, each Chart is specific, and we need to review them closely to draw better conclusions, especially for Special charts, which may follow different rules.