From Molly Hall,
Your Guide to Astrology.
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guest article by Suzanne White

FEBRUARY 7, 2008 TO JANUARY 25, 2009

2008 Predictions for each sign in the Chinese Zodiac (Find your sign using the Chinese Calendar):

• Rat
• Dragon
• Monkey
• Ox
• Snake
• Rooster
• Tiger
• Horse
• Dog
• Cat/Rabbit
• Goat
• Pig

Hang on to your hat, here comes the Rat! 2008 promises to be a whole new Rat Race. This year jump starts the Chinese twelve year cycle all over again. Prepare for twelve months of Monday mornings.

We just oinked our way through and oozed out of the prosperous Pig year. If you recall, I forecasted a year of too much plenty. I warned that the rich would get richer and the poor would do far less well. Of course I could not have predicted that women's handbags would increase in value to the point where some ladies are carrying around ten bucks and a lipstick in a hot pink crocodile clutch bag that cost their husband's credit card $4000. Seriously, I just consulted the Neiman Marcus online shopping catalogue and in such top stores women's purses cost upwards of $1000. Some (and not just a few) cost six thousand smackers! That's a concrete example of what I said would happen under the influence of the Fire Pig. Glut for glut's sake. End of cycle excess. Quantity over quality. For some, it was a great year. In 2007, "Them that has" had themselves a hugely piggy Pig year.

Here's a quote from my last year's forecast: "People are going to have more 'stuff' in the Pig year. Extravagant real estate and luxury items, jewelry and antiques, authentic old masters -- everything having to do with wealth and affluence will be favored. But... this abject profusion of material possession means that anyone who is not rich or prosperous or rolling in gold bullion cubes will -- by virtue of the scales being tipped too far -- fare worse."

And are not a slew more wealthy humans cluttering up golf courses and crowding shopping mall parking lots with their splendiferous gas guzzling cars? And, by contrast, are not a lot more people out of work, out of luck and nowadays even out of their homes? Well folks, the party (and the twelve year cycle) is most decidedly over.

2008 will be an Earth Rat year. Rat years are always choppy and appeal mostly to those with a finely-developed sense of economy. But the Earth Rat year (The last one was 1948) is also chockablock with market upsets and other unspeakable bolts from the blue. NO. I can't tell you what color, size or shape the bolts will be. Just think surprise events which jolt your synapses and give your heart goose bumps. I am not threatening earthquakes or typhoons, although we will surely see our share of those. The bolts from the blue will be more personal than that. They will take the form of accidents or mishaps due to inattention, clumsiness or pure bad luck. In an Earth Rat year, we learn (usually the hard way) that we cannot possibly anticipate what might happen next. Some might say, "Then let's just have fun. Why worry?" Others of you will shudder and shake, fearing insecurity and mourning free lunches.

Relax! Worry is a waste of your precious time. What you worry about today will certainly not happen. And what will happen is something you might have been worrying about but didn't even know existed. Just be more cautious than usual about wasting -- both time and money.