The 12 signs in the Chinese zodiac each rule a year, month, day and hour. We are currently in a Rooster year and beginning the month of the Rat. This month is also colored by the qualities of Yang Water. 

According to legend, the Rat surpassed all the animals to attain first place in the zodiac wheel, despite its insubstantial size and unremarkable athleticism. The Rat achieved this by convincing the indomitable Ox to let it hitch a ride on its back. In the final moment, the Rat jumped ahead to cross the finish line, leaving the Ox to take second place. The Rat therefore represents the power of the intellect and the art of mind over matter. The Rat is a master planner, survivalist and opportunist. It knows that through devising the right strategy, recruiting the proper aids, and executing well-timed action, we can accomplish what seems physically impossible. 

Yang Water is symbolized by a wave - heavy, momentous, relentless movement. Whereas Yin Water is represented by reflection and stillness, Yang Water is actively engaged in all forms of exchange - commerce, travel and communication. A versatile and rushing body of water is capable of overriding any obstacle. Because of this, Yang Water has much to teach us about confronting challenge. If a boulder stands in its way, it simply pauses to build the momentum and magnitude to overwhelm it. Yang Water is fierce and can be dangerous - it knows no container and answers to nothing but its own intrinsic, unstoppable flow. 

This month puts us in the exhilarating (while precarious) position of facing the vast and unrelenting ocean. After the last two months that pushed us to protect and nurture our home life (Dog and Boar), we find ourselves standing at the ocean's edge, gripping our clothes so as not to get wet. We may even applaud ourselves for how well we've managed to stay dry despite life's efforts to submerge us. This month we will surrender all of these efforts - when the ocean comes, you will get wet. 

How to work with this month's animal and element:

Yang Water Rat brings to us an ever-changing onslaught of activity, submitting us to its own agenda. Surrender does not imply passivity, however - submission to this overwhelming flow will be an active one. We will need to call on our inner Rat, utilizing all our survival strategies, the creativity of our intellect, and our capacity to adapt to the moment in order to ride the wave.

We must use our cunningness in service of larger movement and flux, otherwise we will drown. An opportunist is a skilled player in the dance of yin and yang - combining listening, waiting and intuition with instantaneous, responsive action. If we get stuck in the perceived safety of planning and scheming, we become victim to one of the Rat's major weaknesses: all thinking and no doing, rigid expectations and no flow. We must not get attached to the details of our lives that fall apart in the deluge (like our clothes getting wet), otherwise we will completely miss the ride the ocean is taking us on.

This month will expand the dimensions of our resilience. When we are faced with more than we can manage, our boundaries become our quest. If you avoid the impending annihilation, you will never see the substance and toughness you are made of. The waters seem vicious, but it is here to give your soul more range. Just as the Rat shows us the power of mind over matter, challenge shows us the power of the human heart over fate. Our endurance, learning, and personal resolve will inevitably grow in magnitude. Coming out from the undertow, we will experience the ascent of our own wave, which is the force of the ocean rising inside us.