Rat in Love

The folk reading gives the rat a sociable and attentive character in relationships, and pairs it conventionally with the ox, dragon and monkey. Zodiac compatibility is one of the most widely consulted and least formally grounded parts of the tradition. The pairings come from the branch relationships rather than from any account of the animals.

It is one factor among several in the traditional system. The folk reading gives the rat a sociable and attentive character in relationships, and pairs it conventionally with the ox, dragon and monkey. The year animal is the coarsest of the four pillars — the month, day and hour carry equal weight, and the classical sources never read the year alone. The mechanism is worth naming: compatibility is computed from branch relationships, and the animal characterisations were attached afterwards.

The traditional compatibility scheme works on the six-pair harmony and the four-group affinity of the earthly branches — the animals are the popular face of a branch system. It is grouped under Water (水) in the five-element system.